| ▲ | non_aligned 4 days ago |
| > What was unique about YouTube is YouTube did not have to pay for content. People made acceptable quality content and uploaded it to YouTube for free. They still do. The vast majority of YT content is not monetized by creators, often not even eligible for it in the first place. Further, some big-ticket content creators hedge their bets, uploading to backup platforms, trying to shift to Patreon, etc. The main thing is that viewers only ever go to YouTube, a learned habit. This is where they listen to music, where they get their news, where the algorithm suggests them related videos, where they can search for tutorials and reviews for gear, etc. But TikTok shows that you can disrupt that simply by offering a video format that is different in some way and thus not gated by the same muscle memory. |
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| ▲ | nemothekid 4 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| Almost every reply has pointed to TikTok as some sort of counterfactual. 1. TikTok exists today, and the author still feels like YouTube is a monopoly. If TikTok was actually a viable alternative to YouTube, this article wouldn't exist. 2. Futhermore, TikTok is not a substitute for YouTube, especially for the kinds of content that the author is watching. People don't treat TikTok as a video library - how many TikTok videos are posted straight to HN? TikTok does not have the same diversity of content as YouTube. 3. TikTok addressed point (2) of my post - ByteDance launched in the US with the acquisition of Musically, and even then still had to pay for content. The creator fund, and now also the TikTok shop is a huge part of TikTok's content strategy. >The vast majority of YT content is not monetized by creators, often not even eligible for it in the first place. This is a social quirk, not something that a newcomer can replicate. The problem is, for a new platform, your best content creators will quickly defect to other more monetizable platforms once they get the eyeballs. This is what happened to Vine. If you want to have a sustainable platform you have to keep your creators. YouTube doesn't have the existential threat of the next PewDiePie defecting off the platform. TikTok paid AlixEarle millions to ensure they didn't lose her. |
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| ▲ | coldtea 4 days ago | parent | next [-] | | >1. TikTok exists today, and the author still feels like YouTube is a monopoly. If TikTok was actually a viable alternative to YouTube, this article wouldn't exist. Or the article might have just wrongly failed to take into consideration TikTok as a viable alternative. Imagine that? >2. Futhermore, TikTok is not a substitute for YouTube, especially for the kinds of content that the author is watching. People don't treat TikTok as a video library - >how many TikTok videos are posted straight to HN? TikTok does not have the same diversity of content as YouTube.* HN is a niche platdorm mostly for older farts. Doesn't say anything about the viability of TikTok as YouTube replacement in general. And an argument can be made about TikTok's viability to replace YouTube in its own thing, not that it already has done that. Unlike other platforms, TikTok has brand recognition, viewers, younger demographics, advertising and payments sorted out, and lots of initial content. If it can make a good proposition for longer YouTube style content, it has everything else sorted to be a viable alternative. >YouTube doesn't have the existential threat of the next PewDiePie defecting off the platform. WTF YouTube wont have it? If another platform starts to be seen as a cooler alternative, creators can jump ship on a heartbeat... | |
| ▲ | weinzierl 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | "TikTok does not have the same diversity of content as YouTube." Maybe this is true but it is also easy to get the impression because of algorithmic differences. I think YouTube quite aggressively tries to find a global optimum for your viewing preferences and for that constantly throws a certain fraction of random content at you to test if you like it. At the same time there is high inertia for active engagement to influence your feed. TikTok is completely different. Once you are locked into your niche it tries to keep you engaged there as much as possible but never strays into
other niches by itself. If you actively search for content outside your niche it is quick to adapt. So, if you are just a lurker on TikTok it is very easy to get the impression that content diversity is low there. | |
| ▲ | MangoToupe 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Fwiw, the only content on youtube I see as both interesting and irreplaceable are music videos. News clips, recipes, sharing of opinions, etc are all on tiktok and don't waste my time. Virtually all long-form content is better presented in prose. Documentaries with critical clips can be purchased without having to watch ads or found on archive.org. Interviews and monologuing work just fine with podcasts and without having to be subjected to the most obnoxious ads known to man. The incentive to make videos long makes 95% of the clips shared with me unbearably boring, and I can't exactly search or scan the video for the interesting parts like I can text. Plus, did I mention how the ads make me want to rip my eyes and ears out? Maybe if I had children, it would seem more attractive, but I just don't get the appeal outside of that. | | |
| ▲ | kelvinjps10 4 days ago | parent [-] | | That's the thing YouTube works for so many different people. Some just listen to music. Others just for tutorials, others for news etc | | |
| ▲ | MangoToupe 4 days ago | parent [-] | | That's kind of my point: music videos is the only thing on which youtube has a monopoly. | | |
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| ▲ | starfallg 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | TikTok is a fluke, created by the condition of how it was originally born as Douyin in China. It is also the only app that translated well from the domestic China market to international markets. Being backed by lots of VC cash and Bytedance's revenues in China is a key factor in getting TikTok established overseas. | | |
| ▲ | non_aligned 4 days ago | parent | next [-] | | TikTok is the most prominent one, for a number of reasons, but other platforms that pioneered or copied the format also reached considerable prominence. Instagram Reels, Snapchat Stories, etc. And tellingly, when YouTube wanted to compete, they needed to build an experience quite separate from the rest of the site. There is a qualitative difference in how people perceive and consume this type of content. It's not just "vertical YouTube". Of course each one of these platforms was backed by VC or stock market money, but that's the nature of the industry. Over the years, VCs ended up throwing a lot of money at Google and YouTube killers and that didn't get them anywhere, so that in itself isn't the winning formula. | |
| ▲ | corimaith 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Wasn't TikTok originally Musicaly that already popular then acquired by ByteDance? | | |
| ▲ | starfallg 3 days ago | parent [-] | | Vine had more active users than Musically, and look what happened to Vine. It would have never had the investment internationally if not for the blow-out success it had inside Mainland China. |
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| ▲ | NooneAtAll3 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | well yeah, crossing the giant youtube moat took a lot of money, both invested and prexisting but what makes it a fluke? | | |
| ▲ | starfallg 3 days ago | parent [-] | | Combination of factors, but mostly the success Douyin had in Mainland China leading to the investment in TikTok internationally, given that no other Chinese social app had reach this level of penetration. |
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| ▲ | hopelite 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Not to mention that TikTok has now been clearly also been brought to heel by the ruling cabal of narcissistic psychopaths. |
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| ▲ | carlosjobim 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > The main thing is that viewers only ever go to YouTube, a learned habit. This is where they listen to music, where they get their news, where the algorithm suggests them related videos, where they can search for tutorials and reviews for gear, etc. They go to Spotify and Apple Music to listen to music, they turn on cable TV or go to a website to get their news, they get the Netflix algorithm to suggest them related videos. Etc. |
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| ▲ | zelphirkalt 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I wonder though, are all those YouTubers blissfully unaware of the problems created by making YouTube a monopoly for videos? Why not simply upload your videos on another platform as well? Or is YouTube engaging in this anti competitive stuff like "if you monetize here you are not allowed to upload elsewhere"? |
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| ▲ | int_19h 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I wish I could go somewhere other than YouTube, but if, say, the artist only posts their live videos there, there's not much I can do about it. |
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| ▲ | kelvinjps10 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Yeah but tiktok is not youtube meaning a long format video platform. They tried to put longer videos but it didn't take off.
Also search sucks so I can't got a search for a tutorial. |
