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YouTube’s decaying user experience has a more significant role to play in piracy than ad blocking

It’s always the innocent civilian who is the casualty of any war. It would be unfair to say that YouTube’s crusade against third-party apps has quite the gravity of war. However, the fact of the matter is that, once again, it is the customers who are caught in the crossfire of the company’s relentless pursuit to thwart third-party apps. Something’s got to give.

Recently, YouTube stated that it would strengthen its enforcement against apps that help users circumvent ads, circling us right back to YouTube’s other unwinnable war, its war against ad blockers. However, there’s a fallacy in YouTube’s understanding of the issue. Ad-blocking is just one feature offered by third-party YouTube apps and doesn’t necessarily even require another app. These alternative YouTube apps open up a world of quality-of-life additions that YouTube has either decided to remove or wasn’t thoughtful enough to include in the first place. And avid YouTube enthusiasts aren’t about to give up on these incredible features in the face of the company’s threats.

Ad-blocking is just one reason to install a third-party YouTube app

YouTube’s cheapening of the user experience has a larger role to play

Understanding YouTube’s ham-fisted approach against third-party apps requires understanding why people care enough to jump through loopholes to sideload these apps. It would be fairly trivial to point at ads as the singular problem with YouTube. However, that would be trivializing the extent of the issue. Ads have almost always been part and parcel of the YouTube experience. However, there’s a point at which ads become so frequent, so irrelevant, and so relentless that they start hurting the user experience. We’ve been past that point for a while now.

Scour community forums like Reddit, and you’ll spot user complaints about people having to sit through back-to-back ads after watching a single video. The other day, I had to sit through three 30-second long ads, two seemingly unskippable, to watch a minute-long video. That’s ridiculous. YouTube’s sneaky methods of hiding away skip buttons add to the menace.

But that’s not all there is to it. YouTube’s entire user experience has been going downhill for years. Pop open the app, and you’ll be bombarded by utterly unrelated content that has nothing to do with what you’ve been watching. Whatever happened to personalization, YouTube? The issue isn’t recent, either. By all estimates, the tipping point was somewhere around 2016. However, it’s just been getting worse. I don’t see a correlation between stand-up comedy and an account that only follows engineering and history documentaries, but perhaps I’m missing something.

Moreover, those unrelated recommendations have completely taken over my subscriptions. Unless I deep dive into the subscriptions tab, the app won’t show me all the new content that creators I follow have been putting out. There used to be a time when I’d pop into an exciting video and be taken down a rabbit hole of related videos I could binge through the night. That time has gone and has been gone for a while now.

Unfortunately, I wish solid recommendations, or the lack thereof, were the last of my concerns. It’s not, and the mobile app’s degradation has almost put me off watching YouTube on my phone. As I write this piece, my homepage consists of a sponsored ad for a television show in a language I don’t understand. This is followed by a 2 x 4 grid of YouTube Shorts with content unrelated to my subscriptions and watch history. Perhaps there’s a missing connection between Bollywood dance and Czechoslovakia’s Socialist history, but I fail to see it. Stay put because it doesn’t end there. You’ll also find a few more ads and occasionally an entire section dedicated to YouTube Music. Sigh. It really shouldn’t come as a surprise to Google that users are starting to retaliate.

Elsewhere, the app keeps making watching high-quality videos more complicated. My data limit is high enough that I don’t need to micromanage YouTube’s data consumption. If I’ve set it to high-quality playback, I want it to be the case for all the videos I watch. Except, that isn’t the case. Repeatedly, the app swaps out the high-quality stream for a mobile-optimized option.

Third-party apps offer a better YouTube experience than YouTube itself

Sometimes, Less is more

Based on the company’s statements, it’s clear that Google thinks third-party apps exist to remove ads. Sure, that might be the case for a significant number of users. However, these apps also add quality of life additions — A concept that is alien to the company. Dislikes? Who needs them? Right?

Third-party apps let users take control of their feeds. Apps like Revanced let you remove shorts from your home feed, get rid of obtrusive end screen cards, or do things like repeat a particular video — a must-have if you have a go-to focus music track.

Elsewhere, tools like SponsorBlock are a godsend for scrubbing past annoying sponsored segments within a video. This is not content that Google can monetize and should have no issue with. I won’t go into the ethics of supporting a creator you like. My gripes tend to be with creators who agree to partner with unscrupulous companies for a quick buck. But that’s a debate for another day.

YouTube vs. Third-party apps: A cat and mouse game

Third-party apps aren’t going anywhere

YouTube app showing ads

I have little hope that the collective protests of YouTube enthusiasts will change the company’s stance. As video consumption grows multifold year-on-year, Google has a business to run, and ads are its business, not entertainment. It wants you to watch more videos, any videos. Pushing clickbait and conspiracy theories is bound to pique the curiosity of most of us. Similarly, the push to bring podcasts to YouTube is driven by the desire for a consolidated user base to monetize through ads. And it’ll do everything it can to boost engagement over usability. Any additional tap, accidental even, is worth it. It’s pure speculation on my end, but I think it would be fair to say that YouTube’s UX focuses on making the experience annoying enough that users will eventually be compelled to pay for YouTube Premium.

The Android Police team dive into YouTube Premium and whether the benefit of YouTube Music is worth the cost to remove ads

But here’s where YouTube is mistaken — third-party apps aren’t going anywhere. Developers erring on the rebellious side of the internet tend to have a dog-headed approach. The recent example of Nintendo striking down emulators shows that, like the proverbial Hydra, if you chop off one head, another head, or in this case, fork, is bound to pop up. The more Google pushes back, the more developers are bound to double down on their efforts. It might take longer for devs to circumvent some restrictions, but I don’t see any scenario where third-party YouTube apps won’t exist.

YouTube’s monopoly on video streaming guarantees that we haven’t seen the last of this cat-and-mouse game. Google’s “Don’t be evil” days might be behind it, but it would do well to take a step back on pursuing alternative app developers and focus more on improving its core user experience. It only makes it look more evil.

By Dhruv Bhutani

Dhruv Bhutani has been writing about consumer technology since 2008. He brings extensive insights into the Android smartphone landscape, which he translates into features and opinion pieces.

