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TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

bbc.co.uk

361–370 of 405 posts

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I refuse to use the YouTube app. The ads have gotten so bad. The website I can use an ad blocker and it’s fine to watch. I try using the app iOS or TVOS and it’s 3 ads to start and an ad every 5 minutes.

I recommend buying YouTube Premium. I’ve been a happy customer for a couple years now. It’s better for the creators compared to blocking ads too and they get paid based on your watch time. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6306276

As a full-time YouTuber person, I wholeheartedly endorse this statement. I say that as someone who pays the bills from YouTube and as someone who pays for Premium every month.

It's been a while, but last I checked Premium views were worth more on a per-view basis than ad-watching views. We're talking tiny fractions of a cent, but they obviously add up. Moreover, so-called "demonetized" videos remain eligible for Premium revenue, despite the reality that they will earn little to nothing from ads.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an add-on called SponsorBlock that automatically skips the sponsor 'ads' in the video content itself.

Unfortunately this doesn't work for the app. (Yes, I've heard of NewPipe - I want to use the official app.)

There is YouTube Vanced if you want and it already incorporates Sponsorblock

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do pay for YouTube premium. But the amount of ads in the video itself is just too much. Everybody has a sponsor to talk about multiple times in theirs video. And then there is the various interaction reminders. And YouTube stills shows me ads for movies and whatnot. I am now combining YouTube Premium with uBlock Origin and SponsorBlok to get a decent experience.

I also have YT Premium. Those in video promos are so easy to skip. Most creators put them in the same spot every video, some even at the end. These are mostly regular people trying to earn a living making high quality content. I’m not seeing how you can begrudge them the few seconds of skippable ad copy.

I think many people have forgotten just how many ads are shown on television, where commercials typically occupy around 25% of on-air time.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#364

Note that this is "average time on app", which draws two potential pitfalls: • Youtube is consumed A LOT on the website, including some people using the mobile website (not the app) to keep it playing in the background (duh). This only compares average time on app. • It could also be totally skewed, if let's say 100M people spend 2h/day on average on Youtube, and 1k (a tiny amount) spend 2.5h/day on average on Tiktok…

I refuse to use the YouTube app. The ads have gotten so bad. The website I can use an ad blocker and it’s fine to watch. I try using the app iOS or TVOS and it’s 3 ads to start and an ad every 5 minutes.

After YouTube introduced the age verification for stuff like game demos it has not been the same.

It would be interesting to see what kind of content TikTok excels in if such a list exists.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, my understanding is that the recommendation engine was already developed for a news app popular in India, and that they grafted this onto Musical.ly (the acquisition which has now become TikTok). Also, they spent many, many millions on ads to get the app everywhere.

Millions? They spent a lot more than 10s of millions on advertising. They spent roughly a billion on advertising and probably are one of the most advertised products ever in spending. https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktoks-videos-are-goofy-its-st...

many, many millions can be approximately equal to 1bn. I am aware that they advertised a lot, but didn't have (and wouldn't trust) any figures provided on this, as I've seen how wrong they can be.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've ended up following, among others, an opthalmologist who does sketches about hospital stuff, to mechanics who show the most f'd up cars they get to service, to farrier and sheep shearing videos to a guy who does comedy about weird animal facts. I bet some of the uptick in quality of content on tiktok vs youtube is based on the length of videos. If they only have three minutes, all the interesting things will be…

Yeah, it's very irritating, and one of the first thing I do when watching a Youtube video is to increase the Playback speed to 1.5x or 2x.

I like watching makeup videos and product reveals and I've just started straight away immediately skipping to the ~3:30min mark because that is when they actually start showing the damn palette.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#367

Note that this is "average time on app", which draws two potential pitfalls: • Youtube is consumed A LOT on the website, including some people using the mobile website (not the app) to keep it playing in the background (duh). This only compares average time on app. • It could also be totally skewed, if let's say 100M people spend 2h/day on average on Youtube, and 1k (a tiny amount) spend 2.5h/day on average on Tiktok…

The article also says "Data from app monitoring firm App Annie indicates that average time per user spent on the apps is higher for TikTok, indicating high levels of engagement." Now, I don't know for sure, but I cant imagine that YouTube is integrating App Annie metrics into their YouTube App, right? It's not like Google dont have their own metrics platform... And is TikTok really using App Annie? So where are they…

They use VPN, Ad blocker and every other apps which people indiscriminately give permissions to, They buyout such apps with significant number of users from the play/App stores and extrapolate the data collected through those apps.

I wouldn't be surprised if publishers directly pay App Annie under the table to boost their stats.

As far as YouTube screen-time is concerned Web, Game Consoles, Media centers & smart TVs would account significant screen-time and it's unlikely App Annie's data hoarding apps are installed in them(Unless say shoddy media center bought from Ali express).

That said, TikTok might well indeed take over YouTube sometime in the future as they are doing what YouTube did in the beginning - Home videos sans shitty cameras, Now YouTube is all about top 1% creators with Michael Bay movie budget for each video.

P.S. Not an endorsement for TikTok, Never used it, Will never use it for their moderation practice against the disabled.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've ended up following, among others, an opthalmologist who does sketches about hospital stuff, to mechanics who show the most f'd up cars they get to service, to farrier and sheep shearing videos to a guy who does comedy about weird animal facts. I bet some of the uptick in quality of content on tiktok vs youtube is based on the length of videos. If they only have three minutes, all the interesting things will be…

It's exactly where the issue is. It's no mistake, product management at Google isn't dumb.. here is how it works. YouTube, for years even post acquisition made no money, kept bleeding to aquire users. At one point a revenue stream is implemented, which must keep growing to recoup the large investments. Not to mention, pure greed. The algorithm isn't designed to promote quality content to enhance the user experience a…

> better suited UI and overall UX proven to be attracting younger audiences who tend to make trends with their creativity

The funny thing is that most of the people I follow on TikTok are over 30, a good portion is over 40 =)

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I refuse to use the YouTube app. The ads have gotten so bad. The website I can use an ad blocker and it’s fine to watch. I try using the app iOS or TVOS and it’s 3 ads to start and an ad every 5 minutes.

Vanced is a fantastic YouTube alternative app for android - https://vancedapp.com/

Was gonna day exactly this. YouTube venced is amazing.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#370
post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article also says "Data from app monitoring firm App Annie indicates that average time per user spent on the apps is higher for TikTok, indicating high levels of engagement." Now, I don't know for sure, but I cant imagine that YouTube is integrating App Annie metrics into their YouTube App, right? It's not like Google dont have their own metrics platform... And is TikTok really using App Annie? So where are they…

> Now, I don't know for sure, but I cant imagine that YouTube is integrating App Annie metrics into their YouTube App, right? It's based on Android battery stats. You can download 3rd party battery stats from Google Play and view other app's usage time.

any source for AppAnnie employing this method? Also user has to explicitly give apps permissions to monitor, it's not that simple.
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