It's just celebrity worship culture carrying on as usual. People are interested in other people. Once you get sufficiently famous you'll have a cult of personality whether you want it or not. People will start obsessing over you as a person rather than the products or creative works you represent.
"Reactions" on Youtube and being transformative enough to merit monetization
- Thread starter Dio
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Dirtyshubb
Member
With regards to the topic, I don't really have a problem with people monetizing reaction videos as it's content they produced and they are free to do so.
However, 99% of reaction videos are shit, mostly fake and over the top reactions or people who don't know as much about the subject as they think they do. Now this might partly stem from jealousy that my own channel will never get as many views as some of these videos do but most reaction videos really are trash, the stupid thumbnail reaction face, the over the top reactions, the talking while the trailer is showing when they should be fucking watching it and taking as much in as possible. It just all gets under my skin.
It's like the reality TV fad has crossed over to YouTube and formed itself as reaction videos. Yeah there are some good stuff here and there but the vast majority are shit and just copy each other.
However, 99% of reaction videos are shit, mostly fake and over the top reactions or people who don't know as much about the subject as they think they do. Now this might partly stem from jealousy that my own channel will never get as many views as some of these videos do but most reaction videos really are trash, the stupid thumbnail reaction face, the over the top reactions, the talking while the trailer is showing when they should be fucking watching it and taking as much in as possible. It just all gets under my skin.
It's like the reality TV fad has crossed over to YouTube and formed itself as reaction videos. Yeah there are some good stuff here and there but the vast majority are shit and just copy each other.
IdreamofHIME
Member
Reaction videos are great when they're genuine. Mike Huber's reaction to Shenmue 3 is probably my favourite E3 moment of all time.
And? Some of them are still fun to watch.
Messypandas
Member
Huw_Dawson
Member
Someone mentioned Max above and his reaction vids, and I'd just like to stick up for the dude for a second -
I'm reasonably sure that his character reveal reaction videos are for trailers that he has the rights to put on his channel - so he actually has the rights to the video he's commenting on iirc.
IMO that is the key difference - if you have the rights to use the video, I see no problem with reaction videos (as long as they're not rubbish videos) but stuff like 'let's upload anime episodes to YouTube encoded with my webcam on as I watch' or other copyright infringing stuff deserves disparaging comments.
I'm reasonably sure that his character reveal reaction videos are for trailers that he has the rights to put on his channel - so he actually has the rights to the video he's commenting on iirc.
IMO that is the key difference - if you have the rights to use the video, I see no problem with reaction videos (as long as they're not rubbish videos) but stuff like 'let's upload anime episodes to YouTube encoded with my webcam on as I watch' or other copyright infringing stuff deserves disparaging comments.
The hell was that?
Yea there's a fine line for reaction videos I'd say. I enjoy watching them and I make reaction videos on my channel as well. I react to Pentatonix videos since I love them. However, I don't monetize any of my reaction videos because it would feel wrong for me to make money off of that. I do it for the enjoyment of it.
Why?
You've never seen a reaction as entertaining as any other entertaining video? There are some hysterical (I don't mean funny) reactions that probably make great content to react to.
Diprosalic
Banned
not worse than any other youtuber.
shadow_shogun
Member
I don't get why Korey chooses to lump himself with the rest of the "reactors" on Youtube. Double Toasted crew show a trailer and discuss it at great lengths afterwards.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
Reaction videos are the bain of my existance. I cannot wrap my mind around how people can watch them without tearing their eyes out.
You could say the same about something like rifftrax but it would still be copyright infringement to just upload the movie along with it.
Androidsleeps
Member
Did not know about the existence of these "reactionists" ..Holly fuck these idiots have hundreds of thousands of subscribers for what?! I can't put it better than the videos linked in OP and others who commented on the matter.
I guess the silver lining from this is that I discovered iDubbzTV and GradeAunderA.
I guess the silver lining from this is that I discovered iDubbzTV and GradeAunderA.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
Nothing wrong with reaction videos. Followers want to see their YouTube star react to X. It's trans-formative art. If you hate it so much then stop doing it yourselves?
Exactly.
Must be nothing.
It's not like a great number of reactors, the vast majority, don't have hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
There couldn't possibly be any skill involved in the successful channels. Impossible. How did they rise above the other similar channels? Fuckery, that's how, because it sure as hell couldn't be anything else.
