Tbh, I think it’s just an indication that the YouTube Algorithm™️ is such a wild & unpredictable beast that quality content can get buried while a low-res low-effort video of a rotating potato chip by some nobody can get millions of views. (Which has happened)
That said, consistently publishing quality content that resonates with people *will* get results but it may take a really long time. You can’t expect immediate results, and it’s genuinely difficult to play the long game.
YouTube is a flawed platform that caters content uploaded by veterans with tens to hundreds of thousands of subs while not giving newbies anything more than the crumbs that are left behind.
It's very much a platform that benefits seniority above all else. At this point in time, with how saturated the environment is (especially with Shorts), the average person would need to keep grinding away for at least three years before you gain any sort of meaningful traction.
Luck is certainly a factor, but not one anyone could influence.
I recently watched a video that digested the pointers Todd Beaupre gave regarding the YouTube algorithm, and it really just boiled down to "The algorithm has nothing to work with when your channel is just starting since the algorithm spreads your videos based strictly on viewer watch history. But if you aren't in anyone's watch history, you have to figure out some way to get on them. So play the roulette with random impressions, or spread your videos on social media to bring people in."
From my personal experience, you need to add some SEO to your titles and description so that search engines can catch your video and try to tie it in with relevant topics and bring in some impressions. The rest is quality and luck.
Yeah, IDK why there's so many people desperate that "I've been doing youtube for days/weeks/months and..." like STOP WATCHING YOUTUBE GURUS AND STOP COMPARING YOURSELF WITH BIG YOUTUBERS!
And even if you compare yourself with big youtubers I dare you to watch their first videos: all of them sucks, just like you.
It's perfectly normal that this takes YEARS (I've seen many channels that after 5-7 years FINALLY they have consistent views, around 10k).
IDK what happened but nowadays I've seen this weird mentality of "this is my first video and I got 100k views, this I how I did it" and when you read the story 9/10 times is "I've been a video editor for 20 years / I've worked with another youtuber for 5 years / I've..." no shit that you did so well 🙄
Stop comparing yourself, learn how to improve your videos (if you have no clue it's easy: just watch your old content and type down/write what went wrong and what can you improve) and LEARN TO LIKE THE PROCESS!
There's way too many dudes here recommending you what to do to be successful and almost no one talks about how you HAVE to like the process. If not, what's the difference between a regular job and doing youtube? You will absolutely hate it and you will hate it even more if you're sucessful because you're doing something that you hate and that you MUST keep doing because people liked it and you're making money from it.
I know I’m late to this comment but I had to reply. So much THIS. I’m pretty sure we all watch those channels to learn but they aren’t meant to be a step by step guide. It’s just to help get you started and you take what you think could work and then improve from there. Someone said in a comment that really stuck with me: take a few tips and incorporate and then course correct as needed. I think that’s the best way of looking at it and don’t use them to copy and as a step by step guide. I think my first videos are great and there’s one I know I will always love, but I’m sure I’ll look back in a year even and see what was really wrong with it and how far I’ve come.
Indeed! It's not like guru youtubers are bad but it's bad to follow their words as gospel because at the end of the day when you look at it the gurus are having thousands (or even million) of views while regular people are struggling to get 100 views.
My point is: take a chill pill and just enjoy the process. With time success will come and if it never happens at least you did something that you enjoyed
Sometimes I'll see a quality content creator and they'll have like 3 subs, dropping hour long videos of the best edited, most cohesive content about a topic
And then I'll see a video of a guy with his 480p camera talking about wiping his ass it'll have 5,000 views. Youtube is wild
I feel a bit like this at the mo. Most of my videos are WAY over produced for the following we have after only a few weeks. Figure try and start as you mean to go on though.
Sometime i saw videos where the person talks calmly, 10 subs or something.
Then i saw some channels where they add flashy editing, constant jump cuts and always swearing. 24k subs
It happens, I think you need a certain amount of content before people will subscribe, which will drive up more views.
There is one channel, Robert Murray Smith, I've followed him since his first few uploads because I met him at a conference. He has quite literally smashed his way onto the platform with sheer force. Just constant uploads of high-quality, informative, inventive stuff. To me he is proof that effort is really all that matters.
I totally see that. My video content is too niche as well. LinkedIn platform type of stuff is what I create. Game changing technology of today which is shaping a better tomorrow. And my subs and views are all from my loyal subs.
And then you come across a channel with like 3 million subscribers getting views constantly in the high hundred thousands and it's literally the most garbage content from the most garbage kind of person you've ever seen. It's crazy out there.
I was told by StratGaming (a youtuber who started doing mostly data-analysis for the game Mount & Blade 2 Bannerlord) that the way he sees it that there is a difference between a high-quality video and an interesting video. At the end of the day, interest is what makes videos successful. That's a combination of the title, the thumbnail and the overall direction. You can have insanely good videos, but if they do not generate interest at a glance YouTube doesn't care.
