YouTube has become a great showcase for audiovisual products and a source of income for a number of creators. Several pioneers of internet animation migrated to this platform to provide greater visibility and economic security for their productions. A group of YouTubers, so-called ‘Reply Girls’, achieved rapid economic benefits by publishing content without any value, neither artistic nor communicative, but that deceived YouTube’s remuneration system and prioritization algorithm. To fight this phenomenon, YouTube subsequently applied changes to its prioritization algorithm and monetization plans. In this article, the author examines more than 3,300 videos published by 25 animation channels between 2006 and 2018 with Digital Methods tools to analyse how the changes applied to the platform policies have influenced and shaped the evolution of animation production on the internet.
BendazziG (2003) Cartoons: 110 años de cine de animación. Madrid: Ocho y medio.
2.
BucherT (2018) Cleavage-Control: Three stories about algorithmic culture and power in the case of the YouTube ‘Reply Girls’. In: PapacharissiZ (ed.) A Networked Self and Platforms, Stories, Connections. London: Routledge, 125–143.
CrawfordA (2003) The digital turn: Animation in the age of information technologies. Prime Time Animation: Television Animation and American Culture. London: Routledge, 110–130.
5.
EilamE (2005) Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering. Indianapolis: Wiley.
6.
FurnissM (2017) Animation: The Global History. London: Thames & Hudson.
ManovichL (2001) The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
15.
Moz (2020) Google algorithm update history: A history of major Google algorithm updates from 2000–present. Available at: https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change (accessed 23 July 2020).
16.
NiquiC (2011) Cronologia dels primers 15 anys de l’audiovisual a Internet. Barcelona: Editorial UOC.
RiederBMatamoros-FernánezACorominaÒ (2018) From ranking algorithms to ‘ranking cultures’: Investigating the modulation of visibility in YouTube search results. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies24(1): 50–68. DOI: 10.1177/1354856517736982.
19.
RogersR (2013) Digital Methods. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
StabileAHarrisonM (2003) Introduction: Prime Time Animation – An Overview, in Prime Time Animation. Television Animation and American Culture. London: Routledge.
22.
UlinJ (2010) The Business of Media Distribution: Monetizing Film, TV, and Video Content in a Digital World. Oxford: Elsevier.
