The Trending tab is the most talked about and actually, the least understood part of YouTube. That is because we have had nothing but anecdote and speculation. But today, you might change your views about the Trending Tab of YouTube.
Analysis of the 7 months of data put up on YouTube, specifically capturing database of November 2017 to June 2018, have shown that an independent YouTuber has to get millions of views to get up on the trending list, as compared to the traditional media channels, which need only a few thousand views to get up on the list.
The Process
Before we move any further, let us know the crux of how the videos put up on YouTube, get on the Trending Tab.
It is basically based on the number of views they get. According to the analysis, the number of views is the barriers which the video has to pass before they get up on the trending list.
Who is actually Trending?
Let’s just say, for instance, Lele Pons, a YouTuber, trended about 10 times on the Trending Tab and it took her about 4 million views, on an average, to get up there. So, systematically if a YouTuber has more number of average views, let’s just say 10 million views, he or she must be trending a lot more times than those having a few of thousand views. But the case is overwhelmingly, just the opposite. Yes, that’s true.
Hidden Truth
As a general viewer, you may not be able to figure this out, but the trending list is biased towards the traditional media. You will see the mainstream media videos, for instance, ESPN, The Ellen Show, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Netflix, CNN, etc. These are the Trending videos we see are overrepresented over and over and over again.
It is interestingly shocking that the analysis showed a well-known YouTuber, Logan Paul, arguably needs one of his videos to receive 11 million views to get anywhere near the Trending tab, but a video from ESPN only needs 500 thousand views to trend.
Other Findings
The other findings according to the analysis were the moderators. A moderation team keeps a video off the trending tab, if they consider it to be problematic for viewers. Here, the twist is, the moderators are actively doing their jobs against the independent YouTubers, but they seem to be blindfolded when it comes to the traditional media. They allow the mainstream media to play the “problematic” stuff in their videos.
This can be clarified by the database of the same period, in which, the local independent YouTubers trended frequently less in the U.S. than they do in the other localities like Mexico, Canada, etc. The sole reason behind this is the U.S. has a strong content moderation team. On the other hand, the traditional media has trended more or less equally among all states.
The Level Playing Field!
YouTube has faced direct criticism from many YouTubers now, regarding the matter, to which the CEO of YouTube assured creators that YouTube has planned to tweak the Trending Tab in such a way that 50 percent of the trending videos would come directly from the native creators. But the bone of contention remains unsaid again, that that other 50 percent will come from traditional media.
