The World of YouTube Baking: A Study of Success and the Rise of Content Farms

As I sat down to watch a video on one of the most successful baking channels on YouTube, I was immediately struck by its impressive stats. The channel boasts 4.5 million subscribers and over 100 million views per month, with 115 million views last month alone. To put this into perspective, if we combine the view counts of popular YouTubers like Liz Ashdown, Superwoman, and Rosanna Pansino, we still wouldn't reach the 100 million mark. This channel is truly one to watch.

As I began to explore the channel's content, I noticed that all of its videos are presented in a unique format. Each video is a compilation of short, fast-forwarded cooking clips set to music. While this style may seem unusual for YouTube, which typically favors longer, more in-depth videos, it actually works well here. The videos have a playful, Instagram-esque feel to them, with all of the content being square in shape and lacking the typical wider HD format that YouTube is known for.

I decided to take a closer look at one of the channel's most popular videos, which features a recipe for ice cream frosting. As I watched, I was struck by the ease with which the creator whipped up this frosting using melted ice cream and extra sugar. However, as I tried to replicate the recipe myself, I quickly realized that it wouldn't be quite so easy in real life. The process of melting the ice cream and incorporating the added sugars took some trial and error, and I found myself struggling to achieve a similar consistency to the video.

Despite my initial struggles, I was impressed by how easily the channel's creator solved other common baking problems. For example, they shared a hack for creating dried basil from fresh leaves using the microwave. While I attempted this method with limited success, I was encouraged to see that it worked for others in the community. Similarly, their recipe for gummy bear hacks seemed almost too good to be true, but after some experimentation, I managed to successfully recreate it.

However, as I delved deeper into the world of YouTube baking, I began to notice a concerning trend. Many popular baking channels are now adopting the same format and style as this channel, with content farms churning out short videos on various topics, often using outdated or unoriginal recipes. This has led me to wonder whether genuine baking channels can compete in today's crowded online landscape.

One of the most striking things about YouTube baking is its potential for monetization through adsense revenue. However, for many creators, this isn't enough to justify the costs associated with producing high-quality content. Between filming time and ingredient expenses, it can be difficult to make a profit from their efforts. As a result, some have chosen to abandon the platform altogether or reduce their upload schedule.

As I continued to explore the world of YouTube baking, I began to notice that many popular channels are no longer as active as they once were. This has led me to wonder whether there is a way for these creators to make a difference and stay on the platform. In an effort to address this concern, some have turned to Patreon or similar platforms, where fans can show their support by contributing a small monthly fee.

