Is television being overtaken by YouTube in the youth of today?

Television has been something that families sit down in the evening to watch together from the 1930’s up till now. However, the attention of the youth of today and teenagers seems to be shifting to the Internet. Video sharing websites like YouTube have become very popular in recent years and teenagers of today are enjoying Internet videos more than television broadcasts. 28% of 16-24 year old’s when asked had watched an online video in the last week and only 3% of people asked said they watched more television than they did in the previous year. In a survey of 24 12-13 year old’s, when asked, ‘Have you watched a YouTube video in the last week?’ 88% said yes. YouTube is growing in popularity among young people as it is free to view and some of the main UK broadcasting networks are uploading content too such as ‘BBC’.

Gaming videos on YouTube are very popular and young people are not just viewing videos but uploading them too. In 2010 13 million hours of footage was uploaded to the site.

YouTube has a wide range of things that you can view at the press of a button. It has lots of music videos coming from the channel, ‘VEVO’, it has lots of documentaries on the site, it has gaming videos that come from channels like ‘PewDiePie’ who has 1.3 billion views and over 5 million subscribers. The BBC have made their own channel as they began to realise that people’s attention was shifting to the internet. Loius Theroux owns a YouTube channel, created in January of this year, where he posts all of his documentaries.

There are many reasons why YouTube is becoming more popular than television and one of them definitely is the fact that it is virtually free, the costs coming from the price of a computer and wi-fi. Another reason YouTube has become more and more popular is the spreading of ‘meems’. Meems are very popular videos on YouTube that sometimes seem to pointless. An example of a meem would be ‘Nyan Cat’, a video of a cat flying whilst excreting rainbows. Also music videos like ‘Gangnam Style’ a song by PSY, a Korean music artist became very popular and reached 1.5 billion views.

The increase in YouTube attention has slowly been increasing for since it’s foundation in 2005. However, there has been a huge increase in late 2012 and 2013, things like ‘Gangnam Style’ and ‘The Harlem Shake’ have been instrumental in this shift. Research showed that all the major networks in the UK own YouTube channels. BBC and ITV led the way who have had their YouTube channels for 7 years, Channel 4 posted their first video 4 years ago, while Channel 5 posted their first only 3 years ago.

This could affect family tradition of sitting together and watching television because the children may be watching their own form of entertainment by themselves using YouTube.

YouTube is still smaller than the biggest television networks, but the future for YouTube looks bright as the view counts continue to rise.

Sources:
www.mashable.com
www.reelseo.com
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Weather causes loss of power across Britain

Many homes across the UK have been left without power due to the recent weather conditions. The heavy snowfall has caused a loss of electricity in homes across Britain.

The long winter that Britain has endured continued, even after the Spring Equinox, with snow falling across the country. Roads have been shut, trains and planes have been delayed due to the extreme weather conditions. The bitterly cold weather has had a huge impact on electricity throughout the UK and Northern Ireland Electricity stated that ‘it could be several more days’ before the electricity could be supplied back to homes.

The serious weather conditions led to weather warnings being issued by the MET Office over recent days and up to 21,000 homes could have been affected by the weather. 20,000 homes in Northern Ireland and Scotland have been affected by the snow and have therefore lost all electricity. The snow has been falling heaviest in both countries and has caused many accidents and issues across both countries. Furthermore, 500 homes in Wales and 200 homes in Cumbria have lost power due to the snow.

The severe weather resulted in two deaths. The body of 27 year old Gary Windle was found buried in snow near Burnley, and a woman’s body has been discovered after a land slide in Looe, Cornwall, she is yet to be named.

Weather warnings remain in place from London, in the south east, to Scotland in the North.

Sources:
BBC News