Does it seem like famous Youtubers have WORSE quality over time?

I'm thinking that they're just running out of ideas or are running out of energy to keep going with their channel. Maybe they're at the point where they're making videos just because it's already in their routine and is helping them with the bills.

Well, this kinda issue happens with celebrities and artists too. It's a downward trend if you're losing passion and interest. :/
 
It's the big problem with when your income is rooted in a creative endeavour, doubly so when it's one as ephemeral as youTube.

Someone showed a chart of Markiplier's subscriber history, and there was this HUGE dip on a day he didn't upload anything. Now admittedly he's a Lets Player so daily uploads are important, but it really shows how CRAZY important it is to keep momentum going.

As a result, when people are burned out, unless they have an enormous buffer of material, they HAVE to keep going or else they'll lose subscribers, so they keep going even if their hearts aren't in it. It's a shame, but true.
 
I think one of my biggest fears with chasing after these dreams (more so than whether or not I'll make it) is running out of ideas. I can't imagine the folks who started off video one as sketch comedy channels and have been at it for nearly a decade. So that probably has something to do with it for SOME folks. Others like has been said are probably just enjoying their accomplishments and a lot more laid back about what they upload.
 
I feel like the successful people are the ones who can pull comedy out of the mundane. The kinda folks who don't need that long to come up with a sketch because they can see something stupid in their daily life and go "that, that is a sketch."

The skill isn't "coming up with ideas" so much as "pulling inspiration from unexpected sources," if that makes sense.
 
One of the biggest problems is just the way you make money on Youtube. I've seen so many times a Youtuber who would take weeks to carefully edit a great video, once they found success, just start uploading crappy vlogs twice a week. It's WAY easier, and you make WAY more money. Youtube kinda encourages just putting out whatever crap constantly so you can make the most money. When you realize you can triple your income and not have to actually come up with a creative idea, just by putting out content more frequently, it becomes really easy to just stop caring about what made you popular in the first place. Like someone else put it, 'resting on your laurels'.

It's weird because if I ever started making real money off YT, I'd put it toward making bigger, more epic productions for my channel. I have a LOT of ideas that are just too damn expensive to shoot on my tiny, non-existant budget... but I rarely ever see big Youtubers actually re-invest into the channel production once they make big money. Makes me sad...
 
Probably they started having other external projects from big companies and don't really have much time to do a proper YouTube video. But they will still do something for their fans even if the quality is a bit bad. That's just my opinion.
 
RubberNinja's explanation of how the YouTube algorithm works really explained why.

The thing is, YT doesn't reward based on quality, per se. They reward based on view time and retention. If you release one amazing video per month, even if a million people view every video you make, that's only going to be seen as half as "valuable" as if you released 4 a month and 500,000 people watched them. And even that's assuming you make something of the same length.

If you carefully craft a 10 minute animation (which can take months), there's just no way to match someone who bangs out 15 minutes vlogs daily. Just go by math. Let's say you can churn out a solid ten minute animation on the first of every month. If a million people watch your ten minutes, that's ten million minutes. If 30,000 people watch my 15 minute LP's every day, that's 13.5 million minutes. My "product" is more valuable to YouTube.

YT seriously rewards fast content. It's not a good place to put high production products that take a long time. Hell that's probably why EgoRaptor went from animations to turning Game Grumps into his full time gig.

Keep in mind, I'm saying this AS a Lets Player, and one that puts a lot of love and craft into what I do, but I recognize that what I do is far, far more in line with YT's promotional style than content with longer production cycles. FFS while I was sitting here I finished editing four videos and they're uploading right now.
 
It could be either they know people are gonna love the video no matter what just because THEY made it or are in it that they don't have to try as hard anymore.... or that due to their fame we eventually start expecting a lot more from them.... or both.
 
That's a good point too. Things really change when you're the "established big name." If you've got like a couple thousand subs and you make pretty awesome videos people will say you're this amazing diamond in the rough and wow you deserve all these subscribers. If you have a couple million, those same videos will have people saying you suck and don't deserve it.

I forget who said it first, but it rings painfully true: a pop musician's song will get flooded with hate, but a cover of that song on YouTube will get flooded with praise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top