Content material advertising and marketing guides, and suggestions from the social platforms themselves, typically embody obscure notes like: “Make high quality content material.” However what does that really imply? What, precisely, qualifies as “high quality content material” in a social media context?
The reply, in fact, is subjective. Hundreds of thousands of younger viewers, for instance, will argue that “Skibidi Rest room”, during which heads come out of bathrooms and are available alive, is high quality content material, whereas to outsiders, that’ll make no sense.
Besides, there are particular expectations and markers that time to content material high quality, which YouTube has sought to uncover in its newest report.
In YouTube’s “Why We Watch 2.0” report, the platform has integrated survey and research insights from hundreds of viewers, with the intention to get a greater understanding of what they’re on the lookout for in YouTube content material.
The 32-page report is an enlargement of the primary “Why We Watch” report, which YouTube revealed final 12 months, and checked out what persons are on the lookout for in YouTube content material.
This second overview takes a deeper dive into what retains individuals watching, and coming again to a channel for extra.
You may obtain the complete report for your self right here, however on this submit, we’ll take a look at among the key notes.
As famous, the primary motivation of this new report is to look at the tradition of YouTube viewers, and what retains them coming again.
And in keeping with YouTube’s information, group is a key motivator on this respect:
“Throughout all platforms, greater than half of viewers agree that their content material alternatives collectively create a way of belonging, whereas a majority of youthful viewers say that watching content material on platforms like YouTube and Twitch makes them really feel seen and understood. Surprisingly, the platform least more likely to make individuals really feel this fashion was broadcast media. With solely barely greater than a 3rd of viewers saying that TV makes them really feel a part of one thing larger.”
On this sense, YouTube says that the times of appointment tv are over, with viewers now getting that very same group engagement from on-line content material, not TV occasions.
When it comes to specifics, YouTube’s information reveals that viewers are searching for prime quality content material, although high quality on this context relates extra to emotional resonance than particular results.
“All viewers agreed that crucial emotional marker is that content material ought to seize and maintain consideration. However past that, viewers older than 35 valued trustworthiness and compelling storytelling, whereas youthful viewers prioritised creativity and private relevance.”
Now, that is just like the “high quality content material” recommendation I famous within the intro, because it’s one factor to say “create partaking content material” and one other to really do it. A key level right here is that persons are searching for well-written, human-centered content material, which within the push in direction of generative AI, appears to more and more be getting missed.
As a result of whereas the most recent video creation instruments may give you amazingly sensible and interesting outcomes, they lack that key issue, the human perception that viewers are pointing to right here.
Certainly, as YouTube additional notes:
“The place as soon as individuals may need appeared ahead to the following huge special-effects bonanza, our information means that the variety of viewers who solely care about visuals is now vanishingly small, at lower than 1%. Audiences have come to crave a deeper reference to the content material they eat, and even essentially the most conventional media has needed to adapt.”
It’s not simply wonderful visuals that interact, it’s human-centered tales, which gen AI instruments can not re-create.
But. Perhaps, in future, generative AI will be capable to put collectively resonant tales. However each time there’s a brand new breakthrough in AI animation, and someone shares it on social saying that “Pixar is in hassle”, it’s price noting that Pixar films, and certainly all movies, don’t work simply due to technical budgets.
It takes Pixar’s writers two years, on common, to give you the preliminary define for every movie, which is the majority of manufacturing time for every challenge. And observe, that is with a staff of writers.
That human heart is the important pillar of the complete course of.
Digging into extra specifics of “high quality” YouTube additionally discovered that younger viewers are extra all for creativity, whereas older viewers focus extra on accuracy.
The report additionally appears at how this sense of group engagement pertains to advertisements on YouTube, with viewers being more and more receptive to advertisements on the service in assist of the creators they like.
After all, the primary level, “attention-grabbing and interesting”, is on YouTube’s concentrating on methods to make sure that you’re proven the appropriate advertisements. However exterior of that, as you may see, YouTube viewers are extra open to advertisements than viewers on different platforms.
There are some attention-grabbing issues right here, and a few attention-grabbing notes on what “high quality” really means in a video content material context.
It’s not essentially spelled out, and the definitions of such will range from group to group, and subject to subject. However there are some useful pointers right here as to what helps construct group round content material, and the way you should use that in your method.
You may take a look at YouTube’s “Why We Watch 2.0” report right here.
