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I don't think we'll see a real competitor to YouTube until someone manages to decouple hosting from discovery. No startup can compete with free unlimited video
by anderspitman 5y ago
I don't think we'll see a real competitor to YouTube until someone manages to decouple hosting from discovery. No startup can compete with free unlimited video hosting. But it would be relatively easy to make a better discovery algorithm. The problem is the network effects moat. But I think if you started in a specific community (say tech talks or ASMR) it might work.
- kypro 5y agoYouTube used to have a 10 minute video limit. While I like that 1,2 or even 3 hour podcasts can now be uploaded in a single YouTube video, other than that I honestly probably wouldn't even notice if suddenly every video on YouTube was under 10 minutes. Same with things like full-HD / 4k support. I'm fine with 720p 99% of the time. In most cases I suspect a video hosting service with a 10 minute video limit and a 420p / 720p resolution would suffice just fine. IMO what YouTube alternatives should focus on is being unique and different from YouTube in someway -- at least initially. Maybe focus on short-form video and build algorithms and moderation tools that ensure users are only served extremely high quality videos. Perhaps a video service providing something like a daily digest of the best daily / weekly videos that match your preferences could work. As the platform grows it could then increase the allowed video length and expand into a more general video hosting service like YouTube. We see this trend in social media all the time, Facebook has a lot of competitors, but non of them are competing directly with Facebook. They're all doing something a little different and a little better than Facebook.