Sourced from Android Police

By Katie DeWitt

If you’re curious about the differences between YouTube vs. Rumble – such as which will bring you the most ad revenue as a video content creator, you should definitely keep reading! In this comparison breakdown, we’ll discuss:

  • The pros and cons of the two platforms
  • Comparisons of ad revenue
  • Audience size
  • User interface
  • And more

So, let’s determine which online video-sharing platform will be best for you as a creator in the online video industry.

YOUTUBE VS. RUMBLE: COMPARING AD REVENUE

The main difference between Rumble and YouTube is how they monetize their content. This dramatically impacts potential earnings for creators. We compare Rumble vs. YouTube advertising revenue below.

YOUTUBE MONETIZATION

YouTube’s Partner Program is how creators monetize their content and earn money on the platform. Unlike Rumble, YouTube has video monetization requirements creators must meet before they can start earning money.

Before they will pay creators, YouTube makes their creators make and share videos without earning money from the ads they place in their videos. YouTube can place ads on your videos without you even being eligible for monetization. This is a point of contention for some creators.

Monetization requirements for joining the YouTube Partner Program include having:

  • 1,000 subscribers
  • 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days

Reaching 1,000 subscribers is the main hurdle creators face when trying to achieve YouTube monetization. This requirement sometimes deters new creators from continuing with this endeavour. Learning how to increase YouTube subscribers is a key part of creators’ journeys on the path to start earning money from their quality content.

Between the two platforms, YouTube has more monetization requirements than Rumble.

YOUTUBE PARTNER PROGRAM

So, how does YouTube pay its creators?

The YouTube Partner Program will pay creators based on a revenue-sharing model.

Ads are served on your video content, and creators earn a percentage of the ad revenue. This monetization method means you could earn a lot of money as your videos gain popularity. After you start monetizing, earning YouTube passive income is a great way to earn more money as a creator.

RUMBLE MONETIZATION OPTIONS

When learning how to make money on Rumble, creators are often surprised at the monetization options that are readily available to them.

Unlike YouTube, Rumble offers immediate monetization options for its creators. It doesn’t have subscriber or watch time requirements. Having this ability to immediately start monetizing your videos gives Rumble an advantage that other platforms don’t have.

Monetization opportunities are instantly available for Rumble creators.

You can earn money in several ways as part of the Rumble Partner Program. These include:

  • Rumble Player Revenue: Rumble also offers a revenue share model for its creators. Videos on Rumble earn money based on engagement, not only views. Creators will earn money based on comments, likes, shares, views, and more. The overall engagement on your video plays into the share of the advertising revenue you will receive.
  • Video Licensing Deals: Creators can also increase their earnings by receiving video licensing deals. If a third party licenses your videos, you earn a percentage of the licensing fee. Fees are based on the terms discussed in each licensing agreement.
  • Platform Partnerships: Rumble partners with other high-traffic websites and large companies, including Yahoo, Xbox, MSN, and more. When your videos are syndicated through these platforms, creators will earn a percentage of the revenue from these deals.
  • YouTube Monetization: That’s right, Rumble has a channel on YouTube. Rumble will feature its creators on their YouTube channel. If your videos are featured, you will earn a cut from the ad revenue your video generated.

While YouTube monetization is limited to revenue share, Rumble offers its creators many more options. The additional monetization opportunities also present unique options for creators to feel like they have full control over their income streams.

When deciding between Rumble and YouTube, their vastly different monetization methods are the main factors to consider. The additional effort in reaching 1,000 subscribers can pay off in the long run for successful YouTube creators. But, the hard work required to reach 1,000 subscribers can feel daunting.

What are the Rumble and YouTube differences when it comes to user experience?

YOUTUBE USER EXPERIENCE

Since the platform has been around since 2005, many of its users have been consuming content on the platform for a very long time.

It’s undeniable that YouTube has played a key role throughout the history of vlogging. For many people with a free account, YouTube is the video platform where they watch a variety of videos during both their childhood and adulthood.

This storied history means many users already have a deep familiarity and comfort with the platform. Going to YouTube’s website to watch video content is likely second nature to many people. On the other hand, migrating to a new platform like Rumble can take a mindset shift for viewers.

Combined with a user interface that’s easy to navigate, YouTube offers a user-friendly experience.

Additionally, YouTube offers faster server speeds than Rumble. With such a powerhouse parent company (Google), it’s nearly impossible to beat YouTube’s server speeds.

ADDITIONAL SOCIAL OPTIONS

YouTube also offers other ways for creators to connect with their audiences. Additional social aspects of the platform include:

  • Shorts: An alternative to TikTok, YouTube Shorts are 60-second videos designed to drive traffic to your long-form videos.
  • Posts: Creators can post short-form content and pictures directly to their subscribers. This feature is great for teasing upcoming content, alerting subscribers to new videos, and making channel announcements.

These additional features give creators unique ways to drive more traffic to their videos and easily communicate with their subscribers.

RUMBLE USER EXPERIENCE

Rumble also offers a user-friendly experience for its creators and viewers.

Watching videos on Rumble and YouTube is a very similar experience. The user interface appears to be almost the same as YouTube. The YouTube similarities are striking.

Additionally, Rumble operates on their own server. While this does translate to slower server speeds, they can still provide a great user experience when hosting live streams. This is imperative for gamers and other types of influencers. If live streams are a major part of your content strategy, Rumble could be a great platform for you to try.

Rumble also takes additional measures to help creators target their audience. This includes customized tags and a streamlined process to upload videos. If audience targeting and an easy upload process are important to you, Rumble could be your platform.

YOUTUBE VS. RUMBLE: COMPARING AUDIENCES

How do audience size and engagement compare Rumble and YouTube? This is a major part of deciding which platform to upload videos to and spend your precious time on.

AUDIENCES ON YOUTUBE

One of the key differences when comparing YouTube vs Rumble is the audience size on each video platform. When you look at the most visited websites worldwide, YouTube consistently ranks in the top two positions.

YouTube has a vast user base with billions of users on its video platform. When comparing YouTube vs Rumble, YouTube remains superior regarding user base size and monthly active users.

VIEWERSHIP ON RUMBLE

Rumble has a significantly smaller user base than YouTube. However, this can entice new creators because they can grow on the platform. After all, it becomes too big. The earlier you join new video platforms. You can become one of those larger creators because there’s less competition.