Ultimately, it's up to us, as viewers, to decide what kind of content we want to support on YouTube. By sharing our favorite baking channels and helping them reach new heights, we may be able to keep the platform alive for creators who truly care about sharing their passion with others. As I signed off from my viewing session, I couldn't help but feel a sense of hope that by working together, we can create a more sustainable and supportive community for all creators on YouTube.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWelcome to How To Cook That I'm AnnReardon and today I thought it would befun to look at one of the mostsuccessful baking channels on YouTube ... noit's not my channel 😂 They have four and ahalf million subscribers and over 100million video views a month. They had 115million video views last month and theystarted less than a year ago!! So that'spretty impressive ... just to put it incontext a hundred and fifteen millionviews that's more than let's say lizakoshi plus superwoman plus Rosannapansino put together that doesn't add upeven to 100 million ... all of their videoviews combined! This is crazy good this ishuge this channel so it's gotta be goodright cuz YouTube recommends goodcontent quality content is king goodvideos get views right? 🤪 yeah ... so let'stake a look... all their videos are in thesame format. It's a compilation of lotsof short fast forwarded cooking clipsput to music. The videos actually looklike they've been made for Facebook orInstagram not for YouTube I only saythat because all of the videos aresquare in square format and YouTubeusually in the HD wider format so itlooks like they've made it for Facebookor Instagram and then just repurposed it.Let's look at the first video on theirchannel this one has 36 million viewsand I think looking at that it's one oftheir most viewed videos so let's watchthis one ... so ice-cream. That's alot of ice cream.Wouldn't it have beeneasier to melt that in the microwaverather than over a double boiler anyway...How is melted ice-cream plus extra sugarsupposed to whip into a frosting that'snice and thick like that??? Okay let's trythat.Let's keep going ... now they're using thefrosting to put together a cake but myfrosting is liquid so I guess I'll justmake up some Italian meringue frostingand color at the same pink as the icecream so it kind of looks like ice creamfrosting 😉The cake looks fine, there's nothing new here ... checker board cakes have been doneso many times all over YouTubethere's nothing amazing about that itwas the ice cream frosting that wasamazing ... too good to be true maybe! Let'smove on... Ice cream hacks.the second kind didn't even have a holein the bottom of it. Okay cooking hacks.So 2 empty soda bottles ... there'sbarely any drips of juice coming out andmagically now there's a whole jug ofjuicethat looks like it's being boughtfrom the store! Basil ... Jeddgrowing heaps of basil in the gardenso we should try this one ... okay sobasically you take some basil chop it upput it in a bowl with more basil chuckit in the microwave for 60 seconds takeit out and their's is magically driedbasil. Mine is still damp and softwarm basil ... let me put it in again.now it's fairly dry but it doesn't lookanything like theirs does and it doesn'ttaste or smell of basil anymore ... oh waitI think I must have missed a reallyimportant step in this recipe let mejust do that. There we go now we can putthat in the microwave pull it out anddried basil ready to go in my jarbeautiful ... see it works it works 😜Again the same video another thing aboutthis channel is they only put up threeminutes of new footage and then theyjust reshuffle and repeat old footage sothey can extend the video out to be 10or 14 minutes which is what contentfarms do so this is a bit like a contentfarm I guess so they can keep up withthe constant upload schedule which thealgorithm seems to like... constant lots ofvideos every week.I thought YouTube had a rule againstthat like no duplicated content rule???never mindGummybear hacks... this is gonnabe useful.this doesn't even look like it wouldwork! I'm going to try it...My spoon can't get into the gummy partbecause it's like a gummy bear! How am Igonna get this out without breaking theglass? How did their spoon just slideright through the gummy part and minedoesn't? I must have done it wrong itmust be my mistake oh I'll just go makeit again with some jello did I misreadthe recipe? Was I supposedto use jelly or jello? There you go nowit's working. So let's face facts ...ordinary YouTube bakers are being pushedout of existence by content farms whoupload so often that genuine bakingvideos just can't seem to get throughall of that content farm contentanymore!Here's the views per month from the top 5baking youtubers for the last 2 yearsand here's content farm views. The wholehow-to area has just been overtaken bythese ones. I get comments week afterweek saying please don't stop uploadingthat I should actually share with youwhy people are stopping uploading ... and why genuine youtubers aren't doing it anymorebecause they actually can't justify thecost. Some of the videos I make take moretime to film and cost more iningredients than we're getting back inAdsense from YouTube. So it just makes itreally hard to justify continuing to doit. So it's up to you guys ... I don't knowif you'll make a difference, share thisvideo with the hashtag #SaveYouTubeBaking and tweet YouTubelet them know you're not happy let themknow you want to see more of the genuineYouTube creators sticking around and notjust going off the platform ... maybe theymight do something about it they mightactually listen to viewers instead ofnot listening to youtubers and do me afavor I'm gonna list up some genuineYouTube creators on the screen go lookup some of the names of these channelssearch them up watch some of theirvideos comment, like, share ... help them outand hopefully you can keep them on theplatform for a bit longer. Next year I'monly going to be uploading every secondweek instead of every week ... if you'd liketo support the channel and help keep itgoing, if you've loved watching it overthe years and you like having afamily-friendly Cooking Channel withrecipes that actually work then head onover to patreon/h2CT and showyour support there.Thanks so much, love you all, make it agreat week and I'll see you Friday 😁\n"