Youtube has been having a difficult time with the ongoing uproar over their advertisement strategies and recent approach to dealing with “offensive content” on their site. They've been working to try and implement a solution and that's been by demonetizing many videos, which has upset a number of the content makers who are responsible for creating content that brings people to the site in the first place.
But there is a wide variety of material available on Youtube, so despite their crackdown, millions of people still visit the site everyday and watch countless hours of comedy, cat videos, food channels, and more. It's estimated that at least 1.5 billion people log in to the site every day to watch videos. They are still the most used streaming service in the world at the moment.
However, a number of advertisers (allegedly around 5 percent) have just this year decided to part ways with Youtube over their view of the company's inability to efficiently deal with the issue for many of what's deemed to be "problematic content". Facebook and Google are also said to be losing hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising because of the same issue over troublesome content.
When it comes to user-generated platforms, brands are finding that sometimes their advertisements might end up next to content that they don't like or wouldn't want to voluntarily be associated with, and so they've had to reconsider their marketing approach.
It's a difficult situation for Youtube, because they make millions from these advertisements but they also don't want to alienate their content creators, who are responsible for bringing millions of people to the site on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, a number of popular 'Youtubers' have expressed deep concern for the apparent crackdown, labeling the efforts of Youtube as a wave of censorship. Some of the biggest Youtube channels have seen a major drop in viewership over the past year, said to be a result of the site's changing algorithms.
Youtube at the moment is said to be struggling with a major brand issue.
They need to find a way to keep advertisers happy and also the content creators who provide the material that makes the advertisers want to come around to the site in the first place. If enough people get frustrated with Youtube then it won't be long before it follows the same fate as other sites, and gets left in the dust for the competition.
Aside from their algorithm adjustments and strategies to crackdown on content, Youtube also just announced this week that they are going to be partnering with Lenovo and other tech companies in order to bring to market a new technology that's referred to as the VR180 camera. The technology will allow Youtube viewers to watch 180 videos, making VR content easy to create. And content creators will still be able to film their videos using the regular equipment that they use now.
But they will also be looking to manufacture cameras that specifically support the VR180 technology. They expect the first cameras to hit the market shelves by Christmas later this year.
They also announced recent changes about how users of the mobile app for the site will be able to re-size videos that they are watching on the site, by adjusting the square to fit horizontally or stretch vertically. This way it makes it more convenient for the content creators who might be filming a Snapchat or something else, to post content that can be viewed in more customized ways so that the viewer can enjoy it.
Another change that will happen for the US customers in a few weeks, will be how people can go about sharing their favorite videos on the site. Instead of clicking the share button now like they do, it'll instead be fashioned similar to Instagram's where users can privately send and share a video with friends or someone in a private message, rather than post onto just a site.
Pics:
Pixabay
Social Blade/BI Intelligence via Business Insider
Marketingland
Sources:
https://www.cnet.com/news/youtube-hopes-to-hook-you-with-180-degree-videos/
http://www.marketingdive.com/news/youtube-still-has-a-brand-safety-problem/444752/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/facebook-google-extremist-videos-advertising-money-isis-kkk-a7802516.html
https://youtube.googleblog.com/2017/06/the-world-as-you-see-it-with-vr180.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-stars-viewership-is-dropping-2016-12
http://marketingland.com/youtube-tops-1-5-billion-logged-viewers-every-month-218233