Viewer attention is the commodity on YouTube, exchanged for money

Evidence

What happens when objects refuse subsumption into a stream of infinite luxury, of infinite waste? Demonetization. The market on YouTube values exchangeability above all else. All objects must become content; all content must lead to more content, content to attract attention, attention that leads to an influencer’s own self-valorization and exchangeability as a commodity with value. For a video to be monetized, attention, measured in terms of thousands, millions, billions of views, becomes reason for the influencer to be paid. Monetization names the exchangeability of attention with money, in which the influencer has successfully been commodified, has successfully been valorized. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 278

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines monetization as the exchangeability of attention for money — the influencer’s own commodification/valorization.