Artificial Intelligence Practices in Digital Media Production: A Case Study of a YouTube Channel

Abstract

This research investigates the role of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the process of representation withing digital media production on YouTube through a qualitative case study. Drawing on an analysis of a Kurdish-language YouTube channel, it investigates how AI-driven systems shape content visibility and narrative construction in – and representation by – platform-based media ecologies. The study follows a qualitative design, seeking to capture patterns, meanings and subjective experiences imbedded in media texts as well as in production processes rather than quantify causal relations.   Thematic Content Analysis (TCA) method has been used in the study to analyze and interpret consistently recurring themes within textual, visual and audiovisual material. This approach provides a critical analysis grounded on explicit and implicit forms of representation produced and distributed by AI, from how content is framed to visibility strategies or narrative emphasis. Through this lens, the results reveal how AI-designed recommendation and moderation systems work as structurally influential forces in determining representational hierarchies while favoring content in keeping with platform engagement logics. Content about entertainment and politics is generally more visible in algorithms, while social, cultural, or minority-interest narratives are less visible. Meanwhile, the analysis also shows that content creators have agency in grappling with algorithmic limitations by incorporating AI-inspired production practices—optimizing metadata, aligning content with trending formats and strategically shaping narratives to increase discoverability. These techniques represent elements of nascent algorithmic awareness and agency, yet their efficacy is in turn conditioned by and oriented against broader structural factors, such as linguistic marginalization and platform-level flow-ranking mechanisms. In general, the study emphasizes the double role of AI in digital media production – as a governing infrastructure that regulates representational results and as an environment where creators forge adaptive strategies. By emphasizing qualitative understandings of AI-facilitated representation, this study adds to media studies work on platform governance, visibility and cultural inclusion in digital spaces.