YouTube, again.

[capnsensible]

There are plenty of video websites with women in bikinis, or a lot less, I prefer my sailing vids to be made in conditions that require foulies.

One of the jobs I've had was skippering a tourist trip catamaran. Disregard that rough stuff, dental floss bikinis are much better for the captains morale.

 

[lustyd]

Humm
Sailed since I was about 4 yrs, but find most of the u-tube stuff not too interesting.. If you want bikinis, look at the Mail
Been involved in a couple of plane crashes involving people I knew and planes I had rebuilt or serviced. You don't want to go there.

I've been eating since I was very young but don't feel compelled to watch cooking shows, although suddenly feel compelled to tell people I don't watch cooking shows...

 

[steve yates]

Yes there was that Concerto chap who filmed in a F7 off Falmouth and wrote all about it. Total drama Queen ?

So what? Are you deliberately obtuse? Roger has been sailing forever and knows what he is doing. What did I say again?

 

[steve yates]

There is a technical term for people trying to make money out of a hobby they know nowt about. Wankers.

 

[lustyd]

So what? Are you deliberately obtuse? Roger has been sailing forever and knows what he is doing. What did I say again?

Ah so it is an age issue.

 

[harvey38]

The only 'Boat' YT I subscribe to is Travels with Geordie, no gleaming white teeth, no skimpy bikinis, no egos or trim bodies, just a down to earth bloke in Canada doing up a couple of older Monk boats.

He did up his own and re-engined it so he could go out cruising and continues the renovation as and when it's convenient, educational as he is well versed in most aspects of boat ownership, very well shot, informative and entertaining.

Quite inspirational as it was this that planted the idea of taking on a 'Project boat' and get back into boating.

 

[ylop]

Yes, sorry. Please feel free not to follow this thread if it upsets you.

.

I wonder if the complainers realise that posting on this thread actually boosts the revenue for the channels they are whinging about?

YouTube pays creators for content based on the number of views the content gets. Every time this thread pops to the top of the forum it will:

1. likely find new people from within the forum to watch it = another 1p to the intrepid drama queens.

2. enhance its importance in the google search rankings, meaning it’s more likely to be be found by someone searching - resulting in1.

3. The youtube algorithm (which no one really understands) prioritises content with more engagement, content that brings people from outside youtube to inside it is almost certainly going to be highly rewarded. High priority content gets shown to people after they watched a video they selected.

The more you moan - the more money they make! They have been playing the YouTube game long enough to analyse what makes them most money - bikinis, manufactured drama, click bait titles, even apparent incompetence. They’ll make more of the stuff that makes more money.

 

[Stemar]

Whinge all you want, but it's a free(-ish) country and a free(ish) internet. Talentless twats may be able to make their fortunes as influencers, whatever they are - personally, they influence me to watch something else, but I would expect the sailing fraternity to be more discerning. If someone's any good they'll get the views and, more importantly, the repeat views. If they aren't they'll fade away back into obscurity - so let's just let 'em. Let's just promote those we think worthy of promotion here and ignore the rubbish.

 

[lustyd]

I wonder if the complainers realise that posting on this thread actually boosts the revenue for the channels they are whinging about?

I certainly do, it's partly why it's fun to keep it going as the greater exposure will help their success.

 

[Daydream believer]

You misunderstand me, I have nothing against young, or old, folk making a career out of this. I do have something against those who simply jump on a bandwagon, with nothing to tell and no talent in telling it. They inevitably create drama out of sod all, like the first episode in question.

Surely, making something out of nothing, is a skill to be admired

 

[Daydream believer]

There are plenty of video websites with women in bikinis, or a lot less, I prefer my sailing vids to be made in conditions that require foulies.

Yes! I can imagine that a nice pair of ... lazing in the sun, when the rain is dribbling down your neck & it is freezing cold, is not always what one wants to see.

 

[newtothis]

Yes! I can imagine that a nice pair of ... lazing in the sun, when the rain is dribbling down your neck & it is freezing cold, is not always what one wants to see.

Nah, it's more that I can do the easy sunny sailing myself so don't need to watch others do it. But sailing to Iceland in the winter like crazy Erik is something I'd rather do from the comfort of my living room.

 

[[2574]]

So many grumpy old buggers. If they can make money out of what is judged here to be rubbish - well good on them. It's no different to Crossroads on the telly.

 

[ylop]

I would expect the sailing fraternity to be more discerning.

I do laugh when people say stuff like that as if being able to sail makes you part of some sort of elite group with selection criteria that eliminate those easily swayed by marketing, fashion and frivolity.

