Binge watching YouTube is not Good?

Binge-watching has hit the 2020 world worse than Coronavirus. Hunkering down on cushy mattresses and cozy blankets, people have made 'watching videos' their ‘Drug of Choice’. At this time, youtubers are having a gala time when their views, likes, shares and subscribers are skyrocketing. In addition to that, YouTube is sheltering 80% more traffic in the first quarter of this year as compared to the previous one. Certainly, that should mean that every quality content publisher on YouTube, who ranks well on a niche should get decent amount of attention. Especially when there are billions craving for audio-visual content.

Viewers increase but the Views don't

Before the Coronavirus crisis, binge watchers had an appetite for a minimum of 7 videos every time they visit the YouTubian colony. Got shocked right? Now see, YouTube managed to colonise roughly 2 billion minds as per 2018, so that accounts to 14 billion views per month for our fellow YouTubers prior to lock down everywhere. Presently with 80% more traffic on the social platform, no less than 40 billion views per month should be available for video makers to seize. Now here’s the twist, more than 90% of the niches on YouTube never even got searched and because of their low demand. That's why they are never listed on your watchlist and forget about top trending.

I know it’s confusing, so let me make it simple. Divide all the videos, infographics, documentaries, and movies into two niches; Knowledge based and Entertainment. Now what I mean to say is that out of the multi-billion viewer base of YouTube, only a handful intelligent people opt to see knowledge-based stuff majorly and the rest super bored kinds spend all day long watching fruitless entertainment. 

Time for some examples

                                  Have a look at this!    

I logged onto the United Nations channel  on YouTube to gather some information, but to my surprise every uploaded video got only a couple thousand views. My next-door neighbor Kitty uploads her travel vlogs on the same platform. She gets more views for her vlogs. So does that mean that viewers care more about Kitty’s travelling experiences rather than UN’s agendas and peace keeping activities. Okay that might be a sheer coincidence! So lets skim through the top 50 most subscribed channels on YouTube in the US where most of the viewers come from. Out of 50, I could only familiarize ‘BRIGHTSIDE’ as a knowledge category channel and rest all the channels belonged to either singers, musicians, comedians or any other entertainer. That was quite alarming, wasn't it?

Economics/Politics of Content Creation

Naturally anyone manufactures those goods which are high in demand, similarly YouTube is getting overloaded with people uploading low quality stuff, thus making the industry unnecessarily competitive. What’s the point of uploading a video when nobody besides friends and family bother to watch it. Today content creators are confused and are running after entertainment niches. 

There is more to the story. Millions of accounts and videos had to be deleted from YouTube  because spam accounts, derogatory, racist or anti-nationalist misleading expressions and adult sexual content is posted on YouTube despite all this being strictly against the policies. Popularity and money making motives of some people spoil the platform which was supposed to be a single destination for both knowledge and standard entertainment. 

Conclusion

On a monthly average basis we spend 5 hours on YouTube. As soon as the bell icon notifies us, we start examining the YouTube homepage for some crispy entertainment. Come on! We all do it. So don't you think there are better ways to make some productive usage of technology.

As far as the YouTubers are concerned, there is plenty of space for talent in this world. Selecting the niche which you are most fond and knowledgeable about is the BEST OPTION.

So all the very best for your next YouTube search... 

If you like this blog then don't forget to Share it and comment below.