[HN Gopher] How YouTube won the battle for TV viewers
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       How YouTube won the battle for TV viewers
        
       Author : JumpCrisscross
       Score  : 41 points
       Date   : 2025-07-19 22:28 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.wsj.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.wsj.com)
        
       | al_borland wrote:
       | I'd say 98% of my YouTube views are on the AppleTV.
        
         | GauntletWizard wrote:
         | I ditched Chromecast recently. They made YouTube too
         | heavyweight for the Chromecast Ultra, to the point it regularly
         | crashed. The new "Chromecast With Android TV" is barely more
         | specs and has broken the interface by being... Android TV.
         | Rather than take a well deserved second place, they chased
         | Apple's design and ruined their niche.
         | 
         | Worse still, the best replacement I could find... Was Apple TV.
         | So now I'm on that ecosystem.
        
           | kimixa wrote:
           | Does it use a different app on the Ultra? I'm still using my
           | second generation and (aside from some nonsense earlier this
           | year about expired certificates) still going strong - can't
           | ever remember it "Crashing".
           | 
           | Perhaps it's not "app weight" but more specific to the 4k
           | video or SoC implementation?
        
       | consumer451 wrote:
       | YouTube is apparently #1 in music streaming as well, which I
       | found surprising.
        
         | pie_flavor wrote:
         | YT Music is a dollar cheaper than Spotify, and generally
         | better; it's also included in YT Premium, so if you already
         | have that, 'may as well'.
        
         | al_borland wrote:
         | In terms of subscribers or actual use?
         | 
         | I have YT Premium, so I automatically get YT Music. I would
         | much rather pay less and drop the Music app. I almost never use
         | it and don't like it. I can't justify buying for another
         | service on top of this, so I went back to managing a local
         | library and manually syncing all my music to my phone like it's
         | 2007.
         | 
         | A side effect of YouTube treating music special is that I can't
         | read comments on the TV for videos that it thinks are music. I
         | find this very annoying. The same video will have comment on
         | mobile or the computer.
        
           | consumer451 wrote:
           | IIRC, it was in terms of use.
        
           | anon7000 wrote:
           | My gripe is that when you try to sync over a library from,
           | say, Spotify, you'll end up subscribed to hundreds of
           | artist's YouTube channels in your main TV app, and playlists
           | are basically shared too. Which I do not want at all
        
             | al_borland wrote:
             | Yep. This is one of the reasons I don't really use YT
             | Music. The shared playlists are a nightmare. If someone
             | tells me to check out a song, I might go there to listen to
             | it as a one-off, but that's about it. It's so poorly done
             | for anyone who also uses YouTube, which I assume is
             | everyone.
        
           | oersted wrote:
           | Quick tip: You can see the comments on such videos (at least
           | on my TV), the comments button not shown but clicking on the
           | video title to open the description also shows the comments.
        
         | JKCalhoun wrote:
         | Went to a wedding, 10 years ago even, and the "kids" DJ-ing the
         | wedding party were pulling up music on YouTube.
         | 
         | (To be sure, this was very much a low-key affair, teens there
         | with their parents were "DJ-ing" -- but I was still surprised
         | that is was YT. Just vanilla YT, pulling up "videos" and
         | hitting "play".)
        
           | radley wrote:
           | YouTube is pretty common for in-person, social music sharing
           | because it's the least friction. It's hard to share between
           | Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, and personal collections
           | from the same device. YT search will usually find pretty much
           | everything.
        
         | ksec wrote:
         | I dont believe that is the case, and I cant any reference to
         | it. Nearly all are pointing to Spotify as number one both in
         | terms of revenue and market shares.
         | 
         | The thing I dislike about Youtube Music is how it is basically
         | not a product the team have put any thoughts into it. It is
         | constantly rated one of the worst in Apple Music and Spotify
         | comparison. It has so much potential but it is just very poor
         | done.
        
