The YouTube Reward System Is reverse Robinhood
I was scrolling through YouTube today, looking for a video on how to bridge a gas fee token through the Ethereum mainnet. I scrolled through all of the videos I saw, but I could not find any; the subject search was extremely rare, and some of the videos I saw did not provide the exact video I was looking for.
Some of the videos uploaded by the so-called monetized creators were complete nonsense. Some of them (monetized creators with a lot of subscribers) mostly hops on a trending search phrase or topic, then they use it in their title and thumbnail.
So they mostly rely on the algorithm to push them to the front pages; they know YouTube will likely push them to the top, but why?
They are already monetized. The revenue their videos generate for the YouTube ad program will cause them to be prioritized, even if some of their content is simply vibes, a nice thumbnail, and clickbait.
They create unrelated content and upload it, and before you realize it, 30 seconds have passed, and you are listed as an official viewer.
Now this is not even the evil part, the evil part is when you have to watch two annoying ad videos of some very terrible company advertising some rubbish product.
Previously, they required people to watch only one video, but now, 80% of the time, you must watch one ad at the beginning, followed by two more ads in the middle, especially if the video is long.
Then, at the end of the video, you will have wasted approximately 20 seconds of ad view just to watch a video with a clickbait title. They now claim that you can easily bypass this by subscribing to YouTube Premium, but I believe this is pointless.
Premium Payment Or waste your time?
Why should I pay for a premium subscription to an app where I only check new phone reviews or watch tech/crypto tutorials? So, basically, you are paying not to see the ad and saving yourself the trouble of waiting.
However, the wait time to see a video I want is not the issue; it is how YouTube shows you two separate ads (the first of which is very long), and the milking for ad revenue is ridiculous.
However it gets more diabolical.
Some of the best creators do not even have a large number of subscribers; they have less than ten thousand. Mostly the ones with under 1k sub. I'm not saying big creators are bad creators.
I have followed and watched the content of a lot of big creators, and most of them only recycle their fellow creators' content with a little editing of their own, which is probably because they have reached the point of diminishing returns after years of constant effort, and they are simply too tired to keep going.
However, I know a few with over 20 million subscribers, and the effort they put into each video is still exceptional.
However, most underrated videos feature guys hustling for watch time and subs.
Non-english creators
In fact, native Indian speakers are among the best creators on YouTube; the only issue is that because they speak in their native language, it is difficult for non-native speakers to understand.
These guys are the best creators because they have hacks that you will not find anywhere; however, the language barrier keeps them at the "underrated level" because it will be difficult for me, who only speaks English, to subscribe to another language channel.
In the past, there were no ads on the videos of people who did not have at least 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, which I believe is because these people are not monetized. One of the unique ways to identify a monetized creator on YouTube in the past was to look for ads on their videos, but now even creators with 200 subscribers have ads on their videos.
Reverse Robinhood
It is harsh because I am curious why YouTube would place an ad on a creator's video that is not monetized. I find this to be a tech robbery. Now the money that these videos generates, who gets them?
Why not open the floodgates and place ads on everyone's videos, with everyone getting paid regardless of subscriber count? You can still choose to pay for unique views.
We know that some geographical locations have a larger target audience and are more economically credible, so why not simply pay everyone for the unique views they receive and throw the "subscribers" nonsense out the window?
It's simple: YouTube only wants to pay a few people.
They intend to rob small creators and give the proceeds to more established creators. I have never found most big creators' videos to be particularly valuable. Most of the time, when I find a great video on YouTube, the owners have small accounts. So it is basically fraud to put ads on their videos and not pay them for the revenue they generate, but I guess that is part of the deal, right?
Small creators or owners give up a lot of enablement that they are entitled to because they prioritize experience. So, most of the time, we see this phenomenon as a process of growth, which is not bad, but I think the way YouTube handles it makes it really diabolical, but I suppose the moment you sign up to be a creator, you agree to terms and conditions.
