'YouTube' is constantly working on changes to improve its site for both content creators and viewers. Since the site was founded in 2005, it has listened to the 'YouTube' community and worked with them to make changes. Over the years, many of them have gone widely unnoticed. But the most recent changes have had an effect on both creators and viewers.
However, the most recent changes appear to be less than beneficial. Many creators have begun speaking out on their channels about the impact the changes have had on them. The site has around one billion users accessing the site each month, according to HuffPost who cited Reuters.
YouTube Creators Google Blog updates such changes for their content creators and explains why they are making those changes.
Content creators, both large and small, can make money from their channels through the YouTube Partner Program. This was a good thing for hardworking larger creators who had been part of the community for years. But it also meant that anyone could start posting videos and benefit. How could YouTube change this?
Impacts on small content creators
Last year the first of the big changes was put into place. There is now a requirement to become part of the program and that meant creators needed ten thousand views, over the course of their channel's life. This was an attempt to eliminate the real and dedicated creators, from the ones that weren't.
This year a further change was made, and creators now needed one thousand subscribers and, four thousand hours of watch-time over the last year. The greatest affected by this change were the smaller or newer content creators, who would be eliminated from the program.
However, once a content creator reaches these new requirements, YouTube states that they will be automatically put back into the program.
YouTube seemed to have worked hard to make a change for the better. The full extent of these changes has not yet been seen, but the hope is to eliminate those who aren't serious about their content.
Large content creators unhappy
When a viewer subscribed to a specific YouTube Channel, that creator's content would always be at top of their viewing list.
This worked for both creators and viewers alike. But recently, YouTube has decided to make changes to this once accessible way of watching videos.
Viewers could once see a creator's content moments after it was uploaded to their channel. Now some viewers are not able to see the content for up to hours after it uploaded, if at all. This is a change that concerns creators who now must meet YouTube's new partner program requirements.
Many creators then started informing their viewers to hit the notification button. Although lots of viewers already used this action, many others were prompted to, in order to watch their favourite creators, while others continued to go straight to the creator's page to view.
The bell notifications often do not notify viewers until hours after the content has been uploaded. It's an issue that has begun to affect larger creators who use analytics to help them produce content that viewers will enjoy. This is something YouTube has always claimed to encourage, but these changes seem to prevent that.
Will changes close channels?
The most recent of the changes affected creator's personal pages. Each content creator has their own page where all their videos are stored. Since YouTube's creation, these have been in chronological order, with the newest video being at the top of the list.
Now, this has changed and YouTube displays a random selection of videos at the top. The selection is based on the videos YouTube thinks the viewer will want to see.
The problem is that many viewers are not made aware that a creator they follow is posting new content.
This new change to YouTube's continual desire to improve its site has been received negatively by the community. If YouTube is making it hard for creators to access videos, then can content creators survive?
