Has TikTok toppled YouTube as the biggest creator platform?

For as long as most can remember, YouTube has reigned as the undisputed biggest platform for creators to produce content that their audiences enjoy. The emergence of TikTok has certainly threatened that hold over the content creation world, but has it actually displaced YouTube as the clear-cut top dog? That’s what we’re exploring here today.

YouTubers at the very top would have a million subscribers at most, and making money out of posting content online was only an option for half a dozen people as opposed to the hundreds across social media who work full-time as an internet personality today.

Arguably, YouTubers paved the way for streamers and influences on the likes of Instagram and now TikTok, to make a living out of posting content online and building a global fanbase. But, as the internet continues to evolve, it is clear that the platform, at least in the way we’ve grown up with it, is potentially starting to be left behind.

Gone are the days of funny and relatable content being clumsily filmed on iPhones and handheld cameras. Instead, we are left with high definition, perfectly polished content scripted and rehearsed within an inch of its life.

Back in the noughties and early 2010s, YouTube was at the top of its game, but those days seem to be over. As their algorithms changed and they invested more resources – $100 million to be exact – on ‘premium’ channels, advertising, and initiatives like YouTube Red, it became clear that it was no longer a platform for amateur content with the audience itself at the heart, leaving a gap in the market for new, community-based content.

This is where TikTok comes it. These days, in order to succeed on YouTube, you need industry-grade cameras, editing skills and software to even hope of standing out and gaining a fanbase. Meanwhile, to succeed on TikTok, all you need is a smartphone and maybe some fun dance moves. We’re not kidding, that’s really all you need!

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As well as being more accessible for new talent, it is clear that audiences have been looking for a platform like this for a while. Vine, along with TikTok’s previous iteration Musical.ly, both quickly exploded in the late 2010s, with their quick-fire comedy and lip-sync videos made by and for teenagers. Both platforms quickly gained popularity, and the internet was heartbroken when they closed down.

With these apps demonstrating how the audience landscape had changed, something like TikTok being established to fill the void and grown to the extent it has today should come as no surprise.

Another unavoidable fact is that the fans of those original YouTubers grew up. Comedy sketch videos and lip-syncing Pokemon might have appealed to tweens back in 2oo6, but those people are adults now. They aren’t Lost Boys, and try as they might, YouTubers aren’t Peter Pan – they have to grow up eventually.

With these original creators having no audience left to serve, many of them have either dissolved into obscurity, tried to reinvent themselves, or have found themselves being kicked off the platform altogether, as their comedy turned out to not be that ‘funny’ after all.

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For example, the biggest stars of yesteryear like Shane Dawson, Jenna Marbles and Onision have all seen a tremendous fall from grace, as the world finally forced them to hold themselves accountable for behavior like racism, sexism and even domestic abuse.

With this decade seeing movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter finally take center stage, expectations and understanding of what was acceptable changed dramatically, which means that things we might have let slide in 2010 simply will not fly anymore.

Even now, prominent YouTubers like Jeffree Star, Tana Mongeau and Logan Paul, to name a few, all have also been embroiled in countless controversies, and are undoubtedly known more for their wrongdoings than their content. With this in mind, who can blame audiences for jumping ship and searching for something new.

While TikTok isn’t immune to its own scandals, the good news is that there are plenty of squeaky clean, unproblematic content creators to choose from with no chance of skeletons emerging from their closets. With its digestible content, ease of usability and the way it easily incorporates chart music and trends, it’s the perfect app for today’s audiences.

Yes, YouTube might have been the go-to for millennials, but TikTok is undoubtedly the voice of Generation Z.