The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have launched their new YouTube channel, where we can now see all of their keen vlogging. I’ve said before, I expect their channel to just be an extension of their “improved” social media, where they’re doing more exclusive content because they have a full Kensington Palace video/photo team now. Will and Kate’s KP team has been doing exclusive videos for a while now, they’ve just been putting them on social media. Now they’ll be on YouTube too. And what’s the point of all of this keen, youthful, Millennial vlogging if you can’t embiggen all of it with Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair?
William and Kate are the only royals to have their own YouTube channel independently of the Royal Family’s own channel. Sources close to the Cambridges say that they are focused on their digital efforts, and have worked hard to build a successful social media campaign which has seen them amass millions of followers around the globe.
The Cambridges and their team of staff have invested in social media in recent years, launching successful Twitter and Instagram accounts, but there has been a concerted effort to make the content more frequent, personal and informative. There have been many more videos streamed across their platforms in recent months, as the royals sought new ways to work during the pandemic. Many of the video calls they took part in during the lock down to front line workers and NHS staff were streamed on their social channels, and more recently there have been more personal videos of the couple.
Sources close to William say that he is “more relaxed” about the media these days and more willing to embrace social media, despite having some concerns about the impact it can have on mental well-being.
“The move to social media has been on the cards for a long time, it was always going to be the future for the royals as well, but the pandemic has accelerated things,” said a well-placed source. “It has been a blessing in many ways for the royals in general because it means they are more in control of their public image than ever before.’”
Digital communications and social media are a growing sector of the Cambridges’ work. Last April the couple hired the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s former digital communications head to help with their social media, and there have been some major changes since then as the team has expanded. The Cambridges recently changed their handle on Instagram from Kensington Royal to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, which now has over 12.8 million followers.
The Other Brother and the Lynchpin “have worked hard to build a successful social media campaign which has seen them amass millions of followers around the globe….” They literally bought a bot army to compete with the Sussex Royal Instagram. Completely weird how no one talks about that. Completely weird that there are purposefully-vague references to “invested in social media in recent years,” like we’re not supposed to talk about who they’ve been copying. I remember Kensington Palace’s pre-Sussex social media content and it was horrible. It was like watching two lazy Victorians not care enough about their communication efforts, so they would just half-ass everything. They used to post grainy, out-of-focus photos and they would rarely even update their social media with information about their events. Then Meghan came around and suddenly Will and Kate got a full social media team, money to buy bot-followers, and all the time in the world to CopyKeen.
Not to mention, if this had been Meghan and Harry launching a YT channel (either while they were in the UK or now that they’re in the US), they would have been ripped to shreds by the British media. Because it’s Will and Kate we’re talking about, the British media is trying to make it a “competition” with the Sussexes’ Netflix deal. LOL, do they realize they’re playing themselves and making W&K look spectacularly budget? “Megflix” – good lord.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Kensington Royal social media, Backgrid.
Ok I just checked and my calendar says 2021, is it a mis-print and it should actually say 2012? Then this article would make sense.
My Space launched in 2003. They are nearly two decades behind the times.
lol you guys are savage. I had the exact same “huh?” moment when i read the headline.
Lol🤣😂😅
Correct. This makes them sound so out of touch and behind the times.
And the only reason they like social media is because someone else runs the show and they don’t have to leave the house to show they are exerting the bare minimum of effort that they actually are about anything outside their own little microcosm.
And I cannot unsee that pharmaceutical commercial when I see the pics from that silly video.
What pisses me off about all this is that their social media (instagram) shot up in follwers because of meghan. As soon as it was announced that harry was dating meghan their following started growing from a measly 2 million to 6 million. Then h&m got married and it kept growing. I wish meg could take those followers back. It also doesn’t really make sense that they created a youtube since their reach on instagram is much bigger and they can just upload videos on there. Igtv anyone?
Cecilia, they definitely need to talk more about that. How it was interest in Meghan that got their stale instagram more popular. They should also talk about how their numbers completely STOPPED growing after H&M left, they didn’t need to buy bots anymore, couldn’t be bothered so it’s stayed at roughly the same number of followers for 1.5 years now. lol
Also, no one is interested in their youtube channel, as of the time i type this, they have ONLY 493k subscribers after one whole week of announcing it. Remember H&M set a Guiness world record in 1 million instagram followers in 5 hours.
