Yugowave and Serbwave on Youtube : audience analysis by community detection

Bobnič, Robert (author), Kostanjevec, Jan (author)

The article examines the phenomenon of Yugowave, including its offshoots, on the YouTube platform. As an online audiovisual genre, which originated from vaporwave and eventually developed independently, it serves as a remediation of collective memory, featuring nostalgic references to the era of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or the war conflicts that followed its dissolution. Drawing on data from 426 videos and 14,344 comments, we examine the genre’s evolution and map audience communities using the Leiden method on a bipartite network linking commenters to their public YouTube subscriptions. The analysis suggests that the war aesthetics of Serbwave prevail among the videos and its commenters may be described as a wide international audience, predominately holding interests in history, militarism and gaming

• Language: English
• Keywords: vaporwave, Yugowave, Serbwave, You Tube, community detection, community
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Geographic coverage: Jugoslavija; Srbija
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.12.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 199-225
• Numbering: Letn. 41, št. 108/109
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-177148
• UDC: 316.77:077:316
• ISSN on article: 0352-3608
• DOI: 10.51936/dr.41.108-109.199-225
• COBISS.SI-ID: 260778755
• Publication date in RUL: 16.12.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Družboslovne razprave
• Shortened title: Družbosl. razpr.
• Publisher: Slovensko sociološko društvo, Fakulteta za družbene vede
• ISSN: 0352-3608
• COBISS.SI-ID: 7530242

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Yugowave in Serbwave na YouTubu

Abstract

Članek obravnava pojav Yugowava, vključno z derivati, na spletni platformi YouTube. Z uporabo nostalgičnih referenc na obdobje Socialistične federativne republike Jugoslavije ali na vojne konflikte, ki so sledili njenemu razpadu, ta spletni avdiovizualni žanr, ki izvira iz vaporwava in se je sčasoma razvil po svoje, izvaja remediacijo kolektivnega spomina. Na podlagi podatkov iz 426 videoposnetkov in 14.344 komentarjev preučujemo razvoj žanra ter mapiramo skupnosti gledalcev z uporabo metode Leiden na bipartitnem omrežju, ki povezuje komentatorje z njihovimi javno dostopnimi naročninami na YouTube kanale. Analiza kaže, da med videoposnetki prevladuje žanr vojne estetike Serbwave, komentatorji pa predstavljajo internacionalno občinstvo s prevladujočimi preferencami za zgodovino, militarizem in igričarstvo

• Keywords: vaporwave, Yugowave, Serbwave, You Tube, detekcija skupnosti, skupnost

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: J7-50215
• Name: Estetika in strategije spominjanja v popularni kulturi: murali, film in popularna glasba kot spominsko delo

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Name: Produkcija smisla in znanja v času krize: kulturološki, religiološki in znanstveno-razvojni vidiki družb v Sloveniji, na Balkanu, v Evropi