226 | nº 35, pp. 225-243 | July-December of 2022Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channelsISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicación1. Introductione spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused an unprecedented global crisis, with enormous consequences worldwide (Núñez-Gómez et al., 2020). All sectors have been adversely aected, especially education, in which over 91% of students have been impacted worldwide (Acosta et al., 2020).ree days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of this coronavirus strain as a pandemic, the Government in Spain decreed the rst state of alarm on 14 March 2020, mandating a lockdown of the entire population for the rst time in democracy and suspending non-essential activities that could pose a risk of contagion. e Royal Decree 463/2020 on 14 March declared a state of alarm for managing the health crisis brought about by COVID-19; consequently, face-to-face classes were suspended and replaced by online classes at all levels as a measure to contain the virus in the educational area.is meant the total closure of education centers in the State, including universities. Universities in Spain have developed an organisational structure and educational model essentially oriented towards face-to-face classes (Torrecillas, 2020), which suddenly had to deal with this paradigm shift (García-Peñalvo, 2020).e Minister of Universities and the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) took urgent measures to support the digital transition a few days after the state of alarm was decreed, launching 2020 Connected: e University at home on 20 March, a web platform with online resources for education and investigation and psychological support for the university community. Likewise, each university implemented specic measures and support services to face the situation in order to continue teaching and doing other university activities (CRUE, 2020).e rst state of alarm in Spain was extended until 21 June 2020; therefore, the 2019/20 academic year ended telematically. e beginning of the 2020/21 academic year continued to be marked by the health crisis and the restrictions to contain the spread of the virus. Education centres had to ensure prevention and hygiene measures in classrooms and a minimum safety distance of 1.5m under the Royal Decree-Law 21/2020 of 9 June and the Measures of prevention, hygiene and promotion of Health Facing COVID-19 for University Centres in the 2020/2021 Academic Year, its rst version was published 10 June 2020, and the denitive one was published on 11 March. is meant that dierent educational scenarios had to be considered, and increased, mainly in terms of subscribers and views. It also conrms that COVID-19 monopolised much of these channels’ content during the rst state of alarm, followed by a decreasing trend. us, the COVID-19 pandemic transformed public universities’ use of their YouTube channels. In addition, this situation also altered the channels’ consumption trends. Keywords:Public university; YouTube; online video; COVID-19; Institutional Communication.percusión. Los resultados indican que desde marzo de 2020 hasta julio de 2021 aumentó la actividad en estos canales, principalmente el número de suscriptores/as y de reproducciones. Asimismo, se conrma que la CO-VID-19 monopolizó buena parte del contenido de estos canales durante el primer estado de alarma, pero después sigue una tendencia decreciente. Por tanto, puede concluirse que la pandemia de la COVID-19 ha inuido en el uso que las universidades públicas han hecho de sus canales de You-Tube y ha alterado las tendencias de consumo de los mismos.Palabras clave:Universidad pública; YouTube; video online; COVID-19; Comunicación Institucional. doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 225-243 |July-December of 2022Esther Simancas González and Tania Blanco SánchezISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978227a blended model (face-to-face/non-face-to-face) was chosen. At rst, multimodal teaching was generally preferred. Still, this modality was substituted with non-face-to-face classes in response to the evolution of the epidemiological situation over that academic year. Shortly after the academic year had commenced on 25 October 2020 another state of alarm was declared due to the worsening of the health crisis, reinforcing restrictions throughout Spain to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections, which was extended until May 2021. Following this date, the restrictive protective measures were gradually eased thanks to the advances in the vaccination campaign (Güell, 2021). us, universities chose to implement face-to-face classes for the start of the 2021/2022 academic year after the meeting on 3 September 2021 between the Minister of Universities Manuel Castells and the CRUE. However, the context of uncertainty and anxiety continued until the start of the 2021/2022 academic year. e abrupt change to the online model in March 2020 and the exibility required to make face-to-face and online activities compatible the following year led to the