Less than 500k YouTube subscribers seems really low to me considering how many IG followers they have. Is YouTube stricter about bots?
yup, 493k is embarrassingly low for a week. I would think the peak is in the first day when it’s announced and people are excited, they’ve moved on now to other things I don’t know about youtube or bots, but their comment section looked suspiciously 95% positive. Is that possible that they are going in and cleaning it up?
Cecilia, you are exactly right. I remember that all the BRF social media accounts had rather basic follower numbers pre-Meghan. SHE is the reason they have such large followings now. And look how they repaid her.
Becks, you can buy YouTube subscribers, but I think it’s hard to buy large numbers of them without triggering suspicion. YouTube might be stricter since there is actual money and incentives involved when you are able to amass high subscriber numbers and engagement.
Imagine, though, the insights that they will have a decade from now!
Social media will be the downfall for the royals, specifically the Keenbridges.
You have a point but it could work if they set the right tone and put great content on. Sadly Fredo and Unable are all about themselves and see the platform as an embiggening one. They are dull and boring and their work is even more dull and boring. They only went for You Tube as Spotify and Netflix will only pay for real talent and not just the ability to dress oneself in clothes picked out by others.
Fredo! So true omg
I can’t keep up with the nicknames you guys have for The Cambridges. It’s just too funny.
Lol–you are right, damejudi; they think SM means they won’t have to work, so it’s the answer to their prayers. However, SM actually means that everything they say is preserved forever. That will never be a good thing for the Cambridges, regardless of how many experts they employ.
Exactly, their demographic is much older and not into social media. H&M actually have much more social media presence and their followers see right through the Keenboots antics, as they are much better at getting their information from “unfiltered ” sources.
And nothing about how much money they stand to make off of YouTube?
Spotify and Netflix vs YouTube, with its fun commentators like PewDiPie and endless hours of truly dreadful home videos. Let’s say that again for the cheap seats.
Oh – how did they pay for their bot army, by the way? Carole and fun Uncle Gary?
Better. Tax funded bot army.
This.
Wow, welcome to the 21st century!
Why do these dumb bunnies not get it? A YouTube Channel featuring personal content is totally 100% different from a Netflix production deal to provide content for a global streaming service.
Proof that Netflix and Spotify only pay for talent and not titles.
Parliament isn’t going to care if they have a youtube account. They’d have a lot to say if Will and Kate were being paid by Netflix and Spotify.
I want to say with all sincerity that I’m glad you’re here @Ainsley. It’s really important for Cambridge supporters to write civilly and more importantly, to read and engage with constructive criticism about their Duke and Duchess. I do appreciate you reading through the comments to at least try and understand what the criticisms are.
As usual, I don’t have any issue with the Keenbridges’ social media venture, but the press, making it sound like they founded YouTube by joining it, is just laughably propagandist as usual.
Ha, I dont think Ainsely is a Cambridge supporter per se. She’s just pretty objective. She criticizes everyone pretty evenly if she thinks they deserve it and gives them praise if she thinks they deserve it.
Ainsley7
I completely doubt parliament would care if the Cambridges did join or partner with Netflix. It was confirmed William tried shopping his own keen preservation doc to Netflix among others and no decent name wanted it.
It just seems to be the case that the world doesn’t find the Cambridge’s embiggening theme to be worth anything. Which is why no one will pay them to promote themselves. They instead use tax funds to promote themselves on a free to use platform.
It appears that W&K are trying to build their social media presence with H&M out of that game for now, and RRs are trying to make a stories out of it. But they simply can’t fill the vacuum left by H&M because (1) there are other far more interesting people on social media to follow than W&K, and (2) H&M in charity social media posts or coverage in news cycles fills the gap and then some. W&K simply can’t get the numbers H&M got because too many “pro Cambridge” people (the non bot kind) are really just anti-Meghan racists. They don’t truly care about the BRF. That is not a true fan base. W&K are collectively too awkward, insincere, dysfunctional, and/or angry for anyone but true royalists.
Even on this post on YouTube it’s incredibly hateful against Meghan. They can’t compliment Kate without mentioning Diana or Meghan.
A few are calling them out, but glancing at the anti Meghan usernames & accounts… they look like bots.
They must have kicked in extra to spread hate against Meghan.
Oh geez they are corny.
They aren’t smart enough and they dont HIRE people smart enough to maximize the benefits of social media and it’s impact/outreach.
