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This reaches a lot more people than any TV channel, and the figure of one billion is a bit misleading - not every YouTuber bothers to create an account, so who knows how many people use YouTube.
This goes to show just how influential YouTube can be, and how you really can Broadcast, yourself. YouTube is one of my favourite website for a number of reasons:
- Play Music on Demand If I want to listen to a song, regardless of whether I have it or not, it is highly likely that I can play it on YouTube.
- Essential to the Running of my Blog I heavily rely on YouTube to find the latest music to share here on my blog, and I am eternally grateful.
- Broadcast my own Mixes Without YouTube, the mixes I make would not reach anywhere near the amount of people that they have. The feedback I get through comments helps me to improve, and watching videos from others inspires me.
So why is YouTube so successful?
The reasons I have given for loving YouTube surely aren't the same reasons a billion other people subscribe to the service. Something as simple as uploading a video for others to watch has evolved so much since its launch.
Every serious music artist today needs a YouTube channel to grow their fan base. Vevo is a service that most artists use to create a high quality YouTube channel, this allows HD videos, and fancy HTML banners linking to the artist's other material. I think Vevo is great as it guarantees high quality video that you know will not be removed for copyright reasons. The downside of Vevo is that the viewer has to sit through a 30 second advert first, but this was inevitable, right?
Advertising is where YouTube makes its money. YouTube needs this money to run, and to grow, so without this we wouldn't see the improvements they are constantly making. I'm happy to put up with an advert here and there.
The movie industry is exactly the same. If your trailer isn't on YouTube, you are seriously limiting your reach. YouTube helps spread trailers, it's so easy for people to share them on their Facebook, their Twitter, and the embedding options mean you won't even need to leave the page you're looking at.
What has YouTube done for others?
YouTube has the ability to propel people to stardom. We are living in a talent-contest age, where it is a lot easier for someone with talent to get noticed. X-Factor, and Britain's Got Talent are examples of this. YouTube has so many users, uploading their music, mixes, short films - hoping to get noticed. One little Canadian lad did get noticed - Justin Bieber. I'm not really a fan of Bieber myself, but he's a great example of what YouTube can do for people. The kid can sing, so he uploads videos of him singing cover songs - fair enough. Thing is, Scooter Braun saw these videos, and liked what he saw. This subsequently resulted in a joint venture with Usher, and now Bieber is one of the most well known names on the planet, making millions.
Where now for YouTube?
It will continue to grow. The cyber generation is relatively young, and a lot of older people do not use services like YouTube. YouTube has evolved so much since the launch, as users continue to give feedback, and the environment changes, YouTube will adapt and become better and better.
Currently YouTube offers TV catchup services for Channel 4 and Five in the UK - this can only expand and the possibility of broadcasting live television will surely be on the cards for YouTube. I can see a premium YouTube service coming in if it were to grow that much.
If you don't have a YouTube account - why not? There are so many advantages, allowing you to comment and rate videos, subscribe to users you find interesting and keep up with the latest content.
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