The ones I watch are for the coarse emotional reactions. The unfiltered, unprocessed opinion on something. It might even be a function of the empathetic part of the brain, but seeing someone react to the announcement of a video game can make me laugh, make me smile, perhaps even make me cringe.
But no, you're probably right. I just want to see how humans emote, as I have never felt such sensations.
radios shipping overview
Member
I was going to say - YouTube has finally become Japanese TV?
entremet
Member
Do you have channel with hundreds of thousands of subscribers?
I mean, I don't get this. They're meeting the entertainment needs of a small subgroup. I don't get the hate.
It's ultra niche entertainment.
Don't you have younger kids or nieces or nephews? It's all about YT.
Seems many are unaware of the younger generation's media consumption habits.
Besides breaking copyright law? I think that's worthy of hatred if you're the person who worked on it and some fucking idiot pushed record on his webcam and put it on the side of the thing you created in its entirety without any editing whatsoever, and got money out of it (and didn't bother plugging or compensating the original creator in any way)
That sentiment reminds me of the media piracy argument.
Not every pirated song/movie/game would have resulted in a sale if piracy was impossible. A number of them would, but thinking they all would is assumptive.
I think there are parallels with that and this, however this is a bit more nuanced. Those views that the reaction video gets, quite likely most of those views, simply wouldn't exist if the reaction video didn't. They wouldn't just be added to the views of the source video.
There would have to be research done on whether or not reaction videos truly siphon views from the source videos of those reactions. Basically, how many people would have watched the source video if the reaction video didn't exist vs. how many people watched the source video, or other videos from the source channel, because the reaction video did exist.
All that said I'm sure reactors would oblige if content creators asked that their videos not be involved in a monetized reaction video, generally or for specific cases. I don't see the problem, because I haven't heard of reaction channels breaching that barrier. What I do hear is a lot of "Boo, they don't require enough effort", which is a bollocks argument.
Androidsleeps
Member
I didn't realize these reactionists were this big until today..The biggest having about 1.5 million subscribers (this is almost as much subs as CommunityChannel; one of the best things about YouTube, the channel that actually started the "interacting" with the comments thing).
I'm not sure if you've watched the videos linked in OP but they pretty much sum it up. This on is also great.
There's absolutely nothing entertaining about THESE "reactionists". Stuff like the FineBros (and even the Koreans react) are different.
It happens. After PewDiePie started talking about JINX stealing his shit and reacting to it and calling those type of 'reaction videos' the worst thing on Youtube in one of his videos, JINX deleted the PewDiePie vids, but only after PDP brought it up - the videos already had millions of views by the time PDP became aware of it. The fact that JINX tries to justify it as "free promotion" is frankly revolting.
He's certainly not alone, there's thousands of people who do the same shit he does.
CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls
Banned
h3h3 actually provides entertaining and insightful commentary. His reaction vids feel like a satire on reactions vids.
Everyone else sucks. I hate the fakeness of it all.
Everyone else sucks. I hate the fakeness of it all.
I mean, that's not a problem, is it?
I guess it is if you assume Jinx was siphoning some of PewDiePie's views, as if the millions of views Jinx got were millions of views PDP would have gotten if Jinx's videos didn't exist. But then the factor to consider is how many people would have watched the PewDiePie videos on PDP's channel but decided not to when they watched Jinx's videos? And is that number more than the amount of people (if any) who watched Jinx's video then decided to watch PDP's video, or any of his other videos, as a result?
The fact remains that he really should have asked first. It's clear he didn't ask - if you're going to use someone else's content, why jump straight to stealing people's content trying to make money and then only taking it down when the original creator expresses dislike of what you're doing, rather than asking them if they'd be okay with letting them use the property first? It makes you look like a tool who's leeching off of popular youtube channels and scurrying into the darkness whenever the original creator acknowledges how shit you're being.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
I thought exactly the same thing haha
Zomba13
Member
I say let them make money because people aren't watching the trailer or whatever, they are watching the person and their reactions. It's be the same as monetising a video where you just talk about the trailer or the event with no footage. It's just that is done afterwards and isn't "live".
Subpar Spatula
Banned
It's transformative. That would be saying Let's Play are stealing. These people aren't watching for the content their reacting to, they're watching it because the person has, to them, an enjoyable reaction. Whether [/b]you[/b] find substance in that is meaningless because other people do.
