Why Authenticity is Making a Comeback on YouTube
I’ve noticed a lot of low-budget content on YouTube is rising again.
Why?
For a long time, Mr. Beast set the trend for YouTube content.
He had a high-budget, fast-paced editing style that hooked the viewers in.
Soon, other creators followed the lead.
They too incorporated a high-budget, fast-paced editing style.
Nowadays, I see many low-budget content gaining traction.
A creator just talking in front of a camera.
There is a guy named Sam Sulek blowing up and he doesn’t edit his content at all.
Why is this happening?
Why Stories Appeal to the Nervous System
Whether it’s highly edited content or laid-back content, the same idea holds true:
- The story is king.
It’s important to understand what a story is.
Different people have different perceptions regarding it.
Some view storytelling as a “once upon a time” tale.
This is a primitive view of storytelling.
I view storytelling as a connection of ideas.
So, if you talk about your day and deliver some sort of blast to the audience’s mind, that’s a story.
No prince rescuing a princess is needed.
Storytelling is a Meritocracy
The definition of a meritocracy according to Google is:
Holding of power by people selected based on their ability.
Imagine a major movie studio spends a billion dollars making a movie created by artificial intelligence.
Let’s say the artificial intelligence is still primitive at this point.
It can create scripts, sure.
But the scripts are nonsensical.
Imagine this major movie studio pulls the trigger anyways and pays money to bring this nonsensical script to life.
The movie is made.
You watch it.
The next day, your friend tells you that he heard an intriguing story that you NEED to hear.
It deals with your cousin and how she’s going viral for saying something controversial.
The entire family is talking about it.
Heck, the entire world is chiming in.
He shares the story.
Now I ask you, which story did you enjoy more?
- The nonsensical AI script with the high budget or the story of your cousin?
Most people will say the latter.
Because the second one made more sense to the nervous system.
It doesn’t matter if one script required a billion dollars to be created while the other script was free.
The main thing that matters is the narrative that grips our nervous system the most.
Storytelling is a meritocracy.
There is no power dynamic.
Ultimately, it’s the skills that win.
Why Authenticity is On the Rise
Many times, I see these YouTube videos talking about:
‘Here’s why authenticity on YouTube is on the rise!’
Their video will go like this:
- Talk about how Mr. Beast ruined YouTube.
- Why authenticity is on the rise.
- Name a few ‘authentic’ creators.
Guess what these videos never do though.
‘What?’
Describe what authenticity means!!
They never take the time to identify what it means to be authentic.
So, that word creates a blurry image in the viewer’s mind.
When the viewer thinks “authentic”, they think of “low-budget content.”
I don’t view authenticity like that.
I think you can have high-production quality and still be authentic.
Here’s how I define authentic:
Present the real you without all the bells and whistles.
The reason that a lot of creators who are mentioned as authentic have low-budget content is because they aren’t investing in the bells and whistles.
Aka: the editing, background music, lighting etc.
They are the most authentic so far because they simply deliver themselves.
I would take it a level further.
Someone is the most authentic when they don’t even script their videos.
It’s just them saying the first thing that comes to their mind.
But that requires a different level of courage, which I will get to shortly.
Authenticity is a spectrum.
It can go from being:
- Fake as hell.
- Inauthentic but I don’t know why.
- A little authentic.
- Hella’ authentic.
Why Authenticity Requires Courage
Imagine I issue a challenge:
- You must start a YouTube channel with no editing whatsoever.
This challenge will scare off a lot of people.
They’ll think:
‘What if I mess up?’
The reason that authenticity requires courage is because it requires getting to know all of you.
When there are no jump cuts and editing, a creator needs to understand how to:
- Utilize their tonality.
- Match their facial expression to their story.
- Understand which thoughts are relevant and which thoughts are not.
- Know which precious ideas to leave out for the sake of the story.
They need to get to understand their whole self.
When a viewer consumes content like that, initially, it doesn’t feel like much.
One authentic content doesn’t say much.
But a bunch of authentic content stacked up back-to-back, after a long duration, says a lot.
If the viewer stays, then they see:
‘Wait a minute. This guy is delivering himself without any bells and whistles, It’s all of him.’
There is something beautiful about that.
It’s true art when perceived correctly.
There’s Nothing Wrong with High-Production Quality
I want to end this piece on a positive note.
There is nothing wrong with high-production quality.
I can see a lot of people hating on Mr. Beast as they make videos titled:
‘Why authenticity is on the rise.’
There’s nothing to hate Mr. Beast for.
He always created art that he thought was the best.
He reinvests all his money back into his videos.
The people who deserve criticism are the ones who copied Mr. Beast’s swag and participated in copycat culture.
That’s the cascading effect that ruined YouTube for a long time.
There is nothing wrong with high-production quality.
If a high-production film tells a great story, then power to them.
Just know that storytelling is a meritocracy.
Skills will ultimately win.
I do see low-budget creators who deliver all of themselves getting more love in the following year.
It’s as if YouTube is turning back the clock.
