There are 7.6 billion people on earth. 3,000 million have a smartphone and 1,500 users watch YouTube with their account, at least once a month. It is important to emphasize that they are users who have logged in, and presumably the total number will be much wider.
What is even more surprising: users see, on average, more than one YouTube time from their phones. It is a radical change. We have gone from seeing what they put on television sitting in the living room to consume the content we want when, how and where we want. Without any limit and with a variety of contents inconceivable for years.
They are official data shared by Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube, on the occasion of the celebration of the VidCon.
The executive announced a new way of reproducing and uploading videos in 180 degrees, which makes content production easier, although less interactive than 360 degrees. It is a way to offer a similar experience at a much lower price, since the price of 360 cameras is still high. They have also reached strategic agreements with LG, Yi and Lenovo to manufacture 180-degree cameras.
The YouTube mobile application, which has already become the favorite of users, will be updated so that videos are always displayed in the best possible way regardless of the format in which they were recorded . The player will support video vertically, horizontally or square dynamically. They will also update the design of the interface in accordance with the web page, which premiered a new design days ago.
YouTube, along with specialized payment services such as Netflix or Hulu, is becoming the television of teenagers, young people and even children. It is a company that links and manages content according to your history of reproductions and popular videos. Therefore, good content is not always promoted, but the “most attractive”. Maybe one of the problems of TV, but on YouTube the great advantage is that you can always search and find what you are looking for.
But that works with adults who know what they want and what they want. With the youngest and this ocean of information that drowns us every day, the freedom and plurality of YouTube becomes a double-edged sword. Parents hardly control the content that their children see on their phone or tablet even if there are things like YouTube Kids, and the platform is a speaker for any opinion, whether it is founded or not. It is treated as a means of communication even if it is a subjective and poorly documented opinion, and, while regulatory agents focus their attention on the distribution of fake news from Facebook, YouTube is a minefield for certain users despite the controls on age and content that the company imposes.
Maybe YouTube will be forced in the future to adopt a more aggressive selection approach, not only by snipping to certain personalities that now do not have the protection of certain brands. Maybe it comes from regulations imposed by Europe. It is difficult to know. What is increasingly clear, with 1.5 billion people hooked to the service, is that YouTube, sooner or later, will be treated as an immense means of communication and not just as a service that hosts and offers videos on demand.
Large companies have great responsibilities, not only with their businesses or with current legislation, but also with society and with their products they are shaping society and the minds of the future.