university community’s overexertion and work overload, resulting in criticism from students and faculties (Tejedor et al., 2020). is has inevitably contributed to the opening up of old debates about the Spanish university system, highlighting the urgent need to transform the traditional educational system (García-Peñalvo, 2020).On the other hand, we cannot ignore the informative and communicative context in which the COVID-19 pandemic has occurred. Since March 2020, the media ecosystem has reected the extraordinary global situation as communication activity has increased like never before (Gil-Ramírez et al., 2020). Media consumption has shot up (Sierra-Sánchez et al., 2021), in particular on social media and online video platforms (IAB Spain, 2020; 2021), as an information-hungry population is immersed not only in one of the biggest health crises ever experienced but also in what has been described as “the worst wave of disinformation in history” (Valera, 2020, cited by Aguado-Guadalupe and Bernaola-Serrano, 2020).Given the circumstances, information is relevant in this context (Masip et al., 2020). e scientic community is one of the most reliable voices (Xifra-Triadú, 2020). In this sense, the public university is a public service guarantor for generating scientic knowledge (Simancas-González and García-López, 2016; Simancas-González and García-López, 2019), and has had the opportunity to act as a reliable source of information for the citizenry during this crisis (Mut-Camacho, 2020). us, it is worth noting that public universities have used social media during the COVID-19 pandemic as a direct communication channel with their audience. Private universities have not been included in this study. e public university is independent and dierentiated from the former in regards to its ownership and social function (Díez-Gutiérrez, 2018). is work focuses exclusively on YouTube because its users access it for entertainment, reliable information, and educational material (Orduña-Malea et, 2020). It is the most used social network in the university area, while Facebook or Twitter are rarely used (Rodrigo-Cano et al., 2019). Moreover, YouTube is the leading video platform worldwide (Statista, 2020), with a 66.4% penetration in Spain (Association for the Investigation of Media [AIMC], 2021). Dierent studies state that it is “a relevant social network in the study of the changes in communicative dynamics experienced during this health crisis” (Gil-Ramírez et al., 2021, p. 124). 228 | nº 35, pp. 225-243 | July-December of 2022Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channelsISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónus, this research’s main objective is to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Spanish public universities’ use of YouTube channels and its implications. Specically, we aim to:–Examine the Spanish public Universities’ activity and the evolution of the themes on their YouTube channels during the pandemic.–Determine these YouTube channels’ scope in this period. –Detect the consumption trends on these YouTube channels during the pandemic.So far, Sanz-Hernando and Parejo-Cuellar (2021) and Suing (2021) have published research on this topic. e former analyses the impact of the pandemic on the scientic dissemination units of Spanish universities during the rst state of alarm. e rst impact study of the pandemic was carried out in the Spanish universities’ scientic dissemination departments during the rst state of alarm in Spain; the latter, which is more focused on this research’s subject of study, analyses the most viewed videos posted on YouTube between 16 March and 16 September 2020 by the most prestigious Andean universities. It was concluded that they did not play a prominent role in socially managing information at this critical time. 1.1. Universities and YouTubeUniversities’ communication on social networks is a thoroughly studied topic, mainly in the United States (Valerio-Ureña et al., 2020), although “the research community has not yet been able to produce a fair picture of the YouTube vídeo-sharing platform”1 (Mesenguer et al., 2019, p. 2). is may be because YouTube is not an accurate source for info metric analysis, as Orduña-Malea et al. (2020) point out. Dierent studies coincide in highlighting that although there has been an increase in universities’ use of social media since networks started to gain visibility and presence on the internet over a decade ago (Ladogina et al., 2020), its eectivity is limited (García-García, 2018; López-Pérez and Lobo-Olvera, 2016). According to Simón-Onieva (2017), this could be the result of the universities’ management of these platforms since they do not make the most of their interaction potential, nor do they share contents of interest to users. Instead, their approach is unidirectional and to (self) advertise. ey must also focus on other determining factors to generate engagement, such as the style of communication or periodicity of publications (Zarco et al., 2016). García-García (2018) focuses more on strategic planning than management, highlighting universities’ need to work towards some objectives and a social network communication plan, determined by the importance that university authorities give to digital communication.However, universities’ impact and presence on social networks are not uniform. e most prestigious research or teaching universities tend to have a more signicant impact; the scientic or social content they share seeks to inspire and motivate users, while the remaining universities do not seem to follow this strategy, as they focus more on institutional promotion (Segura-Mariño et al., 2020). Likewise, it has been found that private universities in the United States have a higher budget for marketing strategies, allowing them to attract more followers than public universities (Valerio-Ureña et al., 2020). 