Buzzcast
Buzzcast is a roundtable discussion about podcasting from the people at Buzzsprout. We'll cover current events and news, podcast strategy, tools we are using, and dip into the Customer Support mailbag to test our podcasting knowledge. If you want to stay up-to-date on what's working in podcasting, Buzzcast is the show for you.
Buzzcast
YouTube Pushes Back Against AI-Generated Content
It's a nice summer day, so Jordan and Kevin are recording this quickcast from the great outdoors and putting Power Clean to the test!
Today's discussion is about how YouTube is updating its monetization policies to combat AI-generated videos cluttering search results, addressing the growing problem of low-quality content flooding the platform.
Also, if you're attending Podcast Movement, find Jordan, Alban, or Kevin and mention you're a Buzzcast listener to receive special limited Buzzsprout swag!
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Thanks for listening and Keep Podcasting!
Hey there, this is Editing Jordan. I wanted to give you a quick heads up that this episode might sound a little different. We want to do a live experiment of the Magic Mastering Power Clean, and so, kevin and I, we recorded outside with bad reception and used our AirPod microphones and it was a pretty rough recording. So we ran through the Magic Mastering Power Clean and you know what? We're pretty happy with the results. So here's the episode. This could be a huge mistake, but today we're recording on our porch. This is the porch cast now.
Kevin:Yeah, I'm using my AirPods like version two or something Very airpods yeah, I'm also rocking the airpods, the older generation airpods.
Jordan:So today we're talking about uh, youtube prepares crackdown on mass-produced and repetitive videos as concern over ai slop grows. That is a mouthful um. Have you ever, kevin, been doing any research? And you go on youtube and you try to find videos on something and then you click a video that looks interesting and it is very clearly AI written, ai voiceover, ai images over it.
Kevin:Yes, 100%.
Jordan:And you're just like. I don't know if I can even trust the information.
Kevin:And it's happening more and more.
Jordan:Yeah.
Kevin:Like I use YouTube quite frequently to answer questions. So how do you do something? Or I want to learn something and I'll search YouTube and more and more I'm coming across stuff that looks like it's the right video for me. So you know it's giving me the answer that I'm looking for, and you get a couple of minutes into it and then I start questioning like I've never seen this person before. It looks kind of fake. Sometimes they just turn out to be infomercials, where they're just I don't understand why. Like maybe they're trying to monetize.
Kevin:So it's kind of like they're just beating around the bush of answering the question that you're trying to get answered.
Jordan:Yeah.
Kevin:You know, like we jumped around before, like anything from like trying to fix something in your house, like your AC is not working or something, to whatever. Yes, these AI videos are becoming a problem in the YouTube space.
Jordan:Yeah, it's almost like the AI generated content, like just the crap. Content is completely filling up the feed, and so sometimes you have to dig pages back to even find something that, like an actual human made.
Kevin:Right, I think this is a problem that you know. Free platforms that host audio and video are going to have to deal with this.
Jordan:Yeah.
Kevin:It sounds like YouTube is starting to recognize this now and trying to figure out how they're going to process the garbage AI slop out of their system. But like we don't really have this too much in podcasting, part of it is that free podcast hosting is a little bit of a thing. Spotify for podcasters will host for free, and of course there are people who just do podcasting on YouTube, but for the most part, the podcasts that get any traction are usually hosting on a paid service. So yeah, there's not a lot of spammers out there that are interested in paying to try to, you know, put their spam content out there.
Kevin:And the other thing is the discoverability. It's not algorithmically driven like it is in the video world, and so it's hard for a podcast to be like illegitimate or trying to use some spam technique or something to get a ton of traction, because algorithms really aren't pushing them that much. Now, again in the YouTube world there are some podcasts that are probably doing that. You know, more video podcasts are than traditional audio podcasts. But we talked about this on this show, like Alban would raise the concern about AI generated podcasts and could that be a problem for podcasting, and my point was like I don't think it will be, because we don't have algorithms really pushing audio podcast content to us.
Kevin:When you go into Apple Podcasts, when you go into Spotify, you can find podcast recommendations. Podroll is another good way for podcast recommendations to pop up, but they're usually based on either the number of shows that are getting good engagement on those platforms, and that is more than just clicking to listen. It's not just a minute or two which might fool a YouTube algorithm, but it's not going to fool like an Apple algorithm. Gosh, this is hard to say Apple algorithm. It's not going to fool that because Apple can actually see. You know this is an hour long episode and how long did people listen? And you know they don't disclose exactly how they do their charts, but usually the episodes that are at the top of their charts are all legitimate stuff. You don't really see spammy type ai generated slop getting to the top of any of their charts and you certainly would never see it like in a pod role or something like that, because those are all you know recommended by humans yeah, and it's.
