Comment by griomnib
5 days ago
I think this is a bit of a warped view as this is true for the biggest channels, but the medium and long tail on YouTube has a lot of substance in computer science, engineering, geology, climate science, and much more.
When I was a kid there was Mr Wizard, and then Bill Nye, but it was far more limited than what I watch with my kid.
The land of videos with <1M views is full of gems - and many of the top notch science channels (eg Mark Rober), still give their creators a handsome income. And many of the channels, like Rober, do regularly crack 1M and the recommended list.
I disagree. I think those things you mentioned as being in the long tail are just things that you like and that you think have value. But there's no reason in theory that the same radicalization process can't be happening with those areas as well.
And if it was happening, what would it look like?
I have a theory, but I don't want to give the game away yet.