HopeScope talks TV watchtime, growth on YouTube
Feb 20, 2024 – minute read
I grew up watching the Disney Channel and I wanted to be like Kim Possible or Hannah Montana. Now, young girls are watching me on TV. It’s crazy!”
HopeScopeYou saw your living room watchtime increase by 172% in 2023. That’s incredible growth, why do you think so many of your viewers are starting to watch your content on tvs versus mobile or desktop? Have you heard any feedback from your audience?
Hope: I’ve seen — both from things I’ve heard my audience say and from my analytics — that when I make longer videos, people want to put it on their TV, get some popcorn and make it an experience. Me and my husband watch YouTube on TV almost every night, and a lot of the comments from my live streams are of people watching with their daughter, their husband, or their whole family.
It’s a really interesting trend. Instead of just watching a video and hanging out on their phone or laptop, people want to share with their friends and family. If a livestream gets half a million views, I sometimes wonder if it’s technically getting a million, because so many people are watching together!
Are you approaching content creation any differently, knowing that a large portion of your audience is watching this way?
Hope: I’ve seen a lot of creators, myself included, making longer content which impacts the way people view it. We also started filming both videos and live streams in 4k. It’s one of those things that a lot of people might not even notice, but I think they do sense that change in quality that we made about eight months ago. It's just the little improvements that you can make that create a more high quality experience that you want to put on your TV and have on in your living room.
I was a little surprised to discover that a good amount of people are watching Shorts on their TV. Do you do this? Do you notice your audience tuning in that way?
Hope: My viewers totally do it, especially families and younger teens. They pull up a Short to show to their friends or their family, and then they just end up scrolling the feed together. TV watch time has definitely gone up for Shorts too and I didn’t think that would happen. It’s kind of cool.
What excites you most about your channel’s — and YouTube as a whole’s — continued growth?
Hope: I just feel like, now more than ever, so many creators are trying new formats, topics, styles of recording and creating content that had never been done before. It’s really cool to see how YouTube has progressed from people filming skits in their bedroom to people with studios and teams. There are so many creators whose content quality rivals traditional television and documentaries.
I grew up watching the Disney Channel and I wanted to be like Kim Possible or Hannah Montana. Now, young girls are watching me on TV. It’s crazy! I just love YouTube so much and I’m proud.
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Your work is incredibly creative and well produced and your audience of over 4.1 million subscribers clearly agrees, but creator work isn’t always taken seriously, especially in the entertainment industry. So, what does legitimacy mean to you as a digital creator?
Hope: I think we're definitely seeing a shift. There’s been a huge change from even three or five years ago when social media content wasn’t taken seriously. Now, traditional media companies are reaching out to a lot of my creator friends and asking them to be in commercials or to make shows. They’re catching on, so we’re probably going to see a shift very soon where a lot of traditional TV and streaming platforms are taking inspiration from creators instead of the other way around.