The most common questions I get from people who still watch television is what do I watch on YouTube and if I miss watching television. Answering the second question is obvious once I answer the first, so here’s a non-exhaustive list of some of my favorite channels; it’s a very small sample of all the talented and unique creators that grace the platform and I could easily name another couple of hundred more that I consume the content on a regular basis.
Pure Entertainment
One of the main reasons why I watch YouTube is to be entertained and the best content creators on the platform know how to engage their audience on a personal level and make things relatable to them.
PewDiePie
The king of YouTube can turn playing Minecraft into a nail-biting thriller with an epic cliffhanger but what sets him apart is the connection he has with his 100M subscribers and the way he maintains this relationship.
Mr Beast
When it comes to giving to random strangers in an entertaining fashion, Mr Beast is second to none. He’s given well over a million dollars and changed the lives of many before our eyes.
Magic of Rahat
Prank channels have a bad reputation but among all the mediocre ones, this magician uses his craft to give smiles to millions including the fast-food employees he brightens the nights of.
In-depth Reviews
One of the thing I’m looking for the most are reviews of products, films, games, I’m contemplating buying. Traditional critics are so far disconnected from what appeals to mass audiences that television, radio, and print don’t offer any relevance in their reviews. On YouTube, the huge number of critics on the platform is an opportunity to find the ones that shares the same tastes and be able to trust their judgment.
Angry Centaur Gaming
To be blunt; there are no video game review shows on television, the highest grossing entertainment, is rarely discussed; a mention of a big game maybe twice a year but not as frequently as movies. Thank god YouTube has a myriad of video game critics.
Red Letter Media
One of the most influential group of critics on YouTube are the Red Letter Media bad movies connoisseurs; they understand the difference between entertainment value and the craftsmanship of a movie and don’t put a moral judgment on bad yet entertaining movies.
Marques Brownlee
I’ve been subscribed to MKBHD since he was a teenager; the production values and confidence in front of the camera might have changed but the passion and astute review of tech products is still the same. He’s super knowledgeable and isn’t an Apple fanboy.
Cultural Video Essays
One of the most interesting facets of YouTube is finding singular voices that are able to develop a well-thought out opinion about culture and present it in a cohesive and meaningful way. It’s not about nostalgia which is rampant on traditional broadcasting platforms; it is about the evolution and impact of cultural phenomenons from a current perspective.
Super Eyepatch Wolf
I absolutely love the voice; its cadence, its delivery, its softness. This someone who lives and breathes his passion; not a voice over reading from a script. Some of his essays have been a lot more emotional than they had any right to be and that makes it very compelling.
Raycevick
One of my favorite Vancouver YouTubers; his essays are always well researched and his point of view always enthralling. Many of the games and series he approaches have defined the history of gaming and putting them in giving them their due is always a treat.
Lessons From The Screenplay
Cinema is one of my passions; as a film school graduate; it’s always a pleasure to see some someone breaking what makes movies compelling and how characters relate to an audience. Storytelling is one of the oldest art forms; sharing the craft is riveting.
Current News
Even when it comes to news; YouTube provides a plethora of different points of views; like traditional broadcasting, it has newscasters with a prominent political bias who present themselves as being neutral; however, contrary to television, the platform has creators who indeed offer truly unbiased coverage of current news for the ones seeking it.
Philip DeFranco
When I’m looking for the facts and only the facts for the stories that interest me, I watch this creator who has a solid track record and doesn’t hesitate to spend a fair amount of time when he messes up. He has been building trust for years and doesn’t shield himself from criticism with meaningless awards.
Yong Yea
When it comes to consumer advocacy, bias is something that yields a more extensive coverage of issues that affects me directly as a customer and an independent editorialist will have more freedom than a corporate publication dependent on industry advertising dollars to live.
Subverse News
There is a void in mainstream media’s journalism industry for fact-based and balanced coverage of national and world issues and many story that should be covered and brought up to the forefront often go unreported; this is what makes Subverse News so relevant.
