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In addition to the author's points about how the videos are constructed (thumbnail tricks, headline bait) to gain views, you also have to consider the basic mec

by olympus 13y ago

In addition to the author's points about how the videos are constructed (thumbnail tricks, headline bait) to gain views, you also have to consider the basic mechanism involved in getting views: accessibility to a large population of people. If your videos are created at such a high level that only people with an IQ>130 can understand, you won't get that many views, and even fewer subscribers. If you target the crowd with average to below average intelligence then you have a much larger market. What do people with average/below average intelligence care about? They want to see people doing stupid stuff. They don't care about production value that much. They want to see someone looking like an idiot because it makes them feel better about themselves. This is the singular reason for low quality crap on YouTube and TV. The audience that can truly appreciate high quality shows is very small and can't sustain that much programming. I'd also like to point out that not all YouTube channels suck. There is a solid community of educational YouTubers which make good stuff [1]. Also, SourceFed is where I go to get caught up on news that other people want to talk about and I only have 5 minutes to spare. Phil DeFranco's empire is an example of a business built on YouTube. [1]Maybe that should be "who make good stuff" or "whom make good stuff." Maybe I should watch more YouTube videos on grammar and less about NASA.

VLM 13y ago
"If your videos are created at such a high level that only people with an IQ>130 can understand, you won't get that many views" That's a terrible specific example because you only need 0.25% of the American population to watch to get a gold plaque, but by the old standard of 95% of the population scores within 2 SD of the mean aka 70-130 IQ, that means your videos would appeal to about 2.5% of the population, or ten times as many people as you'd need to achieve the coveted youtube gold plaque. I get what you're trying to say even if the example was not so good. The problem is no one watches youtube, so the small fraction of popular videos is pretty small if you compare it to the fraction of the population who are smart. "They don't care about production value that much." Production quality is a DSW for professional producers and no one else cares. Attractive young woman I saw in the lunchroom today got plenty of attention from the guys despite not having rehearsed her lines and screwing up the joke punchline. And lighting and costumes weren't any good and none of us had much of a decent camera angle. Nothing in life that's memorable ever seems to be hollywood perfect, and no one minds but the professional production crews.

by olympus 13y ago

VLM 13y ago

"If your videos are created at such a high level that only people with an IQ>130 can understand, you won't get that many views" That's a terrible specific example because you only need 0.25% of the American population to watch to get a gold plaque, but by the old standard of 95% of the population scores within 2 SD of the mean aka 70-130 IQ, that means your videos would appeal to about 2.5% of the population, or ten times as many people as you'd need to achieve the coveted youtube gold plaque. I get what you're trying to say even if the example was not so good. The problem is no one watches youtube, so the small fraction of popular videos is pretty small if you compare it to the fraction of the population who are smart. "They don't care about production value that much." Production quality is a DSW for professional producers and no one else cares. Attractive young woman I saw in the lunchroom today got plenty of attention from the guys despite not having rehearsed her lines and screwing up the joke punchline. And lighting and costumes weren't any good and none of us had much of a decent camera angle. Nothing in life that's memorable ever seems to be hollywood perfect, and no one minds but the professional production crews.