This article draws from an ethnographic investigation of YouTube to argue the significant and specific role of advertising in the governance of platformised cultural production. We pursue this investigation in a critical dialog with theoretical approaches drawn from platform governance, platformisation and political economy communications, foregrounding the concept of the audience commodity. In our analysis of official and unofficial YouTube content, the role and desires of advertisers were discussed in depth. Community commentary videos publicly argued that YouTube cared about advertisers more than a content creating community; marketing-orientated entrepreneurial growth content advised creators to pursue a ‘buying audience’; and YouTube’s official communications painstakingly reminded creators to ‘put themselves in advertisers’ shoes’. Each of these perspectives contributes an understanding of the ways advertising structurally shapes the governance of cultural production in practice.

中文翻译：

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广告作为治理：数字商品受众和平台广告依赖

本文借鉴 YouTube 的民族志调查来论证广告在平台化文化生产治理中的重要而具体的作用。我们通过批判性对话来进行这项调查，采用的理论方法来自平台治理、平台化和政治经济传播，突出了受众商品的概念。在我们对官方和非官方 YouTube 内容的分析中，深入讨论了广告商的角色和愿望。社区评论视频公开指出，YouTube 更关心广告商，而不是内容创建社区；以营销为导向的创业成长内容建议创作者追求“购买受众”； YouTube 的官方通讯煞费苦心地提醒创作者“设身处地为广告商着想”。这些观点都有助于理解广告在实践中结构性地塑造文化生产治理的方式。