The platform’s main goal is to lift up smaller and newer creators with an edgy or alternative viewpoint. The platform likes content that goes against mainstream opinions and views. This can potentially translate into a viewership that’s looking for a specific type of content that may or may not align with what you’re creating.

One of the best parts of Rumble being a newer platform is that you can upload your existing YouTube content and earn money immediately. If you want to earn more money as a creator, this is a great option.

COMPARING THE PROS AND CONS OF RUMBLE VS. YOUTUBE

We break down the key differences to consider when comparing Rumble vs. YouTube below.

YOUTUBE PROS AND CONS

PROS:

  • YouTube is one of the most visited websites in the world, so it offers a huge user base that large and small creators alike can tap into. YouTube has a significantly wider audience compared to Rumble.
  • YouTube offers a diverse range of content in its vast video library. Just how many videos are on YouTube? There’s so much content to choose from, including video essays, travel vlogs, tutorials, and so much more. Smaller channels can take advantage of the specific niches available to them.
  • YouTube offers a user-friendly experience that is easy to navigate. You don’t have to be highly experienced in video software to use the platform. YouTube also offers unmatched server speeds that are faster than Rumble’s.

 

CONS:

    • The downside to having a wider audience on YouTube is that it also means it’s more competitive as a content creator. You have to fight for attention against so many other creators and a large library of content for them to choose from.
    • Achieving YouTube monetization can feel like a difficult task to accomplish. They have strict monetization requirements that video creators must meet before earning money from the platform.
    • YouTube’s algorithm appears to prioritize larger channels in search results. This makes it harder for newer channels to receive organic search traffic from initial videos.
    • Some creators report being demonetized, receiving copyright claims, or even being banned from the platform entirely. YouTube’s policies allow them to demonetize and delete videos at their discretion without providing a reason.

RUMBLE PROS AND CONS

PROS:

  • The biggest pro to posting video content to Rumble is that the platform offers immediate monetization. Rumble also provides various options for monetization in addition to revenue share. Options include licensing, platform partnerships, and YouTube revenue.
  • Founded on promoting small creators, Rumble’s algorithm appears to promote small and large creators equally in organic search results. Between Rumble and YouTube, Rumble offers an alternative approach that can be beneficial to new vloggers.
  • Rumble offers security to its users by taking a strong stance against copyright infringement claims. Theoretically, being demonetized or banned from the platform is significantly less likely.
  • Rumble promotes itself as a safe haven for free speech, alternative viewpoints, and creators that go against the status quo.

 

CONS:

  • Rumble has a significantly smaller number of users compared to YouTube. Additionally, their alternative audience might not be your target audience. Due to its edgier reputation, your audience might not be spending time on Rumble yet.
  • As the Rumble platform continues to grow, the algorithm will most likely evolve over time. And this potential evolution brings a lot of unknowns.
  • Rumble has a slower server speed when compared to YouTube.

RUMBLE VS. YOUTUBE IN CONCLUSION

Ultimately, choosing between Rumble vs. YouTube comes down to your goals for your video content. Now that you have a breakdown of the differences and pros and cons, you can make an informed decision for your own channel.

By Katie DeWitt

Sourced from Niche Pursuits

BY REUTERS

A CCDH found that 70% of climate denial content focused on attacking climate solutions as unworkable.

YouTube is making millions of dollars a year from advertising on channels that make false claims about climate change because content creators are using new tactics that evade the social media platform’s policies to combat misinformation, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) used artificial intelligence to review transcripts from 12,058 videos from the past six years on 96 of Alphabet’s YouTube channels. The channels promoted content that undermines the scientific consensus on climate change that human behaviour is contributing to long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns, the report said.

CCDH, a non-profit that monitors online hate speech, said its analysis found that climate denial content has shifted away from false claims that global warming is not happening or that it is not caused by greenhouse gases produced from burning fossil fuels. Videos espousing such claims are explicitly banned from generating ad revenue on YouTube, according to Google’s policy.

Instead, the report found that, last year, 70% of climate denial content on the channels analysed focused on attacking climate solutions as unworkable, portraying global warming as harmless or beneficial, or casting climate science and the environmental movement as unreliable. That’s up from 35% five years earlier.

“A new front has opened up in this battle,” Imran Ahmed, chief executive of CCDH, said on a call with reporters. “The people that we’ve been looking at, they’ve gone from saying climate change isn’t happening to now saying, ‘Hey, climate change is happening, but there is no hope. There are no solutions.’”

YouTube is making up to $13.4 million a year from ads on the channels that the report analysed, CCDH said. The group said the AI model was crafted to be able to distinguish between reasonable scepticism and false information.

In a statement, YouTube did not comment directly on the report but defended its policies. ”Debate or discussions of climate change topics, including around public policy or research, is allowed,” a YouTube spokesperson said. “However, when content crosses the line to climate change denial, we stop showing ads on those videos.”

CCDH called on YouTube to update its policy on climate denial content and said the analysis could assist the environmental movement to combat false claims about global warming more broadly.

Feature Image Credit: Dado Ruvic/Reuters

BY REUTERS

Sourced from Fast Company

By

The American Dream has always been about chasing success and making a better life for yourself and your loved ones.

And these days, it seems that many people are chasing the dream of making money on YouTube and becoming a successful YouTuber.

YouTube can be a lucrative platform for creators, with many YouTubers earning significant amounts of money from their channels.

Mr. Beast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is practically a household name YouTuber who has made tens of millions of dollars from his YouTube presence. Examples of other successful YouTubers who have made significant earnings include PewDiePie, who reportedly earned $15 million in 2019; Shane Dawson, who earned $30 million in 2019; and Ryan Kaji, who earned $26 million in 2020. Some lifestyle YouTubers are making over $10,000 a month building meaningful content on their channels.

Additionally, there are several case studies that demonstrate how much money can be made from YouTube. For example, the channel “Casey Neistat” had over 10 million subscribers and was able to earn over $12 million in a year just from YouTube ads, sponsorships and merchandise. Another example is Jenna Marbles, who has made over $30 million from her videos alone, plus additional revenue from merchandise and sponsorships.