1 Translation by the authors. doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 225-243 |July-December of 2022Esther Simancas González and Tania Blanco SánchezISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978229On the other hand, universities’ main platform is Facebook: while YouTube has a lower reach (Ladogina et al., 2020; Valerio-Ureña et al., 2020). is may be due to the high investment in creating high-quality audiovisual content, among other reasons. However, the investment is worthwhile because Internet users are most interested in online videos and share them the most on social networks (De-Lara-González and García-Avilés, 2019). Be that as it may, the number of university institutional channels as well as the amount of available videos has increased exponentially in recent years (Segarra-Saavedra et al., 2020; Ros-Gálvez et al., 2021), since “university managers have identied the opportunities that YouTube oers as a free access broadcast channel with global impact”2 (Ros-Gálvez et al., 2021, p. 1). However, as noted above, only prestigious universities’ YouTube videos have a high impact (Meseguer et al., 2019).Generally speaking, universities use YouTube to generate a brand image (Guzmán-Luque and Del-Moral-Pérez, 2014; Martín-González and Santamaría-Llarena, 2017), which is, in turn, university communication management’s main objective (Simancas-González and García-López, 2017). Guzmán-Luque and Del-Moral-Pérez (2014) identify that institutional promotion videos are the most shared content on their YouTube feed based on a sample of Ibero-American universities. Concerning Spanish universities Martín-González and Santamaría-Llarena (2017) point out that the most shared videos are institutional ones, followed by those of academic interest due to YouTube’s relevance as a didactic tool (Mesenguer et al., 2019; Rodrigo-Cano et al., 2019). However, Spanish universities and research centres make little use of this social network for disseminating research (López-Pérez and Lobo-Olvera, 2016), although young people are becoming increasingly interested in science and inform themselves about it through platforms such as YouTube (García-Arnau, 2019).Despite this scenario, this social network could play a signicant role in universities’ strategic communication, mainly due to students’ acceptance (Ros-Gálvez et al., 2021). Students are one of the priority audiences on social networks (García-García, 2018) to the point that success on YouTube can be determined by the number of students enrolled in a university, among other factors (Segura-Mariño et al., 2020).On the other hand, online videos are a growing trend (IAB, 2018), accounting for 80% of total trac on the internet in 2021 (Vidyard, 2021). Audiovisuals are thus gaining more and more prominence as a form of communication and a consumer product as they t perfectly with audiences’ fragmented consumption (Wang, 2020) since words are processed more quickly, and viewing can be combined with other activities (Costa-Sánchez, 2017). It is also a highly recommended format for communicating any type of content, thus making it accessible and attractive (Acosta et al., 2020; Costa-Sánchez, 2017; Lara-González and García-Avilés, 2020).In this sense, YouTube could be a channel for universities to broadcast their institutional, academic, and scientic information to stakeholders and an internal and external space for communication since it enables users to interact and participate. However, for YouTube to be more than a mere repository of university videos(Santamaría-Llarena, 2017), these institutions need to design a strategic communication plan (García-García, 2018), specically for this social network and to invest more resources in audiovisual content creation and management. 2 Translation by the authors. 