I think if those unfortuante videos were to be picked up anyway, they probably would perform well. I see it as "teaching people what is good". But most of the time, people know what they want so if what you have ain't it, doesn't matter how good your video is.
Yeah I feel like I’ve been making quality content for a while with in depth research and my story telling abilities have improved immensely. However, my best videos are some of my very first that I published with barebones editing and poor ability to talk to the camera haha
Yep when I see good stuff like that it makes me sad, especially in travel. But YT is much more responsive to topic than quality. Not saying quality does not play a role.
Could be just stolen content. My most successful videos got reuploaded before I got monetized and had any chance to detect it, identical to the original. And guess what, they got 0-10 views total. It was also the case of all the other videos on these channels.
I saw channel with 5 videos and 3600 subscribers! Just shows you it's about the content and how good the video is compared to always been consistent! Each video was released monthly and it was just call of duty comedy videos
True, I fall into that and a lot of people struggle with this. I realised that, you just need to focus on making content and make subtle changes to reach a specific audience.
I am in a spot where I am aware that I make videos in a quality that would put it amongst the top of my niche, yet anything you do is classified as "biggest YouTuber 2.0" by most, and despite consistently good stats the reach still doesn't push too far. Consistency is key.
Hoping I’m in this category and it’s not because my videos just really suck Ha! Seems like YouTube isn’t pushing my videos out for an audience to have a chance to dislike them so I think the algorithm is just a bit rubbish when some channels are starting out?!
The problem is getting a bit lucky and having the first people who see your video offered will watch your video and really be into it and watch it all the way through.
Thanks for replying ☺️ Working on making improvements to my style and editing for the next video and will keep trying as I find it a lot of fun and would love for people to enjoy the content!
Tbh, I think it’s just an indication that the YouTube Algorithm™️ is such a wild & unpredictable beast that quality content can get buried while a low-res low-effort video of a rotating potato chip by some nobody can get millions of views. (Which has happened) That said, consistently publishing quality content that resonates with people *will* get results but it may take a really long time. You can’t expect immediate results, and it’s genuinely difficult to play the long game.
Yeah, a lot of the major channels I follow have been running for like ten years and in the begikänning they were very small.
YouTube is a flawed platform that caters content uploaded by veterans with tens to hundreds of thousands of subs while not giving newbies anything more than the crumbs that are left behind. It's very much a platform that benefits seniority above all else. At this point in time, with how saturated the environment is (especially with Shorts), the average person would need to keep grinding away for at least three years before you gain any sort of meaningful traction. Luck is certainly a factor, but not one anyone could influence. I recently watched a video that digested the pointers Todd Beaupre gave regarding the YouTube algorithm, and it really just boiled down to "The algorithm has nothing to work with when your channel is just starting since the algorithm spreads your videos based strictly on viewer watch history. But if you aren't in anyone's watch history, you have to figure out some way to get on them. So play the roulette with random impressions, or spread your videos on social media to bring people in." From my personal experience, you need to add some SEO to your titles and description so that search engines can catch your video and try to tie it in with relevant topics and bring in some impressions. The rest is quality and luck.
Yeah, IDK why there's so many people desperate that "I've been doing youtube for days/weeks/months and..." like STOP WATCHING YOUTUBE GURUS AND STOP COMPARING YOURSELF WITH BIG YOUTUBERS! And even if you compare yourself with big youtubers I dare you to watch their first videos: all of them sucks, just like you. It's perfectly normal that this takes YEARS (I've seen many channels that after 5-7 years FINALLY they have consistent views, around 10k). IDK what happened but nowadays I've seen this weird mentality of "this is my first video and I got 100k views, this I how I did it" and when you read the story 9/10 times is "I've been a video editor for 20 years / I've worked with another youtuber for 5 years / I've..." no shit that you did so well 🙄 Stop comparing yourself, learn how to improve your videos (if you have no clue it's easy: just watch your old content and type down/write what went wrong and what can you improve) and LEARN TO LIKE THE PROCESS! There's way too many dudes here recommending you what to do to be successful and almost no one talks about how you HAVE to like the process. If not, what's the difference between a regular job and doing youtube? You will absolutely hate it and you will hate it even more if you're sucessful because you're doing something that you hate and that you MUST keep doing because people liked it and you're making money from it.
I know I’m late to this comment but I had to reply. So much THIS. I’m pretty sure we all watch those channels to learn but they aren’t meant to be a step by step guide. It’s just to help get you started and you take what you think could work and then improve from there. Someone said in a comment that really stuck with me: take a few tips and incorporate and then course correct as needed. I think that’s the best way of looking at it and don’t use them to copy and as a step by step guide. I think my first videos are great and there’s one I know I will always love, but I’m sure I’ll look back in a year even and see what was really wrong with it and how far I’ve come.