These examples show that it is possible to make significant amounts of money from YouTube through advertising, sponsorships, and merchandise sales.

How are people using AI to make money on YouTube?

With the help of AI, the dream of making money on YouTube and becoming a successful YouTuber is becoming more accessible than ever before.

There are many AI tools that can help you create and publish videos designed to go viral, optimizing video content for maximum engagement, monetize video content through affiliate links and identify influencers who can promote your products or services to a large audience. AI can also automate the creation of video content and predict which video content will be successful, saving you time and increasing the efficiency of your video production process.

So, if you have always dreamed of making a living by creating and sharing videos on YouTube, now is the time to chase that dream with the help of AI.

It’s worth noting that YouTubers can greatly increase their revenue depending on the niche, audience, and engagement. Some niches are more valuable than others. For example, the ad earnings for a channel focused on personal finance or cooking might be more than one focused on video games or general sports news.

However, with the help of AI, creators can optimize their content, monetize their channel and use predictive analytics to make informed decisions about their content and strategies. Overall, YouTube can be a highly profitable platform for creators, but it requires a significant investment of time and effort to build a large and engaged audience.

There are several ways that people are using AI to focus on maximizing their earnings on YouTube.

Creating and publishing original video ideas

Original content is important on YouTube. To monetize, your video must be fully original and not plagiarize. This starts with the building blocks for your video, the script. You can use AI to generate the script and narration for your videos, which can be used to create viral videos that are designed to capture the attention of your audience.

For an 8-minute long video – the sweet spot for monetization – you can use these tools to help create a script that’s about 2000 words

Actionable example: Use WriteSonic, Jasper , or Rytr to write a voice over script for your YouTube videos. 

Text-to-speech

AI-powered text-to-speech tools can help you generate the script and narration for your videos. These tools can use natural language processing to create human-like speech, making it easier to create engaging and high-quality videos.

One way AI can help is by using natural language processing (NLP) to generate scripts that are engaging and high-quality. This can be done by using AI-powered text-to-speech tools, which can generate scripts by analysing large amounts of data and identifying patterns in language.

Additionally, by analysing the performance of their videos, AI can help YouTubers optimize the script by identifying which elements of the script are more likely to engage the viewers, such as the tone, the pacing, the humour and the emotional appeals.

Actionable example: Use Synthesia or Murf AI to create an audio file of your script to use as a voiceover in your YouTube videos. 

Optimizing video content

The most time consuming part of making YouTube videos is the editing process. Simply put, you can rush perfection. You can use AI to analyse the performance of your videos and make adjustments to improve their reach and engagement. This can help increase the number of views and likes on your videos, which can lead to more monetization opportunities.

Actionable example: Use In Video to make your video more visually engaging. Use Designs.AI to optimize the visual assets of your channels. Use Glasp to highlight key information in your YouTube videos for compelling summaries and descriptions. 

Monetizing video content

You can use AI to identify products or services that would be relevant to your audience and then include affiliate links in your videos. This can help you earn money by promoting other people’s products or services to your audience.

Actionable example: Use ChatGTP to generate affiliate and sponsorship ideas. Use Surfer SEO to optimize search traffic for your video. 

Automating content creation

You can use AI to automate the creation of video content, such as by using AI to generate captions, thumbnails, and titles for your videos. This can help save time and increase the efficiency of your video production process.

If you’re looking for innovative ways to generate AI-based images, Shutterstock just launched an AI feature in their Creative Flow online design platform. Harnessing the power of OpenAI and Dall-E 2, subscribers can create images based on text prompts.

Example: Use Pictory or Synthesia to make AI generated videos from text or Cutout.Pro to make compelling thumbnails for your videos. 

Influencer marketing

You can use AI to identify influencers in your niche who can promote your products or services to a large audience. This can help increase your reach and bring more customers to your business.

Actionable example: Use ChatGTP to brainstorm strategic influencers – both macro and micro – on a video topic. 

Predictive analytics

Prediction engines help creators understand how a video might perform based on previous success. You can use AI to predict which video content will be successful and which won’t, and to optimize your video content accordingly. This can help increase the chances that a larger audience will see your videos, resulting in more monetization opportunities.

Actionable example: Use vidIQ to identify and optimize your YouTube channel to grow your viewership and audience.

Feature Image Credit: Kaspars Grinvalds / Shutterstock.com

By

Contributing editor at Wealth Gang. An entrepreneur at heart, he’s passionate about meaningful ways to leverage technology and social media for business opportunities and side hustles.

Sourced from WEALTHGANG

By Peter Suciu

YouTube is running an adblocker that will greet users with a pop-up alert, warning that such apps aren’t allowed. Those users will be asked to either allow the ads or choose a paid subscription.

Currently, just closing the alert will allow the video to continue, but it is expected that soon anyone running adblockers won’t be able to watch videos on the platform.

“Adblockers are not allowed on YouTube. You can go ad-free with YouTube Premium, and creators can still get paid from your subscription,” the warning noted.

The video-sharing service first started testing the feature in June, and the company has said that ads are necessary to support its community of creators.

“Ads support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favourite content on YouTube,” the Google-owned company said in a statement this week.

Swift Backlash

YouTube’s decision to issue the warning has upset a number of users, who have voiced their frustration on social media—with some suggesting they’d ditch the video service before accepting the ads. However, given that there is the premium option, it would seem that may be a short-sighted view to take—especially given that ads do, as YouTube noted, support smaller creators.

“People have gotten accustomed to ‘free’ on the Internet, so change is always difficult,” Susan Schreiner, technology analyst at C4 Trends said. “Creators, writers and others deserve to be compensated and as platforms experiment with new revenue models—it also seems the era of ‘free’ is coming to an end. Just consider that content creators and the platform make most of its revenue from ads and people using ad blockers prevent them from being compensated and making money.”

Enticing Users To Go Premium

This move by YouTube could also be a way to further promote its ad-free premium option.

“It also seems like YouTube might be experimenting with a new business model with its YouTube Premium,” Schreiner added . “At $13.99 per month, it’s positioned as a practical choice that streamlines one’s viewing experience as well as ensuring uninterrupted and gratifying content consumption.”

Many of the video streaming services have had to raise their subscriptions, but YouTube has long been a platform where users have enjoyed the free option.

