Thanks for watching TechWiki. Click the subscribe button, then enable notifications with the bell icon, so you won't miss any future videos.
Most of you are probably a little young to remember where you were when Fonzie jumped that shark on water skis.
But the expression it spawned has stayed with us, and the phenomenon of popular shows and series
losing their appeal, sometimes very suddenly, remains as well. And in the enormous, not to mention highly competitive, online video space,
that means that we have seen many things, that is besides ill-conceived stunts involving teethy fish,
bring down once popular YouTubers.
One of the biggest, though not most exciting, culprits is
stagnation. This occurs when a star simply doesn't adjust to changes in trends and
viewer demands, or
overall changes to the YouTube platform,
including its infamous
recommendation algorithm. The importance of staying current was certainly a thing when traditional television dominated short-format entertainment,
but it's become even more important in the YouTube era, due to a few things.
The sheer number of choices on the platform, the rapid pace at which things become old news or dead memes,
due to how quickly fresh content can be pushed online, and the fact that many prominent YouTubers release episodes
every day.
As opposed to just
once a week, and only for part of the year. Not everybody's idea tank is quite as deep as Family Guy.
For example, fellow Canadians Epic Meal Time saw a
meteoric rise after astounding the internet with their colossal culinary creations,
but their growth has since plateaued. Not because the content is bad,
but possibly because their formula hasn't really changed much since the early 2010s.
Oh, and they've also split their attention between YouTube and traditional TV.
Which is trend number two, because they are far from the only channel to look at different avenues to grow their brands.
H3H3 Productions, while still quite popular on YouTube,
hasn't seen as much growth lately in terms of their subscribers, and has had their viewership declining for the last year.
But you could argue that this is due to focusing more on their very successful podcast.
So, while a quick look at Social Blade numbers might suggest a brand in trouble,
the reality is that it isn't uncommon for well-established channels or creators,
whether for business or artistic reasons, to eventually look elsewhere and use YouTube as just one component of their overall business.
Of course, branching out too much can lead to real detrimental effects.
For example, Jake and Logan Paul focused a great deal on the
merchandise side of their business, which is a likely factor in the decline of their viewership and subscriber growth over the last little while.
It is always a balancing act between
monetizing your content and focusing on what the viewer came to you for in the first place,
entertainment. We've seen many a YouTuber go too far in their ads and sponsorships to the detriment of their channel's health.
And of course, that whole suicide forest controversy didn't help very much either.
Which leads me into another common hazard that YouTubers have to watch for.
Scandal.
Just like actors and most politicians, YouTube creators can fall out of favor with their audiences due to major scandals,
as we've seen with family daily vloggers like Daddy of Five and the Shaytards.
And in some of these cases, YouTube itself will even make the decision to stop serving users with videos that it deems too controversial.
YouTube itself will even make the decision to stop serving users with videos that it deems too controversial.
Logan Paul was caught up in this, as we just mentioned, as was LeafyIsHere.
Actually, come to think about it, a lot of the prank channels that were really popular not so very long ago
have suffered major declines since YouTube's algorithms were changed to de-emphasize content that could be considered abusive.
But even if a YouTuber has focused solely on producing great content for the YouTube platform,
hasn't jumped to traditional media, doesn't spend too much time asking people to buy lunch boxes,
and has avoided angering the powers that be,
their channel could still be sunk by on-camera personality, or lack thereof.
I'm talking about turnover.
Some channels Ryzen popularity due to having a charismatic host that viewers identify with.
And, if that host ends up moving on, the channel can suffer big time.
This is what happened to RayWilliamJohnson's Equals3.
Remember, he was the top YouTuber at one point.
And it was definitely a factor in SourceFed's eventual downfall.
It even happened in the tech industry not that long ago to Newegg TV,
after their primary hosts Paul and Kyle, whom I'm sure many of you recognize,
left to start their own channels.
But, the good news for all of you is that we are aware of these potential pitfalls.
We have painstakingly researched them.
So, we have not decided to cut back our release schedule
to develop these lovely tech-quickie branded stress balls,
which can be yours for just $9.99 if we can get 10,000 likes slammed on this here video.
Or smashed, or whatever works.
Speaking of monetizing content, FreshBooks!
It's challenging racing against the clock as a freelancer,
but with the growth of the internet, there's never been more opportunities for the self-employed.
And to meet this need,
you can check out FreshBooks' cloud accounting software.
It's the simplest, easiest way to be more productive, more organized,
and perhaps most importantly, get paid faster.
You can create and send professional-looking invoices in less than 30 seconds,
you can set up online payments with just a couple of clicks and get paid up to four days faster,
you can take the whole experience with you on the go with their Android and iOS apps,
and you can even see when your client has seen your invoice to put an end to the guessing games.
They're offering a 30-day unrestricted free trial to our viewers,
so just to claim it, just go to freshbooks.com slash techquickie,
we will have that linked below,
and enter techquickie in the how did you hear about us section.
Thanks for watching, guys!
Dislike, like, check out our other channels,
leave a comment if you have suggestions for future videos,
and don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell.
I wonder if anyone's ever gone down for asking people to hit the bell too often.
Probably.