I personally cannot stand 99% of youtuber’s content. The humor is often juvenile, skits are terrible, and feels as though it’s all appealing to the lowest common denominator.

But, I think the same thing about most TV.

And I love YouTube as an advertiser far, far more. The videos most YouTubers make are not made for me. I’m not the target audience – but I know the influence these creators wield.

As marketers we need to remove ourselves from what we like and put ourselves in our audience’s shoes.

Great and brave post, I Hate YouTube, from Brendan Gahan, which echoes feelings I have when thinking what an audience wants. We're not making things for us, sometimes we are aligned with the target audience and that's great. But good to remember many audiences we make content for will engage/enjoy/require something out of the comfort zone of taste you may empathise with.

I feel this about broadcast TV, and can't bear the thought of even switching it on these days (my BT video box has never been turned on). I treat YouTube like I do all platforms that I get content from, and it's on demand, I look for what I want and watch that. All the more reason that creators, brands and publishers should really think deeply about their audiences (or audiences they want to build) in delivering valuable content that make people WANT to watch.