Do you feel that YouTube helps small content creators?

[Ricky - AniRhythm]

in overview, it seems that youtube is no different than real life if you think about it ......you have a chance in life to be whomever you want to be....how fast you achieve it is part who you know, part being at the right place at the right time saying the right thing being viewed by the right people and not giving up until you get it. Considering this perspective, I'd have to say yes, youtube is being very fair in that you have a chance to do something big, once you are big, just like hollywood, you get better endorsement offers...so you make more money because you have a big audience. The real trick is to keep that audience beyond youtube so you can multiply your revenue streams.. It's not going to be easy, but that's the same way in real life.

 

[KWKBOX]

I think youtube helps smaller channels about as good as the government helps out small business. Take that for what it is worth.

 

[ThioJoe]

Yes, they provide a platform for anyone to be creative and put out their content, and they promote what they believe is the best content based on viewer behavior. I see this stuff all the time, "YouTube doesn't care about small youtubers." What are they supposed to do? There are millions of small channels that think they're amazing but really aren't. Of course the biggest channels get promoted more, it's because they've spent way more time building an audience and perfecting their style, and their quality is very high as a result. People these days have the mentality that just because they make a video it should get views. It's not the case. YouTube doesn't owe you anything, why is it their responsibility to promote your videos?

 

[Stef]

Of course the biggest channels get promoted more, it's because they've spent way more time building an audience and perfecting their style, and their quality is very high as a result.

This isn't always the case. There are plenty of channels that prepare, work hard, and release high quality videos that go mostly unnoticed because they don't have the backing.

I'm not suggesting that YouTube has an obligation to help out smaller channels, I just think it's worth noting that just because a channel isn't growing it's because they're putting out content that isn't 'good enough'.

 

[ThioJoe]

This isn't always the case. There are plenty of channels that prepare, work hard, and release high quality videos that go mostly unnoticed because they don't have the backing.

I'm not suggesting that YouTube has an obligation to help out smaller channels, I just think it's worth noting that just because a channel isn't growing it's because they're putting out content that isn't 'good enough'.

Actually, that is what I'm saying. It might seem harsh, but the cream rises to the top. Of course, it doesn't mean their content is bad, it just means it's no better than the average. Sure, growth is not instant, and even if they make AMAZING top-tier content, it will still take time. To really grow to top tier, you need to provide unique, entertaining, quality content (that's better than everyone else) for a long time.

 

[KatyAdelson]

I think they do help small channels, especially comparing to YouTube 7ish years ago...if anything, YouTube used to be a lot more about luck back in the day. Does anyone remember back when there were star ratings and YouTube would pick a video to feature on the front page? Those folks who were featured worked quite hard at their channels, but being featured had a big element of luck added in to their success... Seeing that YouTube is now a massive site, I think they do a pretty good job giving everyone a fair shot. They seem to have a preference to larger channels that help pay their bills the most, but I also think they realize those folks aren't going to be doing this forever.

 

[Squeal Cat]

They do. First of all, they provide you an excellent platform for FREE(!!!) where you could upload unlimited videos which has the potential of being seen over the world.

Second of all, like @KatyAdelson mentioned, they do sometimes give smaller videos a chance by ranking them high and see what happens. I've seen some videos with 512 views from channels with 21 subs ranked high between other huge videos when searching with popular keywords.