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YouTube is not a fair place for creators, most of it is garbage and then the add make the company revenue. I try to avoid using it anymore to be honest. It used to be a great platform, but if you want to get monetized it's not going to happen. The rich get richer, Robin Hood is robbing the poor and rewarding the rich in this case. But getting monetized on most social media platforms is next to impossible unless you have a close connection to a powerful influencer...
Exactly the most painful part for me: you put ads in the video of people who aren't monetized and then take this money and give it to creators who are already monetized. It's slavery to be honest. If you're not going to pay them, then don't put ads on their videos. I also realized something; the population of people who aren't monetized creators nets YouTube a lot of money, and it's honestly unfair. YouTube is the worst though. Can't even try getting to build on YouTube, unless iny financially free, in any cases, building on Hive is 100% better
The clickbait issue sucks. It does seem to favor big content creators a lot in their algorithms too. I honestly prefer ublock origin as it helps stops most of the ads...and even if there are issues, they tend to be solved within a day.
Is it a form or type of YouTube premium subscription? Because of you're using YouTube through the App then you'll get the ads, but maybe you're talking about a type of ad blockers on the website?
I understand your valid concern about how YouTube favours big creators while smaller ones are often left out. Unless the smaller ones put in more effort in promotion, they might be frustrated. It is actually interesting seeing some popular creators rely on clickbait and trends rather than valuable content yet still get pushed to the top by YouTube’s algorithm because they bring in ad revenue.
In most cases, smaller creators who make helpful videos, especially non-native speaker of English languages, often struggle for visibility and get paid through their noise.
I'm just sad by how they put ads on the video of those that are not earning money. I mean, if you're not going to pay them, why are you putting ads on their video? It's sheer wickedness. However they know that because people now consume the videos of small creators, they have all the data on their hands, so they've taken advantage of it to make money from the ad revenue system, leaving these people with 0$
Guys like Marques Brownlee and MrWhosetheboss.
But it's wild what YouTube is doing. I pay for premium anyway, and it's not just to avoid ads but for other conveniences. Picture-in-picture video playback, continually listening to the audio even when my screen is off, "add to queue," higher res video downloads, and stable volume. And it extends to YT Music, so I don't bother with Spotify premium. It's pretty cheap in Nigeria, so I don't mind paying ₦1,700 monthly for all that. But of course, I get that occasional viewers wouldn't care much. I spend a lot of time there. Who's one big YouTuber you respect?
Yes, he's definitely one of the people with 20m subs that still blows you away with every video. Infact I watch Marques too, but I prefer him. I watch another food documentary as well, I've forgotten the name of the channel's owner. There are many of them but this person is unique.
However, I don't have a preferred creator on YouTube, but I know I watch a lot of Nigerian tech review guys. Whoistheboss is the one I've spent more time watching though and that's because he manages to combine tech and humor so flawlessly.
That sounds like a really frustrating experience. It's annoying when you're searching for something specific and are bombarded with irrelevant or clickbait content. I understand how you feel.
Yes, that in itself can be annoying, but I was mostly angry that the people who created the most helpful contents are not the ones who are rewarded
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Thanks
Algorithms really does play a huge role on mainstream social media. It is not often that we can find a gem of a creator in there.
Mainstream web2. This is very correct. I have seen good creators with small accounts
YouTube is now turning out as a garbage platform, also ads are a headache.
Indeed
When sanctions were imposed on Russia, we watched videos without ads - it was the best time, I did not waste time on this crap that YouTube posts. I do not know a single person who needs what YouTube advertises. It's all useless crap and I do not understand the point of this advertising shit. But now YouTube is blocked in Russia and I have to watch it through a VPN. Now I watch ads in Polish, Spanish, Turkish, and other languages. This useless waste of time pisses me off - it does not benefit anyone. Maybe someday I will watch videos on #hive and reward the author with my vote!
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$PIZZA slices delivered:
@russia-btc(1/5) tipped @josediccus
Come get MOONed!
That's the really annoying part of watching videos on YouTube, some ads are longer than usual and even the skip button doesn't work instantly. When I turn VPN on, it shows me ads on foreign languages and on foreign products. If it wasn't for the genuine creators that I follow and want to support, I would've left going to YouTube some time ago.