230 | nº 35, pp. 225-243 | July-December of 2022Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channelsISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicación2. Methodologyis study used a descriptive methodology based on the objectives set out. Forty-eight public Spanish universities’ institutional YouTube channels have been identied. e following two centres have been excluded due to their unique nature: e International University of Andalusia and e International University of Menéndez Pelayo (Registry of Universities, Centres and Degrees [RUCT], 2008). Each universities’ main institutional account has been considered “since even in decentralised organisational models that may have thematic or area-based accounts, the principal account is that which has greater symbolic power and aligns with the general image of the institution” (Ure, 2016, p. 254).Content analysis was used as the research technique, as it is the one that best ts the study’s objectives and is the most used in communication research (Eoira and Barranquero, 2017), specically for YouTube videos and content analysis(Aznar-Díaz et al., 2019).e study’s timeline includes the rst state of alarm from the beginning until the end of the academic year 2020/2021, a particularly critical period for these institutions. We carried out a longitudinal study to evaluate the evolution of institutional channels on YouTube. ree periods of analysis were established (Table 1): the rst state of alarm, the second state of alarm, and the period that took place between the end of the second state of alarm and the August holidays 2021, a non-working month in Spanish public universities.Table 1. Study periodsPeriod of analysisDateDurationFirst state of alarm14 March to 21 June 202097 daysSecond state of alarm25 October 2020 to May 2021194 daysAfter the end of the second state of alarm10 May to 31 June 2021 81 daysSource: created by the authorse primary data was gathered from each university’s YouTube channel as shown in the analysis sheet (Table 2): year of creation, presence, inuence, and intensity. e intensity of the communication corresponds to the number of videos published (López-Pérez and Lobo-Olvera, 2016). e number of subscribers has been taken into account to determine the presence of the universities on YouTube. We have counted the number of views of the channel’s contents (Zarco et al., 2016).On the other hand, according to Atarama-Rojas and Vega-Foelsche (2020), the videos’ subject matter was considered an analysis variable since it is an essential communicative element of valuable content on social networks. e theme classication follows Guzmán and Moral’s (2014) proposal based on the public universities’ essential functions (teaching, research, outreach, and doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 225-243 |July-December of 2022Esther Simancas González and Tania Blanco SánchezISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978231institutional functions). After reviewing and viewing the videos, two more topics were added to this classication: COVID-19 and EvAU (Evaluation for University Access). ese tests are carried out on university sites. Table 2. YouTube channels analysis sheetVariablesDenitionYear of creationYear of the channel openingPresenceNumber of subscribersInuenceNumber of playsIntensityNumber of videosVideo emesTeaching: teaching materials and university teachingResearch: scientic dissemination and knowledge transferOutreach: dissemination of cultural, social, sporting, or social responsibility activitiesInstitutional: university governance, institutional events, and promotional videosEvAU: Evaluation for University AccessCOVID-19: COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, its eects, and consequences on societySource: created by the authors based on Guzmán and Moral (2014) and López-Pérez and Olvera-Lobo (2016) and Zarco et al. (2016)On the other hand, the most viewed videos on the university YouTube channels during the three periods of study in the pandemic (48 videos/period: 144 videos) were identied and analysed to verify the types of content with the most signicant impact as Bernal and Carvajal did (2019). e analysis variables correspond to the following parameters: date, duration, video theme (Table 2), and engagement rating, determined from Ballesteros-Herencia (2019) as the metric percentage derived from the positive votes minus the negative votes, divided by the number of plays.All data was gathered during the week after each period studied to avoid bias. Finally, the data was tabulated using SPSS Statistics 24.3. Results3.1. Primary data on the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channelse number of YouTube subscribers from the 48 public universities increased signicantly from the end of the rst state of alarm (21 June 2020) until 31 July 2021, from 747,736 to 980,060. e average number of subscriptions to the Spanish public university YouTube channels stood at 10.84 subscriptions/day throughout the study period. In contrast, since these public 232 | nº 35, pp. 225-243 | July-December of 2022Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channelsISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónuniversities had previously created their channel (the average creation date was 11 November 2009), the average number of subscriptions a day was 4.46. From the time the universities set up their YouTube channel until the rst state of alarm was decreed, the average number of plays/day on these channels was 1,192.83, while there was an average of 13,487.65 plays a day from then until 31 July 2021. Regarding these channels’ inuence during the pandemic, plays have