Since its launch in early 2005, video-sharing website YouTube has emerged as a culturally, politically and economically significant medium, and as one of the inheritors of the social role played by broadcast television. However, its continued growth and journey to profitability are not guaranteed. This paper queries the future of YouTube by exploring the tension inherent in the site's three key characteristics embodied within its slogan ‘Broadcast Yourself™’. The site is based within regimes of consumer production and identity practices, yet it is also located within a traditional fiscal economy as indicated by the trademark identifier. The contradictory pulls of these positions pose challenges for YouTube and its parent company Google. The difficulty of sustaining an emergent social economy alongside the requirements of advertising-driven economics raises questions about the future of YouTube, and indicates the complex terrain of what lies beyond broadcasting.
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