         | apricot13 wrote:
         | so did I until I found myself using YouTube music over Spotify
         | more and more. it has all the standard music but also includes
         | more remixes and smaller artists. the most important thing is
         | that it doesn't mix podcasts in with music and you can easily
         | view your own playlists!
         | 
         | haven't used Spotify in any meaningful way in a few years now.
        
           | mrj wrote:
           | Same. Also, my Spotify auto generated playlists hadn't
           | changed for several years. I finally got fed up and googled
           | around only to find it was a known issue. Clearly somebody
           | realized they could just turn off those expensive GPUs...
        
         | rambambram wrote:
         | I always wondered if this would be the case. All non-tech-nerd
         | people I know share Spotify links that I can't open (yes, I can
         | download another app, no I'm not going to do that).
         | 
         | I use Youtube extensively for discovering new music and new
         | artists. Sometimes (1 out of 100 times) I find myself on
         | Soundcloud for a song that's not on Youtube, but for the rest
         | Youtube is just perfect. I always wondered how many people use
         | Youtube for music streaming... apparently a lot.
        
         | qingcharles wrote:
         | The reason I've always used YouTube Music over the competition
         | is that it includes whatever-the-hell anyone uploads on
         | YouTube.
         | 
         | So, while Spotify can't get the rights (or the data) for that
         | band that played down the pub one time in 1987, someone
         | happened to record them and put them on YouTube and now they
         | have royalties sat accruing somewhere and I get to listen to
         | them on a nostalgia binge.
        
       | JKCalhoun wrote:
       | That alternatives to YouTube have come to naught feels
       | unfortunately like a de facto monopoly.
       | 
       | Certainly it's because the content creators stay on YouTube
       | because that's "where the eyeballs are". (Or rather, the money is
       | to be made there on ad revenue ... because that's where the
       | eyeballs are.)
       | 
       | I don't know how you break that. eBay is probably in the same
       | enviable position.
        
         | veggieroll wrote:
         | Ultimately, we need to convince DC to start enforcing monopoly
         | laws again.
        
           | nine_zeros wrote:
           | Ain't happening with the current party at the helm.
        
             | veggieroll wrote:
             | Lina Khan for dictator.
        
           | spwa4 wrote:
           | That won't work, Youtube is fundamentally dependent on
           | massive storage, massive compute and massive internet
           | connectivity PLUS a revenue mechanism for creators. A whole
           | lot of infrastructure.
           | 
           | Monopoly laws and taxes are punitive. In other words: they
           | can only ever create a situation where there is fundamentally
           | less available. They cannot create a second Youtube, they can
           | only destroy Youtube. Unless the government builds the
           | infrastructure, which is a nonstarter.
           | 
           | If you cannot use state power and/or resources to create a
           | second and third Youtube, then letting Youtube be a monopoly
           | is probably the best option. The big difference between
           | competitors and a monopoly is that a monopolist can only
           | improve outcomes by growing the market ... which is exactly
           | what we want.
           | 
           | Unfortunately it is _very_ much not what the government
           | wants. Well, it is not what governments (plural) want.
           | Governments think they 're god, and of course like two people
           | in a madhouse that both think they're god, there is a rather
           | fundamental disagreement here. They will realize, eventually,
           | just how stupid it would be for god to let other gods (anyone
           | but themselves, other governments, but also private people)
           | control mass media. This means we will get closer and closer
           | to the situation that Youtube cannot satisfy multiple
           | governments. This could even apply to multiple parties within
           | one state structure. You would hope this means they'll build
           | infrastructure, but we all know what will really happen:
           | they'll destroy it. Youtube will end because governments will
           | see it as a threat to them, and they just won't care how much
           | damage they're doing. Just look at the current government.
           | 
           | There are a LOT of economy texts, some quite old that warn
           | about the dangers of letting private interests control the
           | only market for anything. They suggest the government should
           | make sure they own or at least control the market itself, but
           | that includes paying for infrastructure. This has it's own
           | problems (like censorship), but there is really no
           | alternative. Either you do that or eventually the monopolists
           | will BE the government.
        