“In these times when there is a movement away from ‘free’ as a premium service—there’s a shift towards the onus being on the consumer and forcing the user to make choices,” said Schreiner. “Is it worth it to subscribe to YouTube Premium? If the user relies on YouTube for their entertainment than comparatively it might be a good value since it also includes features such as unlimited daily use, background play for multitasking, seamless cross-device experiences and ad-free viewing.”

However, based on the responses on social media this week, warning users that the adblockers simply aren’t allowed, perhaps wasn’t the best way this could be handled.

“This is a coercive move by Google to force people to pay for an ad-free experience on YouTube or accept the ads and the corresponding targeting and tracking. If you look at this in a privacy context, Google and others are now trying to force people to pay for privacy—see Meta in Europe. In a purely advertising vein, Google doesn’t want to leave any money on the table. It’s less about supporting creators than maintaining ad-revenue growth,” suggested social media analyst Greg Sterling, co-founder of Near Media.

In other words, users can pay, allow ads or simply quit using YouTube.

“There are unfortunately no other options,” Sterling continued. “Nothing online, it seems, is free anymore.”

It is also likely consumers may need to reassess their streaming subscriptions, and choose to retain those that enhance their entertainment experience.

Feature Image Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images

By Peter Suciu

Follow me on Twitter.

I am a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. I covered the Detroit bankruptcy for Reuters in 2014, and I currently cover international affairs for 19FortyFive and cybersecurity for ClearanceJobs.

Sourced from Forbes

By Sarah Cha

Wondering when is the best time to post on YouTube?

Being on Youtube is competitive, and you want to make sure your content reaches your target audience at the best possible time.

Whether you’re a vlogger, a business, or an educator, understanding the secret sauce of timing can transform your channel.

But how do you find out the best time for your channel?

Sit tight, and follow this guide!

Does Posting Time Matter on Youtube?

When we think about content creation on YouTube, we often pay attention to video quality, script, editing, thumbnail design, and, of course, the actual content.

Yet, there’s an aspect we often overlook: the time we post.

YouTube, much like any other social media platform, has peak hours.

These are times when most users are actively engaging with content. Posting during these hours means your video has a higher chance of being seen, liked, commented on, and shared.

Imagine you’ve just created a masterpiece of a video, one that you’re convinced could go viral. But you upload it at 3 am, when the majority of your potential viewers are fast asleep.

By the time they wake up and log in, your video, now several hours old, may have been pushed down their feed by fresher content.

The result? Your masterpiece goes unnoticed.

Now, let’s flip the script.

Say you upload the same video at a time when your audience is most likely to be active on YouTube.

Your video is fresh on their feed, capturing their attention. They click, watch, engage, and share. Your content gets the attention it deserves, all because you hit the ‘upload’ button at the right time.

But in a way, YouTube is different from all other social platforms. How so?

While social media platforms like Instagram or Twitter prioritize recency, YouTube’s algorithm is more focused on viewer engagement.

Instead of prioritizing the newest content, it surfaces videos that viewers are likely to watch through to the end.

In other words, how well your video resonates with your audience matters more than when you posted it.

So if YouTube’s algorithm isn’t all about recency, does posting time even matter?

There’s been plenty of debate around this question. Some creators insist on the significance of timing, while others shrug it off as a minor detail.

Here’s the deal… while timing isn’t the be-all and end-all of YouTube success, it does play a role.

Consider the concept of virality.

The likelihood of a video going viral increases dramatically during the first few hours after it’s posted. This is when your subscribers will receive notifications and your video will have its first shot at the ‘Trending’ page.

If you post when most of your viewers are active, you’ve got a better chance at those initial views, shares, and comments that can catapult your video into the viral stratosphere.

But if you don’t post when your viewers are most active, you reduce your chances of success.

By how much? That depends.

The point is, if you’re looking to optimize your Youtube strategy, timing is certainly a worthwhile factor to keep in mind!

Identifying the Best Times to Post on YouTube

Now, let’s get to the nitty-gritty. When is the best time to post on YouTube?

General wisdom suggests:

  • Weekdays during working hours (specifically Tuesday through Thursday, between 2 PM to 4 PM) when people are looking for a quick break from their tasks is a good time for Youtube posting.
  • Weekends (between 10 AM to 11 AM) are also great, because that’s when viewers are likely enjoying a more leisurely morning and have more time to engage with content.

But remember, these are just general guidelines.

What matters most is when your audience is online.

But when is that?

How to Find YOUR Best Time to Post on YouTube

Want to figure out the optimal time to post for your specific audience? YouTube analytics is your new best friend. Here’s a quick guide on how to use it:

  • Sign in to YouTube Studio and click on the ‘Analytics’ tab on the left menu.
  • In the ‘Overview’ section, you will see a graph of how many views you’ve gotten in the past 28 days.
  • Click over to the ‘Audience’ to the right of the Overview section, and scroll down. You will see a section called “When your viewers are on Youtube” that features a purple heat map. This heat map shows when your viewers are most active on the platform. The darker the colour, the more viewers are online at that time.

Don’t feel like crunching numbers? TubeBuddy, a YouTube-certified management tool, can do the work for you.

It offers a ‘Best Time to Publish’ feature that analyzes your channel’s data and suggests the best time to post for maximum engagement.

If you have Tubebuddy installed, this recommendation will show up right under “When your viewers are on YouTube” in your Analytics dashboard.

And you can use TubeBuddy for more than just data analysis.

It’s also an excellent tool for keyword research, productivity, and bulk processing. It’s particularly handy when you’re trying to gauge the best time to post on YouTube.

Once installed, TubeBuddy presents a ‘Best Time to Publish’ option in the main menu.

Selecting this feature includes a detailed chart displaying your subscribers’ active times throughout the week.

It also offers specific recommended upload times for each day. How neat is that?

But one thing to keep in mind…

Your channel needs to be fairly active, with enough activity for Youtube or Tubebuddy to crunch the numbers for you.

If you are a brand new channel with no viewers or very few viewers, you’ll have to wait until you accumulate more viewer data in order for Youtube and Tubebuddy to give you their reports.

Fine-Tuning Your YouTube Schedule

Remember, YouTube Analytics and TubeBuddy’s heat maps and recommendations are just that: Recommendations.

