Is Youtube experiencing a renaissance?

Not so much a blog as it is a braindump but here goes...

I think Youtube is experiencing a renaissance. Why do I think this? Well, I ,personally, find the content on my feed miles better than it was, even at the start of the decade. The videos on my recommended are of much higher quality and made with so much more passion than until recently. Everything feels a lot more intentional and professional.

What do I think is contributing to this? As much as I hate to credit this particular app for anything other than destroying the internet and algorithms as we knew them, I think it's due to TikTok. Firstly, videos on TikTok are maximum ten minutes (I believe) and videos on Youtube need to be at least ten minutes long to monetise them. This means content creators who would've been on Youtube, that were maybe struggling consistently to hit ten minutes on their videos can now post their videos on TikTok and monetise them if they have enough followers (I think minimum amount of followers on TikTok for monetisation is 1000). In my mind this would be videos such as make up tutorials (or tutorials in general), unboxings, short animatics and storytimes. Secondly, video essays on Youtube have jumped in quality, probably due to people making less-well-researched video essays on TikTok (if you can call them video essays, they're more like rants) that they can post from their sitting room, kitchen or car. As such, higher quality, better researched, longer, and more in depth video essays are staying on Youtube and shorter, worse quality videos are no longer clogging up the feed.

I think Twitch is another factor that is contributing to the recent rise in the quality of Youtube. Would be gaming Youtubers are using Twitch as their platform and it is preferable to Youtube for them, as they can interact with their audience in real time and receive gifts from them (something I don't believe is possible on Youtube Live). Now, people who are into gaming content have a dedicated space to create and consume that sort of content. I remember when Youtube was mostly based off of gaming content, and because it was so popular it was recommended to me, when that really isn't my bag, so I'd just kind of avoid Youtube. It's interesting to see how Youtube is improving (for consumers anyway) due to other apps decluttering the feed.

That's not to say Youtube is as good as it was it's heyday. FunkyFrogBait made a great video that I watched recently on the continual plague to Youtube that is mindless reaction content, that the likes of Sssniperwolf and xQc produce that gunks up Youtube's recommended (link to video ">here ). Regardless though, I find watching Youtube much more enjoyable and fulfilling than it was, even from 2018-2022(ish). And I never said it was peaking again, just that it was having a renaissance.

I could just be fed up with the munge of pure rubbish on TikTok though, making Youtube miles better in comparison. That, or I've finally got the algorithm to work for me.

I don't think so though...