Mumbles McButtons and World of Borecraft still don’t understand most of their engagement is either bought or a reaction to hating Meghan. They don’t have the genuine fanbase to carry and grow something like this…
World of Borecraft 🤣🤣 THANK YOU for this!
I agree 100% about what you said about their engagement. It’s out of spite and for the most part their fan base doesn’t genuinely care about them. Even the BM acknowledges through gritted teeth that the Sussex fan base is the most devoted and supportive of M and H.
The Druid in and out of me loves World of Borecraft.
World of Borecraft is my new favorite nickname!
Well, then they better get better at it because there are teenage nobodies who are already running circles around them with their social media savvy.
Lol
Social media is the future for royals only if Meghan isn’t doing it. Otherwise it’s so gauche and cheapens the brand, right? isn’t that what they were saying about Instagram?
I don’t remember the BM reaction to the sussexes insta when it first came out. I remember seeing headlines about how many followers they got right away but what crap did the tabs say back then? Would love to see a buzzfeed side by side comparison of those articles with this one.
Meghan’s* posts were too wordy, too flowery, too hip, too much information, not enough information, the pictures were too staged, the pictures were too spontaneous, too trendy, too much, etc. the word “too” is starting to look really weird to me right now lol.
(because they all assumed Meghan was writing every.single.post, while I’m sure she was involved and wrote some of the posts, I doubt she was writing the ones when they were on huge tours or whatever.)
Basically the problem was that the Sussexes were better at social media than the Cambridges, and the Cambs are still playing catch up.
Lol that’s “too” funny. I figured it was that kind of blah. I’d forgotten also that they’d all had an Instagram together first.
I suppose they will be talking about their Cambridge Tumblr, the Keen Tiktok. Actually, I’d PAY to see the Keens trying to do Tik Tok dances. Someone go whisper Keenbridge Tik Tok into the Crisis Advisors ears, quick!
I had the same thought about the Keens on Tik Tok. How hilarious would that be?????? Please let them try it so we can all have a good laugh!
Also, the thing about social media is (as told to me by my teenaged kids) once the “Olds” have discovered a platform it is no longer cool to the kids. They will move on immediately to the next newest thing. They’re not even on Facebook anymore because everyone’s grandma is on there sending out friend requests…..
Harry and Meg aren’t on YouTube for the Keens to copycat. What boring drivel will they end up posting now that they have to create their own content?
Baldemorts dad moves dances on tiktok?
Cringing.
This is nothing new, all of the royals have been on it for years now. This new “idea” is several years too late. Before Meghan, the Keens only had about 2 million followers, which they stayed at for years. Meghan actually had more followers as an actress than they did incidentally. It wasn’t until Meg joined and the four of them were sharing an Instagram that it grew to 9 million, which stopped when H&M got their own. And then W&K started buying bots, but their followers have hardly grown since the Sussexes have left SM and their engagement on posts is really low. What’s also funny is that many of their most liked photos are the ones with H&M in it.
“ and their engagement on posts is really low. What’s also funny is that many of their most liked photos are the ones with H&M in it.”
I just know that that hurts their feelings😂
I bet it’s why H&M had to give up Sussex Royal. The Keens were jealous of its success, plus it was just better which is why they copy now.
That’s the most obvious indicator to me of the bots – they basically stopped the bots buying after H&M left, so their followers haven’t really increased. As the NYT article pointed out, you would expect big spikes after big events, but there is nothing. No big increase after their 10th anniversary, no big increase after the Pandemic Express, etc. I think when H&M left they (the Cs) had around 11 or 12 million followers, and now they’re only at 12.8, you would expect to see some bigger spikes over the past year and a half.
@becks1 Yep. There is hardly any growth at all, especially with how popular they supposedly are. Their likes on posts are low as well. With 12 million followers, you would expect at least 100,000 likes or so. Sussex royal regularly had a couple hundred thousands likes on posts.
I think this sudden focus on social media is Will’s attempt to replace the actual “work” he’s supposed to be doing with a keen YouTube video every two weeks.
Good point. All of that zooming has got them spoiled. They don’t even have to leave the house. Now that they can count videos as work, they want to make this permanent. Shoot some content, hoard it, and then release it for press when necessary.
Yep. I think it was suggested that both of them (especially Will) needed to start working more. And I bet he pitched a fit, so someone came up with the YouTube channel as a way to get in some additional “work” that didn’t require much of him.
