What TikTok's Ban Would Teach You
And why YouTube isn't as stable as you think.
I had rare access inside YouTube for a decade.
My friend Dan likes to say I was Willie Wonka in the chocolate factory.
And during that time, I saw platform after platform challenge YouTube to be the best home-base for creators, globally.
It's like I was standing on the bridge of a giant ship, watching them come at us.
Some you remember, some you probably don't. They included:
Daily Motion
Vimeo
Facebook
Vine
Music.ly
SnapChat
Vessel
YouTube didn't take these challenges lightly.
There was often a red alert signaled when it was clear that another platform was posing a threat.
Facebook's threat was promising creators a ton more views. And it worked – for a while. Creators could get a lot more numbers on Facebook, and get them faster. It was thrilling.
But then they got exposed.
Turns out, what they defined as a "view" was more of an impression. For example, if a Facebook viewer scrolled by your video and it auto-played for half a second, that was counted as a "view". 🙄
Creators eventually caught on, and settled back into their cozy home on YouTube.
Another threat came from the short-lived Vessel, which started offering YouTube's top creators million dollar checks if they would just agree to upload their videos two days earlier on their platform, before YouTube.
Brilliant move, right?
Welp, turns out YouTube's viewers were too loyal to bother joining another platform, even for early access to their favorite content.
So, WHUMP - yet another challenger fell onto the pile of others at YouTube's feet.
Then Came TikTok
TikTok was different. Its features were slick, fun, and creative. Its videos were fast, loud, and wild.
Its whole vibe completely undercut YouTube's strategy of getting creators to make higher quality, long-form, horizontal videos.
And oh man, it triggered the red alert of all red alerts. The engineering departments were ordered to stop everything they were doing immediately, and figure out how to make "Shorts".
CUT TO: 8 years later
The once-obscure TikTok is now one of the biggies.
But sadly, YouTube's biggest challenger may not make it after all, due to this impending ban in the US. I won't get into it here, but if you're interested, I talk about US lawmakers' concerns in this video.
Still, I want to post a hypothetical question to you -
How would it affect you if YouTube was banned?
What would that mean for you?
Would you lose your connection to your fans and followers?
Would you lose access to one of your favorite hobbies?
Would you lose revenue?
Would you lose the ability to watch tutorial videos?
What else?
I point this out because – while YouTube is ultra-stable and well trusted at this point – you really don't want to sit your entire business on top of a platform.
Case in point: Invalid Traffic
If you're not familiar with this issue, just do a simple search on YouTube and watch a few videos. The invalid traffic alert is instantly tanking the ad revenue of tens of thousands of YouTube creators –
And doing it at RANDOM, with no warning:
Creators have no control of it, and YouTube hasn't seemed to have figured out how to fix the problem in a way that pleases both advertisers and creators alike.
As a result, sadly, some YouTube creators are having their entire livelihoods zapped in an instant, even with zero risk of a platform ban.
The Lesson Here
As much as we love YouTube, it's best that we not get too cozy with it. Like any platform, use it as a marketing tool for your core business or core product. If you don't, and you rest your entire business on YouTube, you run the risk of losing it all due government regulation, invalid traffic, or some other unforeseeable change.
So, ask yourself now, are there ways you can de-risk yourself from an over-reliance on YouTube?
If you lost the ability to communicate with fans via video, do you have a back-up method?
Food for thought.
-Matt
When you're ready, here's how I can help:
👉 Get my fresh perspective on all your YouTube challenges: Book 1:1 time with me for a Quick Answers Call or Full Channel Deep-Dive. I'd love to meet you.
👉 Get my help launching or rejuvenating a company-owned YouTube channel: A lot of my work lately has been for companies and organizations who seem to value my 10 years inside YouTube & Google. If you're an employee of one, feel free to learn how I can help on this page.
