Can YouTube Replace 'Traditional' TV? (hollywoodreporter.com)
- Reference: 0179877506
- News link: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/25/10/26/1657219/can-youtube-replace-traditional-tv
- Source link: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/youtube-impact-tv-sports-late-night-comedy-shows-1236400353/
> It's come a long way since the 19-second "me at the zoo" video was uploaded in April 2005. Now, per a KPMG report released Sept. 23, YouTube is second only to Comcast in terms of annual content spend, inclusive of payments to creators and media companies, paying out as much as Netflix and Paramount combined, $32 billion... The only question is what genres it will take over next, and how quickly it will do so. From talk shows to scripted dramas to, yes, live sports, there are signs that the platform's ambitions will collide with the traditional TV business sooner rather than later...
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> YouTube has slowly, then all at once, become the de facto home for what had been late night, not only for the shows on linear TV, but for an emerging crop of new talent born on the platform. As it happens, late night itself transformed YouTube when the Saturday Night Live skit "Lazy Sunday" went viral 20 years ago on the platform, which had only been live for a few months... As consumer preferences collide with a burgeoning ecosystem of video podcasts (YouTube now claims more than 1 billion podcast users monthly), the world of late night, and for that matter TV talk shows more generally, increasingly revolves around the platform. One current late night producer says that almost every A-list booking now includes some sort of sketch or bit that they think will play well on YouTube, but booking those guests in the first place has become less of a sure thing. A veteran Hollywood publicist says that for many of their clients, they are now recommending that YouTube podcasts or shows become the first stop, or at least a major stop, on press tours...
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> Nielsen has been tracking the streaming platforms that consumers watch on their TV screens ever since it launched what it calls The Gauge in 2021. But over the past year, YouTube's domination of The Gauge has unnerved executives at some competitors. The most recent Gauge report showed that YouTube was by far the most watched video platform, holding 13.1 percent share. Netflix, in second place, was at 8.7 percent.
The article suggests YouTube's last challenge may be "scripted" entertainment — where their business model is different than Netflix or HBO.
"On YouTube, it is up to the creator to finance and produce their content, and while the platform regularly releases new tools to help them (including AI-enabled tech that suggests video ideas and can create short background videos for use in Shorts), scripted entertainment is a particularly tricky challenge, requiring writers, directors, sets, costumes, lighting, editing, special effects and other production requirements that may go beyond the typical creator-led show."
[1] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/youtube-impact-tv-sports-late-night-comedy-shows-1236400353/
Sure! (Score:1)
It will be like replacing your daily morning cup of horse piss with cat piss.
Re: (Score:2)
> It will be like replacing your daily morning cup of horse piss with cat piss.
You should really try dog piss, it's got a bad rep but it's a great way to start the day!
Compared to "all TV stations owned by one": Yes (Score:3)
In countries where basically all TV stations are controlled by the same person or small group of like-minded people, a platform like Youtube, ruled by one company, is certainly the less shitty replacement. However, if you want real pluralism in the media, you'd have to have more than just one relevant "platform for creators".
BTW: [1]Youtuber Anton Petrov just noticed that, without his knowledge or consent, Youtube alters his videos (for the much worse in his case) [youtube.com].
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4
Re: Dear lord (Score:2)
Part of me hopes it does. Perhaps then they might face the same regulators that TV channels do. As if the scams and snake oil werenâ(TM)t bad enough lately I've been served with ads for illegal weapons!* I've reported them a dozen times but they just keep on coming.
* Tasers specifically. They may be legal in other countries but not here.
Re: (Score:2)
> Part of me hopes it does. Perhaps then they might face the same regulators that TV channels do. As if the scams and snake oil werenâ(TM)t bad enough lately I've been served with ads for illegal weapons!* I've reported them a dozen times but they just keep on coming.
> * Tasers specifically. They may be legal in other countries but not here.
If you really want one you can just make one. It's not rocket surgery, it's just a battery and a transformer. Cordless drill batteries are popular for this.
Re: Dear lord (Score:2)
And if I had a lathe and a mill I could probably make a serviceable firearm. What's your point?
Re: (Score:2)
No special tools required. In the same league as banning knives.
Replace TV? (Score:2)
Why?
Re: (Score:2)
Because TVs are loaded with adverts before you choose what you want to watch. Seems the path of least resistance to go straight to YouTube rather than battle through adverts on the menu. Kids would prefer to get a tablet out, and this has been going on for best part of a decade already, so I'd say the traditional TV's day is already spent.
No (Score:4, Insightful)
YouTube is for music videos, cat videos, and how-to-fix-things tutorial videos. Cable is for local news and live sports. Torrents are for everything else.
Re: (Score:2)
Not necessarily, there are a lot of competent creators with thematic channels and high production quality. And the offer is so vast that it's very likely you'll find something that interests you.
ADs on the other hand are a big turn down, but there are ways around them...
Re: (Score:2)
Most of the important sports events in my country are already broadcasted in YouTube, for some time now. That's my main use of YT nowadays.
Re: (Score:2)
Mostly just F1 and NHL here. Now that Apple has bought the F1 rights might need to torrent that too.
I don't watch "traditional TV at all (Score:3, Insightful)
I watch youtube a lot.
I understand that the vast majority of it is pop culture crap and other stuff I'm not interested in.
Fortunately, I can find things I'm interested in... expert craftspeople doing their craft and explaining it.
Some examples...
Luthiers, machinists, mechanics, glassworkers, woodworkers, blacksmiths, hoof trimmers, drain cleaners and more.