Something tells me the “crisis managers” have their work cut out for them.
god they’re awful. this was exactly what meghan tried to do and they eviscerated her. that they can say this with a straight face is just awful. I truly hope harry and meghan don’t properly engage with them unless k+w apologize. but I can’t see k+w ever admitting to the instagram bots and everything else.
I go to YouTube for cooking videos, show recaps and the ambient sound of rain to help me sleep. I do not go to YouTube to watch royals make phone calls.
I use it for how-to videos and, occasionally, music videos.
Documentaries, music, and game reviews for me. Again, not to watch Royals make phone calls.
I use it if I can’t remember the name of a song but know a few words. I looked at their channel. Nah, hard pass. They are boring AF. The format reminds you of going to the school counselor. Nobody enjoyed visiting the school counselor.
I like the cooking stuff (Ina Garten rocks!), documentaries and exercise videos – they have some great stuff. Also cute animals – Chunk the Gopher and Tucker Budzyn the Golden Retriever are hilarious.
If you enjoy cooking videos, give JunsKitchen a look! He makes the most relaxing and peaceful cooking videos.
I like the Ballymaloe Cookery School channel. Admit to being a Rory O’Connell fan.
Does this mean they’ll take their own claims of being against racism and cyberbullying seriously? They’ll start deleting all racist, abusive, conspiracy theory, anti-Meghan comments from their social media account threads, right?
They’ll welcome criticisms of Meghan on their official account and heavy monitoring of criticisms towards them.
I can see it now. A sea of those dumb heart emoji comments telling Kate she’s so beautiful and nothing about wtf any of these videos are actually talking about or the follow through.
Nota, I wish someone with a big platform would call them out on this publicly. Magazines like Grazia, Harpers, etc. all made it plain that they would be monitoring SM comments to remove racist and abusive attacks against Meghan. Meanwhile the BRF is allowing it to continue.
If you compare that top picture of W&K to that one of Meghan sitting on her couch with her hair up and a big smile, the backgrounds are hilariously similar. Even the Keen’s flowers were put in the exact same spot.
I cant stop laughing at the overreach here and the embiggening. Will and Kate are single-handedly going to save the monarchy because they have a YouTube channel?
“…it means they are more in control of their public image than ever before.” Gee, who else wanted control over their public image? 🧐
Yes, sigh. Also, the royals have always only been good about controlling their public image. That’s the job, image.
That’s what they think. Let the spoofing videos begin.
Wonder if it’s a typo with that question mark in the title. Cause that makes no sense to me. ‘Cause is it a slick video? No, it’s not. Were it not for “Megflix” I’d have thought it a shade. But am cracking up to comparing Netflix to Youtube.
It’s so much less work for the lazy duo to let the taxpayer funded staff create videos of them than going out and working. The latest has still photos of Keen and audio from old phone calls. Of course they think they are on the cutting edge of sm when everyone else pointed out they are about two decades behind. You know there is an ex staffer in a pub somewhere saying I told them to do this fifteen years ago and they said I didn’t understand how things are done.
And here’s the rub: the royals think they can control SM. Lol. Even with managers, it can’t be done, especially with regard to public figures (which is the point of their existence). Influence, sure, maybe. Control, lol, no.
They manage to have those taxpayer-funded employees delete all posts that mention Rose or have a rose emoji, but never manage to delete the masses of negative comments about Meghan.
That’s on their account–what I mean is that people will continue to use their own SM to point out the consistent racism and lack of work ethic exemplified by the Cambridge brand.
They are still at 12.8 million a year later? There was a time they were climbing by the thousands on a daily basis, especially when Sussexroyal posted something new and they hadn’t.
So TOB is now more relaxed about using social media despite the effect it can have on mental well-being. Apparently someone showed him how to turn off comments so he’ll never feel vulnerable to that criticism he can’t handle. Also, he’s seen firsthand how he can use social media to whip up a frenzy of anti-Meghan hatred and benefit from it. So anytime he’s feeling a little bad, he can pop over to some anti-Meghan social media platform and start feeling more relaxed.
That knife cuts both ways, and he’s a fool if he doesn’t realize that yet.
When I need to be lured to sleep, I read keenbridges news.
