Did LTT Content Take TOO MUCH of a Turn?

[kewtz]

Read this more as an editorial. tl;dr - does LTT content seem more lame since August 2023?

 

Your rainy Saturday afternoon may look something like this: grab a drink, maybe a snack and pull up a screen and open YouTube. You may scroll Subscriptions, or Recommended...or you're looking for something specific from one of your favorites. It's almost a ritual now, to pull up your favorite entertainment app and find the content that will keep you engaged, feed the algorithm, and keep your favorite YouTuber going.

 

LTT isn't your average tech review channel. They showcase videos to over 15.6 million subscribers with infectious enthusiasm, giving nearly equal parts of informational and entertaining content. Whether you are a serious PC-builder or a casual and curious consumer, LTT offers a fun and engaging way to stay on top of of the ever evolving tech world.

 

August of 2023 was either a genius marketing effort by Gamers Nexus (GN) and LTT, similar to the latest Drake & Kendrick diss tracks (Kendrick won, by the way) to spur views and voices, or there was something real behind it. Passionate viewers watched as GN published a scathing review of LTT, criticizing testing methodologies, inconsistencies and inaccuracies in tech review videos, and the alleged need for LTT to prioritize content over quality.

 

In response, LTT put forth a plan to reduce the alleged shortcomings, not without defending their approach.

 

Linus gave a clear direction. They would reduce the mindset of quantity of quality. Their error correction would be given a specific methodology. They will be more upfront about testing methodologies and will provide communication outlets for viewers.

 

Since then, a cursory view of the channel does show less content. A scroll through view counts also shows less views than before the August / September 2023 changes. What does this mean for the viewer? LTT set forth a plan, seemingly delivered on the plan, but the result is less views? While quantity has certainly decreased, how may that be a reason for reduced quality - judged by view count alone? The statistics speak volumes...or lack of. September 2023 was a bombshell of a view month as LTT powered-down and reset. As videos began to trickle back out in October, a level of viewership returned, but not at the volume of pre-conflict content. At a glance, summer of 2023 yielded closer to 2 million views or above per video. Now, more videos are at a respectable 1-1.5m views but that isn't the commanding presence of LTT videos in times past. 

 

Were the internal shifts at LTT successful? What could be the other factors contributing to a lower view count? My take is this, the content doesn't seem to carry the same fun-loving and slightly chaotic themes as we saw a year ago. Videos feel more sterile and the content itself doesn't lend the same tractor-beam pull. Videos seem to have more of an advertising edge now then they ever did, and as a consumer I feel less informed.

 

Is LTT simply in a slump? Or will we see a radical change to LTT that will recharge their content to the days of old?

[djksm]

No.

[Millios]

23 minutes ago, kewtz said:

Read this more as an editorial. tl;dr - does LTT content seem more lame since August 2023?

 

Your rainy Saturday afternoon may look something like this: grab a drink, maybe a snack and pull up a screen and open YouTube. You may scroll Subscriptions, or Recommended...or you're looking for something specific from one of your favorites. It's almost a ritual now, to pull up your favorite entertainment app and find the content that will keep you engaged, feed the algorithm, and keep your favorite YouTuber going.

 

LTT isn't your average tech review channel. They showcase videos to over 15.6 million subscribers with infectious enthusiasm, giving nearly equal parts of informational and entertaining content. Whether you are a serious PC-builder or a casual and curious consumer, LTT offers a fun and engaging way to stay on top of of the ever evolving tech world.

 

August of 2023 was either a genius marketing effort by Gamers Nexus (GN) and LTT, similar to the latest Drake & Kendrick diss tracks (Kendrick won, by the way) to spur views and voices, or there was something real behind it. Passionate viewers watched as GN published a scathing review of LTT, criticizing testing methodologies, inconsistencies and inaccuracies in tech review videos, and the alleged need for LTT to prioritize content over quality.

 

In response, LTT put forth a plan to reduce the alleged shortcomings, not without defending their approach.

 

Linus gave a clear direction. They would reduce the mindset of quantity of quality. Their error correction would be given a specific methodology. They will be more upfront about testing methodologies and will provide communication outlets for viewers.

 

Since then, a cursory view of the channel does show less content. A scroll through view counts also shows less views than before the August / September 2023 changes. What does this mean for the viewer? LTT set forth a plan, seemingly delivered on the plan, but the result is less views? While quantity has certainly decreased, how may that be a reason for reduced quality - judged by view count alone? The statistics speak volumes...or lack of. September 2023 was a bombshell of a view month as LTT powered-down and reset. As videos began to trickle back out in October, a level of viewership returned, but not at the volume of pre-conflict content. At a glance, summer of 2023 yielded closer to 2 million views or above per video. Now, more videos are at a respectable 1-1.5m views but that isn't the commanding presence of LTT videos in times past. 

