YouTube is commonly considered to be a platform for user-generated content. However, there are hints that videos from mainstream media have come to dominate the platform. There is, however, a lack of recent empirical research on the topic. This thesis addresses this knowledge gap by exploring the source diversity of German language search results about the Russo-Ukrainian War using the concepts of mainstream media and alternative media. 

Two scraping audits collected the top 20 search results for the search ‘Russland Ukraine’[1] on 21 consecutive days. The first audit gathered data while being logged out of the platform. The second one collected information being logged in and after having watched videos from a mainstream media channel. The results revealed two major findings: firstly, the vast majority of search results came from YouTube channels of the mainstream media (414 out of 420 in the first audit; 416 out of 420 in the second one). Secondly, on average, most of the 20 search results were new every day (12 in the first audit: 14 in the second one).

The results show that German media organizations that are related to the newspaper, television, radio, or magazine industry have extended their reach from their traditional media channels to YouTube – at least when it comes to German search results related to the Russo-Ukraine War during the time the data was collected. As a result, Germans who turn to YouTube for content about the Russo-Ukrainian War are likely to find the same information that they would find on television, in newspapers and magazines [1] ‘Russland Ukraine’ means ‘Russia Ukraine’ in German.