I’ll say this for the crisis managers, they are at least on offense instead of defense for once. They are usually trailing along behind copying Harry and Meghan but now they are doing something on their own. Noted it’s not ground breaking or even very good but this approach is better than chasing the Sussex’s glory. Too bad they had to add the bit smearing Harry and Meghan, I think the ffk who thinks about being ffk all the time insists on it.
I’m surprised that the British press has welcomed the new You Tube channel with open arms. You’d think they would have the same reaction as they had when Harry and Meghan joined Instagram.
Honestly, the Cambridges could open a McDonald’s franchise at KP, state that the money they make will be for their own personal use, and the ratchets would find a way to praise it and make a crack against Meghan.
I watched Kate and William’s first two videos out of curiosity. My god, they are AWFUL. I don’t think YouTube will work.
I think that actually working and showing compassion for one’s future subjects will be “the future for the royals” so obviously the royal house will fall during William’s reign.
Fergie also has a YouTube channel. And in my opinion, she runs it very well.
They can believe all they want, but they actually have to follow through. The problem is that social media is a delivery system. If your product is sparse and boring on other platforms, like newspapers, personal appearances, etc., it’s not going to get anymore prolific and interesting on social media. And social media requires new content all the time – that would mean W&K would actually have to do something to provide content.
Exactly. Nothing’s going to happen with this channel. They’re doing this because think it’s easy publicity but that’s not actually how the YouTube game works.
Next they’ll be launching a Xanga 😂
LiveJournal with all their connections to Russia now LOL.
LiveJournal with all their connections to Russia now LOL.
LiveJournal with all their connections to Russia now LOL.
I recently started watching Resident Alien which is probably why I think the two photos of them after the DM one makes them look like two people who are trying on emotions to make them look relatable. Obviously they’re not aliens or even actors but after ten years I would have thought it wouldn’t be so forced.
These people are just so behind the times which is bad enough. Get they have the nerve to think that what they’re doing is cutting edge! That’s what kills me. Since former First Dog Bo Obama died, I was looking at some of the old YouTube videos for the Obama White House. Talk about high-quality stuff that still holds up! Even waaay back in 2009, they understood what YouTube was for and how it should he used. We got behinds the scenes stuff, a show recap ping the president’s week, cooking videos, the cute Bo Christmas videos, etc. That us how you use YouTube to keep your supporters informed and involved. You don’t use YouTube for a bunch of phone calls videos. These people are idiots. Just poor quality all around. Can they not afford a better camera? Do they not know how to edit? It’s awful. Anyway, I hope they keep it up so they can continue to be mocked and get called out on their hypocrisy.
And don’t even get me started on that god awful music.
Sorry, but in what universe does YouTube compete with Netflix? LOL
I think I’d rather chew tin foil than watch those two tiresome slugs on YouTube.
ow my teeth
I have said it before, and I will say it again. How the ambitious, social climbing Middletons were allowed to get anywhere near William is a mystery. Momager and brother must have enough on him to sink a battleship
not really. anything they have on william will be shot down very fast . they made harry a scapegoat for william, and william did worst than harry but it was covered up.let them dare and the queen will get her people on it very fast..Carole don’t want to battle with the queen about her future heir. the queen might have more on Catherine behavior.
So these ‘modern royals’ think social media is not a fly by night idea? Nothing gets by them!
ytube is good. for learning .i learned a lot by watching ytube videos.i learned how to cook meals from around the world. i make african food, thai food, american southern food.cajun food.caribbean food. spanish food. i am always surprising my family with different food. i learned about DIY work. i learned how to build things. i build my own porch.i learned how to mix cement build flower beds..ytube can be a very learning tool for your hobby interest..learned how to plant different things. where to plant it according to how much sun and draining the plant needs. and other things i can’t buy here. i learned to sew it .
william /catherine got nothing to teach me. my interest is not how people are dressed and what inherited jewellery they use.
Meghan and Harry are raising $300 million for VaxLive and they’re opening a you-tube channel, what a waste. The Cambridges have no shame
One couple asks ‘what can we do for others’ and one couple asks ‘what others can do for us’.
Meanwhile, Bill and Cathy have changed their insta handle from @KensingtonRoyal to @DukeandDuchessofCambridge.
The royal rota won’t be happy to know that…and their couple is super dry and not for me but at least they are trying and they are the futur of the monarchy
As if the socially-ambitious Middletons would have given Montgomery Burns a second look if he hadn’t been able to give them the social panache they had craved for generations.