 

Were the internal shifts at LTT successful? What could be the other factors contributing to a lower view count? My take is this, the content doesn't seem to carry the same fun-loving and slightly chaotic themes as we saw a year ago. Videos feel more sterile and the content itself doesn't lend the same tractor-beam pull. Videos seem to have more of an advertising edge now then they ever did, and as a consumer I feel less informed.

 

Is LTT simply in a slump? Or will we see a radical change to LTT that will recharge their content to the days of old?

eeeh kinda but not really. the controversy did lower the view count but its also the generation, the target audience and the point. GN makes vids on the overall industry, JTC makes pc related, scatter vold does rankings or build, mr whostheboss does phones or tech etc etc etc. What does LTT cover? major news and fun gadgets or pc tips and comparisons with less focus many times. Point is: "why get half of everything from 1 store instead of everything from a 2-3-4 stores?" TL;DR lack of focus and new times changed the video formats and LTT didnt quite catch a wave but stayed near the shore

[venomtail]

Not for me, I actually find in refreshing with the amount of "editor corrections" in videos since the fallout and LTT has learned to become playful with them and have these corrections be of higher quality themselves.

 

Also viewership count is a worthless metric, because a person can misclick on a video and it still counts as a view. Not a youtuber but from what I've learned a single viewer watching a whole 20 minute episode is worth far more than 100 watching the first 10 seconds and leaving the video. You wouldn't see this metric of how well a video is doing yourself. I think viewer retention is the key word here.

[manikyath]

Just now, djksm said:

No.

i think this covers it pretty well....

 

---------

 

everything you're reading into the situation are things manufactured by your own brain.

i've actually been keeping an eye on views as a sort of "analyzing the memory of the collective tech hivemind" and after you account for the slightly slower release cadence and the impact to 'pleasing the algorithm' this brought.. i'd say they're doing pretty well.

 

yes.. the videos are less chaotic, but that's because the general audience has asked for that.

 

as for the implication that this cesspit was some form of co-marketing strategy.. that is the most bucket-brained bottom feeder theory i've ever read.. i dont even think it boosted GN's numbers at all past the initial peak. 

 

on the note of peaks.. it seems just about every channel i punch into socialblade that has any sort of stability is down compared to summer 2023.. perhaps part of the current dip is it appears views across the entire tech space are.. stagnant at best?

 

also - they've just painted someone's car bright purple with racing stripes, and you take this opportunity to say they've deviated from form too much?

[YoungBlade]

4 minutes ago, venomtail said:

Not for me, I actually find in refreshing with the amount of "editor corrections" in videos since the fallout and LTT has learned to become playful with them and have these corrections be of higher quality themselves.

 

Also viewership count is a worthless metric, because a person can misclick on a video and it still counts as a view. Not a youtuber but from what I've learned a single viewer watching a whole 20 minute episode is worth far more than 100 watching the first 10 seconds and leaving the video. You wouldn't see this metric of how well a video is doing yourself. I think viewer retention is the key word here.

Unless something has changed, after the first 301 views, simply clicking on a video does not generate a view. Instead, YouTube uses an algorithm to determine whether or not it was a misclick or the person was otherwise mislead by the video - it used to simply be if you watched at least a certain amount of the video (like 15 seconds or something). From my understanding, it is now a bit more complex, but the basic idea is to not count misclicks. It also tries to determine if a view is from an actual person who is watching to decide whether the ad views actually count or not.

 

So for low view count videos, yeah, just clicking onto it for a second does count, but for LTT videos, the first 301 views are negligible, so not worth considering.

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, YoungBlade said:

Unless something has changed, after the first 301 views, simply clicking on a video does not generate a view.

things have changed, but for all it counts, the idea is still essentially the same.

[filpo]

EDIT: LTT released this video btw

 

 

3 hours ago, kewtz said:

August of 2023 was either a genius marketing effort by Gamers Nexus (GN) and LTT, similar to the latest Drake & Kendrick diss tracks (Kendrick won, by the way) to spur views and voices

Why would LTT intentionally misinform viewers so that another channel could make a video documenting why they were wrong and in turn grant GN a lot more viewers and make people distrust LTT more?

 

3 hours ago, kewtz said:

and the alleged need for LTT to prioritize content over quality.

do you mean quality over content? (in which case content would be quantity?)

 

3 hours ago, kewtz said:

Were the internal shifts at LTT successful?

Is this for the investigation or for the channel?

 

3 hours ago, kewtz said:

and as a consumer I feel less informed.

you're right, and this is because they have, and they said that they're moving away from/taking a break from review videos. For how long I don't know (if it is a break)

They do look at wild stuff like the 86 inch wide monitor and explain it in the video, they've also got their new POV pc build guide (granted they had already done one

[thevictor390]

The widescreen video is a perfect example of turning a silly premise into a (slightly) educational look at the history of screen aspect ratios.

[wasab]

They just need more vids on channel super fun 

[FireyFoxiconnRageEX]

Erm?

[Middcore]