Airrack joins YouTube to unveil 2023 Culture and Trends Report, dissect “many layers of fandom”

With its latest batch of insights, YouTube is breaking down the continued evolution of digital fandoms. Google’s video platform called in Airrack (real name Eric Decker) to help break down its 2023 Culture and Trends Report, which it published on the first day of VidCon.

YouTube’s Culture and Trends compiled its annual report by teaming up with Ipsos to run surveys in 14 different countries, including the United States, Brazil, Egypt, and South Korea. Questions ranged across hundreds of trends, and all the respondents were adults between the ages of 18 and 44.

As they broke down the report, YouTube and Airrack highlighted the growing number of people who describe themselves as content creators. 82% of the respondents uploaded their own online video content at least once in the past year. 40% of them self-identified as video content creators.

“Whether you’re a creator like me, you make content for a brand, or you just love watching YouTube, this is a moment of major change,” Airrack said in a video. “Thanks to technology, creating content has become as much a part of engaging culture as watching content.”

The rise of amateur content creators has increased the size of fandoms, which now sprawl across multiple platforms and communities. According to YouTube’s report, 68% of consumers 

explore their interests by watching more than one content format. Those fans spread their consumption across long-form and short-form videos as well as live streams and podcasts. Meanwhile, among Gen Z, 47% of respondents claimed to watch fan content related to the creators they love.

YouTube’s report cited the example of Lofi Girl, which ran a multiformat campaign in order to introduce a new character. With cross-platform and fan-made content on the rise, more than half of the respondents in the YouTube study said they would prefer watching an influencer’s breakdown of an event (such as the Oscars) rather than the event itself.

YouTube is hoping to keep itself at the center of the expanding creator universe. The report noted that 87% of YouTube users have watched at least four of its formats over the past year, and 71% of Gen Z respondents expressed a preference for a platform that offers multiple types of media consumption. YouTube, which emphasizes multiformat creation, believes it is that platform.

The Culture and Trends report also discussed hot trends like VTubers, AI, and video effects. You can check out the whole thing via the Culture and Trends blog.