Annoying Plague Attack Called "Prank!" On Our YouTube

Ilustrasi (Ilham Amin / VOI)

Welcome to Series Posts. In the next week, we invite you to explore the trend of creating prank content in social media. A trend that should be fun, is being carried out at home in an annoying way. Here it is, "Prank! Prang! Prong!"

Through Prank! we see how the phenomenon takes place. Through Prang! we explored this kind of content explosion. And through Prong! we find out the possible detrimental effects of this crazy trend.

Type the keyword "prank" into the YouTube search field. You will be aware of the annoying plague that is attacking our beloved video streaming platform. We did the monitoring on Tuesday afternoon, December 10 and immediately found that Indonesian YouTubers dominate this type of content. Easy. Of the 19 contents that appeared on the first page, 12 were uploaded by YouTube channel owners from Indonesia.

Angga Candra is the top Indonesian YouTuber channel. The video is entitled SMILE MANJA !! CEWE CUBY IS KESEM SEM & BAPER OWN, PRANK CEWE BENGKULU is selling well with 3.1 million views. In the 13-minute 40-second video, Angga Candra teases women by singing. Another content that is widely watched is a video entitled WEAPONS MAKAN MAKAN !! NYAI MADE FEAR OF HIS OWN PRANK !! Crazy Nikmir REAL channel upload.

The video, which was uploaded 15 hours ago, has been viewed 1.4 million times. The prank fever isn't over yet, it seems. Perhaps the most trashy content is the uploaded content of The Santoso channel. The video, entitled PRANK WIFE MAU WIKWIK JOS, M4LAH DIK4SIH BENERAN. 4UTO SENS * R has been watched 2.5 million times since being uploaded one month ago. Sorry, we're unable to explain the contents of the video which we obviously won't watch.

This kind of content is actually not new among Indonesian YouTube content creators. Atta Halilintar is perhaps the name most responsible for this mushrooming trend. Ten months ago, the prank video went viral. In the video, Atta pretends to be a ruffian and walks into a restaurant. People had predictable reactions, of course. Some were annoyed. The other few were afraid. In the end, Atta's disguise was revealed by one of the restaurant staff.

Cuplik video prank Atta Halilintar (YouTube / Atta Halilintar)

Long live

The lifespan of prank content is actually quite long. Started by Atta at the beginning of the year. Then, followed by a row of other YouTubers such as Baim Wong to Raffi Ahmad who imitated the same method: embalming. Entering the middle of the year, prank content grew in a direction that started to suck. When the YouTube channel JOE RENY Vlog made a line of pranks with the theme "wik wik wik". Unfortunately, because the theme was followed by many other YouTube users.

The most recent is "prank ojol" themed content. In this prank, most YouTubers will order food through the online motorcycle taxi (ojol) application. Later, the order will be canceled or they will disappear, leaving the ojol drivers confused. Like the "wik wik wik" prank, the ojol prank content is also followed by the talkative attitude of other YouTube content creators.

The Eggy jr Vames channel is one of the most scattered distribution of prank ojol content on YouTube. Video titled Food Order More than 1 million I Cancel !!! Mr. Driver Gojeknya Crying Hysterically The wife of Mau Lahiran that he uploaded has been watched more than 50 thousand times and received 379 likes. However, the video was also rewarded with 240 thousand dislikes, of course.

Ojol prank-themed content spreads. One who has followed suit is Nino Kuya, son of television entertainer Uya Kuya. The video titled Gembel ordered KFC 700 thousand, paid 5 million. Tell Abang Ojol The baby died !! it's also quite watchable. It is recorded that 1.3 million views were obtained by Nino Kuya's channel which has 1.6 million subscribers. There are no comments in the video because the account manager has disabled the comments feature in the video.

Pattern

We can see various patterns from the various contents of the ojol prank which are seliweran. Initially, YouTubers would install cameras in a number of places. Then, they start ordering food, usually at a fantastic amount via the Grab or Gojek app.

After the ojol driver comes to the address of the customer, this is where the drama begins. The content creators argue that they order food and don't want to pay. Not to forget, added background sound in the style of soap operas and reality television shows to add to the emotional feeling.

In this part, the grief of the ojol drivers is shown, exploited to the full. Furthermore, YouTubers will return to the driver and clarify that he is being pranked. And everything that he experiences is for the sake of content creation only. In the end, all orders are paid.

Another pattern that we can see from the ojol prank is the clarification pattern. You will agree with us, about how pranks are thrown, then bullied, then content creators will appear with clarifying videos and say that the content is made with a noble purpose.

Advantage

Remotivi media researcher Roy Thaniago explains how money is behind all the prank content created. Noble goals, for Roy are nonsense. And the mimicking behavior carried out by the Indonesian YouTuber ecosystem actually confirms that.

So, there are two indicators that can be used to see how much a YouTube channel is earning: CPM (Cost Per Mile) and CPC (Cost Per Click). The two indicators only work with two conditions. First, is the growth in the number of subscribers to at least a thousand within one year.

Second, the channel's video content must be watched for at least four thousand hours by all viewers in the same period. CPM is the money a channel gets from every thousand ad views across videos.

Referring to site data moneysmart.id, May 2019, the CPM value in Indonesia is currently IDR 7 thousand per thousand ad impressions. Meanwhile, CPC is the nominal value a channel gets from every click on an ad that appears in video content. The CPC nominal ranges from IDR 5 thousand to IDR 12 thousand.

"Rewarding is measured by the viewability. So, people will make the most excited, the most attention grabbing. He will do whatever it takes to create content that attracts a lot of viewers," Roy said when contacted by VOI, Monday, December 9.

With a mental mentality that is deeply ingrained in the heads of many local YouTubers today, plus all the notes that we described above, it's no wonder YouTubers end up copying each other. According to Roy, this imitating attitude is also very detrimental to YouTube users.

Again, a disease called saturation which will arise as a result of this annoying phenomenon. The disease is very synonymous with the pattern of television publications. In the end, like television, the educational process of the spectacle is sacrificed. As in most cases, viewers will have a hard time identifying what quality shows are and aren't.

Perhaps, YouTube viewers really need to understand this issue. Because, in addition to the YouTube rewarding system, this phenomenon thrives thanks to viewers too. "In my opinion, this rewarding system and the way we reward the content is problematic," said Roy.

Follow this edition of Writing Series: Prank! Prang! Prong!