If someone's any good they'll get the views and, more importantly, the repeat views.

ah, how naive. Getting initial youtube traction has very little to do with how good your content is and is all to do with getting noticed. I could quietly be churning away making amazing content but if nobody sees it, and more importantly engages with it (likes, subscribes, comments, shares, links) youtube doesn't show it to other people unless they specifically search for it and so it remains in obscurity. Of course its also

Let's just promote those we think worthy of promotion here and ignore the rubbish.

I'm absolutely all for people promoting good channels here. Of course what you find good I might find tedious. Top tip though - if you actually want to help the channel/creator put a link to the content here not just their name; a link is much more likely to be followed and google's search magic will rank it higher too.

 

[ylop]

So many grumpy old buggers. If they can make money out of what is judged here to be rubbish - well good on them. It's no different to Crossroads on the telly.

That's harsh - even a bad sailing youtube channel is better than Crossroads ever was! [Ironically cross roads probably came off air before these two were born!]

We prob have different standards to what is good video and production

I wonder if you've ever produced video for youtube that we could critique? Making good video looks really easy, but actually takes a shedload of work. I've made some educational (non boating) content in the past and reckon every 5 minutes of decent video takes:

- About 1.5-2 hrs of DIY shooting. You may be able to do it quicker, especially if you have lots of experience. Its faster if you have a camera "crew" but then you have "two people's" time. Simple stuff might be quicker but its not going to have high production values. If you have a "fixed" situation like a studio that is always set up then its easier as you will have everything in place, lighting etc. That means ££ though.
- About double that in editing. Again I've done some quick and dirty stuff quicker but if you've got sound from a different source to sync, b-roll to cut in, any fancy stuff like picture in picture etc. Obviously a really experienced video editor will do it much quicker, and the fewer takes / cuts the simpler.
- About 5 hrs to prep the story, get materials / props etc in the right place, make a story board or script etc. Some content will be simpler than this because it doesn't need to be factually precise or its just filming stuff that happens, but if it has a "plot" it probably didn't happen by chance. Either someone worked it all out in advance or they shot a lot more stuff and left it on the cutting room floor.
- Then if you are putting it on youtube you need thumbnails, descriptions, uploading etc - that's at least an hour per video.

So I'd expect a 15 minute video to take 20-35 hours to make - and its still probably wouldn't be as polished as most of the medium sized youtube sailing channels. Now to make a "living" out of this you now need to respond to comments, cross post on Insta, perhaps maintain a blog, be nice to patreons, talk to potential sponsors, do all the admin of running a micro business (tax etc). If they are managing that every week its a full-time job, ok a full-time job with a lot of fun thrown in but one with no pension, no sick pay, no paid holiday, etc...

...now this particular youtube channel are pretty new to sailing but not new to youtube. She vlogged her life at Uni before she switched to sailing so I'm pretty sure they know what works and what doesn't for generating traffic. You are likely not "her target audience". I expect they are typically watched by non-sailors looking at their adventure and drama rather than people who are equipped and able to do the same journey themselves.

 

[lustyd]

Taking a quick look at the original video from post 1 and it now has 116,243 views and their latest from 2 days ago has 24,617 views . That's a lot of people who decided to watch the new video immediately after release, and compares very favourably to most TV shows on terrestrial telly. It doesn't matter why people watch it, what matters is that some people enjoyed it.

For those not enjoying the bikini girls, how about this chap? Undeniably more popular with 1.3M views

 

[steve yates]

Ylop, i know how much work goes into video production, and its definitely not easy.
But thats not relevant.
Its so difficult and time consuming in fact that it must bea waste of time for many folk who try to do it as an income stream. If just doing it as a hobby amd for their own memories, thats an entirely different thing, .
I think you hit on a key issue there, the audience. Videos made for oneself, or for other sailors tend to be the ones I follow. Videos made with the general public in mind are generally the ones I my rantish comment was aimed at.

And if that makes me an elitist grumpy old git, then I hold my hands up mlud. . I’m still right.

 

[clyst]

If making a YT vid takes hours of work and they can make a living from it then good for them ........ the alternative is to find a landside job and bust a gut working 8hrs a day 5 days a week to pay a millstone mortgage. I know which id rather do .?

 

[lustyd]

Ylop, i know how much work goes into video production, and its definitely not easy.
But thats not relevant.

It is relevant though. While editing, colouring, sound etc. do take time and effort it's the storytelling that's the hard bit. The rest is just process. The channels aimed at friends and family lack this and so don't succeed. The ones with a story (aka OMG there was a storm, but we survived) catch on and spread like wildfire. That's the skill and the difference of making it a career. Good story trumps good production every time.

 

[newtothis]

So many grumpy old buggers. If they can make money out of what is judged here to be rubbish - well good on them. It's no different to Crossroads on the telly.

If we're going to make comparisons to bad telly from the days of yore, surely Howard's Way is the more appropriate example.