Video and Audio Dominate The Web

Not to criticize the medium, but many YouTube channels are literally someone talking directly to the camera with static art or stock video interspersed.
Ten years ago, these probably would have been blogs or early social media posts. Ten years before that, a forum post or an entry on a hand coded website. Then years before that a small print run zine.
Are creators chasing the market? Or are the means of production meeting creators?

Talking To The Void

The personal essayist on YouTube has a similar relationship to the audience that a writer has. It’s a one-to-one relationship.
It also has the added bonus of giving you a sense of a pseudo friend you’re having a conversation with. Similar to the relationship that people have with newscasters, morning drive hosts, and podcasters.

What’s Missing

The non-linear and referential relationship with text can allow for more complex arguments to take place. Reference happens without the need to mention for people to go digging for links in the description of a video, most likely after they’ve finished watching something.
You’re already removing the reference from the context. Even if you’re reading something while you’re watching it, you’re losing one part of the context or another part of the content. This doesn't imply that the video essay is meaningless, but when you’re delivering something reliant on textual references you’re either reading large passages of other text, or hoping they don’t lose the thread while reading other sources.

Steel-man Time

I can admit that the video essay not only allows for more control over how the tone of you convey your argument, but also the pacing of the delivery. You can’t fix skimming, as people may tune in and out as they do other things. Which may really be why video and audio will always win the content wars. I’m listening to podcasts while I write this, and I tend to listen to podcasts throughout my day.
I’m not saying anyone wants to make content that people half pay attention to, but it’s probably part of the deal when creating for an audience. Granted, I and probably more than a few of you reading this have at least a half dozen tabs in their web browser in various states of “read”. But it is hard to read while washing the dishes.

New Text Types

Turning a normal essay into an animated GIF of a Keynote is probably not the smart ass move that will become a trend, but If it does, feel free to cite this as prior art to fight the patent trolls.