Most students and other people at Northern Essex Community College have likely never heard of a phenomenal YouTube sensation known as object shows. These types of shows, which include the series Battle for Dream Island and Inanimate Insanity, are based on anthropomorphic object characters going through Survivor-like challenges in a competition, building friendships and having silly moments along the way. They are meant to be enjoyed by anyone stalking on YouTube who has a particular interest in animation vids, so why don’t typical college students give much thought into these shows?
A few people at NECC have at least been exposed to these shows at least once, but there are several factors as to why it might not be their biggest passion. “I think I’ve heard of [object shows], but not very much,” Emma McDonough, an early college student, said.
“I saw BFDI on TikTok,” Bianca DaSilva, another early college student, said. “But I’ve only heard of Inanimate Insanity once.”
Ricky DaSilva, an early college student, came up with some ideas as to why object shows are not very popular among teenagers in high school and college. “People’s attention span is being killed by TikTok and Instagram,” DaSilva said.
Bianca DaSilva seconds his opinion. “They are more convenient and easier for us to use rather than YouTube,” Bianca DaSilva said. Additionally, “not a lot of students go on YouTube,” McDonough said.
Mary Clark, learning coach at NECC, knows some greater detail behind the students at this college not being fully passionate about object shows. “Everybody’s algorithm tells them what to watch, but no two people share the same algorithm interests,” Clark said.
There is another major reason as to why most college students at NECC don’t fully connect with object shows on YouTube. On which platforms everyone used most often to view video content on television, Netflix came on top with 39% of viewership while YouTube trailed behind at 17%, Yahoo News said. This means Netflix is a streaming service which occupies college-age students’ minds more frequently than YouTube.
Madison O’Brien, an early childhood education major student, usually prefers Netflix over YouTube most of the time and has not heard of object shows completely. “Netflix is just more popular and has a greater attention span for viewers,” O’Brien said.
There is an even bigger factor contributing to object shows not appealing to college age students. Due to their friendly approach in terms of character design and visuals, object shows are primarily targeted towards Gen Alpha and younger audiences as they are a digital native group that spends a significant amount of time on YouTube, Google said.
In other words, the object shows have not yet reached mainstream awareness for those who are older than Gen Alpha audiences, as those in Gen Z and older are more attached with other social media platforms relevant to their age level, whereas the younger Gen Alpha generation is more attached with YouTube as it’s easier for them to use, making it more likely for younger audiences to know about object shows rather than the rest of the human population.
Both BFDI and Inanimate Insanity have been increasing in viewership in recent years, yet still not well-known enough to capture the attention of all age groups, but they are still trying. Battle for Dream Island originally released to YouTube on January 1, 2010, while Inanimate Insanity was introduced a year later on April 1, 2011.
