Ryan ToysReview (RTR) is definitely NOT botting or cheating as seen by the analytics posted by Dan Youtube. People need to realize audiences of different verticals view and engage with their videos differently. I know this because I have observed the viewing patterns of children watching these videos (more on this later). A popular toy channel video may have super fans watching the same video, over and over, again, daily. You won’t get this type of repeat viewership in many other sections on YouTube. I’m sure some kids have retention percentages above 1000% for certain videos.
I’m raising a former fan of these types of channels and I regularly talk to other parents in development preschool (for toddlers who don't meet their critical milestones) who are dealing with their kids' screen time addiction. Many of these parents know of Ryan, Farting Videos, Syringe Videos, Bad Baby, Spiderman with pregnant Elsa IRL-type videos, etc. I'm not saying these videos caused kids to have delays, but in my low sample pool, I see a pattern to hypothesize it can be a factor to study (reducing interaction with people is definitely a factor, duh).
I was at a restaurant and had to listen to Ryan’s mom wake up Ryan to find the Lightning McQueen giant egg for about 15-20 minutes until the manager asked the family to turn down the tablet. The first 2 minutes of that video were being looped by a kid who may be less than 2 years old! I’ve listened to my kid watch Ryan dump plastic balls down stairs and on a Spiderman doll in slow motion and backwards all with funny sound effects etc, many times in one viewing session. Digital Crack. This addictive content drives viewing patterns that send Youtube very strong signals to promote the channel. The strong retention rate, long session times, and smart use of keyword stuffing in titles and description leads to an endless carousel of videos for these types of channels.
As for the spammy comments, pretend you are 1.5 - 2 years old and you can swipe your tablet well enough to navigate. It is very easy to accidentally hit the "reply to" comment button and post something random as you frantically try to watch another video. Again, just study the thousands of successful kids channels and their engagement metrics. Also, having a baby or toddler “stuck” in the comment input section **increases** their watch time and may increase the chances of that channel to land on the kid's or parent's homepage (my hypothesis as to why channels don’t turn off comments even though they get random text) …forget the number of likes or quantity of comments, they mean nothing compared to watch-time driven by super fans who rewatch and rewind videos. The ratio likes/comments to views are not “apples to apples” with other verticals, so drop that argument.
I also don't think there is any "exploitation" or forced labor. I've been following RTR and other similar channels, and to me it is clear that this family enjoys what they are doing, including the star. I’m glad they are having fun. They are spending so much time with their family, while some families lose their precious toddler playtime watching them :-( (and yes, some families watch their channel responsibly and get inspired to purchase toys and play which is great, especially for toy companies and families who need inspiration to have fun).
I think PewdiePie, the Kids Videos haters, and the naysayers are stuck on "who's the king of YouTube“ and not seeing the main concern with these types of channels, which is feeding highly addictive content to kids between 1 - 3 using the YouTube mobile app. I know it is up to the parents to control what and how much our kids watch, but, YouTube (especially the standard Mobile app), is much different than other addictive content and substances like TV, Games and Candy, due to the ease of access, lack of controls with YouTube Mobile, and the endless content that can be controlled so easily even by a 1 year old. Fortunately, things are changing with the push of the YouTube kids app ushering in the ability to block certain types of videos and the implementation of time limits.
If there is exploitation going on, it’s simply a smart and talented family stepping on (not on purpose im sure) inexperienced parents and their vulnerable 1-3 year old kids by creating addictive and cute videos that kids will watch over and over again (also good metadata usage to cover a wide variety of trending keywords to be recommended on other videos). There are even more questions and issues but I’ve gone long enough and don’t want to get off the topic of botting vs organic any further.
If you see other parents using YouTube mobile as a baby sitting tool, please encourage them to: 1) Have fun IRL with your kids… Kids between 1-3 are extremely precious and vulnerable; Parents blink and will never get that chance again. Don't give these channels too much of their time 2) If the addiction is too hard to break, tell them to use YouTube Kids and search for content you want to block and blacklist them 3) turn off search after blocking channels 4) set time limits and look for channels and videos to block that surface organically through your kids viewing behavior 5) Always watch with your kids and don't leave them unattended (I'm sure YouTube assumes Parents are with their kids when watching) 6) Never hire babysitters or daycares that allow their staff to use mobile phones to calm kids down (that’s how my kid was first exposed).
Please search for "How to block some videos on YouTube Kids app? GOOGLE product forums" FOR MORE INFO. I love YouTube and many kids content creators, but parents need to help one another to help surface the best content for our kids. If you let your kids decide what to watch in a "unregulated" environment..................I'll stop there.
I know this post is very tough to read for content creators who want to be the next RTR, especially those who quit their job and are spending resources to become multimillionaires. RTR and other channels do have some good content out there that bring endless joy to kids (Kids deserve joy, so thank you for entertaining them), and there are worse things lingering on the platform. I just wanted to let some of the doubters know that there is no botting going on..It’s just the “right” type of content to crush the algorithm in this age group. It’s about knowing your audience and getting them hooked in a way to “own” the metrics. The vertical is very competitive..but if you can hook that audience, they are truly hooked and channels explode. Just my .02 based on observing and talking with a handful of parents.
