Polygon opinion by slowbeef: The three reasons Youtubers keep imploding

[Deleted]

First Pewdiepie did that "i will delete my account" thing, now it's anti-Jew stuff. Trump says any press is good press. I bet Pew hit a plateau with his viewership and is not doing stuff to generate interest.

http://socialblade.com/youtube/user/pewdiepie

idk man he seems to be trotting along business as usual.

[Lynarii]

A very good read, especially the parts about the amount of work that comedians like Louis CK and Seinfeld put in to try and make their jokes work. Compared to a YouTuber who needs almost a completely new set of stuff every single day. It's no wonder that things go pear-shaped every so often. In a way, it's a testament to how skilled some of these people are that it doesn't explode in their face even more often than it already does.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

A big challenge for something like YouTube is, it starts outside the mainstream, unscripted and real, then as it gets into the mainstream, suddenly people expect certain standards to be met, and not meeting those standards was originally one of the big draws of the platform to begin with. It sucks.

This is sorta what I was trying to say; that the original concept of Youtube is sort of being scrapped.

[breadisfunny]

This is sorta what I was trying to say; that the original concept of Youtube is sort of being scrapped.

now i might be mistaken but doesn't google lose money every year on youtube? i don't think it's ever really turned a profit for them. which is why they seem to be turning towards ad generating content,youtube red, and making youtube more corporation and family friendly so they can run more ads. google is probably tired of having youtube operate in the red constantly.it seems like the days of the youtube where you have lots and lots of channels like let's plays and other small channels that cater towards more niche subject/audiences are numbered. which is sad.

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Youtubers keep imploding because they keep trying to up the ante with edgy shit in order to get views. It's clickbait, which is why Buzzfeed is a household name, reality TV exists and Trump became president.

When you cater to the lowest common denominator this is what you get, edgelords trying not to cut themselves on all that edge.

i barely even watch tv anymore because that's all 90% of it is is reality tv and common denominator garbage shows.

[Celista]

http://socialblade.com/youtube/user/pewdiepie

idk man he seems to be trotting along business as usual.

I mean, except for that part about his view count being down by 88% and his subscriber numbers being down by 20%....

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i barely even watch tv anymore because that's all 90% of it is is reality tv and common denominator garbage shows.

True story, I've never purchased a TV. I have a Netflix and Amazon Prime account and a laptop. Mostly spend my spare time listening to NPR or watching a TED talk or some crap.

This is what leaving your 20s looks like.

[Belize]

There truly is no god.

[CostinR]

I can tell you something as a Youtuber who does it for a living.

Youtube is TERRIBLE. They keep making stupid changes to the site, a lot of which do not actually benefit it while only a few do. On top of that the whole site is designed to help the big channels grow even bigger while screwing over the newcomers.

Finally the entire site is structured on doing the most sensationalist click bait type videos that you can get your hands on. You get heavily rewarded for it. Think of how someone like Alex Jones is really big on Youtube.

[Celista]

I can tell you something as a Youtuber who does it for a living.

Youtube is TERRIBLE. They keep making stupid changes to the site, a lot of which do not actually benefit it while only a few do. On top of that the whole site is designed to help the big channels grow even bigger while screwing over the newcomers.

Finally the entire site is structured on doing the most sensationalist click bait type videos that you can get your hands on. You get heavily reward for it. Think of how someone like Alex Jones is really big on Youtube.

Yeah exactly.

What's up with not getting comment notifications anymore, btw? I don't get notifications anymore when people reply to my comments, can't figure out if it's an intentional change or a bug on my end.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Yeah exactly.

What's up with not getting comment notifications anymore, btw? I don't get notifications anymore when people reply to my comments, can't figure out if it's an intentional change or a bug on my end.

You get notifications when someone responds to your comment. You just have to go to said video now if you want to actually respond back to them now.

[Blur4stuff]

There are still some great channels on YT, though. I'm subbed to several for educational purposes that don't do any of the flashy clickbait shit. They simply deliver what they promise by talking to the camera with some visual aids.

[Celista]

You get notifications when someone responds to your comment. You just have to go to said video now if you want to actually respond back to them now.

I haven't been getting notifications. I didn't realize this until recently, when I went back to a video that I had commented on and saw a string of replies.

[breadisfunny]

I mean, except for that part about his view count being down by 88% and his subscriber numbers being down by 20%....

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True story, I've never purchased a TV. I have a Netflix and Amazon Prime account and a laptop. Mostly spend my spare time listening to NPR or watching a TED talk or some crap.

