YouTube is hosting a competition to find the next big talent. They are enticing with a prize of $100,000 – about €92,000. However, they are using Ali-A as an ambassador for the campaign, a figure who has gained notoriety for egregious clickbaiting in the shooter Fortnite .
What is this campaign about?
- YouTube is looking for short videos in the “vertical” format 16:9 – the videos must not exceed 60 seconds. They are apparently aimed at the Instagram/TikTok generation
- The videos should be based on “gaming content” – so things like montages or reactions. While it’s said that they can also be “Top 10 videos”, with a 60-second limitation, that seems like a rather strange suggestion. The videos must appear in English.
- Aspiring stars have from April 9 to May 8, 2022, to apply; they must be at least 13 years old. A prize of $100,000 cash awaits. A “jury” made up of popular content creators will decide who gets the prize money (via uture).
Ali-A was considered the “Master of Clickbait”
What is concerning about this campaign? The head of this jury is none other than Alastair “Ali-A” Aiken (28).
The Brit was seen, especially in the early days of Fortnite, as a symbol of flesh-and-blood “clickbaiting” and a particular form of thumbnail:
- He was known for using exaggerated thumbnails in which he grotesquely contorted his face into a grimace, reacting in shock or horror to something
- In 2018, he was referred to as the “King of Clickbait” or “Master of Clickbait”
- In the meantime, his name became a “meme” that stood for clickbait
- Streamers like PewDiePie or Ninja have criticized him for constantly exaggerating
Is Ali-A still that bad? Apparently, Ali-A is not as bad as he was in 2018. This is likely due to the fact that he has not been as successful with these methods anymore.
In 2021, a video stated that Ali-A was on the path to irrelevance due to the declining success of Fortnite and his clickbait tactics (via youtube). Lately, the presentation of his videos has also been more normal and sensible than before.
The decline in relevance does not necessarily have to be solely his fault – other major Fortnite streamers have significantly lost relevance in recent years.
Fortnite has made many content creators truly great:
YouTube is chasing Twitch and TikTok
What’s behind this: YouTube seems to be afraid of “missing the train”:
- YouTube is established as a video platform where you can watch videos on demand
- However, they have been overtaken by Twitch in live streaming – and are now trying to catch up by luring big Twitch streamers with a lot of money
- They are likely realizing that TikTok’s short videos are attracting many young viewers, and they seem to want to counter this with “YouTube Shorts”.
Whether Ali-A is really the right person to promote the new YouTube format seems questionable. A few years ago, people were still calling for YouTube to ban him urgently. Now, YouTube seems to be presenting Ali-A as a role model for the “next generation”.
In Fortnite, there was another YouTuber who was somehow worse than Ali-A:
