YouTube's Next Move

September 19, 2024

Did You Catch The News From YouTube?

Yesterday, YouTube dropped a ton of news at their annual Made on YouTube event. While I do think a lot of what they’re doing is going to be positive for creators as a whole, I’m a little skeptical on whether creators will utilize everything new coming to the platform. It’s not like they’re removing the dislike button, but some of these updates are going to be better than others.

Made On YouTube Event | Deadline

Hype

One of their new features is called ‘Hype.’ You’ll now be able to hype your favorite small creators to prioritize them (beyond likes and shares). To be hyped, creators must have fewer than 500K subscribers, videos must be recent (less than 7 days old), and viewers are limited to 3 hypes per week. I understand the desire to prioritize smaller creators, but I actually think discoverability on YouTube is already amazing.

People are still going to default to their homepage for content, and the best creators with the best content (regardless of size) will continue to pull views. It also feels a little pay-to-win. You get 3 hypes per week, but you can purchase more to increase your cap. I’d be cautious about people exploiting this to manipulate the hype rankings.

YouTube Communities

YouTube already has a community tab right? To me, it just feels like the community tab where subscribers can start conversations instead of everything coming from the channel owner. It’s a great idea, but my biggest issue is whether people will actually use it.

It feels a lot like Discord, and that’s a problem. People are already using discord, it’s going to be hard to change their behavior and migrate communities back to YouTube. My advice to creators would be to spend a lot of time engaging with the people that do make the jump to YouTube Communities, offer them content that’s different from what they’re dropping in Discord, and be consistent. Over the years I’ve seen so many creators try the community tab for a few weeks and then lose interest, or they find the most value in only posting when new videos go up.

Also, with how much growth YouTube on TVs has had in the last year, I’m doubtful this becomes that popular.

Auto-Dubbing

Obviously, I’ve been pretty outspoken about this one. I told a lot of you not to spend a ton of money on third-party dubbing companies. YouTube’s new auto-dubbing feature will translate audio tracks into multiple other languages. They’re also testing a feature that will match tone, cadence and even room ambiance. Previously, dubbing your content was very costly—this is a huge YouTube W.

I think there’s a certain size that a creator gets to where dubbing makes sense. If you’re a creator, proceed with caution on this one. I still stand by my idea that dubbing is going to be the death of a lot of YouTube channels. CPMs are highest and brands are looking for partnerships with high US viewership. The goal should be a high US audience, not Russian. I’m curious to see how this feature will sound, but it has the potential to become a fantastic tool when creators are ready for it.

Jewels (Gifts)

This update allows users to purchase gifts to support their favorite livestreamers. Platforms copy each other all the time—I’m not surprised we’re seeing donations come to vertical livestreams. I think there’s a lot of potential for growth on vertical livestreams right now.

Jewels make total sense. It’s about time they offered better monetization for vertical livestreams—they should copy every good feature that Twitch and TikTok offer.

The Big Takeaway

We heard about a lot of platform updates coming to YouTube at the Made On YouTube event yesterday. I’m skeptical that all of these updates will have a big impact. At the end of the day, creators with the best content are still prioritizing high average view duration. Be cautious with auto-dubbing—many creators aren’t yet at the point where it will be helpful for their channels. I’m excited to see these updates go live, I’ll be watching them closely.

Talk to us.

YouTubers Are Still Finding Success in Theaters
We called it, expect this trend to continue.

Speed Hits 1 Million Concurrent Milestone in Indonesia
Not many world records left for Speed to hit.

Addison Rae Breaks Into the Billboard Top 100
We’re a Diet Coke office, but we respect the hustle.

T-Pain Breaks Down Collab With Davis Dodds
Pretty dope to see both of them on the same track.

Talk Tuah Podcast Episode 2 Drops
Are we still convinced her 15 minutes were up?

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Snapchat Planning a Major Overhaul
It was all downhill after the SnapMap.

United Airlines to Offer Free Starlink on Flights
No more raw doggin’ the flights, stop it, we’re looking at you.

Jobs