《经济学人》双语：油管博主自制电影能挑战网飞和迪士尼电影吗？

原文标题 ：
The future of television
YouTube’s do-it-yourself brigade is taking on Netflix and Disney
Legions of self-taught film-makers are coming for the television industry
电视的未来
油管的 “自制大军 ”正在向网飞和迪士尼发起挑战
大批自学成才的电影制作人涌入电视行业

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WHEN JEFF BEZOS, the founder of Amazon, wanted some publicity for Blue Origin, his rocket firm, he did not turn to a television channel or a newspaper, as he might have done a decade ago.
当亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝佐斯想要为自己的火箭公司“蓝色起源”做些宣传时，他并没有像10年前那样求助于电视台或报纸。

Instead he offered Tim Dodd, who runs a YouTube channel called “The Everyday Astronaut”, an exclusive factory tour.
相反，他向油管频道“宇航员日常”的运营者蒂姆·多德发出了邀请，让他独家参观工厂。

The resulting video, in which the two men spend an hour admiring hydrogen tanks and discussing the finer points of rocket-engine turbopumps, may not strike everyone as compelling TV. It has 1.6m views nonetheless.
在这段长达一小时的视频中，两人一同欣赏了氢罐，并详细讨论了火箭发动机涡轮泵的细微之处。或许这不是大众所喜欢的那种精彩电视节目，尽管如此，该视频仍然获得了160万的观看量。

[Paragraph 2]
It also neatly illustrates a transformation in the media business.
这也恰好说明了媒体行业的变革。

As the internet has cut out middlemen and empowered enterprising people to produce things themselves, an enthusiastic do-it-yourself crowd is taking on mass-market incumbents.
互联网消除了中间商的角色，并赋予有上进心的人自己生产内容的能力，一群热衷于自己动手的创作者开始与大众市场的老牌企业分庭抗礼。

In-depth, chatty podcasts have shaken up radio. Music from independent artists, not beholden to the big labels, is growing in popularity on Spotify.
深入交谈的播客节目正在搅动广播界。而在Spotify平台上，那些不依赖于大型唱片公司的独立音乐人作品正逐渐走红。

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But it is in television that the change is most dramatic.
但电视行业的变革最为显著。

YouTube, which is owned by Google, has quietly built a video-streaming business to rival those of Netflix, Disney or NBCUniversal.
谷歌旗下的油管已悄然建立了一个视频流媒体业务部门，与网飞、迪士尼或NBC环球等公司展开竞争。

Its legions of self-taught film-makers broadcast to 2.5bn viewers each month.
油管自学成才的电影制作人军团的作品，每月为25亿人观看。

YouTube accounts for a tenth of all the television that Americans watch, more than any other streamer or channel.
在美国人所观看的电视节目中，油管占了1/10，超过了任何其他流媒体公司或电视频道。

And much of that audience is young, building viewing habits that may last for decades.
这些观众大多是年轻人，他们的观看习惯可能会持续数十年。

[Paragraph 4]
Don’t forget to like and subscribe
别忘了点赞和点关注

YouTube is what tech types call a platform, whereas its rivals are run much more like traditional studios.
油管被科技界称为平台，而它的竞争对手则更像是传统的制片厂。

Getting a series greenlit on Disney or Netflix means negotiating with agents and fixers before convincing a commissioning executive to hand over a pile of money.
想要在迪士尼或网飞获得一个系列影视片的批准，意味着得先跟经纪人和制片经理谈妥，再说服制片主管批下一大笔资金。

Filming needs hundreds of specialised people. YouTube throws all that out of the window.
拍摄过程需要几百名专业人员。而油管把这一切流程都抛到了九霄云外。

Anyone can upload more or less anything they like. Most videos are free to watch.
任何人都可以上传自己喜欢的内容。大多数视频都可以免费观看。

YouTube’s job is to insert some advertisements and split the takings with the film-maker.
油管的任务是插入广告，然后与制片人分成。