             | mike_hearn wrote:
             | YouTube isn't a monopoly. Quite a few creators I watch
             | heavily promote their videos on other sites, usually
             | targeted specifically at learning. I guess they get a
             | better revshare there.
             | 
             | Unfortunately for them, I don't watch enough of their
             | learning content to care about subscribing. But it's an
             | option, and if I wanted to spend more time watching videos
             | I could do so.
             | 
             | Operating a site with all the features and scale of YouTube
             | is prohibitively difficult just because YouTube sets the
             | bar so high, but operating a smaller more targeted
             | competitor isn't. There are no barriers to entering the
             | market. And that's largely thanks to Google and how they
             | pushed so much video functionality into Chrome itself!
        
               | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
               | For most people, "entering the market" includes scoring
               | high on virality, or even just "potential for virality".
               | If not on YT or TikTok (or maybe insta too), it is very,
               | very, very hard to score highly for those metrics.
        
             | black3r wrote:
             | > Youtube is fundamentally dependent on massive storage,
             | massive compute and massive internet connectivity PLUS a
             | revenue mechanism for creators. A whole lot of
             | infrastructure.
             | 
             | Yes, and YouTube essentially gets all of this
             | infrastructure from its parent company for free and still
             | operates at a loss. So no other company who doesn't already
             | have such infrastructure for other purposes can effectively
             | compete with YouTube, and all such attempts were
             | effectively destroyed by YouTube because YouTube could
             | offer better services while still operating at a loss.
             | 
             | Monopoly laws should've prevented a situation like this.
             | 
             | Of course YouTube wouldn't be able to provide its services
             | at current scale if it didn't have Google backing. But
             | perhaps that could've made the current content market
             | better. If YouTube had to place some restrictions on
             | uploaded content because it wouldn't afford unlimited
             | storage and bandwidth, it wouldn't push creators to make
             | every video 10+ minutes long, and if creators had to pay at
             | least some minimal fees (while they could still get
             | residuals from ads if the video was successful) to post
             | videos, we wouldn't have so much low quality videos there.
             | And the competition could maybe give us better features we
             | don't even dream of today.
        
               | nickthegreek wrote:
               | Pretty sure YT has been profitable since 2021.
        
             | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
             | > Monopoly laws and taxes are punitive. In other words:
             | they can only ever create a situation where there is
             | fundamentally less available.
             | 
             | The breakup of Ma Bell had its flaws, but it ABSOLUTELY
             | created a situation where there was more available.
        
         | Analemma_ wrote:
         | It's even worse than you think, because by all accounts YouTube
         | is absurdly expensive to operate. Some even claim to that this
         | day it has still never turned a profit for Google. And if
         | Google can't make it work-- with their own ad network, tons of
         | their own fiber, their own operating system, etc.-- it's likely
         | that nobody can. Hosting unlimited video for free is just
         | stupefyingly expensive.
        
         | Dig1t wrote:
         | It's also really hard to compete with YouTube simply due to the
         | cost of compute and storage associated with serving video. The
         | costs are way higher than most any other type of website. You
         | have to do transcoding and also store multiple versions of
         | videos at different resolutions.
         | 
         | There are few companies with the resources to create a real
         | competitor.
        
         | RumourRider wrote:
         | It is partly the network effect. However all the alternatives
         | having serious issues:
         | 
         | - Odysee - has performance issues and the app is crap and no
         | discoverability. Some niche, interesting content on there but a
         | lot of the time I only used it because someone would upload Joe
         | Rogan stuff while he was exclusive to Spotify.
         | 
         | - BitChute - full of racists and not a lot else, crap
         | discoverability. The website feels like something from the
         | 2000s.
         | 
         | - Rumble - US/UK right wing slop politics and conspiracy
         | rubbish from David Icke wannabes. I don't like the interface at
         | all. Tends to work okay. But there is very few things I want to
         | watch/listen to on there. Discoverability isn't great.
         | 
         | - Daily motion - I remember it being decent a decade ago, but
         | it has fallen behind and turned into something else from
         | briefly looking at the home page.
         | 
         | - Twitch - Streaming platform only, I think. There is a lot of
         | slop left wing politics on it and (for want of a better term)
         | "titty streamers". I have visited the site once, not for me.
         | 
         | - Kick - Basically Twitch but has more permissive T&C.
         | Bankrolled by Stake.com IIRC. I watch one live show if I am
         | awake to watch it. Otherwise I wouldn't bother with it.
         | 
         | I spend most of my time on YouTube watching stuff either about
         | Computers, Repairing 4x4 trucks, Weird Soviet Era vehicles, WW2
         | stuff by Mark Felton or some sort of Tech related stuff. None
         | of that is catered to on the alternative sites at all. None of
         | that is catered by TV particularly well either.
        
