The big picture: The community isn't happy with the direction YouTube has taken Rewind in 2018. As Marques Brownlee argues, the shift didn't happen overnight but has been trending in this direction over the past several years.

The 2018 edition of Rewind, YouTube’s annual video montage featuring trends and memes of the past year, dropped on December 6. To say that it wasn’t well received by the community would be an understatement.

In just one week’s time, YouTube Rewind 2018 has become the platforms most disliked video of all time. As of writing, it has amassed over 10 million dislikes compared to just 2.1 million likes. The second most disliked video of all time, the music video for “Baby” by Justin Bieber, has 9.91 million dislikes but took well over eight years to amass that total.

YouTube Rewind 2018 has been viewed more than 121 million times as of mid-Thursday.

Why so much hate for this year’s Rewind?

As Variety points out, some are no doubt peeved over the exclusion of popular yet controversial YouTubers like PewDiePie, Shawn Dawson and Logan Paul. This year’s entry was also heavily influenced by Fortnite, dancing and other mainstream events.

According to Marques Brownlee, who ironically enough was featured in this year’s Rewind, YouTube has gotten away from what made the series so special – focusing on the creators and the community – and turned it into a giant ad that appeals to advertisers. This is even more ironic considering the theme of this year’s Rewind – “Everyone Controls Rewind.”

Brownlee also said the style of Rewind has been problematic and it’s “just kind of hard to watch.” In short, he believes YouTube is trying to cram too much stuff into a small window while keeping brand safety on a podium. His video is worth watching to gain further insight on the behind-the-scenes process and his perspective on the production.

 

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