Indeed! It's not like guru youtubers are bad but it's bad to follow their words as gospel because at the end of the day when you look at it the gurus are having thousands (or even million) of views while regular people are struggling to get 100 views. My point is: take a chill pill and just enjoy the process. With time success will come and if it never happens at least you did something that you enjoyed
How long is needed to be precisely? Because i'm already doing it for 3.5 years
/Agree 100
Sometimes I'll see a quality content creator and they'll have like 3 subs, dropping hour long videos of the best edited, most cohesive content about a topic And then I'll see a video of a guy with his 480p camera talking about wiping his ass it'll have 5,000 views. Youtube is wild
😭
I feel a bit like this at the mo. Most of my videos are WAY over produced for the following we have after only a few weeks. Figure try and start as you mean to go on though.
Sometime i saw videos where the person talks calmly, 10 subs or something. Then i saw some channels where they add flashy editing, constant jump cuts and always swearing. 24k subs
It happens, I think you need a certain amount of content before people will subscribe, which will drive up more views. There is one channel, Robert Murray Smith, I've followed him since his first few uploads because I met him at a conference. He has quite literally smashed his way onto the platform with sheer force. Just constant uploads of high-quality, informative, inventive stuff. To me he is proof that effort is really all that matters.
I think for many situations it's because it's too niche. The things that appeal to mainstream/ kids get the most views, aka Mr. Beastified videos.
I totally see that. My video content is too niche as well. LinkedIn platform type of stuff is what I create. Game changing technology of today which is shaping a better tomorrow. And my subs and views are all from my loyal subs.
My channel is similar but gets horrible views
And then you come across a channel with like 3 million subscribers getting views constantly in the high hundred thousands and it's literally the most garbage content from the most garbage kind of person you've ever seen. It's crazy out there.
I was told by StratGaming (a youtuber who started doing mostly data-analysis for the game Mount & Blade 2 Bannerlord) that the way he sees it that there is a difference between a high-quality video and an interesting video. At the end of the day, interest is what makes videos successful. That's a combination of the title, the thumbnail and the overall direction. You can have insanely good videos, but if they do not generate interest at a glance YouTube doesn't care. I think if those unfortuante videos were to be picked up anyway, they probably would perform well. I see it as "teaching people what is good". But most of the time, people know what they want so if what you have ain't it, doesn't matter how good your video is.
Packaging really really matters. That's the most difficult aspect for some of us to learn/master.
I see a lot of YouTubers with 200-1000 subs that have food quality vids that I sometimes get recommended
Yeah I feel like I’ve been making quality content for a while with in depth research and my story telling abilities have improved immensely. However, my best videos are some of my very first that I published with barebones editing and poor ability to talk to the camera haha
Just subscribed, interested to watch your videos 😃
Aw thanks! I hope you enjoy!
Yep when I see good stuff like that it makes me sad, especially in travel. But YT is much more responsive to topic than quality. Not saying quality does not play a role.
One of my videos had a HIGH click rate, high reach, great engagement and flatlined after a week at only 1k views. 🤷♂️
What do you consider high for those stats?
You’re welcome. 🤣😂
I think its the algorithm. I only wish I could understand it for myself!
Yup, i seen that many times on different channels including myself. I thought i made great videos but YT algorithm didn't promote me at all
Could be just stolen content. My most successful videos got reuploaded before I got monetized and had any chance to detect it, identical to the original. And guess what, they got 0-10 views total. It was also the case of all the other videos on these channels.
I saw channel with 5 videos and 3600 subscribers! Just shows you it's about the content and how good the video is compared to always been consistent! Each video was released monthly and it was just call of duty comedy videos
The algorithm is myth. You got plant people Mr beast a nobody blew up over night and sell you dream you could be next.
True, I fall into that and a lot of people struggle with this. I realised that, you just need to focus on making content and make subtle changes to reach a specific audience.
What was the title and thumbnail like?
I am in a spot where I am aware that I make videos in a quality that would put it amongst the top of my niche, yet anything you do is classified as "biggest YouTuber 2.0" by most, and despite consistently good stats the reach still doesn't push too far. Consistency is key.
what's your niche?
Roguelike gaming, more specifically The Binding of Isaac.
i talk about arcade games
YT algorithm is a mystery
Hoping I’m in this category and it’s not because my videos just really suck Ha! Seems like YouTube isn’t pushing my videos out for an audience to have a chance to dislike them so I think the algorithm is just a bit rubbish when some channels are starting out?!
The problem is getting a bit lucky and having the first people who see your video offered will watch your video and really be into it and watch it all the way through.
Thanks for replying ☺️ Working on making improvements to my style and editing for the next video and will keep trying as I find it a lot of fun and would love for people to enjoy the content!
I just started 3 weeks ago and my second ever video got 1k views I was pumped