Jordan:It's funny that you mentioned the free podcast apps like Spotify or hosting platforms. I saw in Pod News this morning that Spotify has changed its website to say that there's now 7 million podcasts on Spotify.
Jordan:So, I think they're going to have to do something very similar to what YouTube is doing on cracking down, because there's genuinely no way that even 3 million of that 7 million is legitimate. There's no way. So they have a lot of work to do. I don't know how they're going to do it. I don't know how they're going to combat that unless you know they move to paid, like you said.
Kevin:Right, I mean, do we feel like it's a problem for independent podcasters who are trying to put shows out there and reach an? Mean, do we feel like it's a problem for independent podcasters who are trying to put shows out there and reach an audience? Do we feel like this could be ultimately a turnoff for people who are listening to podcasts? If the space gets more and more crowded with junk content, how do you get your good content to stand out?
Jordan:I think it's going to be more of an issue with the video podcasters, because they're really the ones that are competing against this AI video market that's getting millions and millions of views. They're the ones that are getting pushed down the algorithm by these shows. So I really think it's going to be the YouTube podcasters and potentially the Spotify ones, because Spotify also has an algorithm that, you know, recommends shows and stuff like that, and so if it finds that all this, all this stuff, is very similar, it's going to recommend the stuff that's similar, which all the AI stuff is going to be similar, because it's all coming from the same source, I suppose.
Kevin:Yeah, so you read the article. What did it say that YouTube is doing to cut down on this stuff?
Jordan:You know they actually didn't specify. It said that they're updating their monetization policies on July 15th. So what they're wanting to do is, if they find mass produced videos that often feature synthetic voices, stock visuals and minimal originality, they're going to demonetize those videos. So they're not removing them from the platform, they're just demonetizing those channels which, uh, it's one of those things like when you're running into issues like this, like so, with spotify combating the use of copywritten music, like I mean, I had like 50 episodes taken down. I imagine there's probably going to be a lot of people, you know, posting, posting on Reddit and in Facebook and stuff, and going, oh my gosh, youtube demonetized my channel for no reason and, you know, maybe they had AI generated content in their episode, artwork or you know something like that and that's gonna demonetize them. But yeah, so they don't specify exactly what they're doing. They haven't actually updated the monetization terms as of yet, so I guess we'll see.
Kevin:Yeah, I'm sure it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out. Youtube is a hard world to play in and it's not necessarily something that we're experts in. We don't teach much on that, but it just feels like another reason why I would caution anybody who's thinking about video podcasting. It's just another thing. You have to learn another thing, a potential pitfall.
Jordan:Yeah, a potential pitfall.
Kevin:And, yeah, building an audience on youtube and and getting into the youtube ecosystem. Like I, I you know this doesn't sound like anything that they're doing maliciously. It sounds like they're trying to protect their platform and their environment. But, like you mentioned, jordan, you play by all the rules and you have all the licenses and, uh, the rights to use all the music that you use and stuff in your podcast. But even you have been swept up a few times by these things.
Jordan:So it happens and it's a hard fight when you're trying to get that content back or you're trying to get your platform monetized again. It's a real pain. So we're still looking for responses to our sound off question asking what podcast gear do you recommend? We're going to be talking about podcasting gear and for different budgets and different experience levels next week and I'm really excited about the episode. So if you have any input on that, make sure you tap the text show link in the show notes and send in.
Kevin:Oh, hang on real quick before we go. I just wanted to mention we are about 30 days out from podcast movement in Dallas, yep, and if anyone is attending Podcast Movement, if you're on the fence, go. I think it's going to be a great show. We just got some speakers announced this last week Jordan is going to be doing a session, adam Curry, the podfather, is going to be there doing a session, and I've been so excited about this conference so I went out yesterday and I ordered some really cool, unique new Buzzsprout swag. Don't have a ton of it Only got about 70 pieces total, and so I want it to be a surprise. But if you're a Buzzcast listener, find us at the conference and if you, you know, mention hey, where's the special swag for Buzzcast listeners? Come mention that to Jordan or I or Albin and we'll hook you up.
Jordan:Oh, I'm so excited. I don't even know what this is, so it's going to be a surprise for me too.
Kevin:Yeah, it'll be great.
Jordan:Awesome. Well, I'm really looking forward to that and, until next week, keep podcasting.
