By Stephanie Cartledge

YouTube is a phenomenon that has continued to grow since its launch in 2005, offering a global platform for video-sharing and changing the way in which we receive, create and share entertainment. 

Now, it has more than 2 billion logged-in monthly users, with people watching more than a billion hours of video a day, and comes second as the most-used social platform after Facebook.

But if YouTube is so popular and vast, why in the ‘mainstream media’ is it still regarded as some trivial, amateurish fun where teens and young adults upload videos when they have nothing better to do?

Some would argue it’s because mainstream / traditional media sees YouTube and those who have made their success on it as a threat.

This is understandable, considering 80 percent of children in the UK aged 5 to 15 have used YouTube, and nearly half of those between age 8 to 15 prefer YouTube to regular, linear TV. 

Content on YouTube can no longer be defined solely as homemade, low-quality videos. There are various content creators with elaborate setups which are on par with that of traditional filmmaking, and YouTube itself has released original films and TV shows. 

These have allowed YouTube to finally be considered a real competitor when it comes to making content - emphasised by the release of its own subscription service YouTube Premium - subscribers can watch ad-free videos, download content, and also have unlimited access to YouTube Originals and YouTube Music. Users can also pay for a subscription service that focuses solely on the music aspect of YouTube, which has always been its strong point. YouTube Originals, however, is a fairly new concept, where YouTube personalities are partnered up with professional producers in order to create original, higher quality and engaging content.

But some content creators have grown beyond YouTube, stepping into the limelight in traditional, ‘mainstream media’. One such example is Joe Sugg, a British YouTuber who began posting videos in 2012 and who has increasingly continued to break the barrier between ‘internet’ celebrity and ‘mainstream’ celebrity. 

Like many YouTubers, he made the step of branching out into different types of media, such as radio and publishing. Both benefited him in the sense that they promoted him as a personality, while he remained true to his brand. 

But it was in 2018 where he made his stamp on television by being the first ‘social media star’ to appear on the popular show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. Again, it was good for Sugg as it allowed him to reach new audiences, but it was also a logical move for the BBC and the show itself as it attracted his already existing fans to a show that was in desperate need of younger viewers. 

The synergy that it resulted in benefited both sides greatly, with ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ now encouraged to introduce more ‘internet celebrities’ on the show and opening a door for Joe Sugg to make his name on more high-profile and mainstream platforms (such as ‘Would I Lie To You?’ and ‘Celebrity Bake-Off’). 

Many traditional TV programs have seen the overall benefit of having their own space on YouTube, with most having their own YouTube channel which has allowed for them to access more viewers as well as grow a more ‘personal’ connection to fans of the show (for example, the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ YouTube channel has 440k subscribers and its most viewed video stands at 41 million views).

YouTube has also seen success in its ability to appeal to traditional TV viewers. Google, YouTube’s owner, says that in the US over 100 million people watch YouTube and YouTube TV on their TV screens each month - blurring the boundaries of what can really count as ‘television’. 

On the advertising side, according to Comscore, YouTube makes up 41% of ad-supported video streaming watch time. The potential to use YouTube as a marketing tool is endless, with viewers being four times more likely to use YouTube to find information about a brand in contrast to any other platform and two times more likely to buy something they saw on YouTube. 

As popular as YouTube might be, there is still a good portion of the population (in the UK at least) that stick to traditional media such as TV, as well as radio and newspapers - a pattern that may well remain fixed for the foreseeable future.