Why Is Everyone Quitting YouTube?
Vlogs, unboxing videos, tutorials, and video essays are out in 2024. What’s in? Quitting.
Usually, the start of a New Year brings new energy and fresh perspective. We swear off bad habits and promise to ‘really focus this year’ in the hopes of finally becoming more productive. Not so for many longtime YouTubers, though. In fact, it seems like 2024 is the year that some YouTubers — especially those who make shorter films or gaming videos — give up entirely. Cue the start of the Great YouTube Resignation.
This week, MatPat from the wildly popular YouTube channel The Game Theorists (currently with 18.4 million subscribers) announced in a teary video that he was quitting the internet. Last week Tom Scott, who has 6.37 million subscribers, announced that after 10 years he was going to stop making his educational videos. The same day Joel Haver told his 1.94 million subscribers that he was done posting weekly short films. MeatCanyon said he was taking a step back from his account with 6.69 million subscribers. After 13 years and 11.4 million subscribers, CaptainSparklez told his fans he was retiring from minecraft gameplay back in December. Also in December, stampylonghead farewelled his popular Minecraft channel.
So why are all these large YouTubers changing their accounts, or leaving the platform entirely?
A few theories…
Burnout Is Pushing Creators Off YouTube
Let’s start with the obvious: burnout is the most plausible reason big YouTubers have decided to step back from posting — mostly because that’s what they all reference in their departure videos.
For MatPat, making videos for more than 10 years meant that work came first and his family came second. He said he missed the days where he could play a video game and not turn it into content. Joel isn’t quitting YouTube, but he will be focussing more on feature length films instead of the weekly video grind. He wants to do a feature film each month, which seems like a lot of work but more power to him I guess. Tom said it wasn’t burnout specifically but more that his life had become consumed by work and he wants to take a step back. MeatCanyon said he wants to work on original content rather than the cartoon parodies he’s known for.
What I found interesting was the creators weren’t quitting the creative industry but just stepping away from their giant Youtube accounts. On accounts with such large followings, fans tend to expect regular uploads with little room for variety. It’s a trap that’s common among a lot of YouTubers.
YouTube’s Kinda Different Now
In his video, MatPat mentioned that the internet was changing. That’s the common thread between all the departure videos. YouTube has changed massively and creators are struggling to keep up with changing viewer attitudes. I’d argue that TikTok by and large caused this shift but it’s hard not to see how YouTube, as a business, played a major role in pushing some of these creators out. YouTube was meant to be a hub for low production value videos and an accessible alternative to television. When YouTube Red (now YouTube Premium) launched in 2015, it promoted creators of highly produced content like Joey Graceffa’s Escape the Night series. Since then, YouTube has been incentivising vodcasts and longer form, over the top content. Now, thanks to TikTok, it’s easier to create and distribute content on a mass scale with minimal effort. YouTube Shorts attempted to bridge the gap between TikTok and YouTube but longtime creators are still stuck on the hamster wheel to appease the hunger for more content.
YouTubers Are Sick Of Copycats
The homogenisation of content has become rife on YouTube.
While the platform was largely built on creators following trends and making similar videos, in YouTube’s early days there was a lot of freedom for people to forge their own unique editing style — until other YouTubers came along and mimicked it. When she first started, Emma Chamberlain’s video editing became incredibly popular. She quickly became one of the most notable YouTubers on the platform, inevitably inspiring copycats (she herself has been accused of copying other styles). Emma recently said on Colin and Samir’s vodcast that while she didn’t mind that others were copying her, it did mess with her head and pushed her to create something new. Over the past few years, Emma has attempted, with varying success, to change her style and content; she’s shifted from making highly-edited weekly vlogs to slower-paced, more considered videos and travel vlogs. Of course, this isn’t an issue limited to YouTube. TikTok has generated its fair share of copycat controversy, especially in the DIY community. It’s not hard to imagine how dispirited a creator would feel seeing others successfully copy their work or style.
You can’t talk about YouTube copycat culture without talking about the endless Mr Beast rip-offs. These massive, highly-produced, formulaic videos with little critical analysis are everywhere. Since Mr Beast’s meteoric rise to fame with his TV-style videos, it seems like all of YouTube has turned into a parody of itself. Everyone is now giving away Teslas or creating some sort of real-life competition with cash prizes. On the Colin and Samir vodcast, Emma Chamberlain said that she believes YouTube to be “in such a state of limbo” where vloggers and “real”, “raw” content doesn’t work anymore. She believes that the era of the YouTuber is finished. If that’s the case, it would make sense for the longtime YouTubers to pivot away from the platform and onto other projects that not only fulfill them but also maybe make more sense for where the internet is heading.
They’re Competing On RuPaul’s Drag Race..?
Have all these YouTubers fled the platform because they’re appearing on an upcoming season of RuPaul’s Drag Race? Hear me out. Fans of the show will know that queens famously go on a social media hiatus when they’re going on Drag Race because the production doesn’t want to risk giving away spoilers. It’s serious business too — queens aren’t even allowed to tell their spouses where they are going. (I always giggle imagining RuPaul driving around in a van, snatching queens in the middle of the night.) They leave their loved ones behind to pull on thigh-high boots and a glorious wig.
It’s not totally impossible.
Ky is a proud Kamilaroi and Dharug person and writer at Junkee. Follow them on Instagram or on X.
Image credit: YouTube / Junkee