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A short(ish) thread about YouTube channels and how they can be a conflict of interest in these troubled, pandemic times.
Apologies in advance if all this is pretty obvious. But I think it's important to lay it all out for those less familiar with how YouTube works. 1/n
Apologies in advance if all this is pretty obvious. But I think it's important to lay it all out for those less familiar with how YouTube works. 1/n
So, YouTube. A huge, and hugely popular video publishing platform. It's available to almost anyone - who hasn't watched something on YT, from cute cat videos to the latest songs to multi-hour road trip videos? (Yes, you can watch someone drive across the US if you wish 
) 2/n
) 2/n
Some of the numbers involved in YT are huge. The most watched video of all time is Baby Shark Dance, with 7.49 BILLION views. That's roughly one view for every person on the planet! (Sorry for the ear worm) 3/n
So no surprise that many people look to share their content on YT. It is, after all, free access to the eyes of virtually every person on the planet. If you want to get your message out, it's an obvious way to do it. 4/n
Of course, everyone has the same opportunity, which leads to huge levels of competition. Trawl though the less frequented regions of the YT universe and you'll find many, many videos with views in the single figures. 5/n
But, find a means of attracting an audience and there are benefits to be had. Because, and here's the important bit, if you can create a video that attracts lots of views (ideally millions) then there is a way to earn money from it. 6/n
Even better, create a YouTube channel and pump out regular new content, and you can convince people to subscribe to your channel so they are notified of every new video. That way you create you own little virtuous, profitable, circle. 7/n
How do you monetise your content, though? Well, it's all down to how YouTube makes money from the platform, which is by advertising. With access to the eyes of so many people around the world, you can imagine it is an attractive option for advertisers. 8/n
If you have a moderately successful channel then YouTube will allow you to show ads in your videos. They will also share a (small) percentage of the income they receive from advertisers, the level of which is related to the number of views your video gets. 9/n
All of which is fine. You create content, people like it, and you get some recompense for your efforts. Normally there's no issue.
But when it comes to public health, the equation changes. 10/n
But when it comes to public health, the equation changes. 10/n
And here's where we start looking at someone specific. Someone who is running a YouTube channel that shows ads, and is earning money from those ads.
Someone who is challenging the expert views on CoVid, presenting an alternative that is gathering views aplenty 11/n
Someone who is challenging the expert views on CoVid, presenting an alternative that is gathering views aplenty 11/n
Who is that person? Ivor Cummings, aka the Fat Emperor. A biochemical engineer with no epidemiological background, who has been promoting alternative diets for some time, but has now hit on a winning formula for his YouTube channel, and its earnings. 12/n
What is that formula? Well, Ivor is a strong proponent of 'natural' herd immunity and has created many videos on and around that topic. The videos contain impressive graphs and stats, but have been debunked by medical experts. 13/n
But Ivor ploughs on, encouraging conflict. And there is certainly one benefit of all the interest and controversy around his views. Yes, you've guess it, his subscriber and view numbers are up. Hugely. 14/n
At the start of the year he was pootling along at about 150K monthly views. Better than most, but would earn him tens or a couple of hundred pounds/euros of revenue at best. 15/n
In Sept & Oct, however, his view count for his channel was approaching 2m per month. All for being a bit controversial, and pandering to the views of those who reject the science around CoVid. https://socialblade.com/youtube/channel/UCPn4FsiQP15nudug9FDhluA 16/n
Now it's difficult to estimate revenue, as the earnings vary on a number of different metrics, hence the wide range of the estimate on the Social Blade site (£150 to £2.4k)
Regardless, Ivor is seeing income from his controversial views, and that is a conflict of interest 17/n
Regardless, Ivor is seeing income from his controversial views, and that is a conflict of interest 17/n
Why? Simply put, there is an incentive for Ivor to post videos that earn more, rather than videos that are purely focused on presenting his interpretation of the data. It's the sort of conflict of interest that would raise concerns about a scientific paper. 18/n
So by all means look at his videos and consider his argument. But please do so with that conflict of interest in mind. /end
