[brookst]

Let’s say you’ve got a tire you can’t seat on a wheel. Which of these is the YouTube algorithm going to optimize for:

1) a 60 second video showing how to use wd-40 and a lighter to set the bead, or

2) a 7 minute showing how beads can be broken, things you might try, an ad, some bad ideas, a funny guy yelling, another ad, and then how to set a bead with flame

Increased time on the platform is a proxy for more ads shown. YouTube optimizes for maximizing ads, not minimizing time on the platform with short, clear, informative content.

[charcircuit]

Let's do an informal experiment. In incognito I searched "how to seat a tire on a wheel"

The first result is 2:43 then 3:14 then a shorts drawer which are sub minute videos then 5:43 then 3:29.

It turns out that YouTube is not optimizing for showing 7 minute videos.

>YouTube optimizes for maximizing ads

While they do monitor for regressions of metrics like ad revenue improvements to the algorithm aim to improve the user experience as opposed to improving revenue.

[brookst]

That's funny. When I do exactly the same search on Youtube (incognito, but Chrome incognito so they still know my profile), I get videos of times 2:43, 10:20, 7:49, 7:37, and 7:42.