Literature Review
In the article, ‘Online Stars and the New Audience: How YouTube Creators Curate and Maintain Communities’, author and researcher Hector Postigo highlights the participatory culture of YouTube and how it manages to capitalize on bringing in valuable funding that is needed to help it not only be more visible but the choice for many successful entrepreneurs and businesses alike .
Smith has defined the participatory culture of YouTube by explaining that content creators connect directly with their followers and thus the videos that are shared on the platform are a more personalized communication than mass information broadcast. Not only that, the subscriber base of YouTube broadens every day with tens of millions of people logged in watching videos that are of their interest .
Hector focused on the most well-known gaming commentators and the communities they use to not only interact with their followers, but also share what is happening by publishing regular updates . After 24 months of watching lots of videos, analyzing YouTube’s features and the commentator’s sharing patterns, their publishing techniques, gaming consoles and even the editing software’s they use to edit their videos, Hector found out that YouTube provides the necessary elements that make sharing not only extremely easy but seamless throughout. Being socially active on YouTube is what has been fueling its algorithm to filter out what any user can watch, that too through user generated content (UGC) uploaded and shared.
According to Hector Postigo, this participatory culture is what aids the long term fruitful collaboration of other social networks within their communities, helping YouTube be the platform through which commentators spread the word with ease and making sure their voice is heard. Of course each of those commentators have tens of millions of followers and all of them are glued to hear from their favorite commentator, they are not just restricted to YouTube, but also those social media platforms that are linked through YouTube . While the content produced by commentators itself has its own way of making an impact online. This UGC, according to Kaplan, is what helps develop a more seamless and unique relationship between YouTube and social networks, that sometimes use their ideas as creative insights for future collaborations.
Hector Postigo highlights the algorithm that YouTube uses to make mass audience extremely convenient for mentors. The system itself also allows timely and effective data collection for channel owners to assess how far they have come to make an impact and keep track of their following. The vast culture that resides within YouTube is what holds the key to its revenue and this has been growing ever since.
According to Jin Kim, the subscriber and the mentor both are the currencies for YouTube, while retention and recruitment into the system itself is what translates into revenue for YouTube . The social platforms linked with YouTube serve as the ones who collect more revenue for it. While YouTube does a fantastic job of retaining viewers, even if YouTube’s architecture creates conflicts, it still excels in its function and generating revenue for itself through thousands of other mentors with millions of followers.
User generated Content is the content that is produced on the mass market, the content that has taken over the masses, as well as the entire content creation synergy that envelops YouTube. Because it is the platform that offers nearly all the tools necessary to make sure content is not only delivered, it has a following.
In Mark Blythe’s opinion, with technological developments taking the world by storm, it has become extremely convenient for many amateur users who have now become mentors with thousands, and even millions of people becoming faithful followers for what they understand is their voice, that speaks of common interest and liking. Technology, becoming easier and more accessible every day, has now aided passive users transform themselves into active users and, in some cases, publishers on YouTube as well. As technology promised to empower everyone in the world, amateurs have the ability to use the tools that professionals once did, to develop compelling content that guarantees a superb future in terms of revenue generation and follow ups, and YouTube is the platform where amateurs are making great strides in developing engaging content .
When YouTube was purchased by Google back in 2006, it was destined to become and institution for consumers of media. That institution has provided tools for almost anyone who is, or at one time was a consumer of media, and now, those consumers are now becoming providers of media content that brings in hundreds of thousands of followers, brands and collaborations that translate into revenue for YouTube. But how do amateurs get there? From photo sharing websites, blogs and video websites like YouTube itself and the mass availability of camcorders and smartphones, amateurs are now becoming mentors for publishing content which is also known as User Generated Content .
Professionalism itself was compromised when the amateur user began developing content using the same, if not better tools to not only create engaging content, but compelling content for the masses. YouTube’s ‘Broadcast yourself’ is not just a tagline, it is a set of instructions for the amateur user to take a step towards producing their own content and with YouTube being the platform that converts audience into interactive users, user generated content is what prevails keeping PGC in the dark most of the times.