increased generally in this period 19.97% (in absolute terms, 44,308,656), from 221,866,051 to 266,174,707 plays.e polytechnic university of Valencia’s YouTube channel had the most signicant presence and inuence among the public universities at the end of this study and has accumulated the highest number of followers during this period (55,000) and the most plays (17,961,695). Other polytechnic universities follow suit, such as the Polytechnic University of Madrid, with 23,600 subscribers and a total of 6,922,041 plays. In contrast, the Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO) did not increase its subscribers, and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria only had 22,637 plays.e universities’ YouTube channels published 0.43 videos/day on average until the rst state of alarm, while the intensity of the channels’ publications increased to 0.67 videos/day during the pandemic. Each university posted an average of 0.63 videos/day in the rst period analysed; in the second period, the frequency of publications was 0.64 videos/day; publications increased by around 10% in the third period with an average of 0.75 videos/day by channel. us, we can identify an upward trend regarding the intensity of publications; however, not all universities follow this pattern; the University of Cádiz, in particular, did not post any videos on its YouTube channel from 4 March 2020 to 20 September 2021. On the contrary, the Miguel Hernández University of Elche posted 2,136 videos. It was the Spanish public university with the most content on its YouTube channel, with over 16,000 videos.3.2. emes by period analysedFirst state of alarme public universities’ central theme on their YouTube channels is university outreach, as shown in Figure 1 (40.96%), followed, in order of importance, by teaching (24.70%), institutional (16.91%), COVID-19 (7.92%), research (7.67%) and EvAU (1.84%) content. doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 225-243 |July-December of 2022Esther Simancas González and Tania Blanco SánchezISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978233Figure 1. Public universities’ YouTube channel themes during the rst state of alarmFigure 1. Public universities’ YouTube channel themes during the first state of alarm.Source: Created by the authors based on YouTube. It is essential to note that most university outreach videos are proposals for activities at home or focused on issues such as solidarity in the pandemic, psychological support, remote working, etc. Teaching videos are mainly tutorials on virtual teaching resources for students and teachers. Regarding institutional topics, apart from promotional videos for undergraduate and post-graduate degrees, videos of top university leaders inform the public or convey a particular message concerning the situation caused by COVID-19. Similarly, scientific dissemination contents are often linked to the research on COVID-19. Regarding the EvAU, the videos refer to the security measures and protocols for holding the exams. The Second state of alarm University outreach is still the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channels’ central theme, although this percentage increased by 29-31% in this period, from 41.04% to 70.35% (Figure 2). Therefore the prominence of other topics decreased, although teaching declined the most (6.44%), which mainly featured videos on teaching resources for specific subjects. On the other hand, the institutional theme (15.01%) focused on disseminating courses, congresses, and conferences, not included during the first state of alarm.24.70%7.67%16.91%40.96%7.921.84%0102030405060708090100Source: Created by the authors based on YouTubeIt is essential to note that most university outreach videos are proposals for activities at home or focused on issues such as solidarity in the pandemic, psychological support, remote working, etc. Teaching videos are mainly tutorials on virtual teaching resources for students and teachers. Regarding institutional topics, apart from promotional videos for undergraduate and post-graduate degrees, videos of top university leaders inform the public or convey a particular message concerning the situation caused by COVID-19. Similarly, scientic dissemination contents are often linked to the research on COVID-19. Regarding the EvAU, the videos refer to the security measures and protocols for holding the exams.e Second state of alarmUniversity outreach is still the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channels’ central theme, although this percentage increased by 29-31% in this period, from 41.04% to 70.35% (Figure 2). erefore the prominence of other topics decreased, although teaching declined the most (6.44%), which mainly featured videos on teaching resources for specic subjects. On the other hand, the institutional theme (15.01%) focused on disseminating courses, congresses, and conferences, not included during the rst state of alarm. 