Interesting Talk Shows About the Guest not the Host
There is nothing more cringy than talk shows on television; especially when it comes to politics in which biased host with absolutely no pretense of objectivity promote the candidate that curtails to their political leanings and attacks the ones from opposing parties when they are not completely deplatforming them. When broadcasters are removing a person’s ability to speak, they are not proving them a liar or wrong; they’re only telling the world that they fear what that person might say. So YouTube is home to content creators who foster an environment in which conversation and understanding can blossom without imposing their personal views and letting their audience decide for themselves.
The Rubin Report
Traditional Canadian broadcasters should feel ashamed that Canadians have to turn to YouTube to hear one of the party leaders at the next federal election. But Canadian traditional broadcasters are not the only ones; the same is true of the United States: despite polling higher than other candidates, DNC presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard isn’t given a chance to speak on American television; once again, YouTube saves the day.
The Joe Rogan Experience
Joe Rogan is the most popular podcaster on the planet for a reason; he’s genuinely interested in every guest he talks to and often brings a wide spectrum of interesting individuals with intriguing, even fascinating, things to share. Inviting Alex Jones turned out to be an audience record-breaking show; a five hour long monument of insanity and laughter; that would never be aired on terrestrial tv stations.
Game Slice
Considering the poor representation of gamers on television, only an online platform like YouTube could offer a sit down conversation between legendary game designer Todd Howard, and the smartest gamer alive, Elon Musk, who also started his career designing games. Given how mainstream gaming has become, it is flabbergasting that it still is considered a niche and ignored by television groups.
Sports en Francais
Sports is something special and it’s a passion shared within a family in which your team doesn’t change over time. Being born in France, and growing up in la Banlieue; my team is Paris Saint-Germain; and it’s very difficult to get any information or decent coverage about it from Canadian media outlets; this isn’t a criticism, it is what it is, and I wouldn’t expect it to be any different. However, thanks to YouTube, I have access to a wealth of content dedicated to my team; and of course, it’s in my mother tongue.
Paris Saint-Germain
My team being one of the top clubs on the planet, it has a massive social media presence, and a very contentful YouTube channel with a few different shows, highlights, press conferences before and after games, etc.
Paris United
The team of Paris United is very controversial in France as these supporters have rapidly become one of the most trusted source of information when it comes to the club; including breaking stories days before the French sport press did.
Foot Mercato
This is channel is not dedicated to my team but it is a great source for condensing French and European soccer headlines. They offer great coverage of the transfer markets and often have interesting documentaries about top players and teams.
Historical News
Sometimes, it is good to look at stories that have been making headlines a while back and find out what happened and what misinformation was spread at the peak of their coverage.
Whang!
Justin Whang has very peculiar interests and his videos oozes his personality; he always talks about topics that have been huge on the internet for a while and have disappeared but have a much more unusual story than it originally seemed.
Internet Historian
Very few people understand the internet, its memes, and culture, like Internet Historian; his videos are made for an audience that is versed in that universe. Humour and thought-provocation are the two tenants of what makes this content creator so captivating.
Bright Sun Films
Once in a while, a YouTube channel has a very striking concept that is weirdly magnetic. Sun Bright Films is all about abandoned landmarks: hospitals, stadiums, shopping malls, hotels, etc. The videos are always well researched and the way the stories are told is gripping.
Cute & Fluffy Animals
Sometimes we all need levity; for me it’s all about fluffiness and animals are the best to make the world a better place; once again instead of homogeneous and overproduced television content; authenticity and simplicity is why YouTube is so magical.
Life with Malamutes
When a normal couple with normal jobs decide to share their daily lives with their giant malamutes and their tiny cat, it’s adorable. Situations might be set up but there’s no staging of animals reactions, it’s just genuine and that’s what so enticing about it.
