I have been posting videos on Youtube since 2006 about the stock market and investing, because I have been running my website WallStreetWindow.com for close to twenty years now. A year and a half ago I decided to also write some occasional articles on it about local issues where I live. It’s fun, it’s where I live, and I am more interested in what is happening in my area as I am in the rest of the country. However, I have noticed that Youtube has not really been a friend to local news and videos focused on local content. I have noticed that even in large cities most videos have gotten few views. I think this is going to slowly change, because of Youtube’s launch of its new “shorts” videos that will align it with the type of people who like to create videos for TikTok. I’d expect eventually younger people will use that to promote events, restaurants, etc.
It may take time for this to fully develop, but in Danville the coming casino and growth in tourism will make more people type “Danville” in the Youtube search bar, which will help create an audience of people watching videos about the area on it too. The Youtube algorithm is very audience driven, so if it sees a lot of people typing in a topic in its search bar it sees an audience and will show videos to other people that they think may be interested even if they are not using the search bar. This should spill over into Martinsville and Henry County, Virginia. The “shorts” videos is likely to be enough to develop an audience for local videos in those areas anyway.
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-Mike
