Is Sketch Comedy Dead on YouTube?

[JasonHorton]

This has come up in conversation a lot in the last year. As far as sustainability..I find myself saying that, as far as the time, effort, cost, production. It's so cheap to produce vlogs/pranks, etc (even my own produced vlogs do better than some of my sketches).

Some topical, parody type sketches will still do well, but it seems as an ongoing thing it's hard for a channel. I've been writing and producing it on and off YouTube as early as 2008, and present day YouTube especially if you've attended a recent Playlist Live or Vidcon, it seems like comedy in sketch form is less and less prevalent.

 

[babyteeth4]

It's definitely less dominant than it used to be. The Tubefilter top 50 is dominated by music, gamers, vloggers, and children/toy content.

 

[Kijana]

I mean, that's all Smosh is and they have 19m+ subs. You just have to be funny.

 

[Andy J. Valer]

It is sad to say but yes comedy sketches have lost their touch. I remember when they used to be a major part of YouTube but it doesn seem that most people don't really like them anymore. Music does make sense to be the most popular with many people trying out music and also the VEVO channels dominating YouTube alongside YouTube artists. I wouldn't say sketches are dead but they sure are dying.

 

[Phostose]

I think it also has to do with the fact the Youtube doesn't do much for sketch comedy as a genre. DIY, Tech, Automotive, Animation, Fashion. etc. all have there own genres. But the genre for Film and Entertainment covers anything from Daily Vloggers, Vloggers, Short Films and I'd imagine sketch comedy too. Plus everything else.

 

[SuckMyDax]

It seems like most would definitely get less out of the time invested doing sketches than just turning on a camera and talking about a random subject or doing a tag video, but wouldn't it all come down to what you're passionate about? Isn't that the point of YouTube: doing what you love? You've been at it for a while now so it may have lost some (a lot) of it's appeal, but if someone told you that you could make the exact same amount of money making consistent videos on a topic you had absolutely no interest in, would you trade in doing comedy? That just feels like YouTube's version of a 9 to 5 in a cubicle.

 

[steveocubed]

It seems like most would definitely get less out of the time invested doing sketches than just turning on a camera and talking about a random subject or doing a tag video, but wouldn't it all come down to what you're passionate about? Isn't that the point of YouTube: doing what you love? You've been at it for a while now so it may have lost some (a lot) of it's appeal, but if someone told you that you could make the exact same amount of money making consistent videos on a topic you had absolutely no interest in, would you trade in doing comedy? That just feels like YouTube's version of a 9 to 5 in a cubicle.

Preach brotha' haha.

 

[JasonHorton]

It seems like most would definitely get less out of the time invested doing sketches than just turning on a camera and talking about a random subject or doing a tag video, but wouldn't it all come down to what you're passionate about? Isn't that the point of YouTube: doing what you love? You've been at it for a while now so it may have lost some (a lot) of it's appeal, but if someone told you that you could make the exact same amount of money making consistent videos on a topic you had absolutely no interest in, would you trade in doing comedy? That just feels like YouTube's version of a 9 to 5 in a cubicle.

Making the same amount of money I am already am doing comedy? No seems like lateral move. If it were considerable amount of money on another subject, then yeah maybe I would. I'm a professional writer and create comedy for a living off of YouTube, so if it gave me the finances to make more comedy off YouTube, yes i would.

 

[markkaz]

I would have to agree that sketch comedy has limited commercial appeal. It seems that there is not a very large audience desiring that type of content and with how much time it takes to script and execute, it doesn't make it very financially rewarding. In my case, vewers would like for me to do stop-motion videos. I'm not spending days or weeks to make that type of video.

 

[essencecartoon]

It's not dead. It's all about inventing the wheel