Inside the booming world of pet media

Videos aimed at pets are drawing millions of views. But who’s actually watching?

- EMILY ANTHES

HOW ME YOUR YouTube watch history, and I will tell you who you are. In my household, many of the videos on rotation are eye-rollingly on-the-nose for a modern Brooklyn couple in their 40s: deep dives into ancient Roman history, interviews with professional chefs, outtakes from the British comedy show “Taskmaster.”

But the most-viewed video in our apartment is a more curious artifact: footage of a strand of yarn being dragged across the screen. The video, created by the YouTube channel TV BINI, lasts over an hour and is scored with recordings of birdsong. Its devoted viewer? Our 2-year-old cat Goose.

Once upon a time, back in those early, halcyon days of the internet, cats were the undisputed stars of social media — muses for memes, viral videos and entire websites devoted to their inscrutable expressions. Over the last two decades, however, something subtle but significant has shifted. We have moved from making videos of cats (still a thriving genre) to making videos for them. On YouTube alone, there is more pet-targeted programming than my household’s three animals — two cats and a dog — could consume in several lifetimes. There are looping clips of squirrels darting across lawns, animated fish gliding across jewel-toned backdrops and feathered toys that bob enticingly at the edge of the frame. Some videos run for eight hours, others for 21. Streaming platforms offer apps like “Happy Dog TV” and “Relax My Cat.” And DOGTV, a subscription channel and streaming service, commissions original canine programming filmed in more than 20 countries.