PIONEER: YouTube continues to set new standards for online entertainment.
By Cole Nelson, Diversions Editor
Ever since its beginning in February of 2005, YouTube has helped develop contemporary popular culture through videos featuring subjects such as cats, college pranks, stunts gone wrong, crying babies and, of course, more cats. Although originally intended to make video viewing and sharing more convenient, the site has grown into something much larger: an international pop-culture meeting point with an estimated net worth of nearly $20 billion, making it the most successful website in Google’s canon of online vendors.
It is estimated that, for every passing minute, there are about 60 hours of video uploaded to the website with nearly four billion video views per day. On March 21 of this year, YouTube hit 1 billion views by separate individuals worldwide. Jeffbullas.com claims that “in 2011 there were almost 140 views for every person on Earth,” and the number has significantly increased in the past two years.
So yes, YouTube is a big deal. But how does a website with such a large magnitude maintain its steadily growing popularity? Well, like any innovator, YouTube has to predict the game before it is even played.
Because YouTube has become such an increasingly popular and important website in less than a decade, it is often the pioneer of several online trends. One unfortunate trend that YouTube made infamous was the inclusion of advertisements on their videos, which began in 2006. While these “pop-up ads” are accredited by YouTube’s massive audience as irritating and bothersome, they create the site’s largest source of income—after all, people enjoy these videos for free. YouTube also provides opportunity to those creative souls in the video-making world through its Partnership Program of full-time jobs. Currently, over 100 YouTube Partners are paid six figures simply for their video contributions to the website.
Most recently, YouTube played host to the first-ever (reasonably named) YouTube Music Awards (YTMA) show, which was broadcasted to an online audience on November 3. The Awards showcased the musicians and artists of 2013 that created an evident impact on the Internet world. Instead of attempting to mimic of the MTV Video Music Awards and the Grammys, YouTube placed its own creative spin on the show.
The YTMAs were created to represent the audience’s importance to the website. Therefore, the Awards involved more viewer interaction (the votes were cast solely by the viewers) than a typical music awards ceremony. YouTube also set out to make “live music videos” as Jason Schwartzman (YTMA’s host) put it. This style of performance created an interesting and original twist on seeing admired artists such as Eminem, Lady Gaga and Arcade Fire physically produce their work in front of a live audience in a intensified artistic way as opposed to a regular performance.
For some odd reason, it was decided that Jason Schwartzman and his co-host, Reggie Watts, wouldn’t follow a defined script or “game plan” like any other music awards ceremony would. While this provided the opportunity for the YTMAs to be much more genuine, the two hosts’ improvising skills were not favorable to the awards success—they were rarely able to work off of the liberated format of the show and, more importantly, each other. Prior to any performances, Schwartzman admitted to “never host[ing] anything in [his] life,” perhaps foreshadowing his own and possibly the inaugural YTMA’s downfall. Nevertheless, the impromptu style of the show was reinforced by its experienced performers: the musicians and artists.
Since the show was the “First-Ever YouTube Music Awards,” it seems that YouTube plans to develop it as an annual Internet event. They built it up to be an innovative and groundbreaking music experience, and may have just skimmed the surface of expectation. Of course, YouTube has made billions of people smile for eight years now with its endless array of videos. It seems that this trend will continue for years to come.
Photo courtesy of www.billboard.com