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May, 2025

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Why do ski films do so badly on YouTube?

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brosasaki
Posts: 108 - Karma: 826
They almost all get like, 100k views at the most. Never seen one with more than 1000 comments, or over 10k likes. and this is like, zootspace and the bunch pieces that are actual projects. who is sponsoring these films and why do they continue to sponsor them. is skiing just that lame to the average population
4 years ago
31 1
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r00kie
Posts: 5238 - Karma: 59,602
Companies that sponser these likely follow the same formula as companies that do influencer based marketing. Total audience is just one factor. Audience engagement is probably more important. So for a small ski brand like say Vishnu, throwing some change at a very niche project like Zootspace makes a lot of sense because that audience is very in tune with the brand image Vishnu projects and is also the target market. It would make a lot less sense for a larger, unrelated company such as McDonalds to support the project as they would be going more for total audience.

Also, YouTube may not be the only platform the project is published on. This site for example may gather similar or even more views for the same video than it does on YouTube.
4 years ago
24 0
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Session
Posts: 5408 - Karma: 22,545
brosasakiThey almost all get like, 100k views at the most. Never seen one with more than 1000 comments, or over 10k likes. and this is like, zootspace and the bunch pieces that are actual projects. who is sponsoring these films and why do they continue to sponsor them. is skiing just that lame to the average population


Skiing is lame to the average person, stuff like Zootspace is lame to the average skier.
4 years ago
49 7
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keagan.karstens
Posts: 1635 - Karma: 35,386
I think people definitely have this view on snowsports that snowboarding is like super cool and rebellious and “bad” while skiing is lame or nerdy because that’s what they’ve been exposed to through tv and shit. So as a common person if I saw a ski edit on youtube I’d be like nah that shits wack where’s the snowboarding at. And obviously I don’t actually feel that way I’m just putting myself in their shoes. And some of you including myself might compare it to skateboarding and think to urself well skating does pretty good so why wouldn’t another action sport do they same. It’s cuz skating in the public eye is rad and cool like snowboarding
4 years ago
16 0
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skierman
Posts: 8600 - Karma: 9,520
Its because kids have no fucking attention span. They're conditioned to only watch 10 second clips and to keep death scrolling. Ski movies are simply no longer watchable to the new generation of turds that are addicted to their smartphones.
4 years ago
64 2
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skierman_jack
Posts: 1671 - Karma: 17,558
Came here to say YouTube isn’t core and then cried in the mirror realizing I became the very person I sought to destroy
4 years ago
42 0
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Mixy
Posts: 8355 - Karma: 50,399
skiermanIts because kids have no fucking attention span. They're conditioned to only watch 10 second clips and to keep death scrolling. Ski movies are simply no longer watchable to the new generation of turds that are addicted to their smartphones.


I'm sure this is a really well thought out response but I got bored and scrolled. Yawn.
4 years ago
34 0
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asparagus
Posts: 2500 - Karma: 28,453
It wasn’t until recently that I could sit through ski movies without getting bored. It wasn’t that I had a bad attention span before, but that 20 minutes of ski porn all started to blend together and become meaningless because I didn’t understand every individual trick.

Only weird/creative projects like the Candide or Jesper Tjader videos appeal to mass audiences because you don’t have to understand how tech the trick is to see that skiing the Great Wall of China or a loop da loop is fucking insane.
4 years ago
25 1
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elcheapo
Posts: 3449 - Karma: 13,983
Not everyone skis
4 years ago
6 0
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keagan.karstens
Posts: 1635 - Karma: 35,386
asparagusIt wasn’t until recently that I could sit through ski movies without getting bored. It wasn’t that I had a bad attention span before, but that 20 minutes of ski porn all started to blend together and become meaningless because I didn’t understand every individual trick.

Only weird/creative projects like the Candide or Jesper Tjader videos appeal to mass audiences because you don’t have to understand how tech the trick is to see that skiing the Great Wall of China or a loop da loop is fucking insane.