         | WhyNotHugo wrote:
         | YouTube is mostly popular, but it doesn't really stand out in
         | any technical way.
         | 
         | Content creators prefer YouTube because it has more users, and
         | each creator is afraid that their followers wouldn't follow
         | them to another platform. Even content creators focused on open
         | source or self-hosting kind of tech.
         | 
         | Honestly, I really wonder if users would refuse to follow
         | creators whom they like to another platform. Are most people
         | really that adverse to just watching videos on another website?
        
       | heavensteeth wrote:
       | personally i havent watched tv or listened to the radio on my own
       | accord in many years because there are too many ads. i like the
       | idea of not being able to choose the content im engaging in but
       | it feels like 70% ads and 30% content
        
       | ksec wrote:
       | Non Youtube contents such as TV broadcast needs to get streaming
       | done right. And they haven't done it. Apple or Google could have
       | helped here. Where All Broadcast TV are in one place / App just
       | like a normal TV. And the content will be streamed in decent
       | quality. But neither are they interested as Youtube belongs to
       | Google and Apple is going with Apple TV+ direction and wants to
       | own TV itself.
       | 
       | It is such a sad state of things since Steve Jobs passed away
       | both Apple and Google have a complete lack of taste and product
       | sensibility to deliver something truly helps the customers.
       | Instead every product and features are marketing or sales driven.
        
         | halJordan wrote:
         | This could easily have happened. Apple especially lets anyone
         | fit their catalog into the TV app. It's the non-Apple and non-
         | Google part of the equation that chose the current system.
        
           | ksec wrote:
           | There are additional requirements involved with getting the
           | catalog in TV App. And Apple obviously are not willing to
           | share accurate user count numbers as well as a lot of other
           | data. Once they said they are Apple's customer and not those
           | TV / Broadcasting customers that was the end of the
           | conversation.
        
         | jppj wrote:
         | I wonder what it's like in various countries. I was surprised
         | that Japan came up with that, TVer which basically all
         | broadcast shows end up on for at least one week, shown with
         | ads. AFAIK it's driven by a coalition of broadcasters with
         | nothing to do with the big platforms - where there's a will
         | there's a way I guess.
        
         | izacus wrote:
         | Apple and Google tried that for years on their TV platforms and
         | the content providers aggressively blocked them.
         | 
         | E.g. Netflix outright refuses any kind of integration where
         | their content would be surfaced next to other services - their
         | product managers DEMAND that people go to their app into their
         | owned experience to access content.
         | 
         | And designers/product managers at other content providers are
         | the same.
        
           | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
           | Because they want you to pay for _Netflix_. It isn 't hard.
        
           | cosmic_cheese wrote:
           | Netflix refusing to integrate is a huge pain. I recently set
           | up an Apple TV box for a non-technical parent, and while most
           | services can be effectively navigated with the system-level
           | voice search, Netflix is the odd one out and so I suspect
           | Netflix is going to go mostly unwatched.
        
           | comprev wrote:
           | Netflix wants 100% of your attention on _their_ content.
           | 
           | Instead of "channel surfing" and picking a competitor's
           | production they want to keep viewers inside their walled
           | garden.
        