The Lion Whisperer
From ordinary to extraordinary is YouTube in a nutshell; the Lion Whisperer gives a glimpse to a South African refuge for big cats and shows the interactions with these beautiful animals; a lot of the content is made thanks to the patronage of viewers.
Talking Kitty Cat
Every fur ball is special, and when through the magic of editing your average cat starts swearing like a sailor and voicing his personality, it’s even better. The adventures of these talking cats and their human never fails to give me a smile.
Commentary on Internet Culture
I don’t care about pseudo-celebrities, I don’t care who’s dating who, I don’t care what outrageous thing a future hasbeen has done; the fame and fortune cult promoted by mainstream television couldn’t be further from what I care about. On YouTube, I can find people who comment on the internet trends that matter to me and topics I care about.
Nerd City
Marketing is something that I’m super interested about and Nerd City is one of the best content creators when it comes to dive deep down into analyzing influencers and how they merchandise their personal brands.
Crowbcat
A voiceless commentator who uses juxtaposition in his edits to drive a point across is unusual yet very effective. Crowbcat’s style really brings the “no comment” concept and turns it into something unique.
Modern Vintage Gamer
Emulation is something that has interested me since the mid 90s and having the opportunity to learn about some of its history from someone who played an important role in it is a gift.
Edutainment at its Finest
One of my favorite things is to learn more about topics that interests me or that are contemporary relevant; once again, I found the expertise I seek from YouTube where the best creators are presenting the science in an entertaining way while debunking dissident opinions whereas on traditional broadcasting platform, divergent opinions are dismissed without being addressed. For anyone who cares about knowledge this is the difference between science and obscurantism; falsehoods presented as truth without acknowledgment of critical theories.
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Animation makes everything more digestible and in a very period of time, Kurzgesagt is capable of sharing a lot of knowledge on a wide variety of topics while remaining quite entertaining.
Tier Zoo
One of the most brilliant channels out there, turns the world we live in into a MMORPG and zoology into characters with perks. It makes learning about animals very entertaining and for gamers it makes a lot of sense.
TED Talks
The non-partisan and non-profit media organization devoted to spreading ideas has a massive repository of talks on its YouTube channel and it releases new content from top experts in their fields on a regular basis.
Not So Common Interests
We all have peculiar interests and as YouTube as an incredibly wide variety of creators covering an astounding diversity of topics; everyone can find something they’re interested in.
Encore +
One of my favorite channels, Encore + features hundreds of iconic and award-winning Canadian TV shows, films, and documentaries for free. It’s a fantastic initiative from the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada.
Toy Galaxy
I like toys and action figures; growing up in the 80s I grew up with cartoons designed to sell my generation toys. Looking back at the history of one of these cartoons brings me back to my childhood.
Under The Knife
Medical history isn’t something I was interested in before watching Dr Lindsey Fitzharris who’s a masterful storyteller when it comes to present some of the weirdest and bloodiest anecdotes about the subject.
Music
I enjoy learning about bands and songs I like but really the most important of part of YouTube, to me, when it comes to music, is that it has replaced radio, MTV, and streaming services.
VEVO
When MTV started shifting its content from music to tv reality that’s when they lost me; VEVO filled that void in no time by uploading thousands of music videos from hundreds of bands. It also often releases exclusive concerts on its channels.
The Beat Goes On
I spent a fair amount of my teenage and young adult years watching MTV and VH1; a few YouTube channels are doing what these television channels used to do and provide documentary about the music something that is rarely done anymore on tv.
Middle 8
One of the most interesting things is when people who really know music on a technical level are able to explain to masses complex concepts; not trying to cater to the lower common denominator but trying to elevate their audience by peaking their curiosity.
At this point in time, I have a hard time imagining that I would ever go back to watching traditional television when there are online platforms that offer ad-free content catering to my personal interests, made by creators I can relate to; who talk to me rather than at me.
