I believe the biggest problem for PeerTube is copyright. YouTube thrives on user-generated content. I, for example, am involved in the live music scene (I go to concerts). It’s common practice for recordings of concerts to be uploaded to YouTube. This is usually unproblematic until an artist objects to a particular video and demands its removal. Generally, YouTube has agreements with rights holders, so uploading recordings is usually not an issue.
This is different on PeerTube. Here, each instance is liable for its own content. If a user uploads copyrighted material, this can lead to problems for the instance operator or the user. Currently, PeerTube is still small enough that such content is possible. But if PeerTube were to become a real alternative to YouTube, it would become a problem!
Of course, content is also uploaded to YouTube that can cause problems for YouTube. But YouTube has enough lawyers and money to handle that. PeerTube operators, however, do not!
Therefore, in my opinion, the biggest problem is that PeerTube can’t become a major YouTube alternative because users can’t easily upload the same content as on YouTube.
What do you think?
Nope, as others mentioned is the content, or better, the lack of it. The lack of monetization could be the main culprit.
The lack of monetization is certainly one reason. On the other hand, YouTube was already successful long before monetization existed.
Deep pockets for an extended trust-buying phase let youtube succeed pre-monetization. Way to buy a monopoly.
Yep, but times have changed I’d say. But in reality, yes, there are several reasons, like mentioned search for content. But even if great search was there, it’d go only as far since the lack of content. All in all it feels like catch-22 situation. There is also no support for chromecast devices (or is there) where one would open app on chromecast and roll the videos.