YouTube Rewind backlash sparks unofficial Best of 2018 videos

YouTube's official Rewind video is introduced by Will Smith

YouTubers have taken it upon themselves to fix this year's YouTube Rewind.

The annual video, which claims to review the highlights of 2018, became the most disliked in the website's history.

It was criticised for not including enough content creators, with popular personalities PewDiePie, Shane Dawson and Logan Paul all notable absentees.

Now many YouTubers have used their skills to fix the problem by making their own round-ups for 2018 - and showing YouTube what it should have included.

The website said it was listening to the community response.

There have been many videos, some with millions of views, parodying the source material.

While YouTube's official 2018 review video was criticised for shying away from controversial topics, these videos would suggest that the website's own content creators embrace them.

For example, Logan Paul features prominently in many videos after his boxing bout with KSI in August, but he also appears for a video he posted in January which showed the body of a person who apparently died by suicide.

YouTube trends which made news headlines can be found throughout the videos, such as the so-called Tide Pod challenge.

'Sub to Pewds'

Other "reviews" are more direct parodies, with some borrowing audio from the original video.

A section praising people who "found a way to help the causes that matter to them most" is parodied in a video thanking YouTubers like Markiplier who urged their followers to subscribe to PewDiePie.

This was in response to PewDiePie's ongoing battle with Indian channel T-Series to retain his spot as most-subscribed to YouTuber.

Similar videos also saw parallels between a section dedicated to those "who proved it's okay to talk about mental health this year" and Shane Dawson's series of videos with Jake Paul.

Neither PewDiePie or Shane Dawson were included in the original video.

'YouTube will be jealous'

Other videos were made to solve a different problem.

Several channels have produced videos at odds with YouTube Rewind's focus on English-language content.

These videos have high production values, including full introductions and bespoke content made by YouTubers in their native language, with one Spanish-language video being seen over 700,000 times.

And other videos have taken to a different extreme by shining the spotlight on specific communities, with ZHC putting the focus on YouTube artists.