This story was originally published on Passionfruit.
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. It can cause you to tear apart your childhood closet in search of Pokémon cards, splurge on a puffy North Face jacket on eBay, or spend hours of your life watching television shows you only vaguely recall.
As Zillennials age, a market for memories has sprung up on YouTube, with content creators creating hours-long opuses to the media we were glued to. Videos dissecting the intricate plotlines of Glee or detailing theories of a Nickelodeon-connected universe are incredibly lucrative, pulling in millions of views stemming from curiosity and an algorithmic push. This trend of two-plus-hour videos could be a bubble that can burst at any moment, but creators are going to capitalize on it while they can.
“Children’s media is something we are all connected to,” YouTuber William Thies told Passionfruit. “There are more and more people creating this content, but there will always be an audience looking for this content.”
