# Why upload TV shows on YouTube (when others do it too)? Plus: Bonus question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333 "2015-08-08T20:15:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/1 "2015-08-08T20:15:39Z")
I’m watching BBCs Dragon’s Den on YouTube, season after season this summer. I highly recommend the show. One thing that I find peculiar is that several YouTube users have uploaded these seasons of equally good quality. On top of that there’s an official BBC upload (from what it looks). **Question** : Why do people upload seasons of a TV show on YouTube when it is already there (especially if there’s an official channel to compete with)? Is it to draw traffic to one’s YouTube channel? And if so, in the hope of advertising? Or what? **Bonus question** : Is The Beeb cool with this? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/2 "2015-08-08T21:16:38Z")
Could be they’re too lazy to do a search first to see if it’s already there. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/3 "2015-08-08T21:48:30Z")
I think a lot of them are hoping to generate subscribers for their channel, so they have more of an audience for whatever else they upload. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/4 "2015-08-09T00:58:45Z")
Or they had them up before the “official” version was posted. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/5 "2015-08-09T09:03:46Z")
Perhaps to provide as many different copies as possible since the dreary old thugs of the copyright gangs will issue takedown notices for each they identify ? Disclaimer: I have no idea how one uploads to YouTube. It’s like the rest of life; one just expects it to be there when one comes around the corner. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Angry\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@The\_Angry\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Angry_Badger)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/6 "2015-08-09T10:42:01Z")
For the same reason that towns will have multiple shops selling the same things; they’re in competition and hoping that you’ll go to them rather than a competitor. That (ultimately) means more views, more subscribers, more advertising revenue. Or, yeah; maybe they’re just too lazy/dumb to see if it’s already on there. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/7 "2015-08-09T12:31:25Z")
If the show is popular, there will be a race to see who uploads it first, as that “channel” will garner 100% of the shows’ fans’ views until any competitor “channel” uploads the same content. Early birds and worms and all that. I would imagine that most entities that post pirated content are trawling the legitimate distribution channels using computers and the upload process is automated. It’s easier to just spam your trawl up to YouTube than to check first to see whether you’re the 1st, 2nd, or 17th uploader of the same show. Heck even Youtube itself and the content owners have a hard time conclusively identifying specific content uploads. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/8 "2015-08-09T16:18:55Z")
Getting around region restrictions is another common reason (for pirating freely available stuff.) ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/9 "2015-08-09T16:26:31Z")
Gahhhhh!!! I’ve just starting watching the Last Ship and idiots left and right are doing that. Though the WORST guy by far had: 1. The image was LOW quality. 2. The image only took up about the 1/4 of the screen. The background was apparently a picture of his family gathered for Thanksgiving and slightly out of focus. 3. The image frame of the show was at a god damn mother fucking cock sucking oh hell noes I am not kidding here 45 degree angle in the corner. Who the fuck wants to watch that? At least I can use #2 with some image processing and put out a hit on him and his demon spawn. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/10 "2015-08-09T17:38:37Z")
Thank you all for the good replies! – And the bonus question? Obviously BBC knows that people upload their show year after year… This might be terrible naive, but why don’t BBC just send an email to Google and tell them to shut the channel down? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/11 "2015-08-09T19:22:56Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Gahhhhh!!! > > I’ve just starting watching the Last Ship and idiots left and right are doing that. > > Though the WORST guy by far had: > > 1. The image was LOW quality. > > 2. The image only took up about the 1/4 of the screen. The background was apparently a picture of his family gathered for Thanksgiving and slightly out of focus. > > 3. The image frame of the show was at a god damn mother fucking cock sucking oh hell noes I am not kidding here 45 degree angle in the corner. > > Who the fuck wants to watch that? > > At least I can use #2 with some image processing and put out a hit on him and his demon spawn. All those steps are meant to fool YouTube’s automated copyrighted material recognizers. If you don’t want to be annoyed, don’t patronize suppliers of stolen copyrighted material. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/12 "2015-08-09T19:56:02Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > This might be terrible naive, but why don’t BBC just send an email to Google and tell them to shut the channel down? The BBC seems to have a fairly sanguine attitude about piracy - Top Gear got so big partly because it was widely available on sites like finalgear, with production staff knowing about it and talking to the site. Eventually the lawyers catch up I suppose. Something like Dragon’s Den? They aren’t going to sell many old episodes of that… ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/13 "2015-08-09T20:21:07Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > All those steps are meant to fool YouTube’s automated copyrighted material recognizers. If you don’t want to be annoyed, don’t patronize suppliers of stolen copyrighted material. Trust me I didn’t. I patronized that dipshit about as much as the guy selling crack who advertised it had rat poison added at no extra cost. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/14 "2015-08-09T21:32:02Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > The BBC seems to have a fairly sanguine attitude about piracy - Top Gear got so big partly because it was widely available on sites like finalgear, with production staff knowing about it and talking to the site. Eventually the lawyers catch up I suppose. > > Something like Dragon’s Den? They aren’t going to sell many old episodes of that… Good answer, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-upload-tv-shows-on-youtube-when-others-do-it-too-plus-bonus-question/727333/15 "2015-08-10T02:50:38Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If you don’t want to be annoyed, don’t patronize suppliers of stolen copyrighted material. Or do it properly