Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#21

Post by yreg » Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 9:26 AM UTC

Mizza wrote: post #2

It's really awful. The worst are those short vertical videos with a robot voice and dramatic music laid over a short clip from another video. It must be what a lobotomy feels like.

Tip for other people: Never ever click on such short (reel) when logged in. If you watch them, YouTube will push more down your throat. If you ignore them, they disappear from your suggestions.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#22

Post by rjh29 » Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 9:27 AM UTC

I've only just got into it and I found lots of good creators. It's not difficult to find them - avoid clickbaity titles/thumbnails, look for people funded by patreon, look for creators who publish longer videos (20-40 minutes) infrequently. Subscribe to those people and ignore the rest.

Same principle as reddit really - if content is being pushed into your face, it's probably worth avoiding. Seek out the high quality, less marketed content, subscribe to that and ignore what the algorithms send your way.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#23

Post by jerrya » Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 9:27 AM UTC

V-2 wrote: post #12

The drive for monetization certainly shows in the form of needlessly, absurdly long videos. I recently came across a "How to Make the Windows 11 Taskbar Completely Transparent" tutorial (I had a whim to do just that). The whole content boils down to "install such-and-such app". Length of the video? 5:50 :) (And the narrator calls it a "real quick video" by the way, so apparently that passes for being rather brief). Y…

There's a variety of youtube "creators" that I follow as I have the same interests or hobbies, okay, I'm an aviation nerd, and the videos from the same creators have over time morphed from ad-hoc, homemade, quicky explainers into very professional looking videos clearly put together by a team. And they are longer. And they are selling their merch. And they are all cross-promoting each other. And they are all advertising the same vpns.

And it's become so professional, so impersonal, that watching now feels much more like a chore

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#24

Post by chiheisen » Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 9:27 AM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #15

> I searched for a software tutorial on Youtube and 90% of results are talking heads. What else did you want on a video site? You just think they should not include their faces in the videos?

Yes? Heads add no value to a technical video, they function as a distraction at best.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#25

Post by dtx1 » Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 9:29 AM UTC

secondcoming wrote: post #18

There is still some quality content on youtube, but the ads I get are awful and repetitive... It's probably my own fault though as I turn personalisation off (so likely no frequency capping) And there's something tragic about people making content in their homes and reading out a marketing script about some crap for a minute.

why are you not using ublock & sponsorblock? Ads are a choice you know?

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#26

Post by SpotnikSignal » Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 9:29 AM UTC

Yea there is a lot of crap nowadays, but fear not! The algorithm still surprises me with amazing content, mostly related to electro music. Comedy is harder to find

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#27

Post by mliker » Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 9:30 AM UTC

_Algernon_ wrote: post #14

I would say youtube peaked around 2012. Been downhill of a cliff ever since.

2012 is around when they rolled out personalization of your feed, which drastically increased hours spent on YouTube. So the data shows it was on an upward trajectory since then.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#28

Post by tiborsaas » Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 9:31 AM UTC

chiheisen wrote: post #24

chrisseaton wrote: post #15

> I searched for a software tutorial on Youtube and 90% of results are talking heads. What else did you want on a video site? You just think they should not include their faces in the videos?

Yes? Heads add no value to a technical video, they function as a distraction at best.

Nonverbal communication is still valuable, I really don't mind to see who's talking compared to staring at an IDE for 3 minutes before they start.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#29

Post by orliesaurus » Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 9:31 AM UTC

I would say Twitch peaked and now is declining. People are moving from Twitch to YouTube because they can put as much effort and make much more revenue. I don't know if YouTube is declining - it's definitely changed - but if you know where to look you can still find incredible videos and channel owners :)

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#30

Post by mliker » Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 9:31 AM UTC

open-source-ux wrote: post #8

I don't think YouTube has peaked. It is as popular today as it as ever been. It's not surprising monetisation is more prevalent when channels grow. I remain impressed that among the staggering quantity of content there is plently to watch and find. I rarely watch the most popular tech channels. The trend I dislike is 'shorts' which are encouraged by YouTube. An obvious nod to TikTok, which ironically now allows longe…

In absolute terms, there's no rubbish, but yes, it hasn't peaked. In relative terms, the rubbish is about the same. There are simply way more videos than ever before.