YouTube’s Operational Logic: “The View” as Pervasive Category

Es, Karin van

doi:10.1177/1527476418818986

Cited by 29 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Moreover, digital platforms each have their own definition of what counts as a “view” and how to understand its worth in relation to traditional ratings (van Es, 2019). There is no consensus on what counts as valuable engagement (Napoli, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Platform Imaginaries and Dutch Public Service Media

Poell

2020

Social Media + Society

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Over the past decade, public service media (PSM) have increasingly distributed content through digital platforms, most prominently YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This article explores how this process of platformization, the integration of digital platforms in PSM, affects the public service remit of promoting key public values, such as universality, independence, and diversity. Specifically, it interrogates how Dutch PSM imagine platforms and their users, as well as how these imaginaries affect online public service strategies. The starting point is the notion of platform imaginaries: the ways in which social actors understand and organize their activities in relation to platform algorithms, interfaces, data infrastructures, moderation procedures, business models, user practices, and audiences. The analysis of these imaginaries builds on key public service policy documents and 15 interviews with employees from the NPO (Nederlandse Publieke Omroep; the governing body), the broadcasting associations, SKO (audience measurement service), and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Our analysis of these materials shows that the online strategies of Dutch PSM are guided by three imaginations of platforms as (a) intermediaries that function on the basis of specific “laws,” (b) places where new audiences reside, and (c) powerful corporations that largely operate beyond the national sphere of influence. These platform imaginaries consist of a complex of interrelated observations, arguments, ideas, and practices, which are generally accepted and partly contested. The main bone of contention is how platform audiences should be seen. It has been difficult to reconcile competing ideas about audiences and, consequently, about the role of PSM in a platform environment, as broadcasters and policy makers lack the necessary (aggregate) data to determine how the media landscape is exactly changing and what the best public service response is. The conclusion of the article proposes a number of steps to resolve this deadlock.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Platform Imaginaries and Dutch Public Service Media

Poell

2020

Social Media + Society

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“…YouTube has been analyzed from many diverse economic, communication and business perspectives, and has also proven to be a tool for the scientific community to understand the attitudes and behavior of consumers and audiovisual content producers (Orduña-Malea et al, 2020). 2 As Van Es (2020) states, YouTube has been the object of study of various academic research projects, such as Arthurs et al (2018) and the monograph by Snickars and Vonderau (2009). It has been addressed from different perspectives such as participatory culture (Burgess and Green, 2018; Strangelove, 2011), from a political economy viewpoint (Abuljadail et al, 2018; Andrejevic, 2009; Cunningham et al, 2016; Cunningham and Craig, 2017; Postigo, 2016; Vonderau, 2016; Wasko and Erikson, 2009), through its influence on young audiences (Livingstone et al, 2014), within an algorithm studies context (Bishop, 2018; Rieder et al, 2018), user preferences (Paolillo et al, 2019), or the study of audience uses and gratifications (Lavado, 2013; Steiner and Xu, 2020).…”

Section: Youtubementioning

confidence: 99%

Convergence of linear television and digital platforms: An analysis of YouTube offer and consumption

González-Neira

Vázquez-Herrero

Quintas-Froufe

2021

European Journal of Communication

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This research studies the offer and consumption on YouTube in Spain of videos from the three main media groups on free-to-air TV. Firstly, a study of the offer of these channels’ onset platforms was conducted. Later, the audience data gathered by YouTube Data API and Comscore between February and May 2020 was analyzed to ascertain the traditional broadcasters’ strategy regarding new viewing windows. The results indicate that this window display is used mainly as a promotional strategy and the channels do not consider it to be a key element in their digital strategy, with practical nonexistence of crossmedia initiatives and exclusive content. The consumer analysis permits definition of the TV content, its success and user patterns.

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“…YouTube's search engine algorithm is inspired by the Google search algorithm. Of note, the YouTube algorithm is influenced by the geographic location of the viewer, time of posting, and level of interaction with the video [25][26][27]. Data will be collected on a single day, on the same computer, and, the same browser to minimize heterogeneity.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%