Blog #7

This blog will be focusing on the child influencer Ryan of Ryan's Toys Review, and the kinds of content located on his YouTube channel. Additionally, I'll be analyzing why this child has over 20 million subscribers by evaluating the content they've put out, and what groups this might appeal to. For these groups, I'll be assigning the uses and gratifications theory that we read about and have discussed in class. Overall, I believe that Ryan's channel, Ryan's World, appeals to many families that see it as wholesome, and sometimes educational, content to share with their children, leading to a high subscriber count through sheer weight of mass appeal.
      The first place to begin is with the content that makes up Ryan's World (found here). It bears mentioning that Ryan's parents feature in all or most of his videos. In a way that surprises no one, a six year old cannot manage high grade video editing and educational/complex video ideas. So instead, most of the content is filtered through Ryan's parents while Ryan remains to perform childish antics and add a level of humor and (I suppose) cuteness to the content. This formula keeps for most of the content on Ryan's channel, be it educational, things to do at home, fun experiments that are

safe for children, the list goes on. This could all easily be appealing to families as the content is (obviously) child friendly, and some of their educational videos are actually not bad when considering the target audience. This isn't to say that there aren't kids as well with YouTube accounts that are subscribed to Ryan's World - there are. The two top target demographics are going to be parents and their children, so it goes to figure that kids will subscribe even without their parents acknowledgment.
       Following that train of thought, the general temperament employed by Ryan and his parents is one meant to entertain and grab the viewers attention. Personally, it reminds me of "Let's Players" who mostly target their content towards children between the ages of 10-16. These videos frequently feature lots of yelling, emphasized emotions (ex: I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED! WOW), and thumbnails with bizarre expressions. A perfect example of this behavior can be found on Pewdiepie's channel (found here). Pewdiepie is one of the most well known personas on YouTube, as he started his channel very early in the site's history. He now has over 104 million subscribers. Those who look at Pewdiepie's channel will find some similarities to the content found on Ryan's World. Granted, while some similarities may include shocked expressions in thumbnails, Pewdiepie's content almost certainly is not as family friendly as Ryan's World. It also bears mentioning that I have not viewed Pewdiepie's content in a number of years, but judging just from his YouTube page, his content still targets teenagers at the very least.
       Returning to Ryan's world, the last thing I want to discuss specifically about Ryan's channel is the matter of contents on his videos and how his family interacts with them, or rather doesn't as the case may be. Comments are disabled on every video that I have checked (a few examples can be found here, here, and here), and I believe that this is done for good reason, and only further proves my theory that this channel appeals mainly to families as the target demographic. The reason I believe this was done is that a YouTuber can moderate the quality, speech, and content they put out, but, as the back of every video game will tell us, you cannot do that with online interaction (i.e. the comment section of YouTube). Pair that with the fact that comment sections are notorious for being especially toxic, and there is an easy understanding as to why those very comments are disabled. I'm sure that Ryan's parents weighed the positives of getting lots of good feedback on their videos with the possible negative impact of seeing toxic comments and came to the conclusion that it was better off not being there. This is especially true when you consider that toxic comments could drive off potential viewers.
       And high viewership is exactly what you want when you're posting on YouTube. It's my belief that the success of Ryan's channel on YouTube is due in large part to the uses and gratifications theory. This theory claims that "individuals seek out media that fulfill their needs and leads to ultimate gratification" (Whiting and Williams, 2013, pp. 362). Families looking for wholesome content to share with their children need look no further than Ryan's World in many cases. The loud antics of Ryan will likely capture their attention, and the more educational content delivered by Ryan's parents, in various silly ways to maintain the attention of children, can really teach them something. In this way, the instant gratification pertains to the entertainment that parents' children get from the videos, with an underlying layer of education as well, though it bears mentioning that not all the videos have something to teach.

       Another point to mention is the possible negative effects of both allowing your child to make videos of themselves and post them on the internet, and also to let your child watch these videos. To tackle the first question, we need look no further than the disabled comment section on Ryan's videos. It's clear that his parents have agreed that this is a good thing for their child to do, and for them to take part in with him to make it a healthy and educational growth experience, but that doesn't mean they have to let the world's toxicity take part. By restricting the voice of the viewers, Ryan's parents
have put up a shield to allow the fun to continue with minimal risk. This doesn't, of course, take into consideration Ryan's new public status when going out into public and later on in life when he gets older. With over 24.7 million subscribers, Ryan will likely be celebrity status for his generation in ten years. And it's because of that status that other kids may want to emulate Ryan after watching his videos. They also, and this is especially important for the parents, might want some of the (expensive) toys that he reviews and uses as props in various videos. There's a pinned video on Ryan's channel that has him swimming in a massive pool, too! That will (and probably has already) make kids ask their parents incessantly for a swimming pool like Ryan has.

Works Cited:

Whiting, Anita and Williams, David. (2013) Why People Use Social Media: A Uses and 

       Gratifications Approach. Qualitative Market Research, 16(4), 362-368. DOI 10.1108/QMR-06-

       2013-0041