234 | nº 35, pp. 225-243 | July-December of 2022Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channelsISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónFigure 2. e themes of Public universities’ YouTube channels during the second state of alarmFigure 2. The themes of Public universities’ YouTube channels during the second state of alarm.Source: Created by the authors based on data extracted from YouTubeEnd of the 2020/2021 academic year Outreach was the main topic in the third and last period analysed, followed by institutional content, which increased slightly compared to the previous period, as did teaching (Figure 3). Concerning institutional content and promotional videos of university authorities, there are publications on university elections, graduations, and investitures of university members, among others. On the other hand, theCOVID-19theme continues to fall. At the same time, the content on the EvAU increases slightly compared to the previous period since these exams are held in June and July, so universities offer information about these exams.Figure 3. Themes from the public universities’ YouTube channels before the 2020/2021 academic year’s summer vacations Source: Created by the authors based on the data extracted from YouTube 6.44%5.73%15.01%70.35%1.65%0.82%0102030405060708090100TeachingResearchInstitutionalOutreachCoronavirusEvau7.59%5.81%15.45%69.23%0.93%0.99%0102030405060708090100Source: Created by the authors based on data extracted from YouTubeEnd of the 2020/2021 academic yearOutreach was the main topic in the third and last period analysed, followed by institutional content, which increased slightly compared to the previous period, as did teaching (Figure 3). Concerning institutional content and promotional videos of university authorities, there are publications on university elections, graduations, and investitures of university members, among others. On the other hand, the COVID-19 theme continues to fall. At the same time, the content on the EvAU increases slightly compared to the previous period since these exams are held in June and July, so universities oer information about these exams. doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 225-243 |July-December of 2022Esther Simancas González and Tania Blanco SánchezISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978235Figure 3. emes from the public universities’ YouTube channels before the 2020/2021 academic year’s summer vacationsFigure 2. The themes of Public universities’ YouTube channels during the second state of alarm.Source: Created by the authors based on data extracted from YouTubeEnd of the 2020/2021 academic year Outreach was the main topic in the third and last period analysed, followed by institutional content, which increased slightly compared to the previous period, as did teaching (Figure 3). Concerning institutional content and promotional videos of university authorities, there are publications on university elections, graduations, and investitures of university members, among others. On the other hand, theCOVID-19theme continues to fall. At the same time, the content on the EvAU increases slightly compared to the previous period since these exams are held in June and July, so universities offer information about these exams.Figure 3. Themes from the public universities’ YouTube channels before the 2020/2021 academic year’s summer vacations Source: Created by the authors based on the data extracted from YouTube 6.44%5.73%15.01%70.35%1.65%0.82%0102030405060708090100TeachingResearchInstitutionalOutreachCoronavirusEvau7.59%5.81%15.45%69.23%0.93%0.99%0102030405060708090100Source: Created by the authors based on the data extracted from YouTube3.3. e most prominent themes in the three periods analysed To summarise (Figure 4), teaching becomes particularly relevant on public Spanish universities’ YouTube channels during the rst state of alarm compared to later in the pandemic. e theme of COVID-19 also stands out in the rst period but subsequently declines. In contrast, university outreach has less of a presence on the institutional channels during the rst months of the pandemic. However, once the pandemic is more stabilised the contents on this topic increase since these types of activities are resumed and disseminated. Finally, it can be seen that there are few dierences in the university YouTube channels regarding research, institutional, and EvAU topics in the three analysed periods. However, more videos were published in the rst period in all categories. 