Don’t take it as an ironclad rule that you MUST post when they indicate. Instead, you need to figure out what actually works for you in real life through trial and error.

You need to post videos at different times and observe when they get the most traction.

For instance, you might try posting at 2 pm one week, then 5 pm the next, and perhaps 8 pm the week after.

Monitor the views, likes, comments, and shares each video garners. Note any patterns or spikes in engagement.

Do you get more views when you post in the afternoon or the evening? Do likes and comments surge when you post on a Wednesday compared to a Friday?

And remember that YouTube’s algorithm favours channels that keep viewers on the platform for longer. So, consistent posting and engagement with your audience is important.

A consistent schedule not only helps to establish a routine with your viewers but also sends positive signals to YouTube’s algorithm, potentially boosting your videos’ visibility.

Now, bear in mind, this isn’t a one-and-done deal.

The beauty (and sometimes, the challenge) of social media is that it’s always changing.

Seasons change, school years start and end, global events shift our daily routines — all these factors can impact your audience’s behaviour on YouTube.

To stay ahead, you’ll need to keep testing and tracking, tweaking your schedule as necessary.

While it may seem like a lot of work, this process has a significant payoff.

By aligning your posting schedule with your audience’s habits, you ensure that your videos get maximum exposure, leading to higher engagement and more substantial growth for your channel.

And remember to be kind to yourself. You’re not going to get everything right straight away. That’s why it’s crucial to keep testing different posting times, tracking your results, and adjusting accordingly.

Make testing and tracking a permanent part of your overall Youtube strategy, and that will go a long way into maintaining and growing your Youtube channel!

Why Posting Consistency Matters

Let’s take a moment to reemphasize the importance of consistency.

Think of your YouTube channel like a TV show. If your viewers know a new episode comes out every Wednesday at 6 PM, they’re more likely to tune in at that time each week.

Consistency does more than just build viewer habits, though.

It also positively impacts how YouTube’s algorithm perceives and promotes your channel. By consistently posting quality content that engages your audience, you show YouTube that your channel is active and valuable to viewers.

Besides, maintaining a regular schedule can help you avoid the worst times to post. If you’re always posting at consistent times, you’re less likely to post during those low-engagement periods.

It’s a win-win.

In the end, understanding the ins and outs of YouTube posting times is about more than just following general guidelines.

It’s about knowing your audience, experimenting with different strategies, and making use of the analytics tools available to you.

Unlocking the Best Time to Post on YouTube

Now you know how to decode the best times to post.

It’s not a one-time deal, but a continual process. And of course, it can be tricky to keep track of your analytics while keeping your content top-notch.

But remember, the power is in your hands. You’ve got the insights now.

With the knowledge you’ve gained, you’re ready to transform your channel and send your engagement rates through the roof.

Ready to conquer YouTube? Make this your year of unprecedented growth!

By Sarah Cha

Sarah Cha is an avid writer, reader, and lifelong learner who loves making magic behind-the-scenes at Smart Blogger. When she’s not wrangling words onto a screen or page, you can find her strumming a guitar, tickling a canvas, or playing fetch with her favourite four-footed friend!

Sourced from SmartBlogger

By Jess Weatherbed

The longer commercials will appear in place of two consecutive 15-second ads. The company will also show ads when you pause videos.

Watching YouTube on your TV is about to get more frustrating if you’re not paying to avoid ads. As announced at the YouTube Brandcast event on Wednesday, YouTube will soon add 30-second unskippable ads to top-performing content watched on connected TVs.

YouTube says viewers will see a single 30-second ad instead of two consecutive 15-second ads, though that doesn’t mean that those shorter ads will be disappearing entirely. 30-second ads will be available to advertisers via YouTube Select, a curated advertising platform that targets the top five percent of YouTube content. YouTube claims 70 percent of YouTube Select impressions come from TVs, making it the ideal platform for longer ads.

YouTube is also testing ads that will appear on paused videos

“More and more, viewers are tuning into YouTube on the biggest screen in their home,” said YouTube CEO Neal Mohan during the Brandcast event (seen via Variety). “Viewers — especially younger viewers — no longer make a distinction between the kind of content they’re watching.”

YouTube also announced that it will start testing ads that appear when the viewer pauses a video on a connected TV. It’s similar to the pause ad feature rolled out by Hulu a few years back, and has been dubbed “pause experiences” by YouTube. Judging by the example image published by AdWeek, YouTube’s pause ads will appear as a banner around the video and can be removed by selecting the “dismiss” button.

A screenshot of a YouTube video with an example of a YouTube pause ad overlayed around it.
The paused video will shrink down to accomodate the banner-style pause ads, but at least they can be dismissed.Image: YouTube (via AdWeek)

YouTube hasn’t mentioned when either of these changes — 30-second unskippable ads and pause ads — will be rolling out, but we’ve reached out for detail and will update if we hear back.

Yesterday’s announcements follow a recent crackdown on ad blockers by the video hosting platform. Last week, YouTube revealed that it’s experimenting with pop-up messages that state “Ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube,” encouraging viewers to instead subscribe to YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience.

Feature Image Credit: Alex Castro / The Verge

By Jess Weatherbed

Sourced from The Verge

YouTube and TikTok are plagued with 20-something “passive income” bros who want your attention — and your money.

Sebastian Ghiorghiu hates excuses. He’s only 24, yet runs a “seven-figure marketing agency.” He owns multiple “dream cars” and is currently building his “luxury dream house” in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ghiorghiu is productive, he says, for 98 percent of every day. He went from “skinny fat” to “jacked.” He believes in God. He was born to a poor family who immigrated from Romania and got rich simply because he decided to. If he could do it, why can’t you?

“If you’re a guy in your 20s and you don’t have a Lamborghini, you should actually sit down and have, like, a serious discussion with yourself as to why you don’t have a Lambo,” he said on a podcast in January. “It is so incredibly easy, and there’s so much money out there.”

