Has Television lost the next generation?
The video below has got me thinking. Has television lost the next generation?
A YouTube channel featuring a ‘Jim Careyesque’ comedian, Danny.
Danny’s, The Gradual Report, vlogs mainly about questions but also features snippets of daily life. Recently Danny moved from the USA to Australia, where he is a regular on the Sydney Comedy circuit.
His channel has in excess of 3.7 million channel views and has 200,000+ subscribers. Very good numbers.
In the video Danny has recently moved to Sydney and is setting up his home.
Go to about 1min 35sec to see what happens next. (Warning: Contains an overly excited swearing teen)
I have witnessed and overheard groups of teenagers talking about who they watch on YouTube.
A few weeks ago my gorgeous girl and I were at Grill’d Burgers just before a movie. I overheard a group of young ladies talking about their favourite YouTuber, MeekaKitty. Not what happened on the latest soap.
Tessa (MeekaKitty) has over 62 million views and in excess of 750,000 subscribers. Judging by the group of excited girls talking about her, she has a young demographic truly engaged.
Just this week, Ray William Johnson from the YouTube show =3, became YouTube’s most subscribed of all time.
RayWJ’s stats:
– 3.9+ million subscribers
– 1+ billion video views
Ray also makes music videos on YourFavoriteMartian and has a weekly vlog at Breaking NYC.
Personally I have never seen the level engagement Ray gets. He posts on Facebook and a minute later, has over 1000 likes.
Is the future of media viewing, online? The numbers are there. Are the mass celebrities of the future going to be those the population choses organically and not those celebs who have been promoted until we are blue in the face?
Do people prefer media in short burts?
I certainly don’t think that Television as a whole will die, but I certainly believe other mediums will be as much of a regular viewing choice.
Do you have a favorite vlogger/YouTuber/Vimeo’r? What do you think the future of television is?
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Posted on June 29, 2011, in Digital Life and tagged =3, @GradualReport, @millionsofmyles, @RWJ, australia, Facebook, Future of Television, Grilld, MeekaKitty, Myles Harris, Ray William Johnson, Sydney, television, Tessa Violet, The Gradual Report, TV, vlog, vlogger, Youtube. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
millionsofmyles 
I prefer YouTube because I can watch exactly what I want on my schedule. You mentioned some of my favorites I also like Toby Turner and Sxephil.
Ah yes! Those two are some of my favourites too. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, watching what you want when you want to.
I don’t even have enough time for youtube these days. All these lazy kids with their spare time.
It is odd though, that media gets shorter, but, more is consumed. I wonder if the Gradual Report could stretch to 24 mins? Or indeed if a TV series could shrink to 10mins/day and still appear relevant.
TV could deliver batches of programs (kind of like the old skit formats) to give the illusion of three short programs, however, they would still need to contend with the iTunes mentality: who buys the whole album any more, when you can just pick the parts you like.
In the end it’s all about what you want and require rather than being force fed. Maybe we are sick of wasting time watching what we don’t need? I love some TV shows, but I just PVR them now. Not wasting time sitting through a whole night of television is great. Just record and play back when i have time.
I believe that the idea of sitting down to an evening of television will fade out in a generation. My age group and above do this (I don’t). Whereas the next generation will surf the ‘net for their content, watch podcasts, or view subscriptions.
I think only live events such as sport will have the common simultaneous interest that current evening tv garners.
Totally agree Rod. Not sure if it is the type of show, media, lifestyle or just our attention span that is causing the shortening of media viewing. The view length and chosing if we want to see commercials or not will be challenging for the media companies.