YouTube

YouTube launched in 2005 as a video sharing platform, and was acquired by Google (now Alphabet) in 2006. It has built an entire community of creators that run channels dedicated to topics like gaming, tech reviews, and beauty. It also houses news videos and entertainment such as music videos, movie trailers, and clips from late-night TV shows. YouTube’s rapid growth has not been without problems. YouTubers typically make money from ads that run in front of their videos, but if they break the platform’s rules, their channels and videos can be demonetized. Executives and moderators have worked to combat harassment, misinformation, terrorist propaganda, hate content, and other abuse. The Verge runs two YouTube channels, The Verge and Verge Science.

YouTube’s biggest defense against TikTok: money.

The company is going to start giving creators a share of ad revenue when commercials play between YouTube Shorts. The platform’s relatively generous payments are a large part of its rich creator culture, and now we’ll find out if they’re enough to lure short-form creators away from TikTok.

YouTube is turning on the money hose for Shorts — and taking on TikTok for real

David PierceSep 16

Tech

YouTube will let creators monetize videos with licensed music

Mia SatoSep 20

Policy

YouTube’s ‘dislike’ and ‘not interested’ buttons barely work, study finds

Mia SatoSep 20

Tech

YouTube is turning on the money hose for Shorts — and taking on TikTok for real

David PierceSep 16

Nilay PatelSep 15

YouTube Shorts are driving more than half of the top 50 channels on the platform.

I love TubeFilter’s weekly breakdown of the top 50 most viewed YouTube channels — especially lately, because I keep looking at the percentage of channels that are primarily active on TikTok-clone Shorts. This week, 29 of the top 50 channels worldwide are primarily using Shorts, and a staggering 33 of the top 50 in the US.

Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 09/11/2022

[Tubefilter]

Tech