Unfiltered Adventures: Why Raw Travel Videos Are Booming on YouTube

Why are more and more videos appearing showing the grittier side of travel? In the last year or so, our feeds have been showing creators in destinations far away from the polished resorts and travel brochures. Chaotic and unpredictable, videos from the likes of Bankrupt and Bald, Kurt Caz and Noelle Philips, often capture the creator on edge, never quite sure what random encounter awaits around the corner. 

There is something captivating in the simplicity of these creators filming the everyday and ordinary encounters that are not scripted, found in a guide book, or part of a carefully curated itinerary from a tourist board or guide. Frequently they will meet unusual and colourful characters, sometimes sketchy, and you get a real feel for the location and the people. While is driving the popularity of these rawer travel videos and what lessons can creators and content producers learn from this?

Sparking Wanderlust 

For those with a unfulfilled wanderlust, these videos allow us to bravely go to often edgy and dangerous spots, where ordinary travel creators would run a mile from. In many cases they often ignore the local advice and go to the spots even the locals in the city or area avoid. They explore places that many of us would love to do, but might hesitate to attempt ourselves due to safety concerns.

Authenticity and Rawness 

Slick editing is not the style that these creators are going for, and that is a big part of the appeal. Many leading creators embrace the latest Youtube editing trends, but these travel creators focus more on the content and encounters. The footage is often lightly edited, and so there are not too many flashy edits and transitions that can be distracting, allowing us to get to the heart of the drama and tense situations that these creators are encountering, as if in real time. They also tend to stay longer in one encounter for longer, rather than cutting away, which makes for a very different viewing experience, than a more polished travelogue type video. 

Unscripted 

Whilst there may be some planning behind the scenes of what they are going to do for that day or how they are going to get from A to B, the content is far removed from scripted style content and travel videos. The unpredictability is what audiences come for and the frantic nature of where they are and people they meet, placing you right in the heart of the creator is experiencing. 

Specialised Focus

Many of these channels have evolved over time, landing on the type of content that their audience likes and adapting over time to what the general audience trends are on Youtube. The daredevil travellers is what defines many of these videos, that like to pop up in places where they shouldn’t be, such as bad neighbourhoods that no tourist would go to. Some keep upping the stakes by going to riskier and riskier places, whereas others stay in one place for longer and show the sides of the country that only a longer stay would allow. 

Personality Front and Centre

These creators and their personality is at the heart of these videos, with their live commentary infused with sometimes cutting observations. Whereas polished travelogues try to avoid letting personal opinion and negative reflections feature in their videos, here they do not not shy away from saying what they feel. Whilst it is not always negative, it does make for a different pace and style of content. Occasionally you do think, how can they get away with this type of stuff. And that makes it more interesting to watch, 

Real Connections

Another striking feature is that moving away from trying to sell a place as a destination, these creators are all about the random encounters with people they meet, often in tense situations with someone who you don't know what their true intentions are. The quirkier characters seem to get more time in these videos, who are often amused by someone filming in their local area.

What are the key takeaways for aspiring YouTubers from these types of creators? For those watching from the comfort of their home, it is a way to experience a side of a country or place that many a polished travel video would never venture to. In the next blog piece we will look at some key ideas and lessons that creators can apply to their own content from these brave adventure creators.