YouTube CEO responds to PewDiePie over failed Rewind 2018 and demonetization
After admitting that the 2018 YouTube rewind was “cringey”, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has responded to PewDiePie, after he thanked her for the admission, but raised more issues about the platform.
The 2018 Rewind video, which is meant to cover the year’s best moments on the platform, didn’t exactly live up to expectations, and was met with widespread disapproval, indicated by the 15 million dislikes and counting.
PewDiePie, the most subscribed YouTuber, made his own Rewind video, titled ‘YouTube Rewind 2018 but it’s actually good’ – which unsurprisingly faired much better, with over seven million likes and less than 100,000 dislikes.
PewDiePie’s Rewind video was much more successful than the official version.
In a blog post on February 6, Wojcicki said “Even at home, my kids told me our 2018 Rewind was “cringey.” We hear you that it didn’t accurately show the year’s key moments, nor did it reflect the YouTube you know.”
PewDiePie reacted to this admission in a video on February 7, saying “it feels, just nice to hear them say it – just admit that they messed up.” However, he also said there are more serious issues currently affecting YouTube, namely demonetization of channels and how this negatively impacts video views.
Wojcicki responded in a comment under the video, explaining: “You are right we sometimes make mistakes, but we are working hard to listen to creators and review our systems when creators are reporting issues.”
Wojcicki responded in a comment on PewDiePie’s February 7 video.
The comment has received over 22,000 ‘thumbs up’ from viewers, so the communication is at least appreciated. The feeling of being left in the dark is something high on PewDiePie’s list of complaints, so if YouTube can be true to its promise of ‘transparency’, it will be a step in the right direction.
PewDiePie is currently one of the trending topics on YouTube, as he fights to retain his top spot from the corporate challenge of Indian production company T-Series.
Issues around demonetization and misuse of copyright claims remain rampant on YouTube, with many creators, big and small, struggling to get answers from the people at the top. Wojcicki commenting directly on PewDiePie’s video is a rare sight, but maybe a sign for things to come.