         | WhyNotHugo wrote:
         | In an ideal world, each streaming service would provide the
         | service itself, users can pick whichever app they like, and
         | connect that app to the services they use.
         | 
         | In the real world, each company wants to be THE number one
         | streaming platform, and wants users to use their app above all
         | else. So each company reinvents the same things, and users need
         | to deal with the mess of N apps for N services.
         | 
         | The idea of cooperation is completely alien in big tech
         | companies. Descentralisation is perceived as dangerous, since
         | it doesn't let each individual be the number one.
         | 
         | In the end, because everyone want to be the number one and
         | screw the rest, they all end up sucking. This is obviously
         | predictable, but management everywhere remains oblivious of it.
        
           | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
           | > In the real world, each company wants to be THE number one
           | streaming platform, and wants users to use their app above
           | all else. So each company reinvents the same things, and
           | users need to deal with the mess of N apps for N services.
           | 
           | The companies do not care about app usage. They care about
           | subscription fees, which are highly (though somewhat
           | elastically) dependent on a platform's available content.
           | They don't give a damn what you watch with, they just want
           | you to pay. They already know there will be no 600lb gorilla
           | in streaming, so it's all about getting another month of fees
           | from you, and that is unrelated to app usage.
        
         | gnz11 wrote:
         | > All Broadcast TV are in one place / App just like a normal
         | TV. And the content will be streamed in decent quality.
         | 
         | Isn't that what YouTube TV is? The problem with YouTube TV is
         | that it's essentially the old expensive cable model that
         | everyone was trying to get away from in the first place.
        
         | ta1243 wrote:
         | BBC has been doing streaming likely longer than you've been
         | aware of streaming -- it left beta in 2007, same time that
         | Netflix started streaming in the US.
         | 
         | The content is nowhere near as addictive as youtube though,
         | partly because the format is still television and still built
         | with a television executive mindset.
        
       | brycewray wrote:
       | https://archive.is/Ii9n3
        
       | radley wrote:
       | I feel like this is the result of the major streaming services
       | cutting back on original content due to production costs, the
       | 2023 strikes, and winning the broadcast fight.
       | 
       | Initially, streaming had to compete with broadcasting's long
       | seasons by producing the equivalent amount of content, spread
       | between more shows, with higher-quality production but much
       | shorter seasons. Now streamers are providing fewer shows and only
       | semi-annual seasons. It ends up leaving a lot of open viewing
       | time with nothing fresh to watch.
       | 
       | YouTube also has the advantage of people making highlight reels
       | of the most popular movies and series. We get out-takes, behind
       | the scenes, bloopers, best quotes etc. Streaming services haven't
       | figured this out (yet). I've never watched _The Late Show with
       | Stephen Colbert_ on TV, but I watched almost every monologue on
       | YouTube.
        
         | Night_Thastus wrote:
         | Streaming services in general have become terrible.
         | 
         | What once was on ~3 platforms is now on ~10+ platforms. They
         | constantly shuffle around who has what, new promising series
         | are constantly killed because if they don't instantly become a
         | worldwide sensation and the prices are rising non-stop.
         | 
         | At some point I just said screw it and left all of them.
        
         | DevX101 wrote:
         | I'm not sure the economics of big budget TV series work anymore
         | unless you catch lightning in a bottle so I understand them
         | cutting prod costs.
         | 
         | YouTube's economics are just so much better. YT provides no up
         | front payment for content. The channels are almost infinite,
         | microtargeted to everyone's interest. And the payout is
         | proportional to the success of the content, and paid AFTER the
         | audience has viewed. TV on the other hand has to make big bets
         | before they know whether a show will be a hit.
         | 
         | I've had a TV for years but don't have cable and never watch
         | broadcast. My TV is just a large ipad.
        
         | elzbardico wrote:
         | I never get this argument. To see themselves without fresh
         | content, I reckon people would have to expend at least some 4
         | hours every single day watching tv. Anyone watching this much
         | TV should instead cut it down, it is fucking too much time
         | wasted.
        
           | lysace wrote:
           | So much of the expensive "original content" is just crap. I'm
           | happy the days when there's 20 minutes of new quality
           | "original content". Most days there's nothing.
        
