Tens of millions of fans from around the world voted in the first ever YouTube Music Awards. From October 21 through the start of the show at 6PM ET on Sunday, November 3, viewers were encouraged to cast their ballots by sharing official YTMA nomination videos across Google+, Twitter, and Facebook. The artist behind the video with the most “votes” in each of the six categories then went on to claim the title of YouTube Music Award Winner and receive a heavy-looking YouTube Play Button.
Fans also had a say in the nominees of those six categories. The artists and videos nominated in the YTMAs represented the “highest levels of YouTube fan engagement, including views, likes, shares, comments, and subscriptions.”
One aspect of the YouTube Music Awards in which the fans did not have a voice, however, was the comments. At least not on YouTube.
YouTube disabled the ability to comment on the YTMA live stream, causing many fans to take to Twitter to emote about and critique the show, as well as express their confusion as to why they couldn’t simply make those comments below the video.
So, comments are disabled on the #YTMA’s? interesting… isn’t that one of the biggest parts of @YouTube?
— Mike Anderson (@MikeAndersonWA) November 4, 2013
Youtube: “YouTube Music Awards is all about you-the fans” Yet comments are disabled on the livestream #YTMA
— Jimmy Danly (@JimmyDanly) November 3, 2013
To answer Mike Anderson’s question, I’d say yes. Comments are definitely not the, but surely one of the biggest parts of YouTube, especially in terms of growing and interacting with a channel’s fan base (as outlined in YouTube’s very own Creator Playbook). It’s also a feature that’s been of recent interest to Google programmers.
Why Did YouTube Disable Comments On The Live Stream Of Its Music Awards?
Tens of millions of fans from around the world voted in the first ever YouTube Music Awards. From October 21 through the start of the show at 6PM ET on Sunday, November 3, viewers were encouraged to cast their ballots by sharing official YTMA nomination videos across Google+, Twitter, and Facebook. The artist behind the video with the most “votes” in each of the six categories then went on to claim the title of YouTube Music Award Winner and receive a heavy-looking YouTube Play Button.
Fans also had a say in the nominees of those six categories. The artists and videos nominated in the YTMAs represented the “highest levels of YouTube fan engagement, including views, likes, shares, comments, and subscriptions.”
One aspect of the YouTube Music Awards in which the fans did not have a voice, however, was the comments. At least not on YouTube.
YouTube disabled the ability to comment on the YTMA live stream, causing many fans to take to Twitter to emote about and critique the show, as well as express their confusion as to why they couldn’t simply make those comments below the video.
So, comments are disabled on the #YTMA’s? interesting… isn’t that one of the biggest parts of @YouTube?
— Mike Anderson (@MikeAndersonWA) November 4, 2013
Youtube: “YouTube Music Awards is all about you-the fans” Yet comments are disabled on the livestream #YTMA
— Jimmy Danly (@JimmyDanly) November 3, 2013
To answer Mike Anderson’s question, I’d say yes. Comments are definitely not the, but surely one of the biggest parts of YouTube, especially in terms of growing and interacting with a channel’s fan base (as outlined in YouTube’s very own Creator Playbook). It’s also a feature that’s been of recent interest to Google programmers.