Comparison and Contrast: Television and YouTube

Academic English I: Essay III

Herlan Wijaya (1701320762)

Binus International University

 Broadcast media have become an important aspect in most of the people lives. This

happen, due to the people’s need for information and entertainment. And one of the broadcast

technology have been everyone’s favorite from its first debut, even until now. It is the Television

(TV), since its first launch in 1920s, it has been growing strong ever since, and becoming a must

have thing at home (Television, 2014). But in 2005, YouTube appears to the screen, and it has

constantly grow in popularity and now it is one of the TV biggest competitor (Takyuka, 2014).

And so the purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the difference between TV and

YouTube in three main aspects, which is the viewers, content, and the broadcasting.

First, we will talk about the TV in the three main aspects. The first aspect is the viewers.

On a TV networks, they already have a built in audience. The TV station are already exist for

decades and have collected a regular audience with tremendous marketing and name recognition

from the viewer’s in the country (Uygur, 2010). As according to ytdadmin infographic, shows

that the American most viewed channel are from s TV station, which is CBS with 5.37 million

viewers, and also with the most viewing time, with 4 hours per day of watching TV (2013). The

next aspect is the content. The content on TV is limited, you can only watch what the TV gives

you, and you can only find a certain show only at a specific channel. Also you cannot choose

when and what to watch as you desire. However, all of the contents are legal, all of the shows

and drama does not have a copyright issue to be questioned (Terrence, 2012). The last aspect is

the broadcasting on TV. On TV, not everybody can broadcast themselves on TV, only a certain

people and a certain content that can be broadcasted. There are many strict rules and regulation

of broadcasting law that needs to be followed (Broadcast Law, 2014). But it makes Television

programs more suitable for all ages, especially for the young children and also to avoid any legal

issues such as plagiarism and copyrights.

 Next, we will discuss about YouTube also in the matter of viewers, content, and

broadcasting. In contrast with Television, YouTube viewers are worldwide, and not limited to a

region. Furthermore, YouTube viewers are constantly grow each year. YouTube viewership

statistic record that “More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month” (n.d.).

YouTube viewers are basically anyone who have a computer or now even a mobile devices with

an internet. Ytdadmin infographic shows that YouTube users view more than 1 billion videos

daily on their mobile devices (2013). YouTube video contents are various, from history, sports,

make-up tips, or even simply a video of a cat. Moreover, YouTube allows you to choose

anything you want to watch, at any time you like. But the videos on YouTube are not all legal

and have a copyrights. Also the contents on YouTube are sometimes contain adult material,

violence, nudity and other things that is not appropriate for the children to watch. A study shows

that 27% of age group of 7 to 11 and almost 50% of age group of 11 to 19, had seen something

they thought was hurtful or unpleasant (Halliday, 2013). YouTube broadcasting, in the other

hand, is very different from the Television broadcasting system. All you need to broadcast

yourself, is a camera, computer, and the internet. And basically, you can broadcast any kind of

videos, like your everyday life, or even funny and entertaining video. There are no strict rules

about what you can broadcast on YouTube, but of course bad stuff such as abusing behavior,

drugs, bomb making, or porn are forbidden, but still many implicit bad stuff are pass through

YouTube screening. And the videos on YouTube are going to be there forever unless it is illegal

and would have be deleted by YouTube, or the owner himself deleted it (Terrence, 2012).
 In conclusion, Television and YouTube are two different thing. Either in terms of

viewers, content, and broadcasting. Each one, YouTube and TV have its own advantages and

disadvantages. Also YouTube is not meant to replace TV, just like Google Executive Chairman

Eric Schmidt said "It's not a replacement for something that we know. It's a new thing that we

have to think about, to program, to curate and build new platforms" (2013). In the end, either

YouTube or TV are there to meet the audience needs to gain information and entertainment.
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