I love the idea, but most servers only host a couple of videos, it’s very hard to find enjoyable content on there and it’s difficult to figure out which server could be a good server to make an account on…
I wouldn’t mind a centralized aggregator of videos and maybe it could have a suggestions algorithm as well or whatever. Not that this would be ideal in the long term but it could help get the videos some views and make more content creators see this as a good alternative. It’s not safe on youtube, people aren’t even saying suicide anymore ffs
Edit: Even some renowned german media have their own peertube servers that they feed with high quality videos, but of course they have basically 0 views. (https://peertube.heise.de/, https://tube.taz.de/)
My pet theory is that PeerTube is slower on the uptake because of two primary reasons:
Many YouTubers are comfortable staying right on YouTube, where they have the maximum impact, audience size, and money-making opportunities. For this group of people, moving off of YouTube just isn’t viable.
Because of this, alternative video platforms have to rely on people who are willing to give PeerTube a shot. This is a combination of early adopters who are also on YouTube, people fed up with YouTube for whatever reason, and people in various social and political bubbles that would benefit from a more dedicated space for the things they care about.
The other thing is, video production is time consuming compared to other social mediums. Microblogging by comparison has incredibly little friction, to the point that people can do it potentially dozens of times per day. Making a quality documentary, review, or soapbox piece? A single episode of that can take multiple weeks or longer.
I actually think PeerTube is seeing some healthy growth, but discovering things I actually want to watch remains a challenge.