Will #NewTwitter Hurt YouTube?
I recently tweeted about how I think the new Twitter layout will affect YouTube video creators. Almost all of the major YouTubers are on Twitter and they use it as both a promotional tool and way to create a virality about each new upload. Twitter has proven to be a solid way to communicate with their audiences in near-realtime.
Below is an expansion on those tweets I posted, talking about how the new Twitter layout could drastically affect video views, revenue, and comments.
View Counts
@ObviouslyBen tweeted:
Exciting thing about #NewTwitter for us YouTubers: more likely people will view videos because they’re staying in one place. Ease = views…@JnAStudios replied:
@ObviouslyBen that’s what has me so excited about it. Plus it’s kinda fun viewing them on here so proly draw even more views
This is something about the new layout that I’m extremely happy to have happen. When viewership is easier and the process to get to someone’s content is one click - instead of a click, a new tab and an entirely different website - people will be happier about consuming said content. Like I said, ease equals views.
Ad Revenue
@ObviouslyBen tweeted:
…on the other hand ad-rev may decrease if video creator doesn’t have in-video ads. Viewing vids in #NewTwitter wont show YT’s sidebar ads.@JnAStudios replied:
@ObviouslyBen oh wow, very good point! Well if they agreed to being part of it I’m sure YouTube will figure something out about that@AskCarrieLee replied:
@ObviouslyBen In video ads are at discretion of the user to turn on & off. Viewing vids in #newtwitter = good.
WIth this tweet I brought up the fact that YouTube’s sidebar ads (the advertising that appears to the right side of a video) may see a substantial drop in both views and clicks. Views and clicks are what earn not only YouTube and the advertisers money, but also the video creator. Many people who earn a living off their YouTube videos may soon see a significant drop in the amount of ads that get clicked, thereby making their own salaries lower.
On the other hand, I assumed that the embedded players within the new Twitter layout will automatically have in-video ads displayed. In-video ads are the ones which are overlayed at the bottom of the video player and pop-up into view around fifteen seconds in to play. As @AskCarrieLee mentioned above, this kind of advertising is able to be turned on or off at the discretion of the video poster. I’m not sure how the revenue earned from in-video ads compares to sidebar banner ads, but hopefully it’s comparable.
Comments
@ObviouslyBen tweeted:
Will #NewTwitter replace YouTube comments? Popular YTer posts vid, people watch in Twitter, reply here instead of in YT comments. Possible??@DaftBryan replied:
@ObviouslyBen - Possible, but not many people will want to watch in Twitter if they already know them from YouTube.@AskCarrieLee replied:
@ObviouslyBen & as far as replacing comments, FB actually has shown me that that’s true. IMO.
When a person views a video on YouTube they have the option to leave a comment below it. Once they comment that message is posted for everyone to see, reply to, promote or demote via thumbs-up or thumbs-down, and can even be deleted by the video’s poster. Comments are an integral part of the YouTube experience. Comments ignite discussion, change people’s viewpoints and allow for the viewer to directly connect with the content creator.
In the new Twitter layout, when you select a tweet and the YouTube video appears on the right side panel, there’s no option to leave a comment on that video. You can of course use the built-in @reply button on Twitter to respond to whoever posted the tweet, but you can’t leave a comment that will post on the original video page. This could cause the commenting feature to go two ways:
First, people may comment a lot less because they’re not going to YouTube itself. They may stay right in the Twitter ecosystem and instead use the @reply button to tell the video creator what they thought. This is what AskCarrieLee stated above; when she posts her newest videos to her Facebook fan page people watch right in Facebook and leave their comments there.
On the other hand, people may be willing to leave Twitter’s nice all-in-one website to leave their comments on YouTube because they either want the interaction from other people watching simultaneously around the world, or because they’re that loyal to the YouTuber who posted the video. At this point it’s really a toss-up as to what will happen since not everyone has the new layout. We’ll know more on this in a month or two.
In-Twitter Commenting?
@ObviouslyBen tweeted:
Re: prev tweet — I’d LOVE to see ability to comment on YouTube videos right from the #NewTwitter right sidepane… That would be fantastic.
This is a simple suggestion that may never appear, but wouldn’t it be amazing to comment on a YouTube video - and have it show up below that video on YouTube - right from within the right side of Twitter? That’s something that will make me extremely happy to see. Like I said, it may never happen, but it would be quite fantastic if it did.
There’s a lot of big “if” scenarios regarding the new layout affecting YouTubers. We’re not going to know exactly which way these things will go until everyone has the layout, but I really want to know what you think. Please comment and tell me! I read them all and will be replying for a while.
