[Air-L] The Audience and Business of YouTube and Online Videos

[Louisa Shu Ying Ha]

Dear AOIRs:


I am pleased to announce the release of my new edited book:  “The Audience and Business of YouTube and Online Videos.”  Use LEX30AUTH18 as the 30% discount code when ordered online at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498576482/The-Audience-and-Business-of-YouTube-and-Online-Videos



Below is a blurb for your reference.  If you are interested in reviewing the book, please contact me directly.  The book will be available at the AEJMC Conference in Washington DC this August.


This book is a thorough analysis of digital natives as YouTube audiences as well as creators of online videos.  Using a mixed method approach, the authors examine the underexplored business side of YouTube: its audience in the form of product review videos, comments on videos, YouTube and other social media and online video services such as Netflix and Hulu, brand videos, sponsored videos and online video advertising.  It will also be the first book that examines YouTube Red (now called YouTube Premium) and other YouTube services such as subscription, pay TV, and movie services.

YouTube is conceptualized as a global video portal and the go-to video encyclopedia and demonstration site for the online generation.  Although general media attention has focused on the most popular channels and the YouTube influencers, this book calls for audience empowerment through active input to the metrics that determine the algorithm of YouTube’s video recommendation system and identify the weakness of the chase of the most viewed videos which facilitates sensationalism and star power.  The availability of both professional and user-generated content on YouTube is what made YouTube so special.  The boundary between amateur content and professional content diminishes as popular YouTubers are cultivated and professionalized by YouTube and its intermediary networks to be star producers and influencers.

YouTube’s diverse ecosystem and its global audiences and video creators are facilitating the formation of a global village where we see people in other countries in action without censorship. Different organizations, including governments, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, media organizations, and businesses, set up their YouTube channels to reach national and foreign audiences.  YouTube is the only global platform that can accommodate so many videos from all over the world.

Instead of facilitating a participatory culture that past YouTube research emphasized, this book presents YouTube as the cultivator of a promotional and entrepreneurial culture through its open policy to various individuals and organizations to promote themselves through posting and sharing videos.  YouTube is part of the online video industry. The online video audience behavior revealed and analyzed in the book lays the foundation for future research on online video audiences.



Table of Contents



 1. YouTube as a Global Online Video Portal and an Alternative to TV



2. Users and Non-users of YouTube and Online Video Services



3. What Do Digital Natives Watch on YouTube



4. How Digital Natives Watch Online Videos: Digital Divide and Media Devices



5. YouTube Product Review Videos as eWOM



6. Comments on YouTube Product Review Videos



7. YouTube and Other Social Media



8. Brand Videos on YouTube



9. Sponsored Videos on YouTube



10. Online Video Advertising Viewership and Avoidance on YouTube



11. Most Popular YouTube Channels



12. Is YouTube Red the Ultimate Viewing Experience and What is the Future of Online Video Audience Research?


Louisa Ha, Ph.D.
Editor, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly
Professor, School of Media and Communication
Bowling Green State University
New Book:  The Audience and Business of YouTube & Online Videos
419-3729103
Twitter: @LouisaHaJMCQ
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498576482/The-Audience-and-Business-of-YouTube-and-Online-Videos