236 | nº 35, pp. 225-243 | July-December of 2022Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channelsISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónFigure 4. Evolution of the themes in the dierent periods analysed3.3.The most prominent themes in the three periods analysed To summarise (Figure 4), teaching becomes particularly relevant on public Spanish universities’ YouTube channels during the first state of alarm compared to later in the pandemic. The theme of COVID-19 also stands out in the first period but subsequentlydeclines. In contrast, university outreach has less of a presence on the institutional channels during the first months of the pandemic. However, once the pandemic is more stabilised the contents on this topic increase since these types of activities are resumed and disseminated. Finally, it can be seen that there are few differences in the university YouTube channels regarding research, institutional, and EvAU topics in the three analysed periods. However, more videos were published in the first period in all categories.Figure 4. Evolution of the themesinthe different periods analysed Source: Created by the authors based on YouTube 3.4.Most viewed videos during the pandemicThe most viewed videos from 14 March 2020 to 31 July 2021 are related to university outreach in the first place (70 out of 142: 49.3%) and, secondly, an institutional nature (46 videos out of 142: 32.4%). The number of most viewed videos was significantly higher during the first period. In this case, the number of plays is almost three times higher than in the second period (2.8 times more) and six times higher (6.0 times more) than in the third period (Table 3). The average time of the most viewed videos is 14min 35 seconds in the firstperiod; in the second, it is 56 mins and 14 seconds, and 41 mins and 33 seconds in the third period (Table 3). Regarding the videos’ number of likes, thepublic universities’ most viewed videos reached an average of 136.8 likes in the second period, followed by 65.1 on average in 020406080100TeachingResearchInstitutionalOutreachCoronavirusEvau1st period2nd period3rd periodSource: Created by the authors based on YouTube3.4. Most viewed videos during the pandemice most viewed videos from 14 March 2020 to 31 July 2021 are related to university outreach in the rst place (70 out of 142: 49.3%) and, secondly, an institutional nature (46 videos out of 142: 32.4%).e number of most viewed videos was signicantly higher during the rst period. In this case, the number of plays is almost three times higher than in the second period (2.8 times more) and six times higher (6.0 times more) than in the third period (Table 3).e average time of the most viewed videos is 14 min 35 seconds in the rst period; in the second, it is 56 mins and 14 seconds, and 41 mins and 33 seconds in the third period (Table 3).Regarding the videos’ number of likes, the public universities’ most viewed videos reached an average of 136.8 likes in the second period, followed by 65.1 on average in the third period and 62.77 on average in the rst period. It is worth noting that although there were the most plays in the rst period, it was the period that generated the fewest positive votes and comments (Table 3). As a result, the engagement rating is much lower than the other two periods. Regarding the comments in the rst period, they are often negative comments about the university. doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 225-243 |July-December of 2022Esther Simancas González and Tania Blanco SánchezISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978237Table 3. Comparison of the most viewed videos in the three analysed periodsPeriodTotal number of playsDuration of the video (average)Total LikesTotalNegative votesTotalCommentsRating %1st period27,37914’35’’3.0134861489.232nd period9,77056’41’’6.56754519861.643rd period4,52841’33’’312414830265.72Source: Created by the authors based on data extracted from YouTubeConsidering the 3 study periods (Figure 5), teaching, COVID-19, and EvAU topics were the most viewed during the rst period (10.42%, 10.42%, and 8.33%, respectively). However, the outreach theme gained importance in the second period (63.83%). Institutional videos are the most viewed (46.81%) in the third period, even more than those on outreach, while there were no videos on research or COVID-19 among the most viewed videos.Figure 5. emes of the most viewed videos on the public universities’ YouTube channels during the analysed periodSource: Created by the authors based on the data extracted from YouTube 238 | nº 35, pp. 225-243 | July-December of 2022Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channelsISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicación4. Conclusionse COVID-19 pandemic may have aected the activity of Spanish public universities’ YouTube channels, and impact, which has been studied in-depth in this research. e results show that from the time the rst state of alarm was declared until 31 July 2021, there has been a signicant increase in plays and subscribers to these channels, while there has been less of an increase in the number of publications.Regarding subject matter, outreach and institutional videos have been the most prominent on YouTube channels during the COVID-19 pandemic. is conrms what previous studies have highlighted regarding the type of content published by the university YouTube channels and their main objective: to generate a brand image (Guzmán-Luque and Del-Moral-Pérez, 2014; Martín-González and Santamaría-Llarena, 2017; Simón-Onieva, 2017). Similarly, it has been substantiated that universities make little use of YouTube for disseminating research. After focusing on the rst period of study in-depth, it has been observed that a high percentage of teaching videos are published compared to the two subsequent stages, and is the second