What had the biggest impact on mass media? Hollywood, which is a classic example of PGC, the opposite of UGC. The 21st century is where UGC started to speed up and gobble up audience that was meant to consume media developed by PGC. Technology making acquiring equipment such as digital cameras and professional video equipment accessible to everyone helped make amateurs into professional video developers as well. Now it is extremely tedious to differentiate between UGC and PGC because in some cases, users that are now mentors have a greater following than most celebrities and professionals in mass media. In shows like America’s Funniest Home Videos and Show us your Junk, amateurs are encouraged to develop content to the best of their efforts and send them in, the best of the lot is featured on broadcast media like Television and various other channels, which not only showcases their video making talent, but also helps create recognition .
But, while numbers don’t lie, all is not over yet for PGC. Facts and figures show people’s fascination with celebrities and their content created by professionals, which in some cases is so compelling and alluring that hardly any UGC can compete with it. In those sectors and fan following, PGC is seen to be the dominant, especially since YouTube is growing and providing more and more tools for both the users and professionals to polish what they develop.
If you watch music videos, you would know that this type of content is professionally produced content, while comedies, parodies and video games are classic examples of user generated content. Did you know that PGC videos were dominant and engaging, long before UGC started to take over broadcasting platforms? PGC is exactly what started the era of video streaming and is now the most sought after content in the world.
Nowadays many media planning and buying companies use YouTube as means of not only spreading the word, but also delivering a message. Professionally generated content is what guarantees message delivery in the most effective and profound way that UGC just can’t achieve, which is why most celebrities with millions of fan following vouch for professionally generated content. If you want to see more of PGC you can also opt for YouTube’s competitor in terms of delivering PGC, is Hulu, where technical quality and better PGC are known to be strengths. While Hulu is far behind YouTube in terms of almost every considerable aspect, it still offers a decent brochure of PGC. Also, it is worth noticing that Hulu is geographically limited, it is restricted only to the U.S .
According to Andrew N. Smith, Multi-channel Networks (MCNs) are essentially external, third party service providers. The primary role they perform is in aiding content creators on different Youtube channels to increase their audience engagement, market their content on different digital and social media platforms, as well as providing expert insights into improving their program content as well as scheduling timelines to attract a wider audience.
A review of the literature available on multi-channels within the context of Youtube, which social media researchers have defined as an online content community), Eileen Fischer highlights the fact that MCNs are not officially endorsed by Youtube, or its parent, Google. However, the Youtube site does carry a link with a listing of Youtube certified MCN partners that professional content creators can enter into agreements with, to help make their content more engaging and more accessible .
Bernard Jansen states that while there are no standard MCN-Content Creator contract specifications, but existing research studies have identified that a crucial role often played by MCNs is in helping content creators acquire funding for their channels. This is an important consideration for content creators who are just starting out and do not as yet have a steady or large subscriber base of followers on their channels .
As mentioned earlier, in most emerging economies, user-generated content is taking over that produced by professional sources. Eileen Fischer’s research has focused on the evolution of Youtube from an online video sharing website in its earliest days, to a platform that has allowed individuals to create and share unique content with millions across the globe. Fischer’s studies, over the course of almost five years, also highlight the fact that it is only since Google’s takeover of Youtube that the site’s visitor base increased. Not only that, people who shared videos on the website previously, now began considering it as a forum where a better planned, produced and scripted content can be created.
As mentioned by Jan Kietzmann, considered an eminent authority on the Internet Communications ecosystem, MCNs have played an important role in helping content creators improve the quality of their videos. One way in which MCNs have contributed to this is through collaborations with production facility owners, who provide the technical equipment and the physical space in which videos can be shot, edited and packaged with improved graphics. This has significantly improved the visual appeal of content uploaded on Youtube, attracting an ever wider audience of the 18-22 demographics. This in turn has created an added avenue of monetization available for the content creators and MCNs .
