【we eroticize the things we fear】

LOS ANGELES -- YouTube is we eroticize the things we fearlooking to make its on-demand generation of viewers into a generation with demands. The best way to do that, it recently found: through the most popular creators, whose fans actively seek them out for 2016 election information, believe it or not.

In the past year, YouTube has stepped up efforts to get viewers and creators more engaged with the election. It's livestreamed debates, sent YouTubers to make videos at conventions, created election-themed sets and most recently launched a "#voteIRL" campaign.

People have watched more than 110 million hours of candidate and issues-related content leading up to November, YouTube said. Since the July conventions, more than 200,000 election videos have been uploaded to the platform.

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"We’ve been working on various election efforts the last couple of cycles," Brandon Feldman, a YouTube News and Politics exec, told Mashable. "But this year we’ve seen a lot of the pieces come together -- and the YouTube creator community is louder, more passionate and more influential than it’s ever been before."

SEE ALSO: YouTube enlists Ryan Seacrest, Bethany Mota and others to encourage viewers to #VoteIRL

By the numbers

YouTube shared with Mashablethe results of a recent survey about how viewers who turn to the platform for 2016 election information are it.

A few highlights from the data that YouTube provided exclusively to Mashable:

• One in three seek content by YouTube creators; of those, almost half do so because they admire those creators

• More than a third said they are more likely to be persuaded by political content online as opposed to on television

• 57% of undecided voters say they’re most likely to pay attention to political advertising when it’s online

• Speeches and press conferences were the most popular type of posts sought (68%), beating out news (57%), debates (53%) and personal stories or behind-the-scenes looks (51%)

YouTube commissioned the Ipsos Connect survey, consisting of a 15-minute device-agnostic online survey conducted from August 17-26, 2016 among 3,706 U.S. registered voters ages 18-to-54. The data was weighted to be nationally representative based on age, gender, region and ethnicity.

The entirety of its findings are here:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

So what are creators actually doing?

Like Rock the Vote did a generation before, #voteIRL has one goal in mind: get young people to the polls.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"We looked at the election through a lens of how do we drive more impact in a way that we think resonates most with YouTube community," Feldman said. "The answer was by making it more of a two-way conversation between the YouTube community and the political process."

The initiative kicked off with — what else? — a video (below) featuring a handful of popular YouTube stars including Hannah Hart, Bethany Mota, Hank Green, Phil DeFranco, The Young Turks' Cenk Uygur and Kingsley. 

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Also part of the efforts: a series of 1 minute, 34 second videos, because studies suggest it only takes that amount of time to register to vote.

Voter registration tools -- including reminders -- are also now available directly on YouTube’s homepage.

Dozens of creators -- as well as a handful of traditional media outlets -- have been using YouTube's election-themed setsat its spaces in Los Angeles and New York to create election-focused content.

For example, Nerdist is behind "State of The Union," a series previewing the next 20 years of presidents, and "Rock The Vote/Vote Or Die Rebooted." ABC News is using the space to shoot an interview series with YouTube creators who are first-time voters.

"I’m glad YouTube is upping their efforts," said Steve Oh, COO of The Young Turks. "And they have to do this, because young people aren’t watching news or cable news."

Vlogbrothers John Green and Hank Green -- the unofficial voices of YouTube -- recently launched a 'How to Vote in Every State' YouTube series.

"Young people are the heart of the progressive movement, but they're also the least likely age bracket to vote," Hank Green told Mashablein an email interview earlier this year. "Often times we talk about apathy, but it's also simply that figuring it out takes time and sometimes the information necessary to vote is confusing or difficult to access, especially since it's different in each of the 50 states. I am very lucky to live in a democracy, but the only reason politicians listen to citizens is if they vote. So, traditionally, young people don't get listened to because, traditionally, they vote less. We need to change that "

'Reach out to young people'

Politicians are also increasingly looking to the platform as a way to connect.

"You have to reach out to young people where they are," Karen North, professor of digital social media at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, told Mashable. "And where are young people? They are at home watching videos, seeking out their interests and seeking out news in a way that’s entertaining rather than dry and factual."

"You have to reach out to young people where they are. And where are young people? They are at home watching videos."

In the last year, Clinton has held a Digital Content Creators Town Hall, appeared on The Conversation WithAmanda de Cadenet(where she chatted with YouTubers GloZell Green, Chriselle Lim and Maya Washington) and more recently chatted with Zack Galifianakis on Funny or Die's Between Two Ferns.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's team also regularly posts videos to his YouTube page.

A handful of YouTubers — including Connor Franta, Marques Brownlee, MinuteEarth and Franchesca Ramsey — participated in a Democratic National Debate in January. YouTubers Nabela Noor, Mark Watson, and Dulce Candy had the same opportunity at a Republican presidential debate.

"The internet and what you all do as creators, is such a gift. I know...some of you have kept people alive because you have been able to communicate with a person who was bullied or a young person who was struggling with their sexuality and feeling all alone. And you were able to give that person a sense of survival and a feeling they weren’t by themselves. So I know that many of you have used your channels, your outreach, in really positive ways, as role models, as interveners, in some instances, to help. So you have to help me figure out how do we keep the best of everything you’re doing and everything the internet means." —Hillary #CreatorsAskHRC

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Jun 28, 2016 at 8:04pm PDT

President Obama has also been interviewed by YouTubers at the White House on two occasions.

"What YouTube is doing is creating a place on the web for people to make the election understandable and entertaining, while also engaging people in the issues," North said. "Are YouTube's efforts going to effective? I don’t know. Because traditionally, the audience we are talking about is not actively involved enough to vote in the kinds of numbers that we’d like to see."

Topics YouTube Elections