Pretty much every comment here is talking about how their YouTube experience is suboptimal, how streaming platforms are getting worse (and not how YouTube is getting better), and other dismissive takes.
It's skepticism all around. The same kinds of comments are on threads about TikTok, which are equally clueless about how big of a deal TikTok is culturally to young people.
Sorry if my comment comes off a bit cranky, I just find the lack of any substantial comments here about the future of video media, etc. to be disappointing.
And how is YouTube becoming better? Because in recent years if they detect ad blocking on a network? They will shadow ban the entire network. I can no longer use YouTube without a VPN because every single video cuts at the 1:00 mark. No explanation, no pop up. The videos simply load indefinitely. I have tried numerous solutions, but when I’m on my home network? I either VPN or I don’t get YouTube access.
This has been my situation for at least 2 years across multiple devices and accounts.
I muck about on HN and get ~80% of my video content on youtube. I think it's great overall. The rest ~5% twitter, 0% TV although I have one sitting switched off with a £174 bbc fee. 5% pirated maybe.
If you go with the official HN guide of "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity" and avoid "stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities" then youtube is much better - watching Hinton explain AI and neural networks at the mo. https://youtu.be/jrK3PsD3APk and https://youtu.be/IkdziSLYzHw which is kind of interesting.
YouTube is clearly becoming the dominant media platform of the future.
Random acts of piracy or obscure video platforms are not indicative of how 99% of the population acts.