I can also see really good educational programs, teaching math, physics, medicine, spacecraft design, aircraft design, etc.
And there is also fun stuff like the slo-mo guys and the hydraulic press dude.
And let's not forget Dr Pimple Popper
Re: I don't watch "traditional TV at all (Score:3)
I find YT is a lot like Prime/Netflix: if you know what you want there's lots of good stuff on there to watch, if not the algorithm just keeps on recommending the same rubbish again and again.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, the AI behind recommendations is unable to distinguish quality, the fact that you might be interested in a topic doesn't mean you want to watch AI slop for it. But again, Youtube's business model is to serve you as many ADs as possible, it doesn't matter if they come in a turd sandwich.
'Traditional' TV? (Score:2)
I haven't watched linear TV for a long time, and I'm pretty old, plus rather cantankerous, stubborn and grey-bearded. Yet I find it puzzling that this kind of medium is actually holding on so strongly.
Re: (Score:3)
I saw some the other day when visiting my mum. The ads drove me crazy, I haven't really seen one in a decade, and I can't imagine how we used to put up with them. Between streaming services, my personal media library, and a YT Premium subscription, my viewing is ad-free.
Ads (Score:2)
No. Far too many f***ing ads on YouTube.
I've have ads interrupt the in-video sponsorship ads too. FFS.
I used too spend hours browsing YouTube. Now I'll watching a few videos and then leave, annoyed.
Re: Ads (Score:2)
Theres a fix for that called ad blockers
Re: Ads (Score:2)
There's an ad-blocker that works on the YouTube app now?
Re: (Score:2)
> There's an ad-blocker that works on the YouTube app now?
There's a fix for that: a real computer.
Re: (Score:2)
There are ways around them, even on a TV.
Re: Ads (Score:2)
I'm with you. Unless there is something very specific I want to learn about the ads just aren't worth it. They are far worse on YouTube than on cable because on YouTube they just cut off what you are watching.
YouTube != YouTube TV (Score:3)
Way too many articles miss the distinction between YouTube the website and YouTube TV the streaming TV service. If an article doesn't call out the difference, then I assume the author is an idiot and ignore the rest.
Main platforms (Score:2)
I don't have linear, traditional TV or even cable tuned to my TV set for several years now. I mainly watch HBO and Netflix (series and movies) or YouTube (some documentaries and live sports). And even (in the rare cases) when something I want is only available on traditional TV, I look for the online broadcast and then stream it from my PC to the TV.
Those are not "Podcasts" (Score:2)
Podcasts are an audio-format medium, delivered by an RSS subscription feed.
What the article is talking about are videos, not "podcasts". The medium is different, and the subscription and delivery mechanisms are different.
Further, the content is different in character, as an audio medium doesn't expect you to state at a screen while you consume it.
This isn't a matter of simple pedantics. The cheese is being moved for an entire industry, to the detriment of its subscribers and creators. As production costs go
Replace? Why? (Score:2)
I dropped it about 15 years ago. Still not missing anything.
Youtube has already replaces television (Score:2)
Youtube has already replaces television. As well as Rumble, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Twitch, Kick, Odysee, PeerTube, DTube, Veoh and so on. And most people get their news off of social media.
Ah, so that's where all the DDOS (Score:2)
engines now live.
Already has (Score:2)
in my house.
Re: (Score:2)
Likewise. Ads are blocked, it's good enough for me. I do still watch movies and shows unavailable there, but when I'm sitting down to eat, or want something on in the background while I work, YouTube more than suffices.
Ads or a subscription will be forced on you (Score:2)
My fear is that there's too much money to be made by Alphabet to continue to ignore users who run ad-blockers.
When I happens, I figure most people people will suck it up and a few will have nothing to do with it.
Will a proprietary youtube viewer of some kind be required to be downloaded which is drm'ed to death and tracks your every move? (After all you are the product) Ad-blockers would be useless against it since it isn't running in a web browser. You'd need network-level blocking, and the proprietary app
Re: (Score:2)
Wtf? People still watch "traditional TV"?
Re: (Score:2)
> Boomers are just starting to understand two remotes (the TV and cable box). They're not going to understand using a computer for "TV".
> Flag as Inappropriate
Who do you think designed those cable boxes you PFY?
Re: (Score:2)
Boomer here. Not necessarily true. I use a Linux thin client to watch Youtube. I use a wireless mini keyboard to control the thin client. The TV remote is only used to power on and off the TV.
Re: (Score:2)
I think we need to shoot more for "average". My mom regularly tosses her phone at me telling me to fix it.
I have to explain the remote regularly.
Sure, there are technies that actually built those boxes, but just as many people who just want to watch video.
Re: (Score:2)
The networks shut down the translators when they went to digital TV and never put them back up. Between then and the advent of streaming I got out of the habit of watching TV.
I see no reason to reacquire the habit.
When was the last time college level geology classes were on TV? They are on YouTube though. Along with math puzzles, car repair, retro PC repair, Linux news, etc, etc.
Re: (Score:3)
I suspect it has in most households -- even boomer ones.
The problem is that nobody wants YouTube to be just like broadcast and cableTV was. The thing that made YouTube so compelling and so popular was its authenticity and variety -- but the management at YouTube are carefully killing the very thing that made it great.
Ever-growing levels of ever-more intrusive advertising. Ads that are (at times) 90 percent scams. Ads and content that are low-value AI-slop which, once the novelty value wears off, will
Re: (Score:2)
If enshittification of Internet platforms l is analogous to the heat death of the universe, what happens after that to cause a new big bang?