He’s right, at least on the last bit. There really is so much money out there, and Ghiorghiu is just one of countless influencers online who are devoted to teaching other men how to get a piece of it. These self-anointed gurus often share interests — sports cars, wristwatches, combat sports, strict diets, rocket ship emoji, lengthy Twitter threads, Sun Belt states with relatively low tax burdens — but tend to make their millions in a few different ways. For Ghiorghiu, it was a combination of most, if not all, of the most common revenue streams for this class of entrepreneur: flipping houses and cars, selling online courses, crypto gambling, digital marketing, YouTube ads, and, crucially, drop shipping. (I reached out to Ghiorghiu for an interview but never heard back.)

 

Drop shipping, or the practice of purchasing cheap goods, usually from China, and selling them on a legitimate-seeming website for profit, is an industry valued at $225 billion, according to one report, and is expected to grow to $1.2 trillion by 2030. Framed as an easy way to earn “passive income” by YouTube influencers, the videos are often used as funnels for viewers to sign up for an influencer’s multi-thousand dollar online course that may or may not actually teach you anything; a casual scroll through drop shipping forums will reveal plenty of people who spent everything they had on Facebook and Google ads to market their products, only to rack up thousands in debt (or literal children asking about how to start their drop shipping business)

But according to Ghiorghiu and the other rich-guy lifestyle influencers like him — Alex Hormozi, Iman Gadzhi, Jordan Welch, Andrei Jikh, Max Maher, Brett Malinowski, Mike Vestil, Tan Choudhury, there are so many more — making passive income is as easy as watching a YouTube video. Many of them title their posts with some variation of “44 PASSIVE INCOME BUSINESS IDEAS TO START WITH JUST $1K” or “Watch these 55 minutes if you want to be a millionaire in 2022.” Watch hustle bro content for long enough and you’ll get the sense that you’re an idiot for never having flipped a rental property before or not starting your own AI marketing company (these guys are very into AI right now, for obvious reasons. A sampling of some recent YouTube headings: “7 Untapped AI Businesses to Start Right Now,” “I Found the EASIEST Way to Make $1000 with AI,” “Use AI to get ahead while others panic (PREPARE NOW)”). That’s sort of their whole thing, though: Any time or money you’re not using to make even more money is time wasted.

 

It’s easy to mock this worldview, which is as corny as it is unpleasant. A typical hustle bro meme might feature an image macro of Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort or Cillian Murphy as his character in Peaky Blinders alongside platitudes like “your network is your net worth” that promote the prioritization of money and self-improvement over relationships and free time. Several popular parody accounts, like the intentionally misspelled @entrapranure, skewer this corner of the influencer world, using terms like “sigma male grindset” as a shorthand for the movement at large.

The idolization of the hustle bro is arguably the masculine-coded version of what the writer Jia Tolentino describes as millennial women’s drive to “always be optimizing.” In short, it’s the feeling that our primary aim as people is to make our lives as effective and efficient as possible. For millennial women, an “optimized” life might look like athleisure, Sweetgreen, and barre class. Men, free from the feminine requirement of seeming as though they’ve barely even tried to look so perfect, but restricted by the delicate balance of posting to the internet while still seeming masculine, tend to be a lot more straightforward. Hustle gurus encourage their followers not only to become unfathomably wealthy, but also to maximize time spent “bettering themselves,” by which they often mean intense exercise routines, extreme restrictive diets, or refraining from porn and masturbation. They are inherently mistrustful of any institution or intellectual movement that is not solely about the pursuit of money and quantitative gain.

Who young get-rich-quick gurus really owe their popularity to, however, are the elder statesmen of motivational speakers: Tony Robbins, Grant Cardone, and Gary Vaynerchuk, who built fortunes telling other people how to replicate their own business successes. Like their younger counterparts, these men often espouse deep mistrust of higher education and government, encouraging followers to devote their time and money to learn how to market themselves and their entrepreneurial ventures. Sometimes, that can be exactly what people want to hear.

Steve Machuga, a 46-year-old veteran in Los Angeles, discovered Grant Cardone through Audible during a time when both his business and his marriage were crumbling. “I’m a big fan of taking responsibility for one’s own actions, because it gives you the ability to dig yourself out of any hole you’ve dug yourself into,” he says. “As opposed to ‘I got dealt a bad hand of cards, but that’s life.’ A lot of people, my ex-wife included, just live their lives like that.” Through Cardone, he discovered veterans-turned-motivational influencers like Jocko Willink and David Goggins, as well as Joe Rogan, whose messages encouraged him to re-launch his charity that helps veterans with mental health through gaming.

What he doesn’t love, however, are the younger generation of YouTube gurus who seem more interested in exploiting their followers with online courses to learn drop shipping or get-rich-quick schemes. “I don’t follow most of those 23-year-old tech bros and crypto kids,” he says. “I’m 46. It’s like, ‘Okay, 23-year-old, please tell me with all your vast experience of just having gotten out of high school a couple weeks ago, how you’re going to teach me how to live my life.’”

 

The problem is that it’s never been easier to seem like a billionaire business guru. Lambos can be rented, after all, and all it takes is a single viral video for potentially millions of people to believe you can help them get rich. Within the drop shipping community, for instance, it’s fairly common knowledge that the best time to get in the business was in the early 2010s, before the market became completely saturated. Nowadays, it’s too difficult to build up the kind of SEO needed to make your product populate the first page of Google, and Facebook ads aren’t seeing the same ROIs as they used to. But interest in drop shipping has only grown over the past decade, particularly within the past five years. Jarvis Johnson, a popular 30-year-old YouTuber and podcaster, blames at least part of this rise on TikTok, where it’s much easier to get seen by millions of people regardless of how many followers you have or SEO you’ve built up. In other words, it’s easy to go viral by casually mentioning the fact that you made a million dollars drop shipping, and hopefully convert those viewers into people who will pay you thousands of dollars for your “intro to drop shipping” online course. “It’s like if Mark Zuckerberg had one of those podcasts and was like, ‘Just start a social network!’ But nobody can replicate that, because the lane is closing,” he says.

Johnson understands the appeal of motivational influencers — he says he listened to a lot of Vaynerchuk when he was early in his tech career and felt like he wasn’t accomplishing enough — and especially the way that platforms like YouTube and TikTok make viewers feel like they can trust the person they’re looking at. “You have individuals pantomiming the billionaire playboy philanthropist attitude, which then becomes more attainable because you’ve combined that with the parasocial element,” he explains. “There are lots of young men who feel very aggrieved and under-cared for by the world, and here’s somebody who looks like he’s winning. But it’s all aesthetic.”