Essentially "I hate thing" or "look at these guys doing nothing and making money!"
No it's not. Well, maybe something that's completely linear with absolutely no control whatsoever, like a visual novel, MIGHT be comparable. Or a game that's all cutscenes.
Games are unique in that the act of play, itself, is unique for every person who plays it. Not everyone platforms in Mario identically, etc. Specific 'playthroughs' can be considered transformative by virtue of being different for every single person who plays the game.
Let's Plays are already kinda treading the line, but at least playthroughs are unique in some senses. Literally just stealing other people's shit without any editing whatsoever and hosting it on your channel with your face on the side where you say 'heh' every 2 minutes and otherwise sit in silence is reprehensible.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
You're the one who doesn't understand copyright law, why the fuck should I have to bend to your ridiculous, fairy tale land definition of 'transformative'? Taking a 24 minute video that someone else created and unlawfully rehosting it without any editing, and then putting your stupid-ass face on the side, especially if it's commercial content like an episode of anime (there's tons of this) or monetized youtube content, is crossing the line.
I quite enjoy reaction videos with multiple people followed by discussion. Singular reactions without anything else? Probably not for me. Still transformative though, you're watching for the person reacting, not the content itself.
Edit: I agree that the entirety of the content should not be used for video/audio, since no person is going to legitimately be reacting every single second anyways. LPs are different, since input is provided by the player that makes each experience difference and is transformative in itself, without commentary even.
Edit: I agree that the entirety of the content should not be used for video/audio, since no person is going to legitimately be reacting every single second anyways. LPs are different, since input is provided by the player that makes each experience difference and is transformative in itself, without commentary even.
ZackieChan
Member
It also has to do with the other fair use factors, as well, if that's where the notion of "transformative" is coming from.
They're using it commercially.
They're using the entire thing or a substantial amount.
In some cases they're damaging the potential market for the original.
Even if they are transformative, that's not the only factor and it isn't decisive.
I think that has a lot to do with the informal nature of YouTube.
And it's not like PewDiePie emails and waits for a response from every games publisher he plays the games of on YouTube. That's just the nature of YouTube, it's very free-flowing and reactive. I don't see the problem in someone uploading a reaction and being ready to take it down if the source of the reaction content doesn't want a reaction video made.
I mean sure, it would be nice if people were cordial, but that can be extended to everything. The lack of cordiality isn't necessarily disrespect, however.
In some cases they're contributing to the potential market of the original, and contributing to the potential market of other content from the creator of the original.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
PeskyToaster
Member
Nothing about youtube merits monetization. Burn it down.
So sad people can't handle others success, so what they found an audience that likes their opinions enough they can put up their reactions? That is why people watch their videos, to see their opinion on something. Yet we have these sourpusses basically making reaction videos to their reaction videos to bitch and whine about it. Who are these people to decide what is good enough content for youtube and to try and dictate what others enjoy?
ShadowSwordmaster
Banned
Burn it all down.
THEN WHY DOES THE ORIGINAL STOLEN-FROM-ELSEWHERE CONTENT NEED TO BE THERE IN THE CORNER? Why not just do what a minority (and good on them) of these reactors do and timestamp their shit so there's no copyright infringement, so they can sync up the video with the reaction? If these people really just come to the channel for the "reaction" of the guy, there shouldn't be a problem and their youtube subscribers won't fall, they'll just look at the original video and contribute to the original creator and watch the reactor without siphoning money away from the original creator?
That's what I dislike most about all of this.
"I work really hard. Here's the benchmark for what people should be able to thrive doing"
How about you create your own online video hosting platform? How about you create your own games to Let's Play?
How about assess, realistically, if reaction videos are hurting you more than they are helping you isn't of lambasting them for not putting in as much effort as you do. 'There's not enough production on these videos', so what?
Subpar Spatula
Banned
So you're essentially saying it's okay to break copyright law because people are lazy and don't want to go to the effort of 'syncing up videos'?
Why don't Let's Play-er's do that? Upload one video of them speaking about a game, and another un-monetized video of they playing through it? Is the interaction the caveat?
If a reactor pauses 22 minutes into a 23 minute video for 4 seconds is that interaction, or no?
I'm being facetious, but the 'line' is too vague.
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