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Comment by La-ang | Hacker News Reader

Can youtubers go on strike and take the content down for a limited time? If such an option is available and they do it, it would be a relevant strike. But since those who are joining the Union are the one demonetized provides that Youtube isn't making as much profit from their presence as those who are still running ads. In such case, the former ones will need a way to engage those who make profit align with their doctrine, so the strike can be a blow to youtube. Bottom line to me; Not Gonna Happen (NGH).

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A better option would be to start publishing content to another platform enmasse. Not only could they hold out longer, it would strike right at the heart of YouTube's main advantage, which is to be the defacto video platform.

> Can youtubers go on strike and take the content down for a limited time?

In order for that to be effective, a strike needs to remove enough capability from the other party to materially affect them. In this case, with so many videos online, I'd bet creators would need to get perhaps 95%-99% of recent videos taken down. They won't get anywhere close.

Right out of the gate, news and music won't join in the strike. Also the rewards to defect get higher, the more other creators join the strike.

You can easily make your videos private for the duration of the strike.

Lets be honest about the problem. If 20 million people watch me, how much did I make off Google? Depending on the market you're in this fluctuates but typically at most, maybe 50k. That's a lot of views and people watching for such chump change. Viral videos are something most creators will never experience and viral does not pay nearly as well as a specific niche. How many people watch the Super Bowl and how much is spent on ads? YouTubers with millions of views are wickedly underpaid. My children have cared more about YouTube than Hulu, Netflix and Cable combined. They will be devastated with a large scale strike. Google should be worried since they do whatever they can to screw over the content creators on the regular.

> YouTubers with millions of views are wickedly underpaid.

You seem to be under the delusion that Youtube has an obligation to provide creators some level of income. They aren't even obligated to provide free hosting.

> My children have cared more about YouTube than Hulu, Netflix and Cable combined. They will be devastated with a large scale strike.

Maybe. If I was an exec, I'd be willing to bet there'd be enough videos left on the platform that they wouldn't care that much.

I feel like a very strong effect could be had if popular creators move their content to other providers. While they might not be able to take down a huge percentage of all recent videos on YouTube, they could redirect the attention of enough users to have a very strong impact on YouTube's ad revenue.

Say someone is a die-hard fan of Pewdiepie--he's the reason that user opens YouTube on a daily basis. This user watches his daily video, but might also watch some news and music from their recommendations after the video ends. If Pewdiepie moves his content somewhere else, that user might not end up viewing that related content on YouTube anymore.

I'm really interested to see how these shared groups of fans cooperate with union efforts. Given how close of a connection many popular creators have with their fans, a call for a boycott could impact a lot more than just those creators.

> I feel like a very strong effect could be had if popular creators move their content to other providers.

That could work. There's no exclusivity clauses for video hosts, though, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't already be on those other platforms unless it isn't worth the work. I'm forced to conclude that youtube's competitors have few enough viewers and/or pay so poorly that it would require a truly organized and massive move to make that work.

All I can say is: good luck. I won't be holding my breath.

> I'd bet creators would need to get perhaps 95%-99% of recent videos taken down

These are not factory workers or hotel cleaners. Videos are not fungible.

Hard to scab, especially in the short-term.

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