[spudlyo]

I can't speak to everyone's motivation, but for me YouTube, and only YouTube has the kind of fascinating niche content that I want to watch. Often that content is created by random people who have a passion and zero profit motive, which makes it more authentic and charming. Sometimes it's an elderly Mexican grandmother explaining how she makes Chilaquiles[0], or maybe it's someone explaining why the Great Reform Act of 1832 was necessary[1], or perhaps it's a professor doing a deep-dive the history of the Vulgate and the life of Jerome[2], or maybe it's a YouTube series[3] that dives into a huge rabbit-hole (pun intended) on restoring a weird 1980s minicomputer -- whatever interests you that moment, someone is likely passionate and knowledgeable about it, and has made a video on it.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mQx1zzBpuU

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_9PGNHd5Zs

[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF98_HnYHjQ

[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ1HwuYBuss&list=PLnw98JPyOb...

[mmcdermott]

This is the big one for me. I have no inherent problem with bigger budget stuff, but it is seldom about the things that interest me.

[Gtex555]

This I can understand and if you look at the body of my post I talk about understanding if youtube was a selector of quality content, but people will watch hours of slop on youtube that is neither authentic or niche and that's what I want to get to the heart of. I fall victim to this too, I watch hours of youtube (long form) which in retrospect I accept as garbage, but will refuse to watch the the new hot netflix show that cost 100 million with some of the top writers and actors in the world, that's what I'm trying to understand.

[spudlyo]

I'm not as sure as you are that people are watching hours and hours of slop every day -- I feel like there are still plenty of humans out there trying to make a buck and getting their egos stroked by creating rage-bait for the normies. The algorithm is also pretty good at surfacing this dreck and keeping people watching. You know the sharpest minds at Google are hard at work making this happen.