# YouTube Shares Perception into What Viewers Are In search of from Content material

Content material advertising and marketing guides, and suggestions from the social platforms themselves, typically embrace obscure notes like: “Make high quality content material.” However what does that truly imply? What, precisely, qualifies as “high quality content material” in a social media context?

The reply, after all, is subjective. Hundreds of thousands of younger viewers, for instance, will argue that “Skibidi Bathroom”, during which heads come out of bathrooms and are available alive, is high quality content material, whereas to outsiders, that’ll make no sense.

Besides, there are particular expectations and markers that time to content material high quality, which YouTube has sought to uncover in its newest report.

In YouTube’s “Why We Watch 2.0” report, the platform has included survey and examine insights from 1000’s of viewers, with the intention to get a greater understanding of what they’re searching for in YouTube content material.

The 32-page report is an growth of the primary “Why We Watch” report, which YouTube printed final yr, and checked out what individuals are searching for in YouTube content material.

This second overview takes a deeper dive into what retains individuals watching, and coming again to a channel for extra.

You possibly can obtain the complete report for your self right here, however on this publish, we’ll have a look at a few of the key notes.

As famous, the principle motivation of this new report is to look at the tradition of YouTube viewers, and what retains them coming again.

And based on YouTube’s information, neighborhood is a key motivator on this respect:   

“Throughout all platforms, greater than half of viewers agree that their content material picks collectively create a way of belonging, whereas a majority of youthful viewers say that watching content material on platforms like YouTube and Twitch makes them really feel seen and understood. Surprisingly, the platform least more likely to make individuals really feel this manner was broadcast media. With solely barely greater than a 3rd of viewers saying that TV makes them really feel a part of one thing larger.”

On this sense, YouTube says that the times of appointment tv are over, with viewers now getting that very same neighborhood engagement from on-line content material, not TV occasions.

When it comes to specifics, YouTube’s information exhibits that viewers are searching for top quality content material, although high quality on this context relates extra to emotional resonance than particular results.

“All viewers agreed that crucial emotional marker is that content material ought to seize and maintain consideration. However past that, viewers older than 35 valued trustworthiness and compelling storytelling, whereas youthful viewers prioritised creativity and private relevance.”

Now, that is much like the “high quality content material” recommendation I famous within the intro, because it’s one factor to say “create participating content material” and one other to truly do it. A key level right here is that individuals are searching for well-written, human-centered content material, which within the push in the direction of generative AI, appears to more and more be getting missed.

As a result of whereas the newest video creation instruments may give you amazingly sensible and fascinating outcomes, they lack that key issue, the human perception that viewers are pointing to right here.

Certainly, as YouTube additional notes:

“The place as soon as individuals may need appeared ahead to the subsequent large special-effects bonanza, our information means that the variety of viewers who solely care about visuals is now vanishingly small, at lower than 1%. Audiences have come to crave a deeper reference to the content material they eat, and even essentially the most conventional media has needed to adapt.”

It’s not simply wonderful visuals that interact, it’s human-centered tales, which gen AI instruments can not re-create.

But. Perhaps, in future, generative AI will have the ability to put collectively resonant tales. However each time there’s a brand new breakthrough in AI animation, and anyone shares it on social saying that “Pixar is in hassle”, it’s value noting that Pixar films, and certainly all movies, don’t work simply due to technical budgets.

It takes Pixar’s writers two years, on common, to give you the preliminary define for every movie, which is the majority of manufacturing time for every venture. And be aware, that is with a staff of writers.

That human middle is the crucial pillar of your complete course of.

Digging into extra specifics of “high quality” YouTube additionally discovered that younger viewers are extra considering creativity, whereas older viewers focus extra on accuracy.

The report additionally appears to be like at how this sense of neighborhood engagement pertains to adverts on YouTube, with viewers being more and more receptive to adverts on the service in assist of the creators they like.

In fact, the primary level, “attention-grabbing and fascinating”, is on YouTube’s focusing on programs to make sure that you’re proven the correct adverts. However outdoors of that, as you possibly can see, YouTube viewers are extra open to adverts than viewers on different platforms.

There are some attention-grabbing issues right here, and a few attention-grabbing notes on what “high quality” really means in a video content material context.

It’s not essentially spelled out, and the definitions of such will range from group to group, and subject to subject. However there are some useful pointers right here as to what helps construct neighborhood round content material, and the way you should utilize that in your method.

You possibly can take a look at YouTube’s “Why We Watch 2.0” report right here.