Journal
TELEVISION & NEW MEDIA
Volume 24, Issue 4, Pages 432-451Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/15274764221110198
Keywords
platform studies; institutional theory; isomorphism; strategic response; YouTube; content analysis
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This article explores the ways in which content creators on YouTube adapt to or resist institutional pressures, and finds that diversification is supported in the management of their presence on the platform.
Through guidelines, terms of service and algorithmic curation, digital platforms such as YouTube encourage creators to produce content that fits with the commercial goals of the platform. Scholars have argued that this pressure to conform might lead to uniformity, or isomorphism, in the ways organizations manage their presence on platforms. This article contributes to the debate on isomorphism by taking a bottom-up approach and ask to which extent creators on YouTube pursue similar, or different, strategies for uploading and monetizing content. Through quantitative and qualitative analyses of a sample of YouTube channels, we show how content creators adapt to, negotiate with, and defy institutional pressures. In the end, we find greater support for diversification, that is, polymorphism, than concentration in the ways organizations manage their presence on the platform. This has implications for how we understand platform power and integrate institutional theories in communication research.
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