Is YouTube trying to push Let's Players off the platform?

[ollie191]

I was unsure where to put this post, but I, along with others in the comments of videos I watch, have noticed a strange decline in viewership in a lot of Let's Play videos recently.

I know people are pretty polarised on let's plays so a lot of people might not even care, but as a massive fan of a couple small names in the community it's hard for me to watch their views being attacked by YouTube.

Has anyone else noticed it? Or is it just me going mad?

[ollie191]

I'm in the same boat as you in that respect, and you don't have to go far to see a downward trend in the popularity of Let's Plays. Just look at the trending section in gaming. It's basically two of the big names in the Let's Play community and then just *all* Fortnite. There's a new generation that let's players have to appeal to, and it's nothing like the same one they started making videos for

[PriestTroit]

I dunno if YouTube is actually trying to kill off Let's Players, but I think it's definitely harder due to copy right strikes if what lots of video game reviewers say is anything to go by. I don't know how it works, but from what I've heard the copy right strikes are done automatically in most cases and results in strikes on content even if it's in fair use. For example, I've seen people who make movie trailer commentaries that later show the video being demonetized.

Also, I think think the Let's Play trend has slowed down significantly. I can only go by my own experience, it being that I simply don't watch those kind of videos nearly as much as I used to a number of years ago. Not only that, but some popular content creators, like Pewdiepie and Yogscast, who were previously known for Let's Plays now focus on different kinds of content.

[Aidy]

If our revenue is dropping per the same number of views then so is Youtube's.

That's a non-sequitur. How do you know the revenue isn't being moved around rather than lost across the board. You might be losing but maybe someone else is gaining? Also revenue isn't an indicator of profit so if it is rising and by how much (which most believe it is massively rising) you don't know if they are losing money without knowing what their operating costs are. Getting back to my opening statement youtube doesn't release financial information so all anyone can do is guess and estimate, but no-one knows for sure.

[OzzieArcane]

Again that is just your opinion based on nothing at all.

It's based on myself and other Youtubers looking at our ad data after the adpacolypse started effecting people. If our revenue is dropping per the same number of views then so is Youtube's. This is why so many creators have to rely on Patreon because the money is not there unless you have millions of subscribers.

[Aidy]

It's likely worse in recent years due to the apocalypse driving down what advertisers pay.

Again that is just your opinion based on nothing at all.

[OzzieArcane]

It's likely worse in recent years due to the apocalypse driving down what advertisers pay.

Edit: Not to mention Youtube unmonetizing channels under certain thresholds and making it harder to monetize their videos. Meaning those videos by default cost money to exist on the server while bringing nothing in.

[Aidy]

From 2015: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-viewers.html

1) that article is based on estimates
2) that article is four years old, what about 2016, 2017, and 2018?

That article does absolutely nothing to prove that "Youtube loses Google money every year".

[OzzieArcane]

I didn't think google\alphabet\whoever disclosed youtube's financial details? Also rather than shutting it down they'd just sell it on, probably for more than they paid for it.

From 2015: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-viewers.html

It would be hard to get someone to buy it for more then they paid for it. Because any company that does so would likely have to be bigger then Google and be willingly purchasing a losing endeavor. Heck Netflix has trouble making money and they charge subscriptions. People underestimate how expensive it is to run a streaming video service.

[Aidy]

Youtube loses Google money every year

I didn't think google\alphabet\whoever disclosed youtube's financial details? Also rather than shutting it down they'd just sell it on, probably for more than they paid for it.

[OzzieArcane]

What is more likely, a trend fading out, or a company not wanting money?

Youtube manages to consistently look like they don't want money. But I think it more just boils down to incompetence on the part of Google. The fact is that when Adblock started exploding around 2010, Youtube needed to block adblock. There are tons of news sites that block you from entering if you have adblock enabled. They needed to do that with Youtube because back then they hadn't earned the reputation they have now, because if they did it now it would just be viewed as one more bad decision on the pile by a lot of people. But Youtube needed to block adblock more then those hack news sites did because streaming video is the most expensive kind of web content you can host.

Preventing people from adblock viewing the site would have also allowed them to reassure advertisers that their ads would actually be seen and put them in a stronger position to let the advertisers know who is really in charge when push came to shove later. Because realistically advertisers should have no real power over how Youtube handles itself, Youtube is killing TV yet idiot advertisers pay far more for TV ads that not only have a dwindling audience, many who do watch TV DVR stuff and skip the commercials.

Youtube loses Google money every year and if they didn't have a monopoly with it, I guarantee they would have shut it down by now.

[Animusisters]

What is more likely, a trend fading out, or a company not wanting money?

[OzzieArcane]

Some change may have effected them but honestly, LPs have been a struggling thing for awhile. They're oversaturated, even more then video game review channels. A lot of people who don't want to write a script or have to do any real editing will do Let's Plays since they can just record and toss it up on their channel. The other thing is streaming has blown up so when it comes down to it, watching a Let's Play is basically just like watching a stream without the audience interaction.

And let's face it, they're time consuming. The few LPs I did on my channel were my least viewed videos except for the one where me and my friends used a My Little Pony mod for Left 4 Dead 2.

[Magvel]

I don't think youtube is trying to push let's players specifically. It's more a mix of the general public being less interested, twitch becoming a thing and youtube being a dick to its creators as a whole.

[Spect3r]

If i was YT i would have run them off long time ago, or at least demonitized all their videos.