I don't watch them - ever. In my opinion, they are usually a bunch of folks who don't want to get real jobs, trying to make a living off the internet. Most times, these wanna-be 'influencers' don't have any real cooking skills or training. Just looking for a way to make an easy buck on ad revenues from getting clicks. I refuse to click.
I may sound like a crotchety old geezer, but that's what I think. Folks like Jacques Pepin are truly the exception .
I disagree. Yes, there are some lame ones, but I have a handful of YouTube cooking channels I watch, every episode.
Joshua Weisman. A very skilled chef in Austin who is also very funny.
Andrew Rea (AKA: Babbish). Again, knows how to cook, and is really funny.
Sorted Foods: Some brits who do a fun show. Two trained chefs and three "normals."
Guga (Guga Foods and Sous Vide Everything). A master of sous vide cooking, and cooking the best steaks possible. He does some really weird steak experiments. "I do it so you don't have to" is his motto.
I pick YouTube cooking shows that are not just informative, but entertaining. Yes, they make money off of there videos, if they are good. Andrew Rea and Josh Weissman each earn seven figure incomes. It doesn't cost me anything but a click of my mouse, which costs me nothing, so more power to them. I do pay Google 4 bucks a month to watch YouTube videos without ads, but that applies to every YouTube video I watch.
I do NOT have cable or satellite TV, which would set me back close to 100 bucks a month, for 300 channels, of which I would watch maybe five. Four bucks a month, vs 100 bucks a month. Do the math.
I wish I had the talent to do a successful YouTube channel. I certainly am not going to begrudge someone who does have the talent by "not clicking" just because I don't want them to make money off of something I can't do.
CD