       | h4kunamata wrote:
       | TV is hot garbage now.
       | 
       | YT has solid channels, from DIY to black hole talks and most
       | importantly, uncensored news.
       | 
       | TV is just ADs and more ADs, garbage content after garbage
       | content. Not everything is pretty tho, YT has a complete monopoly
       | and there is nothing anybody can do about it, the alternatives
       | suck with some silly subscription when there is no even content.
       | 
       | I do pay for Youtube Premium since Youtube Music is hands down
       | better than Spotify. I would pay for alternative services to help
       | them out IF they were worth it. YT Premium is the only
       | subscription I pay and happy to do so, I see value.
        
         | lowdownbutter wrote:
         | > uncensored news. Get a load of this guy
        
         | tietjens wrote:
         | very curious what is meant by uncensored news.
        
         | amelius wrote:
         | Is YT Premium 100% ad-free?
         | 
         | I get the feeling that if many users start using Premium, at
         | some point they'll see ads again.
        
           | RaSoJo wrote:
           | YT-Premium is still ad-free, though they did bump up the
           | prices recently.
           | 
           | Being a monopoly gives them that kind of power, but they
           | haven't gone overboard--probably because they know regulators
           | would start poking around if they did.
        
           | nickthegreek wrote:
           | youtube does not put ads before, during or after a video for
           | a premium subscriber. creators are in control of the content
           | within that video (and that could include sponsored
           | segments). if that is an issue, you will need to skip those
           | or use something like SponsorBlock.
        
             | fragmede wrote:
             | Premium has a "skip section" button for those.
        
           | legitster wrote:
           | Not only is it ad-free, they provide a "skip advertisement"
           | feature for in-video ads.
        
         | JohnMakin wrote:
         | I unsubbed from YT premium when I realized the only feature I
         | was really paying for was not being bombarded by ads every 30
         | seconds of video. Sometimes you'll get back to back aggressive
         | ads within only a handful of seconds. The purpose seems to be
         | to annoy you into purchasing a subscription, which is really
         | predatory and annoying. Or locking "features" behind a paywall
         | basically every other app provides, like continuing playing
         | even when the app is in the background made me eventually
         | annoyed enough to just cancel, and I can somewhat tolerate the
         | ads. If not it forces me off the app sometimes which is not
         | what I had intended but is a nice side effect.
         | 
         | It would be one thing if the ads weren't incredibly annoying by
         | themselves, the content is either really, really weird,
         | seemingly AI generated, or annoying, or some combination of all
         | of those. I cannot imagine who they are for.
        
       | apricot13 wrote:
       | TV channels have been forced to produce TV shows that will draw
       | the biggest audiences. they've not innovated online either.
       | 
       | Streaming services make great shows then stop them after one
       | season or force one episode a week. they also drop then pick back
       | up shows constantly.
       | 
       | YouTube let's people watch the kinds of shows they want to watch
       | and let's people create the kind of shows they want to create.
       | everyone wins, including YouTube! plus they do music, smaller
       | artists, bigger artists and mashups in between. it's all just
       | there fairly reliably and it works on every platform.
        
       | ddtaylor wrote:
       | Jellyfin is really popular in our house. Everyone associates
       | YouTube with quick and dirty dumb content. Garbage "looping"
       | style content is allowed in private, but long form content on a
       | screen or playing aloud has to be something that is an actual 30+
       | minute thing with a point to it.
        
         | zarzavat wrote:
         | You need to subscribe to better YouTube channels. I stopped
         | watching regular TV (including Netflix, etc), because YouTube
         | is much more erudite and I actually learn things rather than
         | passively consuming dramas.
        
         | rambambram wrote:
         | > actual 30+ minute thing with a point to it
         | 
         | Good point. I hardly see any movies anymore and lately I found
         | that what I miss is a good story. Some Youtube channels come
         | close, but these are all 'garden variety' stories, so to speak.
        
