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YOUTUBE RED ALERT by Mr Biffo

22/10/2015

13 Comments

 
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I watch a lot of YouTube stuff on my telly. 

Most of what else I view these days is on demand, either through the Apple Store, the BBC iPlayer, Netflix or Amazon. It's increasingly rare that I watch anything live or linear.

Oh yes, how very modern that must make me sound, but I don't like adverts, I don't like having to wait, and I don't like watching things that I'm only slightly interested in, because that's all that's on offer. I'll gladly pay a Netflix subscription fee, and for Amazon Prime, to watch what I want, when I want it. And I hope that whatever version of the BBC emerges from the charter negotiations takes that into account.

But I honestly think that YouTube is the most special thing of all, and I understand why the generation below me is gravitating towards it, away from traditional TV.

Whether it's somebody falling off a bridge, or leaping out of a bin liner to startle their father, or a tour of somewhere I'm thinking of going on holiday, or an old 1970s Woolworths Christmas advert, or how to attempt some DIY project (as if!), or the sort of show that would never get on TV... I love the fact that everything imaginable is on there.

​It's amateurish, and immediate, and basically democracy in action, albeit facilitated by a large corporate entity with an enormous amount of money in its pockets.

So why do I feel so uncomfortable that YouTube is introducing a paid subscription service, when I'm happy to splurge on its rivals? Matron.

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ORIGINALS SIN
Something called YouTube Red was launched yesterday.

​For $10 a month - or whatever the equivalent will be for those of us who aren't in America - you'll be able to watch the videos you already watch, albeit without the adverts on the front, and be able save them to watch offline.

Additionally, the company announced YouTube Originals - a line of programming that features established YouTubers in a variety of longer form shows and movies, some of which will be scripted.


Now, the YouTube Originals thing I can take or leave: some of them, frustratingly, appear to be doing the sorts of things I'd always wanted to do, if anyone had been daft enough to put me in charge of a video games TV show, but none of them feature anybody I'm even slightly interested in. Because, y'know, I'm not really the target demographic of Generation Toob. Which is fine.

BAD TASTE
The whole subscription thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Somehow, YouTube has always felt like possibility. Anyone can use it, anyone can watch it. I get that it needs to make money - it doesn't just exist for the sake of it. Though as it becomes increasingly corporate and institutionalised, I fear it'll lose its relevance. It'll drive away that sort of punk-ish, anything-goes, aesthetic that drew people to it in the first place. And it hammers more of a wedge between creators and their audience.

YouTubers rose in popularity because they seemed to be regular people. As they become bona-fide celebrities - Zoella has her waxwork in Madame Tussaud's now - and appear in films, and "write" books, they're no longer us. They're part of a celebrity machine that none of us really can relate to. And when I say "us", I mean kids who idolise YouTubers. And the rest of us.

And more than that... is that audience ready - or even able - to pay the subscription? The first raft of YouTube Originals feature creators - Lily Singh, Toby Turner, PewDiePie - who have a generally younger fanbase. You can bet there aren't many 16, 17 or 18 year-olds paying for Netflix or Amazon Prime subscriptions - why should YouTube be any different?

More curious still, according to some reports, YouTube's partner creators - popular content creators who receive a cut of ad revenue - who refuse to sign up for Red, will have their videos hidden from the entirety of YouTube. Which feels incredibly heavy-handed. Bullying, even.

It all seems like a misstep, the end of an era. If I, a 76 year-old man, can feel like I'm having my YouTube taken away from me, how does the average 17 year-old feel? The Puppet Masters in their corporate shirtsleeves have seen that there's money to be made, and are interfering in a good thing that has worked up until now - as they always do.

Oh well. 

Hey - subscribe to Digitiser2000's YouTube Channel, or at least watch some of our videos. They're not as bad as you assume, and I like doing them. And tell me what you wish to see on there, because at the moment I'm flailing around like a penguin in a microwave.