Didn’t even think of this but you’re spot on
4 years ago
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Jems
Posts: 7737 - Karma: 101,234
the best little edits are on youtube and not here, i feel like there’s a cult following for some of the groups
4 years ago
11 0
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Young_patty
Posts: 3341 - Karma: 39,274
Bro we are a niche sport within a niche sport, I’m actually pretty impressed some videos are even hitting 100k.
4 years ago
38 0
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vibe.crudo
Posts: 461 - Karma: 4,665
To be fair, most of the more palatable ski films aren’t on YouTube. Also things associated with brands that are recognizable tend to do better. Like the Sammy C Project is advertised and backed by Teton, shit like zootspace with the lazy thumbnails and lack of emphasis on branding and promotion is core but it’s not gonna make the average person wanna click on it, they’re just gonna be like “what the fuck is zootspace” and just scroll. You also gotta realize the big views are with the big skiers, Henrik, Tom, Sammy, Bobby, etc. As for full length movies, well, I can’t see the numbers on iTunes and stuff, but I’m assuming a shit ton of people buy ski movies, I think only younger kids go on YouTube to watch a full movie, like most of the movies I watch and a lot of the people I know watch are ones we paid for
4 years ago
6 3
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abar.
Posts: 1062 - Karma: 6,903
I don't really see YouTube as a platform designed for longform "films," it's a platform to get you to keep clicking on short videos that grab you with the title and thumbnail. 90% of my YouTube use is just seeing a recommended video and clicking on it, not searching for a certain type of video. If I were not personally invested in skiing, I'd probably never click on a skiing video unless it was some clickbatey jesper tjader shit, and same with any other action sport. The format is just not optimised for the YouTube algorithm, most of them are too long and don't have any explanation of what's going on for the uninitiated. There's a reason why the only action sports stuff that does well with the general public is vlog-style stuff where they constantly talk about what they're actually doing and show the process.

And when I, as a member of the core audience, want to watch a ski movie, I try to search for it on NS or vimeo so I don't get the popup ads and annoying recommendations that come with YouTube
4 years ago
5 0
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JAHpow
Posts: 7282 - Karma: 17,194
Young_pattyBro we are a niche sport within a niche sport, I’m actually pretty impressed some videos are even hitting 100k.


This
4 years ago
4 0
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a_burger
Posts: 5257 - Karma: 21,143
I'd say above everything else its that youtube sucks for finding ski content. I've literally never just come across a good actual "core" ski vid on youtube, and I spend waaaaaay to much time on youtube. Any skiing stuff in my recommendeds is high budget redbull type shit, clickbait, or gaper gopro stuff.

I assume this is because how youtube's algorithm works, it probably just sees all ski content as having the same audience (which most of it does, and that audience is not us) so anything more underground getting thrown into that category probably isn't getting recommended because so few people watch it on youtubes platform, a lot of us watch it on here. Try going to a ski edit on youtube and looking at the recommendeds, for me it's like 65% random shit related to other stuff I watch, 30% other vids from the same channel, and like maybe 1 or 2 vids part way down linking to another adjacent core channel (for example, I checked out an edit on the Arsenic page and there was 1 keesh edit in the recommended)

there's starting to be more cool stuff on youtube but it will probably take NS to die and everyone moving over before it actually becomes browsable. Skating's youtube scene is probably a lot better because you have channels like Thrasher that have a really strong following, giving the algorithm enough data to determine their browsing habits and what type of vids they actually want to see.

**This post was edited on Aug 16th 2021 at 2:55:06pm
4 years ago
2 0
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Notaskibum
Posts: 849 - Karma: 4,005
Vincent.CrudoTo be fair, most of the more palatable ski films aren’t on YouTube. Also things associated with brands that are recognizable tend to do better. Like the Sammy C Project is advertised and backed by Teton, shit like zootspace with the lazy thumbnails and lack of emphasis on branding and promotion is core but it’s not gonna make the average person wanna click on it, they’re just gonna be like “what the fuck is zootspace” and just scroll. You also gotta realize the big views are with the big skiers, Henrik, Tom, Sammy, Bobby, etc. As for full length movies, well, I can’t see the numbers on iTunes and stuff, but I’m assuming a shit ton of people buy ski movies, I think only younger kids go on YouTube to watch a full movie, like most of the movies I watch and a lot of the people I know watch are ones we paid for