Initially, the business model according to which MCNs operated was that they did not charge the content creators any fee in return for their services; their revenue generation came from the advertisements that were posted on the Youtube channels. A pre-decided, designated percentage would be shared between the original video content producers and the MCNs.
Richard Kolbe’s work has traced the impact that improved video production has had on the volume of the audience content creators have been able to attract. The quality enhancement has resulted in an increase in the views for user-generated content (with respect to professionally-generated content), and content creators began focusing on diversifying the nature of the content they posted and shared with their followers. Initially, the content that managed to attract the maximum viewership were mostly music videos, recently, brand reviews by content creators, product-use tutorials as well as independent coverage of brand-related PR events have begun to gain popularity .
This shift towards brand-related informational videos on Youtube, according to Gijs Kruitbosch, is what has triggered an increase in advertising by the FMCG industry on Youtube channels with a substantial viewer base . This is because, Youtube, among other social media platforms, has emerged as an important marketing and promotional tool, especially with brands looking to establish a personal connection with a younger audience. This audience spends more time watching Youtube videos than traditional cable or satellite channels, simply because they attribute greater authenticity and credibility to the product endorsements and evaluations from independent content creators on Youtube.
Taking these research interpretations a step further, Danah Boyd further states that the focus and nature of the content that gets shared on Twitter (a micro blogging website) and Facebook (an online social community), differs because of the technological specifications of these platforms. Therefore, the extent of brand visibility and promotions that each one allows is different .
Jean Burgess states that since the primary reason behind Facebook is to establish social connections, a brand itself hardly ever becomes the focal point in a video or status update. Twitter on the other hand, has more of an informational purpose and therefore, chances of interactions are far greater between a brand’s marketing representatives and its target audience; this is despite the character limitation per tweet on Twitter .
Lauren Labrecque substantiates these inherent differences between the three online platforms and is of the opinion that even though Youtube allows for greater margin of self-expression for the content creator, the brands featured in videos are less likely to be remembered by viewers . This is primarily because Youtube is meant for people to broadcast themselves or a certain version of their interests and personalities. Therefore, according to Clark, the brands will always take a secondary position.
Therefore, before it can be concluded with certainty how effective MCNs and content creators can be in attracting advertising for Youtube channels, further in-depth research is required determining how much brands have to gain from adding Youtube to their Marketing Mix .
References
Blythe, M. (2009). Critical Methods and User Generated Content: the iPhone on YouTube. Journal of Computer-Human Interaction, 110-115.
Boyd, a. (2008). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 210–230.
Burgess, J. (2009). YouTube (Digital Media and Society Series. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Croteau, D. (2008). The growth of self-produced media content and the challenge to media studies. Critical Studies in Media Communications, 340-344.
Jansen, B. (2009). Twitter Power: Tweets as Electronic Word of Mouth. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2169-2188.
Kaplan, A. (2010). Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 59-68.
Keitzmann, J. (2011). Social Media? Get Serious! Understanding the Functional Building Blocks of Social Media. Business Horizons, 241–51.
Kim, J. (2009). User-Generated Content Revolution? Critique of the Promise of Youtube. Critical Studies in Media Communications, 360-371.
Kolbe, R. (2007). Content Analysis Research: An Examination of Application with Directives for Improving Research Reliability and Objectivity. Journal of Consumer Research, 243-250.
Kruitbosch, G. (2008). “Broadcast Yourself on YouTube - Really?". Journal of Human-Centered Computing, 7-15.
Labrecque, L. (2011). Online Personal Branding: Processes, Challenges, and Implications. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 37-50.
Lange, P. (2008). “Publically Private and Privately Public: Social Networking on YouTube. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 361-380.
Postigo, H. (2015). Online Stars and the New Audience: How YouTube Creators Curate and Maintain Communities. California: University of California Press.
Smith, A. (2012). How Does Brand-related User-generated Content Differ across YouTube,. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 102–113.
Wilson, J. (2011). What's Your Social Media Strategy. Harvard Business Review, 23-35.