This is what leaving your 20s looks like.

not really because of my age more because tv networks are too busy chasing the almighty dollar and going for cheap mass marketable shows over actual informational/educational/historic programs that will teach you something because it's "too niche". same reason animators on big children's networks like cartoon network are just pumping out low quality mindless children's cartoons. because animating and writing a script for a scene that has very little going on costs far less than writing thought out well written children's cartoons. this has been slowly going on since around 2005 just before i left high school is when it really started to catch on. it's just gotten to the point where every channel is like this now even the science channel ffs. and they have some of the most boring narrators out of all of them.

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Yeah exactly.

What's up with not getting comment notifications anymore, btw? I don't get notifications anymore when people reply to my comments, can't figure out if it's an intentional change or a bug on my end.

youtube screwed up their subscriber and notification system but won't admit it. you have to click on the bell and check the box because now by default it is unchecked.

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I can tell you something as a Youtuber who does it for a living.

Youtube is TERRIBLE. They keep making stupid changes to the site, a lot of which do not actually benefit it while only a few do. On top of that the whole site is designed to help the big channels grow even bigger while screwing over the newcomers.

Finally the entire site is structured on doing the most sensationalist click bait type videos that you can get your hands on. You get heavily rewarded for it. Think of how someone like Alex Jones is really big on Youtube.

also it's because networks like nbc and abc,etc see him as a joke. hence he is forced to do a lot of his stuff on talk radio and online.

[Theodarzna]

Considering PewDiePie's numbers have only grown since this faux controversy, I am unsure what Youtubers have imploded.

[NED funded]

not really because of my age more because tv networks are too busy chasing the almighty dollar and going for cheap mass marketable shows over actual informational/educational/historic programs that will teach you something because it's "too niche". same reason animators on big children's networks like cartoon network are just pumping out low quality mindless children's cartoons. because animating and writing a script for a scene that has very little going on costs far less than writing thought out well written children's cartoons. this has been slowly going on since around 2005 just before i left high school is when it really started to catch on. it's just gotten to the point where every channel is like this now even the science channel ffs. and they have some of the most boring narrators out of all of them.

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youtube screwed up their subscriber and notification system but won't admit it. you have to click on the bell and check the box because now by default it is unchecked.

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also it's because networks like nbc and abc,etc see him as a joke. hence he is forced to do a lot of his stuff on talk radio and online.

I dunno man. I really like adventure time, gumball, Steven Universe and we bare bears.

[breadisfunny]

I dunno man. I really like adventure time, gumball, Steven Universe and we bare bears.

i am referring more to shows like teen titans go and the new powerpuff girls, clarence,and 90% of the shows adult swim pukes out of their anus.etc. older cartoons usually had some sort of message theme or story behind them....these are just mindless drivel aimed at the lowest common denominator. not everything has to be aimed at a certain audience but right now tv is 90-95% lowest common denominator shows with some channels reserved for older niche programs and very few newer programs that have anything resembling education or historical programing coming out. this is a problem because netflix doesn't actually produce those kinds of programs it just happens to host random documentaries and/or historical programs. (they were nice documentaries).

[Macaquerie]

I'd be pretty pissed if this hurt some of the small time people like Lets Plays. I don't know if you are on a different subject, but I don't think the point of LPs are to be a "real profession."

Most of the smaller channels are probably just people playing games as a hobby, and whatever income they can earn from it is just icing on the cake. In all likelihood most of the "professional" Youtubers out there experienced some early success, quit their day job expecting that the gravy train would last forever, and then ran into a wall when the novelty factor wore off, forcing them to rely more and more on stunts and clickbait to try and stay relevant. We are hardly at a stage yet where "content creator" can be a viable long term career choice, even someone like Pewdiepie will probably fade from the spotlight in a few years when people get tired of his act.

All of this drama actually helped me to understand why people made such a big fuss about amateurism in athletics in the early 20th century. There is a sort of purity and charm to someone putting time and energy into something purely out of love of the craft without any thought of reward, and a lot of the smaller time Youtubers do seem genuinely pleasant and likable. The "big names" on the other hand come off as universally repulsive individuals who seem singularly focused on the idea that they are somehow entitled to a living making videos and that everyone who says otherwise is just jealous, and regardless of whether that's a valid argument it's fucking annoying.

[Orange Joe]

I mean, except for that part about his view count being down by 88% and his subscriber numbers being down by 20%.....

I wouldn't go by those stats. Look at the summary. It jumps all over the place. I mean on 2/17 he had negative video views. How is that even possible?

[Gref]

completely off topic but i have never understood the idea of watching Let's plays. Why? instead of watching I can play? Hell I don't get this stream and other youtube celebs at all. What is the point?

But now I understand why the notifications are getting less and at one point becomes none at all. That is a retarded thing, why I need to check another box to always get notified.