I used to occasionally enjoy watching random videos online. But this trend of people attaching their annoying and obviously FAKE reactions on top of the video is happening a lot lately. Aren’t people bothered by this ? How is that even supposed to help with the content of the video ? I understand if they own the content of the video, but lately I see a lot of people doing it on completely random content.
It’s absolutely awful and if I get clickbaited into one such videos I let it play for a few seconds before clicking it away. I hope this makes their bounce rate drop.
They steal content and provide nothing of value besides their fragile and fake personalities that a few people might like because they’re lonely.
Honestly I think there’s a strong difference between people reacting to content who are adding value (eg adding meaning information, elaborating on their opinion, etc) and people who “react to content” just to get away with reposting the content. The second group tends to try to obscure as little of the original video as they can get away with and if you subscribe to them you effectively get a pre-curated list of somewhat interesting videos (if you can ignore their heads or a silly automated voiceover).
Sadly both groups often don’t credit the original creators, so whoever actually made the original content tends to be out of luck regarding getting their fair share of revenue or digital traffic.
If you’re referring to the youtube thumbnail trend, it’s because it helps people choose videos without reading channel names. You know who it’s from just by looking, you see the title, you’re more likely to click.
In other words, the office nerds at Mr. Beast Inc. crunched the numbers and discovered that they get ??% more viewers by putting Jimmy’s face in the thumbnail, and every other youtuber took that as gospel.
I think he means how more and more YouTubers have face can on while they play. It seems to have picked up steam over the last few years. I find it annoying as hell. Sometimes it’s a cut-down Livestream, which I don’t know why anyone does face cam there either, though I hate watching unedited content, it’s boring AF.
Face cams on let’s play videos have been a thing for years. Even more so with livestreams. It’s rare for a live streamer to not have video when playing a game, and its detrimental to their growth and viewership to not have a face cam or vtuber.
In order to use someone elses content under fair use you have to make “meaningful commentary” so they do the bare minimum in order to use other people’s videos.
Fair use commentary generally requires as little of the actual original work to be used as possible. Summary may be ok, clips/recordings are ok, but they must be minimal. That commentary must also be substantive.
Reproducing a work in full (thus obviously limiting the commercial viability of the original work - another factor considered) with light commentary over the top probably wouldn’t hold up in court. The commentary just avoids automatic systems in the increasingly poorly moderated internet.
The technicality is, it’s not a replay of somebodies content with changes, it’s “Hey look at me reacting to another’s content”
This is the correct answer here! People copyright strike reposted videos all the time, but turning it into commentary makes it a new artwork so it won’t get removed. They also often insert the commentary over the sections of video that include copyrighted music.
I had very recently come across a reactionary content left-wing YouTube channel, reacting to Rachel Maddow of MSNBC reacting to Elon Musk’s interview… I thought that was pretty bizarre. (link).
It was a 30 second intro segment, then a 8 minute clip of the Maddow show, followed by a 1 minute outro commentary segment.
I actively avoid videos with those awful thumbnails, but I figure it must result in a net gain in clicks.
I will sometimes watch them on YouTube as it’s a compilation of a certain kind of goofy video. Otherwise I’m getting random clips from all kinds of genres.
That’s one of the reasons I stopped using YouTube. I don’t want to see people’s stupid face, it adds nothing and it detracts from the video.
easy way to steal content, and enough people don’t care it’s happening, so they get away with it
Narcissism
You should make one of those video with your reaction to the fake reaction videos
“Look at this old lady. She wake up everyday to do old lady things. Like if you think that the old lady is doing great”
It’s been a trend for quite a while now, “reaction” videos. There was even a YouTube gremlin who wholesale stole content from everyone and did nothing on camera
Sniperwolf?
It boosts engagement. Anything you see trending is because it boosts engagement. Social media pays for engagement, content creators min max for that.
Are there people who specifically watch these videos for the reactions? I can imagine some enjoying it, but I thought the general consensus (at least among my friends) is that it’s annoying. I was hoping the trend would die out at some point, but the opposite seems to be happening.
Reaction videos have been for many years always very profitable. I mean, you can easily find creators/channels that have millions of views and they just film themselves reacting to a video. As a creator, you can incorporate a bit of that into your content and you’ll likely see people engaging more. I personally never understood what’s the appeal of watching somebody watch something instead of me watching that directly. I think it is something that goes in the direction of a para-social relationship, but I’m no expert.
Edit: I think I might be thinking about a different kind of reaction videos mind. Sharing an example of what you were referring to?
It is gross, but watch a child watch the video. They look to the talking head to interpret what is happening and to tell them how to react.
Sounds like boomers watching cable news to me.
DarkviperAU has entered the chat.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnJ4ZuTYaeGv4WIexP9C5LAuMEnMkG-Q
I dislike reaction content.
I like all the extra information. What I’d really like is for the subtitles to be in sync with the audio. Comedy is spoiled when the whole build up AND punch-line show up together 15 seconds early.
I’m not sure what you mean… I haven’t really gotten much of that at all, thankfully, as it does sound pretty annoying.
I think he means reaction content. Where some influencer or some other reacts to viral stuff or whatever. Most are shit.
But if you managed to find it there are some good ones where they add good content on top.
I personally am following a chef doing this reaction content. He adds a lot of advice and suggestions for the normal home cooks.
I thought reaction videos were passé. Is this a short video thing I’m too old to get targeted by?
Since Google wants to take the TikTok crowd, they are boosting Shorts. So content creators are pushing Shorts.