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
A HIDEO KOJIMA ARTICLE by Mr Biffo
BOYCOTT STAR WARS VII: A NON-MOVEMENT by Mr Biffo
IMMERSE VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET REVIEW
13 Comments
Enid Honk
22/10/2015 12:25:03 pm

The whole "originals" idea is dead in the water. Why are youtubers, the future of how entertainment will be consumed, such marks for regular TV? Rats are supposed to jump off sinking ships, not on them.

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dab88
22/10/2015 12:28:10 pm

Couldn't agree more. Youtube lost it's way round about the time Google took over. There doesn't seem to be any way back now. I went through loads of the Content Creator Academy stuff and they really do urge you to keep doing the same things as everybody else. No wonder so many channels look like copycats of eachother. Original content often gets buried as what is watched is now dominated by search and YouTubes own "What to Watch" list. There used to be a time when you could 'browse' youtube. Not any more. Know exactly what you want and seek it out. Or have YouTube deliver what it wasn't you to watch. It's rather sad.

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dab88
22/10/2015 12:29:50 pm

that was meant to read... "Or have YouTube deliver what it wants you to watch. It's rather sad."

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Mr Biffo
22/10/2015 12:53:14 pm

Yeah, the Content Creator Academy stuff is just anathema to real creativity. It seems like a formula for building audience, and holding on to them, more than trying to be distinct.

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lilock3
22/10/2015 01:30:25 pm

I like seeing you flailing around like a penguin in a microwave, but what I'd really like to see is a penguin flailing around in a microwave. Make it happen.

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Mr Biffo
22/10/2015 08:32:21 pm

I'll see if Stefan can lay us one...

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mittens
22/10/2015 04:42:44 pm

Watch youtube videos with no ads embedded within AND the ability to download said videos to your computer?
Man, I can't wait to pay for stuff you were previously able to do for free.

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Mr Biffo
22/10/2015 08:32:48 pm

Yep.

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Willeth
22/10/2015 08:03:41 pm

The thing that makes this work, for me, isn't the stealth entrance of a subscription YouTube as you focus on, but the fact that as a Red subscriber, when you watch a YouTube video that's monetised, you don't see the ads, but the creator gets paid nonetheless. That's exactly, bang on the button, they read my mind kind of stuff - I'm just not certain I'm ready to pay more than I do for Netflix to have it.

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Mr Biffo
22/10/2015 08:34:11 pm

Well... yes. I don't think the content that they're offering initially is the sort of stuff that's going to attract masses of subscribers though. It's hardly Marvel's Daredevil, or Mr Robot, or Community.

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Willeth
22/10/2015 08:46:22 pm

That Originals list looks like a who's who of heavy hitters for this kind of thing to me. Rooster Teeth, PewDiePie, MatPat, CollegeHumor - ravenous fanbases all. Lazer Team raised 2.5 million in their crowdfunding campaign alone - those subscribers are out there. Daredevil, Mr Robot and Community feel far more to me like the relics of the old system that you describe taking advantage (and rightfully!) of the new model, where this is content that could only exist under a new model.

Super Bad Advice
22/10/2015 09:16:41 pm

I'm torn. My gut feeling tells me it's a lousy idea - and yet, I kind of want it to succeed just to show that a non-commercial (as in no adverts, not non-profit) can not only work but be what people prefer. If only because anything that helps stop the BBC being deliberately knackered by our current pig-loving overlords as a pre-emptive to breaking it up and giving the whole shebang to Sky is a good thing.

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Mr Biffo
22/10/2015 10:13:41 pm

I know what you mean... but I can't see the current government caring a jot. They've already made up their minds about the BBC. What's more likely, I reckon, is that we'll see a steady move towards cheaper, more advert-less subscription services - Netflix, Amazon, maybe even YouTube et al - and less appetite for something as pricey as Sky. Which in current circumstances just seems extortionate. It'll mean a fragmentation of viewing, and meaning we'd need lots of smaller subscriptions to get everything we want to see, but I prefer that to one broadcaster having a huge commercial monopoly.

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