The Unfortunate Problem with YouTube’s 2022 Top Creator List

12-05-2022: Here’s what’s new and what caught my eye last week?

YouTube Celebrates Top Creators for 2022: No more Rewind, now Big Red brings us a curated list of the top trending videos and creators for 2022 in the US. Overall, the lists are decent. You’ve likely seen most of the top videos, including the Dream reveal and Technoblade’s heartbreaking final video. Continuing the mainstreaming of YouTube, major cultural moments also made the list, from the Will Smith smackdown to the Super Bowl’s halftime show. Unfortunately, the US “top creator” list is depressingly one sided – all ten are guys, most of them white. YouTube’s breakout list is acceptably diverse, but numbers don’t lie. Most entertaining? The top Shorts list. Interestingly, though, spotlighted Shorts link over to the long-form VOD page, apparently to boost pre-roll ad revenue. Casting no aspersions, it means more money for these Shorts creators as well. Looking for a more global list? YouTube also released the “most popular videos and creators of 2022” from 14 other countries/regions. It’s more diverse – and offers insight into YouTube’s top global markets. There’s also a global “ad leaderboard” if you really need to see more of those.

2023 Will Be Year of Community: Discord kicked this off by announcing that all US server owners in good standing can now offer subscriptions to their members. This will eat into Patreon’s core business, while offering a simple way for creators to add new revenue streams. Creators keep 90%, which is a good split. (Aside, nice to see the always insightful Derek Yang writing the announcement post!). Nas.IO also launched its global community platform on stage at #CreatorWorld a week ago, which offers a single abstraction layer for all your community efforts, including Discord, Whatsapp, Telegram, Facebook Groups and more. Layer in Kajabi buying Vibely a month ago, and it looks like owned communities will be front-and-center for creators and fans in 2023.

The Death of Everything: Another popular end-of-year trend are bombastic trend pieces announcing this or that thing is now OVER. Latest example? This piece from The Atlantic calling Instagram toast ($). Hard to find significant numbers to back up either the five users/creators profiled or the cited non-projectible teen survey (which annoyingly isn’t the latest version, which makes a stronger case). Instagram still reaches well over 1 billion users a month – or one in eight people on the planet. Hardly “over”. Still, there’s no arguing that TikTok has become dominant – particularly among teens. But new media rarely wipes out old media. TV changed radio, yet we still listen to it. Even Tumblr has fans. OK, MySpace isn’t really a thing anymore, but still. The reports of Instagram’s death are greatly exaggerated.

--------------------------------- SPONSOR MESSGAGE -----------------------------------

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Sam Louderback – who will soon graduate from UC Davis with a Computer Science Degree.??

Hi I’m Sam. During my time at UC Davis I worked with three different companies – two in the creator economy space and one in the logistics field. I developed front-end and back-end web code bases using a variety of languages and technologies including ReactJS/React Native, Python with Django, Golang, and many more. One of my main passions is online video and working at VidIQ and ChannelMeter convinced me that creators are the future of media and that I want to be there helping the creator economy grow.

I'm currently looking for a full-time software engineering position starting in the Spring of 2023. If you want to learn more about me or just chat reach out to me via my LinkedIn profile Sam Louderback .

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

QUIBIS:?

• Turns out mobile phones don't negatively affect kids after all.
• ByteDance researchers develop “a radically different design” for scalable real-time recommendation systems – and incorporates it into its BytePlus offering (TikTok too?)?
• Finally, WhatsApp lets you message yourself – like Slack.?
• TikTok expands and reformats its Marketing Partner site, with over 180 companies globally.
• Pearpop raises more money and expands its collaboration service by helping to mint brand advocates and expanding its data services
• Pinterest cuts back on paying creators.
• Shakeup at Amazon’s media business – Steve Boom, VP Amazon Music, adds oversight of Twitch, Audible and Games.
• Michael Shields thinks the feds might be coming for Apple’s app store rake – thanks to Elon.
• It’s not going so well out on the NIL front-lines.
• TikTok explains how moderation works on the platform.

CRYPTIS:?

• Meta launches two new VR/AR art projects, but oddly you have to go to a physical place to see them.
• “If you build it they will come” doesn’t work in the metaverse – The EU’s doomed “24-hour beach party”.
• In a seriously not related story, IAB Releases Metaverse for Dummies… er, Metaverse for Brands guide.
• FTX leads to problems at BlockFi, Genesis and the Bahamas too.
• Gary Vaynerchuk’s Web3 agency rolls out a fascinating look at 8 key Web3 trends for enterprises in 2023
• Roblox shifts gears and will now embrace Web3 features.
• From Starbucks to Tom Brady, more loyalty programs are testing Web3. Creators should consider similar programs.

GENIES:

• Want to explore Stable Diffusion but also get inspired by others? Playground AI offers a free way to get creative, along with a scrolling list of amazing images and the prompts that made them.
• OpenAI releases free-to-use ChatGPT – this could be the future of search, idea generation, storytelling and more. Here’s a cool ChatGPT chrome extension you can add to your browser.
• I share my own thoughts about ChatGPT and Generative AI here – plus you get to see my dogs in a Miyazaki movie.
• The Atlantic thinks your creativity job is toast too.

Tip of the Week: Do you change time zones regularly? Have trouble with Jetlag? I’ve developed a few strategies to cope over the years, but the relatively new app Timeshifter incorporates my strategies and a LOT more! Timeshifter really helped me this fall, as I’ve changed a LOT of time zones – two trips to Europe and one to Asia. It’s not perfect – I’m a bit jetlagged today from my Asia journey – but I wouldn’t leave home without it. First one’s free too, so if you’re crossing time zones give it a try!?

?

What I’m Watching:?

• Watching our old friend MatPat’s new “Official YouTube Trends” podcast. It’s good!
• Corn Kid update – teaming up with The Green Giant to feed the hungry.

See you around the internet, and feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested, and if someone forwarded this to you, you can sign up?and subscribe on LinkedIn for free here! And don't forget to listen to The Creator Feed - the weekly podcast Renee Teeley and I produce - get it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher!