Leaders | The future of television

YouTube’s do-it-yourself brigade is taking on Netflix and Disney

Legions of self-taught film-makers are coming for the television industry

The illustration shows a diverse group of cartoon-style faces surrounding the YouTube play button logo in the center
Illustration: Vincent Kilbride

When Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, wanted some publicity for Blue Origin, his rocket firm, he did not turn to a television channel or a newspaper, as he might have done a decade ago. Instead he offered Tim Dodd, who runs a YouTube channel called “The Everyday Astronaut”, an exclusive factory tour. The resulting video, in which the two men spend an hour admiring hydrogen tanks and discussing the finer points of rocket-engine turbopumps, may not strike everyone as compelling TV. It has 1.6m views nonetheless.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “It’s time to adjust your set”

From the September 28th 2024 edition

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