Is YouTube Declining? How SNS Integration and AI Videos Are Reshaping the Video Platform’s Future

Many creators and users are beginning to feel anxious about YouTube’s future. This platform, once the undisputed king of video sharing, is now at a major turning point.

This article analyzes the three critical challenges YouTube faces and how they will impact the platform’s future.

The Loss of Uniqueness Through SNS Integration

YouTube is gradually transforming from a traditional video platform into an SNS-like service.

The expansion of community posts, introduction of Stories features, enhancement of live streaming, and emphasis on SNS-style engagement metrics—these changes make it increasingly difficult to differentiate from TikTok and Instagram.

Users are losing their clear reason for “why use YouTube.”

As a result, users are beginning to choose platforms based on their purposes, and YouTube’s watch time is likely to become more fragmented.

The Crisis for Long-Form Content Brought by Short Videos

The introduction of YouTube Shorts has significantly changed the platform’s dynamics.

As algorithms favor short-form content, high-quality 10-30 minute videos are becoming buried. This has a serious impact on educational, explanatory, and documentary creators.

Many creators report declining view counts and engagement for long-form videos. Due to competition with Shorts, content designed for deeper viewing is relatively losing value.

Even creators with long-established fan bases struggle with both revenue and reach, unable to adapt to the new algorithm.

The Emergence of High-Quality AI Videos Threatens Creators’ Value

Perhaps the most serious issue is the rapid evolution of AI generation technology.

In July 2025, YouTube announced measures against low-quality AI-generated videos. Spam-like content will likely decrease. However, the real problem lies beyond that.

Video generation AI technology evolves daily, and in the near future, high-quality videos indistinguishable from what creators produce will be mass-produced in just minutes.

Current Technology Level:

The latest video generation AI like OpenAI’s Sora 2 and Google Veo 3 can automatically generate realistic footage, natural voices, and compelling compositions. They can even accurately reproduce the appearance and voice of real people.

The Reality Creators Face:

If a video planned, filmed, and edited over weeks looks the same quality as an AI-generated video created in minutes, which will viewers choose?

More critically, AI can produce content endlessly without rest, at near-zero cost, and respond instantly to trends.

Differentiation Becomes Difficult:

Elements like “authentic experience,” “personality,” and “unique perspective” certainly have value. But when AI can highly imitate these, will viewers be able to detect the difference?

Even if platforms mandate labels on AI-generated content, whether viewers care is another matter. If it’s entertaining or useful, whether it’s AI-generated or creator-made may become secondary.

Impact on Revenue Structure:

When creators who invest time and cost compete on the same playing field with AI videos mass-produced at low cost, the revenue model itself risks collapse.

YouTube’s Unshakeable Strengths

Despite the critical perspectives presented, YouTube possesses powerful assets that other platforms lack.

Nearly two decades of massive video database is a treasure that other services cannot easily match.

The search system integrated with Google remains the strongest tool for users seeking specific information.

By providing diverse revenue sources including ad revenue, memberships, and Super Chat, it continues to be creators’ primary income source.

YouTube has overcome many crises in the past. Adpocalypse, COPPA issues, content policy changes during the pandemic—it has consistently introduced improvements each time.

Conclusion: What Is the Future for Creators?

The essential question isn’t whether YouTube will completely “decline,” but how the position of creators on the platform will change.

The most likely scenario is not complete decline, but transformation in the form of shifting market position and diversification of usage patterns.

For creators to survive, they must continue providing value that AI cannot replicate. Real-time reactions, deep relationships with viewers, unpredictable creativity, and above all, personality that makes people think “I want to watch this person.”

However, when AI can highly imitate even these elements, we must find new value standards.

The next few years are the turning point. The technological evolution and platform responses from 2025 to 2027 will determine YouTube’s next decade and the future of creators.