Work

How content sophistication shapes climate discourse on YouTube

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: We analyze 3163 climate-related YouTube videos posted between 2006 and 2021. More sophisticated videos—those with higher production quality, richer descriptions, longer duration, and specialized terminology—draw climate-related comments that lean toward explicit position-taking and away from affective response, and they tend to receive more views. Content sophistication thus shapes the character of climate discourse, while the overall amount of climate discussion remains about the same.

Source: npj Climate Action

DOI: 10.1038/s44168-026-00430-x

Authors: Paramveer S. Dhillon, Siqi Ma, Jiyu Chen, Anjana Susarla

Institutions: University of Michigan, IIT@MIT, Stanford University, Michigan State University

Language: English

Topic: Climate Change Communication and Perception

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,340