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.

>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...

"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.

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.

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.

Not to mention that TikTok has now been clearly also been brought to heel by the ruling cabal of narcissistic psychopaths.