“big data” and Youtube.

I am broadly positive about the use of my data by Youtube. I would much rather be shown suggestions for videos I may be interested in. I often find new channels to subscribe to through the use of the home screen when logged into Youtube. This is where Youtube get the chance to show me what they think I will be interested in.

I do create some Youtube content myself, however I find that I do not need the analytical tools provided as my channel is not popular enough to worry about the demographics of my visitors.

On the negative side I find many of their advert choices a little strange. I never buy music from Youtube targeted adverts. I don’t think they understand my musical tastes at all. I also find that they show a lot of ‘click-bait’ videos in my suggestions which I tend to ignore.

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Youtube uses big data to:

Record the number of views, comments, subscriptions and likes on a video

• The benefits are that it can be discovered whether viewers like a video and whether or not they have shared it with friends.
• The number of views can be use to build daily, weekly charts etc.
• Youtube benefits from this as they can prioritise which creators they show in suggestions and trending by their popularity.
• Creators benefit from feedback on their work

Predict what videos you want to watch

• The benefits are that visitors to the site do not have to search through lots of videos to find something they want to watch.
• The visitor benefits from this because if the predictions are accurate you will find videos you want to watch easier
• Youtube benefits if they predict a video and you do actually watch it.

Work out what you like to target you with adverts

• The benefits are that you see adverts for products more relevant to your interests
• Advertisers benefit from this because you are more likely to buy a product from them if the advert interests you,
• Youtube benefits because they receive more ad revenue for accurate advert predictions

Find out how interesting a video is by how long people watch uninterrupted and if they jump which parts of the video are being jumped to

• The benefits are testing the interest level of a video
• Youtube benefits to know whether this video is one they would want to recommend based on the ‘eyes on’ time.
• Creators benefit because they might discover that some of the video they create is not being enjoyed as people skip past it.