Ryan Lall | Contributor
Featured image: Somehow, 15-minute study breaks become hour-long sessions of binge-watching YouTube videos. | Courtesy of Edd Sowden/Flickr
We’ve all done it—ended up on YouTube when we should have been writing a paper or studying for a test. It wasn’t long ago that when we needed a distraction or wanted to relax, we would spend hours in front of the television. So what is it about those cute YouTube cat videos that keep drawing in millions of viewers a year? As it turns out, it may not be entirely about the content, but rather the platform.
Research agency Childwise found young people between the ages of 15 and 16 spend 4.8 hours per day online. The research also found the same age group spends 2.1 hours per day watching TV, a significant decrease from three hours per day in 2000. One possible explanation for why youth spend more time online than watching TV would be greater access to the internet. WiFi connections are easy to come by in public spaces, and improvements in technology mean multiple devices can be connected to the internet at home without sacrificing a phone line for dial-up.
According to YouTube statistics, the video-sharing platform reaches almost one-third of all internet users. Even more impressively, just YouTube’s mobile platform reaches more people between the ages of 18 and 49 than any American cable network. Is this because viewers have changed their preferences for the type of content they view? YouTube is filled with original content from millions of users, whereas TV shows are produced by large studios with more restrictions on the content they can air.
“As similar as YouTube and TV shows may seem, they are worlds apart. As YouTubers, we focus more on our content and how it can reach our viewers more than our production value,” say Jaz and Harjit of the YouTube channel YouTwoTV.
Traditional TV networks and service providers are recognizing the shift away from traditional TV. Their response has taken the form of networks posting shows online and making them available on mobile apps. It has also led to the creation of on-demand video services, the most popular of these being Netflix, which had over 95 million American subscribers in 2014. Of the shifting demand toward more mobile-friendly video content, Jaz and Harjit can imagine the internet replacing traditional TV.
“With Netflix […] the newer generations will find themselves glued to their computer screens more so than their televisions.”
The rise of online video platforms has created a different brand of content that resonates with viewers on a more personal level. “We would love to see our stuff on TV, but YouTube is our connection to our audience and we would never want to break that. We are able to upload a video whenever we want and can change our script, our video idea and any of our content without hesitation. With TV, we wouldn’t be able to interact with our viewers as we can now,” say Jaz and Harjit.
The increasing popularity of YouTube has allowed many to change their careers to professional YouTubers, some with salaries rivalling actors working for major studios. A 2015 Forbes list of salaries for top YouTubers show some of the top earners: PewDiePie raking in $12 million, the Fine Brothers with $8.5 million and York alumna Lilly Singh with $2.5 million.
The YouTube platform is owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and comprises a significant portion of the company’s sales. In 2014, Credit Suisse predicted YouTube would generate $6 billion in revenues in 2015, or approximately $1.5 billion per quarter. To put that in perspective, Twenty-First Century Fox’s cable business—which includes channels Fox News, Fox Sports and FX—earned $3.94 billion in revenue for the first quarter of the year.
If current trends in decreasing cable TV viewership and increasing YouTube user numbers continue, then the revenue gap will narrow as YouTube takes the place of traditional TV.
YouTube and other video-sharing platforms are rising in popularity as TV networks and cable providers scramble to respond to the demise of TV junkies. YouTubers have capitalized on the opportunity to reach out to a generation spending more of their day online, turning this opportunity into a profitable full-time career. While many YouTubers won’t achieve the same level of fame and income as their better-known colleagues on the small screen, the platform has allowed everyday people to reach large audiences while chasing their dreams in a creative outlet.
