I can't understand how anyone accepts watching a 15m video to learn something 2 paragraphs of text can explain.

Depends what kind of stuff you are trying to learn. If it's tech related, then you probably want text docs. Most of the stuff I want to learn about is physical like cooking or crafts which make video content vastly superior.

It's also not realistically possible to auto generate spam video content like you can for blog posts.

> It's also not realistically possible to auto generate spam video content like you can for blog posts.

It definitely is. If you look for videos just a bit longer then 10 minutes (something to do with YouTube recommendation algorithm) you will notice how much unnatural en spammy conversation and “information” is being told (backed by meme or stock images or just a talking head) before getting to the point of the video (which often is barely 1min of content). Sure it takes more time to actually speak the text and edit the video. But it really feels like generated garbage to fill time which can be easily churned out. Now with the dawn of AI I can only image this getting worse and worse.

Ugh I hate the "obviously padding time with rambling to meet X minutes long" where X = some arbitrary number the YouTube algorithm is prioritizing this quarter. Some things are worth a deep dive with pitfalls laid out in a methodical way. Most things are not.

> X = some arbitrary number the YouTube algorithm is prioritizing

This thing about video length is mostly a myth. "The algorithm" juggles many variables but I've seen no evidence content length is one of them.

There was a very common pattern of rambling to meet the 10m mark because this was a threshold to add a midroll ad to your video and thus make more money.

So your point still applies, it's just purely out of creator greed and not chasing youtube's heuristics.

I believe creators get paid by watch time, so they are incentivised to make videos as long as possible

If the algorithm preferred long videos, you'd be better off with one 10m video as opposed to two 5m videos as it would be pushed harder. Whereas if it was agnostic to video length, the latter would be OK.

Regardless, you're correct that watch time may be a motivating factor in making them stretch content longer than it needs to be though. I don't think they get paid for watch time (it's all about ad impressions or CPMs) but it would positively impact their channel statistics.

Ah you're right. There was a change a while ago that did seem to favour creators that made longer videos over shorter ones, but it's not as cut and dry as watch time = more money

Just skip to the main part of the video and watch on 2x then.

Because not all content creators pad their videos. They often provide links to documentation. You can easily skip through the video and you have the option to watch them on 2x speed which is what I often do.

Beggars can't be choosers.

I don't want, too. but author can get more money.

I wouldn't say blogs are dead. There are still some good ones(swyx.io, simonwillison.net, eugeneyan.com, etc). There are also a lot of good content in the form of podcasts and newletters(basically blogs with regular update).

I think naturally practitioners/experts have better insider insight about the industry than full time content creators but they can't dedicate as much time to create content. Lots of youtube channels just try to cater to beginners, abuse clickbait titles, recycle content from other sources, fill the videos with low effort memes.

If you want to learn by video I agree. The problem with video is that it takes forever to extract the info you need

Videos as a medium are also incentivized to reach certain lengths so they can inject ads into otherwise boring and mundane topics.

As an example, try to look up on YouTube how to replace your car fob’s battery (doesn’t matter what brand) and you will absolutely encounter an 8-10 minute video offered up for what’s probably a 15 second value and something the manufacturer could have provided in a decent 3 panel illustration hosted on a static .html page, but won’t.

>for what’s probably a 15 second value and something the manufacturer could have provided in a decent 3 panel illustration hosted on a static .html page, but won’t.

Right, because you're not supposed to do that yourself. You're supposed to go to your dealership and pay them $50 to change the $0.20 battery in 15 seconds. Do you really think you're qualified to do such a difficult operation by yourself?

I actually got into an argument on Nextdoor once because someone was promoting a battery store that charged "only" $20 for this "service", and felt it was a "good value" and got mad that I was pointing out that you can just buy the battery by itself for less than a dollar and do it yourself.

yes! try to learn anything related to home maintenance and it feels like youtube is your only option. and you are stuck trying to scrub through a 20 minute video to find the 10 second slice on info you’re looking for.

Open the transcript. You can read through all the spoken content and click to go to a point in the video

Good tip! You can also watch on 2x speed and put it back to 1x or 1.5x if you want to focus on a specific step.

The issue I see with this is while there are myriads of blog hosting services, an equal number of vps providers if you want to have more control, and you can even host your blog yourself in your basement if you are so inclined, there is only one Youtube grabbing much of the money and leaving peanuts for the actual creators.