The claims of gurus like Ghiorghiu and other young YouTube millionaires are often vague and unsubstantiated. Recently the real estate YouTuber Anthony Vicino published a thorough (yet polite) debunking of many of the strategies used by these types, which include conflating different definitions of “millionaire,” using risky wins in crypto to prove their investing expertise, and implying that “anyone” can do what they did and get rich if they simply work hard enough (as Vicino points out: A lot of people work hard!).

 

The minutiae of Ghiorghiu’s claims are far less compelling than the fact that he’s a young, good-looking, and charismatic guy who seems to have it all. Whether or not his followers will bristle at some of his other opinions — that a man’s wife should not have male friends or work outside the home, that he would “have a hard time getting along with someone who was extremely overweight,” that there are only two genders, that men in their 20s who don’t own hundred-thousand-dollar sports cars are stupid — are practically besides the point (and who knows how much he really believes any of them or just says them for attention.) “People will say that I’m out of touch with reality,” he said in the infamous Lambo video, “and they can suck it.”

He’s still right about there being so much money in the world. But increasingly, that money is remaining in the hands of the ultra-wealthy. If you’re taking AI or drop shipping startup ideas from online videos with hundreds of thousands of views, you’ve already lost. This is a truth of media literacy, not business or science, and it’s a lot more difficult to learn than watching a YouTube video that basically amounts to “eight easy ways to lose your life savings.”

Feature Image Credit: Sebastian Ghiorghiu/YouTube

Rebecca Jennings is a senior correspondent covering social platforms, influencers, and the creator economy. She has reported on TikTok since its introduction to the US in 2018.

Sourced from VOX

By Damien Wilde

YouTube is to ease the rules surrounding the use of profanity in videos after introducing new stipulations in late 2022.

More advertiser-friendly content guidelines have been adjusted after a creator backlash in recent months. Under the previous rules, the usage of profanity within the opening 15-20 seconds of a YouTube video could result in demonetization or reduced monetization capabilities for content creators. This expanded to include videos with extensive usage of swearing and foul language. However, YouTube did not make it clear just what levels infringed upon the guidelines.

According to a new “Profanity Update” video uploaded to the Creator Insider channel, the previously introduced guidelines are being altered. Retroactive reviews of old content saw many channel content demonetized, but new rules are tuning things ever so slightly.

Profanity (for example, the f-word) used in the first 7 seconds or majority of the video may earn limited ad revenue rather than no ad revenue, as previously announced below. Usage of words like “bitch”, “douchebag”, “asshole” and “shit” in the video content is eligible for green icons.

Now, profanity such as the f-word used within the opening seven seconds of a video or the majority of a video “may earn limited ad revenue.” While the usage of lesser swear words is more likely to allow for full video monetization.

Profanity used in the first 8-15 seconds may now earn ad revenue. We’ve also clarified our guidance on how profanity in music is treated; strong profanity used in background music, backing tracks, intro/outro music may earn ad revenue.

Profanity used beyond the 15-second intro phase may be subject to other rules, but it’s not entirely clear just what has changed here with regard to the volume of swearing within YouTube content. For music, backing tracks and YouTube video intro/outros, profanity will be allowed and can be monetized.

Existing content that may have been demonetized under the previous rule change will be retroactively re-examined and the latest rule changes surrounding profanity will be applied accordingly. This change has already come into force from March 7 and when uploading videos to YouTube Studio, creators will now get a notification to explain the changes. Just how creators respond remains to be seen, but it’s yet another case of YouTube making changes after yet more backlash rather than involving the community in platform alterations.

By Damien Wilde

Sourced from 9TO5Google

By Aisha Malik

TikTok is testing a new horizontal full screen mode with select users globally, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Users who have access to the test feature will see a new “full screen” button appear on square or rectangle videos in their feed. Once you click the button, the video will shift into a horizontal full screen mode that takes advantage of all the real estate on your phone.

The test feature marks yet another way that TikTok is steadily inching into YouTube’s territory. Earlier this year, TikTok rolled out the ability for users to upload videos up to 10 minutes in length. The move was seen as a way for TikTok to attract the same sort of longer-form video creators who normally post content on YouTube. With the expansion, creators gained more flexibility to film things like cooking demos, beauty tutorials, educational content, comedy sketches and more, without having to worry too much about the video’s length.

Now that TikTok has been supporting long-form content for a while, it makes sense for the company to enhance the viewing experience for users who are watching these sorts of videos, while also making the creative experience better for creators. Oftentimes creators will add a “turn your phone” message at the start of a video to get users to fully enjoy the content that’s about to play if they recorded a video horizontally. With this feature, creators would no longer have to do that.

Although some people may welcome the test feature and the opportunities that it brings, others may not. TikTok is the app that largely popularized the vertical video scrolling format that other companies were quick to copy, so its users may not exactly be fond of the new full screen mode after being accustomed to the vertical format.

TikTok's new full screen mode

Image Credits: Screenshot/TechCrunch

As with any test feature, it’s unknown when or if TikTok plans to release the full screen mode widely to all users. It’s also worth noting that if TikTok does decide to release the feature officially, the final product may look different than the test product.

One way that TikTok could possibly change the feature before an official rollout is by making it more intuitive. You currently have to click the button to switch to full screen mode, but maybe in the future users will just have to turn their phone sideways to watch in full screen, which is something that other apps allow users to do.

The test feature comes at a time when data has shown that kids and teens now spend more time watching TikTok than YouTube. This has been the case since June 2020, when TikTok began to outrank YouTube in terms of the average minutes per day people ages 4 through 18 spent accessing these two competitive video platforms. By enhancing its viewing experience, TikTok is continuing to inch further into YouTube’s territory.

On the other hand, YouTube is also continuing to rival TikTok with Shorts, its TikTok competitor. In September, YouTube announced major changes to its YouTube Partner Program, allowing creators to earn ad revenue on Shorts. Prior to this, no short-form video platform quite figured out how to share ad revenue, which gives Shorts a leg up on the competition.

Feature Image Credit: TikTok

By Aisha Malik

Sourced from TechCrunch