Researching YouTube: Methods, tools, and analytics

Social media use has become an integral part of the lives of billions across the globe. As a modern media powerhouse, YouTube is the world’s most popular video-sharing site (Alexa, 2021). The largest market for YouTube is the United States (14.8%), followed by India (8.1%). Over 70% of the views on YouTube are from mobile devices (Cooper, 2019).
YouTube content is diverse, emanating from a broad range of audiences, in a number of languages, and in a variety of genres (Khan, 2017). Videos are one of the most engaging media, and such a high level of activity on this social media platform necessitates a thorough analysis of the content posted in the form of videos and comments. In comparison to other leading social media (eg Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), considering its user base, multitude and volume of content, and influence on popular culture, YouTube is still an understudied platform (Allgaier, 2020). Of the research that has been conducted in the realm of YouTube, the focus has been on areas such as business, education, and medicine. Major research methods employed in YouTube research have been interviews, surveys, and experiments.