YouTube has changed a lot since it launched nearly 20 years ago. Over time, one of the biggest changes to the platform has been an extension of the allowed length of videos. This has opened up new possibilities for creators, including the video essay. By studying the best video essays on YouTube you can get a crash course in some of the site’s most influential creators.
What is a Video Essay?
Originally, videos were limited to about fifteen minutes. Over time, YouTube allowed users to upload longer and longer videos. The algorithm switched to valuing watch time more than clicks. Suddenly, the video essay format emerged—a long-form multimedia exploration or argumentative piece on a particular subject.
Loosely-knit communities like “BreadTube,” which emerged in the mid-2010s, used video essays for political arguments. Channels like the PBS Idea Channel, hosted by Mike Rugnetta, tackled subjects like board games and fidget spinners.
However, despite their diverse topics, most video essays have in common the basic presentation style of a “talking head” host interspersed with footage or images relevant to the discussion.
A popular video essay may inform the viewer, attempt to sway them to a particular position, or explain a complex subject, but is always engaging.
Just as a traditional text-based essay draws the reader in through skillful use of language, a video essay has to use edits, images, and video clips to tell a story. The end result should be compelling enough that viewers will stick with it for ten, twenty, or even a hundred minutes or more.
The best video essayists make it look easy, but it’s a lot of work. Here are some of the best video essays on YouTube.
The Best Video Essays on YouTube
1. hbomberguy – Plagiarism and You(Tube)
When this video hit YouTube in 2023, it caused ripples throughout the platform. hbomberguy exposed a number of large YouTube channels as essentially ripping off their content and ideas from other sources without citing where they got them from. But, of course, this isn’t a crude takedown video.
Instead, it’s a thoughtful, comprehensive look at how information is used and abused on the modern Internet and how canny individuals can profit at the expense of other people’s work.
2. Super Eyepatch Wolf – The Fall of the Simpsons: How it Happened
It’s been a cliché for, well, decades at this point that The Simpsons used to be a much better show than the one it eventually became. But how did we get to the point where a series that started as a countercultural, sometimes edgy animated attack on staid family sitcoms itself became tired and dull?
Even if you aren’t interested in the show itself, Super Eyepatch Wolf’s video on The Simpsons is a fascinating look at how a cultural product like a television show can change over time to the point of being unrecognizable.
3. Jenny Nicholson – The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel
Everybody loves a trainwreck, and few can resist an incredibly-detailed breakdown of just why one happened. Jenny Nicholson’s video on Disney’s failed Star Wars hotel is a look inside the hotel itself.
Follow Nicholson as she spends two nights on location to understand just how a massive corporation like Disney could take a seemingly can’t-lose concept and botch it so thoroughly. This is an epic video essay at four hours, but the creator’s meticulous detail and love of theme parks keep it authoritative and compelling.
4. Noah Caldwell-Gervais – Judicial Opinions: What Makes Disco Elysium a Modern Classic?
A lot of the videos so far have been critical in the sense of being negative or explaining failures. To be sure, it’s often easier to talk about what makes something bad or wrong in an interesting way than it is to praise it.
But Noah Caldwell-Gervais’s video on the 2019 video game Disco Elysium is a fantastic example of a video essay that communicates exactly how and why this particular title is not only worth your time, but your deep respect.
5. Lily Alexandre – Everything is Sludge: Art in the Posthuman Era
If you’ve ever found yourself mindlessly scrolling TikTok and wondering just what it is you’re getting out of videos that don’t seem to inspire, educate, or even really entertain you, Lily Alexandre’s video on “sludge” content is a must-watch.
A great video essay can make you reconsider what you accept in your everyday reality. Alexandre may change the way you interact with your daily feed.
6. Adam Conover – Why There’s No Such Thing as a Good Billionaire
Comedian Adam Conover is a veteran of persuasive, entertaining video work. He’s been the host of shows like Adam Ruins Everything and The G Word, and has since started producing video essays for his own YouTube channel.
In this video from 2023, Conover illustrates in his direct, bombastic style how billionaires use the guise of charity to ensure that their families retain control of their wealth, which they then use to influence the American political system.
7. Defunctland – The Craziest Party Walt Disney Ever Threw
Defunctland bucks the video essay staple of the talking head, instead opting to keep his face offscreen and narrate his much-loved videos with his trademark slow and even tone.
We could have picked several Defunctland videos for this list, including the epic feature-length documentary on Disney’s FastPass. However, we went with this selection because it tells a fascinating story about the broader history of the Walt Disney Company.
It incorporates a huge amount of research in an entertaining way to weave a tale about labor, entertainment, and a party that’s almost too wild to believe.
8. Ro Ramdin – Colleen Ballinger and Commentary Culture
You may or may not have heard of YouTuber Colleen Ballinger and the allegations that emerged in 2023 that she manipulated her fans and engaged in a good deal of questionable behavior.
Ro Ramdin’s video uses the particular circumstances of the Ballinger case to make larger arguments about the structure of YouTube and the issues with microcelebrity.
9. Maggie Mae Fish – Off the grid but in on the Grift
Maggie Mae Fish is known to many as a film critic, but in this video she takes a look at another subject: “off the grid” and homesteading influencers. Fish humorously exposes the seemingly inspirational movement to get people to live by the sweat of their brow.
In actuality, it’s mainly a lifestyle choice by monied individuals who deliberately attempt to conceal their wealth to attract admirers and sell products.
10. D’Angelo Wallace – The Ozempic Olympics: Hollywood is Ruining Our Health
In this video, D’Angelo Wallace examines the weight loss medication Ozempic and its huge uptake among celebrities taking it for aesthetic purposes. He uses this as a springboard to a broader conversation about the links between beauty and health, and the ways that the former is often prioritized at the direct expense of the latter.
Now Go Make Your Own Video Essay
There are a lot of video essays on YouTube, so consider this list just a few of our picks for the best on the platform. If you’re considering making your own be sure to check out our guides before you get started. Both how to write a video essay and dealing with copyright on YouTube can help you on your journey.
