After just 3 weeks of being released, YouTube Rewind 2018 quickly became the most disliked video on its own platform. Ironic, one would say. It became the perfect embodiment of just how disconnected the platform has become lately from its own audience. YouTube Rewind is meant to be a celebration of what the platform achieves during that particular year. It’s supposed to celebrate its creators who work so hard to make it what it is. Instead, this year YouTube totally missed the mark.
Seeing just how bad it was, the platform’s most subscribed creator, PewDiePie has released a new video which is meant to be a better, more accurate version of what this year’s Rewind should have been. The Swedish YouTuber, about to be overtaken by India’s T-Series in subscriber count (but has remained at the top), made comments earlier about this year’s Rewind and its degrading quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By_Cn5ixYLg
Talks of a “Year Review” have been going among PewDiePie’s fans for quite some time. After all, it has been quite a year for the Swedish superstar. Many had requested PewDiePie to make a rewind video featuring the real topics which made waves across the internet, and especially YouTube, in 2018. Things like the KSI vs. Logan Paul fight, Shane Dawson, PewDiePie vs T-Series, BTS were (probably deliberately) left out as they didn’t seem very advertiser friendly.
Ninja, MKBHD, Starman & of course, Fortnite in PewDiePie’s Youtube Rewind
It’s clear that his version of Rewind is a direct answer to YouTube’s big-budget production. Instead of late night show hosts and Will Smith, Pewd’s video consists of all the memes that became famous in 2018. Don’t worry, there’s a little bit of Fortnite in there also.
Felix Kjellberg aka PewDiePie, YouTube’s Most Subscribed-to Creator
While YouTube has responded to the negative comments that have swarmed up in comment sections across the internet, one can only hope for the company to learn from its mistakes next year. Even people who were in Rewind 2018 have spoken up about the corporate nature of this year’s video. People like MKBHD, Casey Neistat and many others.
Here’s hoping that YouTube learns from its mistakes, and we’re not just talking about Rewind. And don’t forget, subscribe to PewDiePie!
