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YouTube's Latest Olive Branch To Its Creators

It seems that for so long, YouTube just grew, gathering up all those stupid, unbelievable stats. Now it’s a business that is really successful but a little troubled too, and still, apparently, unprofitable.

So now, it’s been stroking users, and trying to add goodies for the real YouTube stars, who, after all are the people who produce that rolling video stock, in profusion. 

They’re a restless bunch who are being wooed all around.

Says TheMarketMogul.com, “One would imagine having millions of videos uploaded a day each showing advertisements would generate copious quantities of revenue; unfortunately over 85% of the advertisements on the Website have the ability to be skipped thus the loss of possible revenue is astounding.”

Also, as it turns out, YouTube’s intention to create a subscription-based version of itself is getting some pushback from successful creators who fear being put on the subscription tier is going to mess up their pile of advertising money. That little insurrection is putting a little chill on that YouTube idea.

So YouTube added some more gloss recently, in one of those cheery posts and videos that everybody reading and watching must have known was motivated a new, sudden need to show its creators how much it cares. YouTube announced 10 improvements to calm down the restless natives and boasted about new live streaming abilities that should make gamers happy.

All explained, very briefly, by joyous YouTube managers.

For example, YouTube has created an improvement to its new mobile app that gives user notification when one of their favorite creators publishes something new. This does not sound like something that was, or should have been, the result of a particularly vigorous brainstorm, but it also helps creators get views, which YouTube is kind of in business to do.

“No more missing videos from creators they love,” says Brian Marquart , a group product manager in a new YouTube video. Radical!  

YouTube is adding more cards, the little graphic adds that allow a creator to direct viewers to additional actions, like, say, ordering something. And it’s adding new tools so creators can respond to emails via their mobile phones and check analytics and access other information. In fact, many of the improvements seem centered on making a mobile phone as fully functional for a creator as possible

As far as that goes, via mobile, it’s adding “even more insightful analytics on its to help you find new exciting ways to optimize your channel,” which is very long hand for “make more money.”

Oddly, happily and surprisingly, the one improvement YouTube is making that seems to have elicited the most response from the people who make videos is a pledge to make a better YouTube Creator Community, a new official site for direct collaborations between YouTubers. It sounds kind of basic but creators don’t get a lot of input unless they’re already doing pretty well. It really is lonelier at the bottom than the top.


pj@mediapost.com
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