A friend of mine who’s in the same class, Joe talked about the advent of social media, and its effect on marketing and business. I thought it was a very interesting post, because it really brought up how massive a business these new technologies are, and how they are changing the way in which we advertise. This got me thinking on a much more smaller scale; youtube ads.
Youtube ads are now generally commonplace, and many people still find them annoying. They are now usually indicated with a little yellow line, and some of them are in fact skippable after a certain amount of time. When they were first introduced, many people started to raise massive protests, accuse youtube of affecting content and invading privacy. In essence, youtube ads were using the content they were attached to to sell products that the typical viewing demographic might be interested in. In blunt terms. The big issue with this is that the majority of youtube content is user-made; Youtube itself actually does not produce or own rights to most if not all the material it hosts. So the idea that they can capatilize from the traffic and content of the people who upload using it seemed a massive offense.
The big change, which is still happening with youtube adverts, is that famous youtubers, like Philip DeFranco and Ray William Johnson, have actually come out in defense of this new style of advertising, saying that not only does it allow them to make a much better profit from their massive traffic figures, but it also means they do not have to waste time in their actual shows asking for donations, or plugging products. It creates both an effective divide, allowing youtubers to focus exclusively on content, and allowing them to create an actual business model, turning youtubing into a professional occupation that could honestly compete, and does, with major news and tv channels.
Youtube ads are a sign that the internet is no longer a place for hobbyists, but now is becoming regarded as one of the primary ways our generation chooses to send and receive new media, and the idea of earning a profit from this using a traditional ad structure was not only logical, but fundamental to the continued appeal of posting on youtube.