People do not buy full length movies on itunes
4 years ago
3 2
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tutipups
Posts: 1691 - Karma: 10,625
brosasakiThey almost all get like, 100k views at the most. Never seen one with more than 1000 comments, or over 10k likes. and this is like, zootspace and the bunch pieces that are actual projects. who is sponsoring these films and why do they continue to sponsor them. is skiing just that lame to the average population


tiny community
4 years ago
0 0
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ToddlerBodyBag
Posts: 283 - Karma: 2,093
keagan.karstensI think people definitely have this view on snowsports that snowboarding is like super cool and rebellious and “bad” while skiing is lame or nerdy because that’s what they’ve been exposed to through tv and shit. So as a common person if I saw a ski edit on youtube I’d be like nah that shits wack where’s the snowboarding at. And obviously I don’t actually feel that way I’m just putting myself in their shoes. And some of you including myself might compare it to skateboarding and think to urself well skating does pretty good so why wouldn’t another action sport do they same. It’s cuz skating in the public eye is rad and cool like snowboarding

Big facts.

All the Bay Area frat boys I know think skiing is for nerds but they also brag about going down blacks so I’m not phased.

**This post was edited on Aug 16th 2021 at 7:49:17pm
4 years ago
3 0
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vibe.crudo
Posts: 461 - Karma: 4,665
NotaskibumPeople do not buy full length movies on itunes


So are you saying nobody watches level 1, TGR, Stept, poorboyz etc. or just that most people buy DVD’s?
4 years ago
1 1
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percs
Posts: 2280 - Karma: 5,810
Cause skiing is inaccessible and not relateable to most people. if you're comparing it to skateboarding. Theres not an audience to get millions of views unless you put on a parachute or some shit
4 years ago
5 0
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percs
Posts: 2280 - Karma: 5,810
and youtube videos are so bingeworthy and watching a niche ski edit dissent feel at home at youtube if you know what I mean. Youtube videos are cracked out
4 years ago
0 0
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jaybake
Posts: 223 - Karma: 616
Vincent.CrudoSo are you saying nobody watches level 1, TGR, Stept, poorboyz etc. or just that most people buy DVD’s?


Didn’t realize this was 2013 when half these companies existed
4 years ago
3 1
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vibe.crudo
Posts: 461 - Karma: 4,665
jaybakeDidn’t realize this was 2013 when half these companies existed


:(
4 years ago
3 0
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vibe.crudo
Posts: 461 - Karma: 4,665
To be fair tho the Faction movie blew tf up on YouTube, other than that idk anything other than segments from iTunes movies or random Jesper stunts that blew tf up. That Tom Wallisch gopro vid is huge but it was also a GoPro ad
4 years ago
5 0
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-Dan
Posts: 7189 - Karma: 53,458
Idgaf a fuck if my video only has 1 view as long as it’s my girlfriend that watched so she thinks I’m a bad ass 😎 quality over quantity my friends
4 years ago
13 0
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jca
Posts: 4180 - Karma: 6,366
Vincent.CrudoSo are you saying nobody watches level 1, TGR, Stept, poorboyz etc. or just that most people buy DVD’s?


I buy em on Vimeo
4 years ago
4 0
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Young_patty
Posts: 3341 - Karma: 39,274
-DanIdgaf a fuck if my video only has 1 view as long as it’s my girlfriend that watched so she thinks I’m a bad ass 😎 quality over quantity my friends


^ This,

as long as Dan’s girlfriend is watching my content that’s all that matters 😤🤝
4 years ago
5 0
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-Dan
Posts: 7189 - Karma: 53,458
Young_patty^ This,

as long as Dan’s girlfriend is watching my content that’s all that matters 😤🤝

Lmao 💯
4 years ago
1 0
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Session
Posts: 5408 - Karma: 22,545
NotaskibumPeople do not buy full length movies on itunes


My itunes library disagrees.
4 years ago
7 1
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dvx100
Posts: 1884 - Karma: 4,821
make shit you enjoy and enjoy the process of making it - if you're making vids and getting bummed its not getting mad views, you missed the point of making vids in the first place.
4 years ago
5 1
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Dilldoes
Posts: 761 - Karma: 5,852
Candide has done very well on YouTube. All you need is a sponsor like Audi to pay for everything......
4 years ago
1 0
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