It drives ad revenue. Content quality doesn't matter, only you watching as much ad's as possible. I've switched to using Yewtu.be, it's a proxy where you can have subscriptions and, for instance, only see new content, chronologically, from your subscriptions. Does make it a bit harder to find new stuff, but at least no spam. And the search seems less spammy too, not sure.
Ask HN: Why has quality of YouTube reduced drastically?
221–230 of 309 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why has quality of YouTube reduced drastically?
#222The moment a platform start the "monetization war" and have some "influencers" working for them and get traction... that moment will kill/bury original and honest content made from passion and not "to make a living, to win $". The same way blogs died long ago, remember all the craze about having a blog, affiliate links, earn a living blabla People jumped in.. and so advertisers.. and so 'they killed Kenny" Imagine YT…
Re: Ask HN: Why has quality of YouTube reduced drastically?
#223Re: Ask HN: Why has quality of YouTube reduced drastically?
#224Youtube start reminding me a video platform from 3rd world country. There was this "look&feel" difference where you have more expensive less-adds and good quality. That was their competitive advantage. Right now everything desperately optimized for money. That's how platform dies. They don't know how to grow organically. They become no different. Just another video hosting.
I haven’t seen a YouTube ad in over six years. Seriously the best couple of dollars per month you can spend.
It's certainly unwatchable with the ads, as I was reminded when I actually opened up the YouTube app on my TV instead of just mirroring my laptop's screen. Not gonna do that again.
Re: Ask HN: Why has quality of YouTube reduced drastically?
#225YouTubers have become more professional and post a large number of videos optimized for monetization (trendy videos, videos around 10 minutes long with additional ads inserted in the video, etc.). In addition, in order to maximize advertising revenue, YouTube tends to place more importance on new click-bait videos that have a rapid increase in views, rather than high quality videos that can be viewed over a long peri…
This is why we need user-controlled recommendations. I want that shit blocked.
Re: Ask HN: Why has quality of YouTube reduced drastically?
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
The best part of YouTube recommendations - side bar recommendations - have been broken for at least 7-9 years. I remember going on deep YouTube rabbit holes in another era, because their recommendations always pointed to new, highly related content. Then, at some point in time, YouTube switched their recommendations algorithm to direct me to a mixture of 1) videos (mostly on unrelated topics) that I've already viewed…
> There are other things that drive me nuts about YouTube's recommendations, like the fact that they will never recommend me the next part of a n-part video. If I'm watching part 2/3 of something, please show 3/3 in the side bar, YouTube! It used to do that, though! They should at least allow it up to a limit or something rather than making it just that stupid. My other biggest complaint really is the recommendation…
Re: Ask HN: Why has quality of YouTube reduced drastically?
#227It drives ad revenue. Content quality doesn't matter, only you watching as much ad's as possible. I've switched to using Yewtu.be, it's a proxy where you can have subscriptions and, for instance, only see new content, chronologically, from your subscriptions. Does make it a bit harder to find new stuff, but at least no spam. And the search seems less spammy too, not sure.
Why not just using the "subscriptions" tab in the official YouTube app? It does exactly that. What's the difference?
Re: Ask HN: Why has quality of YouTube reduced drastically?
#228Recommendation system is long time broken. I am subscribed to 100+ channels and check 10 channels on a weekly basis, meaning I watch all the new videos these creators make. So that means I want the new stuff from the frequented ones on my front page ASAP. Yet, it's a hit and miss. From the remaining 90 channels I never get anything recommended. Why? If I subscribe to a new channel it gets recommended like hell, then…
The best part of YouTube recommendations - side bar recommendations - have been broken for at least 7-9 years. I remember going on deep YouTube rabbit holes in another era, because their recommendations always pointed to new, highly related content. Then, at some point in time, YouTube switched their recommendations algorithm to direct me to a mixture of 1) videos (mostly on unrelated topics) that I've already viewed…
Re: Ask HN: Why has quality of YouTube reduced drastically?
#229Machine learning probably had something to do with it. It notices videos with thumbnails of people with their mouths and eyes wide open doing some kind of shocked expression with red arrows pointing to something perform better than average. Then it starts recommending videos with thumbnails like this preferentially. YouTubers take notice and start producing thumbnails like this for every video. Go to the front page r…
When I was playing WoW, it was hard to find, for example, "guide to blackwing lair". It would be way down the page, below videos always titled "shocked reaction to Blackwing lair boss kill", "streamer reacts to BWL speedrun".
Re: Ask HN: Why has quality of YouTube reduced drastically?
#230Google trying to dumb people down