If that sounds like a recipe for dross, it often is. But what is more striking is how much genuinely engaging stuff bubbles up.
如果这听起来像是制作烂片的秘诀，它也确实如此。但更引人注目的是，有多少真正吸引人的内容被挖掘出来。

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Technology has helped. High-quality cameras are cheap. Powerful video-editing software runs on inexpensive laptops.And drones make dramatic aerial shots possible.
科技起到了助力作用。高质量的相机价格低廉。功能强大的视频编辑软件可以在便宜的笔记本电脑上运行。而且无人机使得拍摄震撼的航拍镜头成为可能。

The result is that handfuls of people can make videos with relatively high production values for a tiny fraction of the cost of traditional television.
因此，少数人可以制作出质量较高的视频，而成本仅为传统电视的一小部分。

The quality gap will only shrink. By automating many of the tedious bits, artificial intelligence seems likely to make video production even easier than it already is.
质量差距只会越来越小。通过将许多繁琐的工作自动化处理，人工智能似乎有望进一步简化视频制作流程。

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YouTube has spawned its own megastars, such as MrBeast, with his 317m followers (and growing number of critics).
油管已经产生了自己的超级巨星，比如拥有3.17亿粉丝的野兽先生（批评者数量也日益增多）。

But its most interesting effects will be felt at a smaller scale. Because making content is cheap, YouTubers can earn a living serving niches too small to be profitable for other streaming firms.
但油管最有意思的点在于，影响力是在小范围内传播。因为制作内容成本低廉，油管博主可以通过服务于其他流媒体公司无法盈利的细分市场来维持生计。

From Mr Dodd’s rocket science to rock climbing, knitting or ancient history: think of an interest, and at least one YouTube channel is probably dedicated to it.
从多德先生的火箭科学到攀岩、编织或古代历史：你所能想到的兴趣点，油管上很可能就至少有一个及以上的频道专门讲述这个兴趣点。

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This means that, as with the rest of media, the future of television looks likely to become ever more targeted and specialised.
这意味着，与其他媒体一样，未来的电视节目也可能会变得越来越具有针对性和专业性。

Just how high the tide of user-generated content can rise remains to be seen.
用户自制的内容究竟能掀起多大的波澜，目前尚无定论。

Some YouTubers are experimenting with formats such as game shows or feature films, with mixed results.
一些油管博主正在尝试诸如游戏节目或专题电影等不同形式，但效果各异。

Some bits of high ground look likely to stay safe: it is hard to see YouTube videos replacing big-budget dramas like “Game of Thrones” or “Stranger Things”, which require upfront financing that YouTube’s business model does not provide.
有些领域似乎仍然稳固：油管视频很难取代《权力的游戏》或《怪奇物语》等大制作电视剧，因为这些剧集需要前期融资，而油管的商业模式无法支持。

In a world of ever more precisely tailored content, those rare TV shows that have true mass-market appeal will be even more valuable. But only because they will become rarer still.
在内容越来越精准定制的世界里，那些真正具有大众市场吸引力的稀有电视节目将变得更加珍贵。但这仅仅是因为他们的稀缺性。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇614左右）
原文出自：2024年9月28日《TE》Leaders版块

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路
本文翻译整理: Irene
本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【重点句子】（3个）
As the internet has cut out middlemen and empowered enterprising people to produce things themselves, an enthusiastic do-it-yourself crowd is taking on mass-market incumbents.
互联网消除了中间商的角色，并赋予有上进心的人自己生产内容的能力，一群热衷于自己动手的创作者开始与大众市场的老牌企业分庭抗礼。

YouTube’s job is to insert some advertisements and split the takings with the film-maker.
油管 的任务是插入广告，然后与制片人分成。

This means that, as with the rest of media, the future of television looks likely to become ever more targeted and specialised.
这意味着，与其他媒体一样，未来的电视节目也可能会变得越来越具有针对性和专业性。