subject by number of videos.On the other hand, it has been found that the institutional and university outreach contents correspond to COVID-19 during the rst state of alarm. Proposals related to this topic (psychological support, solidarity, institutional messages, etc.) prevailed in both cases. Later on, the publications became more diverse, as cultural and academic events were publicised and broadcast on YouTube channels. It was also found that the research categories and EvAU were aected by COVID-19, therefore making it a transversal variable that has determined and aected all these channels’ content in the rst period. In contrast, the prominence and transversality of COVID-19 have progressively decreased as the pandemic evolved in the second and third periods of study, returning to a situation of “normality.” In this sense, YouTube channels evolved. e universities posted several (online) teaching videos and COVID-19 videos in the rst period, while these contents declined in the second and third periods. In contrast, outreach content is lower in the rst period. It later increases once the health situation allows online and face-to-face university activities to resume from the beginning of the 2020/2021 academic year. Regarding consumption trends, the inuence of the most viewed videos was more signicant during the rst state of alarm than in the later stages. is could be related to the fact that the population was in lockdown during the rst period, and the level of uncertainty was higher. However, we must highlight that the high number of plays contrasts with low engagement and the negative comments, mainly made by students to show their disagreement with the universities’ management of COVID-19. On the other hand, it is noted that as the pandemic progresses, users watch longer videos. During the rst state of alarm, videos tend to be shorter, considering the available resources. But once graduations, investiture ceremonies, inaugurations, or other university events begin to take place, these are broadcast on YouTube, and therefore, the average duration of these channels’ contents increases signicantly. Regarding consumption trends related to the subject matter, the results conrm that Internet users prefer institutional and university outreach videos.Coinciding with other authors such as García-García (2018) and based on dierent consumption patterns, university students among universities’ most important interlocutors on social networks. doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 225-243 |July-December of 2022Esther Simancas González and Tania Blanco SánchezISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978239Finally, as indicated by previous studies (Meseguer et al., 2019, Segura-Mariño et al., 2020, Valerio-Ureña et al., 2020), a signicant issue to consider is the university YouTube channels’ lack of uniformity in their presence and impact. is could be regarded as one of the research’s limitations. Future studies could provide more detailed results based on a classication of universities according to behaviour and reach on YouTube. In the case of Spanish public universities, we have observed that those with a polytechnic prole tend to manage their YouTube channels better during the pandemic. ese universities have published more quality research and teaching videos during the study period, which is particularly useful for students, reaching a higher number of followers and obtaining more views. e remaining universities do not seem to have a dened strategy for posting on YouTube and have carried out a resistance strategy characterised by irregular quantities, quality, and frequency of content, especially during the rst state of alarm.It can be concluded that the management of universities’ YouTube channel contents during the pandemic is a reactive response to the crisis based on the above since they have adapted the content to the needs at the time and the evolution of the health situation rather than to a previously dened crisis management strategy. In this sense, we agree with Suing (2021). Spanish public universities have not played an essential role in the social management of knowledge on YouTube during this health crisis due to the type of content that has been prioritised on this social network.5. AcknowledgmentsArticle translated by Sophie Phillips.6. Specic contributions from each authorName and SurnameConcept and design of the workEsther Simancas and Tania BlancoMethodologyEsther SimancasData collection and analysisTania BlancoDiscussion and conclusionsEsther Simancas and Tania BlancoWriting, formatting, revision and approval of versionsEsther Simancas and Tania Blanco 240 | nº 35, pp. 225-243 | July-December of 2022Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Spanish public universities’ YouTube channelsISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicación7. Bibliographic referencesAcosta, T., Acosta-Vargas, P., Zambrano-Miranda, J., y Luján-Mora, S. (2020). Web Accessibility Evaluation of vídeos Published on YouTube by Worldwide Top-Ranking Universities. 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