We thought it was unbeatable in the field of online video consumption, and yet YouTube seems out of breath at the end of 2022. Declining stats, talent drain to other platforms, ads that make viewers groan ... Google's colossal platform is no longer alone on the market, and is struggling to regain its momentum when short and fun video content shines. In response to this paradigm shift, YouTube is betting big on "shorts"... which are nonetheless castigated by some content creators and their usual communities .
A YouTube in crisis?
The very recent call for help from Cyprien, the very first French-speaking person to gather 10 million subscribers on YouTube, sounds like a symbol at the end of 2022. Even very well worked out, certain video concepts no longer work as well as 'before. Consumption habits are changing, and content creators are realizing it.
Twitch and TikTok are taking more and more space in the hearts of younger communities, and long-form video formats, which have long been popular on YouTube, are generating fewer clicks than before. Only a few super-behemoths, like Mr Beast across the Atlantic, manage to drive the barometer of viewers crazy, with spectacular concepts and greenbacks.
Shorts, solution or admission of weakness for the platform?
Launched globally in the summer of 2021, Youtube Shorts was to be the remedy for all these evils for Google. Modeled on the model of TikTok and its short and entertaining clips, the Shorts were on paper to settle as the new tool of YouTubers.
Except that content creators have only half subscribed to the concept. The shorts are doing better and better (5000 billion views since their launch), but veteran Youtubers are sometimes skeptical about this new very short format, a far cry from the detailed and polished videos they like to work on .
Worse still, some content creators blame shorts for derailing SEO, and making “long” content even less visible than before.
World of Warcraft continues to deliver good news and continues to move in the direction of players since the release of its latest expansion: Dragonflight. The team has just announced its roadmap for the coming year, and we risk being rather spoiled.