         | southernplaces7 wrote:
         | Since this isn't a defense of Google but of the many clever
         | creators on YouTube, I can comfortably applaud so much of their
         | work. YouTube isn't at all about just garbage content. It has
         | no shortage of that, but it also has absolutely no shortage of
         | truly fantastic, educative, production-worthy videos and
         | channels of all kinds. I mean some truly excellent ones here,
         | that are easily as good as or very often much better than
         | anything I used to see for documentaries on network or cable
         | TV. That so many of them are made at a fraction of those old
         | documentary budgets and by completely independent creators
         | (often just some guy working from his home studio) is an
         | incredible achievement of modern media technology and
         | innovation.
         | 
         | The YT algorithm will often promote to you more that's similar
         | to whatever you've already watched, so if you actually start
         | seeking out a certain type of quality content, you'll find more
         | of it being recommended. I carefully pick the things I take the
         | time to view or play in the background while im working on
         | household chores and so far haven't had any shortage of
         | genuinely great things to enjoy.
         | 
         | YT has its many flaws, but one of them certainly isn't a
         | shortage of quality vidoes about nearly anything you could want
         | to know about.
        
       | linsomniac wrote:
       | Too bad the YouTube TV viewing experience sucks.
       | 
       | Don't get me wrong, I've been a subscriber for a very long time,
       | and I get a lot of great content there. But going there to watch
       | something specific, or watching a TV series, really sucks.
       | 
       | I recently realized a few studios (IIRC Warner Bros and
       | Paramount) had put a lot of content there including movies and TV
       | shows. I decided to watch Dick Van Dyke, because I'm a Carl
       | Reiner fan. You can't really "Watch Next" a TV show and then go
       | in to watch the next episode. And in fact sometimes it just wants
       | to show you the shows in a non-linear order. "I want to watch the
       | next Dick Van Dyke" is not something that YouTube makes easy.
       | Another example, a friend recent sent me The Chit Show, I opened
       | the playlist of the shows, and it played them in the reverse
       | order (which I didn't really understand until the end when I
       | realized I was on the first episode).
       | 
       | Also, the YouTube algorithm for suggesting things for you to
       | watch is really bad. It gets stuck in ruts and it's hard to get
       | out of them.
       | 
       | YouTube is amazing for learning DIY things, which is a large part
       | of why I have subscribed for so long. But for watching
       | entertainment the whole UI really just doesn't work.
        
         | eliasbagley wrote:
         | You must be super knowledgeable. Maybe you should get a UX job
         | at YouTube and fix it all.
        
       | legitster wrote:
       | I'll come out and say that I am a full blown Youtube addict.
       | 
       | A lot of what I may watch on Youtube might be categorized as
       | "background noise" - lots of talking head content that I can play
       | on the background. Much of it is low quality and self-serious -
       | but it's arguably much better quality than any equivalent
       | "background noise" show on TV.
       | 
       | Ironically, I feel like longform Youtube content is actually
       | _better_ for my attention span and more rewarding - because
       | creators aren 't trying to appeal to broad audiences, they don't
       | have to jump from topic to topic and keep things under a time
       | limit.
       | 
       | I recently watched the Animagraffs video on the Hoover Dam and I
       | was blown away. I have probably watched dozens of TV
       | documentaries on the Hoover Dam over the year, but none of them
       | actually just stop and methodically explained everything from
       | top-to-down so thoroughly.
       | 
       | Even beloved shows like Mythbusters, there are now dozens of
       | channels on Youtube that do all the same things we enjoyed
       | Mythbusters for but better and with less filler and shmaltz.
        
         | miduil wrote:
         | I've watched this video the other day
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWsL8ME3ruk and it somehow
         | helped me breaking my YouTube addiction for the last several
         | weeks. Quite random but it really helped.
         | 
         | I still muscle memory enter youtube.com and I'm blown away how
         | incredible addictive everything is setup there to be, the
         | "algorithm" has trained the content creators to maximize their
         | reach with incredible captivating thumbnails (and of course
         | great content).
        
           | vouaobrasil wrote:
           | Best thing is to turn off recommendations and history, which
           | can be done with YouTube. You can also use uBlock Origin to
           | block even more controls (on YouTube on other websites too),
           | which make websites more unintuitive to use.
        
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