Need Advice Should I delete my old videos?

[Varjopihlaja]

They're from 2016, under 100 views, didn't know how to use royalty free music then so music got claimed, no custom thumbnails etc..
Is it time for these to go? Only one I could maybe save would be the Cad Bane if I download the video and remake it with suitable music and try to optimize SEO + make thumbnail.
They have some likes though (11 for Bane)! For reference, videos I posted this week are at 35 view + 3 likes and 19 views + 3 likes.

 

[Beanie Draws]

So in this situation, I'd first make them private, because if you delete them completely you won't be able to get any data from them. First, because they're that old, first go to the video analytics and get the ctr. Sometimes just because you think the thumbnail isn't very good, doesn't mean it won't perform well. Look at the ct and note down what they are.

after that, take a screenshot of the audience retention data. I'd make sure you audience retention data is set to "lifetime" you don't have many views on those videos, but that doesn't mean they don't have ANY data, so take some screenshots of that for future references. If the audience retention looks like hockey sticks, then you're not missing out on deleting them anyway.

BEFORE DELETING. Download the video because you'll probably have lost where the original video has gone.

Re-edit the videos with copyright free music from the YouTube Audio Library (easy to find via creator studio)

Then delete the videos and re-upload them with new copyright free music. My rational behind this is you might not have gotten many views for these videos over the last 30-90 days, so it's likely new audiences had never watched those videos, meaning you can re-craft them into new content.

overall you won't be losing many views, and you may even end up getting new views from re-crafting them with new copyright free music.

I'm planning on doing something similar with content I never actually published and they've just been sitting around since 2016.

And on one final note, it's nice seeing an artist from 2016, and it sounds like you're into metal too, which is always cool in my opinion.

 

[Varjopihlaja]

So in this situation, I'd first make them private, because if you delete them completely you won't be able to get any data from them. First, because they're that old, first go to the video analytics and get the ctr. Sometimes just because you think the thumbnail isn't very good, doesn't mean it won't perform well. Look at the ct and note down what they are.

after that, take a screenshot of the audience retention data. I'd make sure you audience retention data is set to "lifetime" you don't have many views on those videos, but that doesn't mean they don't have ANY data, so take some screenshots of that for future references. If the audience retention looks like hockey sticks, then you're not missing out on deleting them anyway.

BEFORE DELETING. Download the video because you'll probably have lost where the original video has gone.

Re-edit the videos with copyright free music from the YouTube Audio Library (easy to find via creator studio)

Then delete the videos and re-upload them with new copyright free music. My rational behind this is you might not have gotten many views for these videos over the last 30-90 days, so it's likely new audiences had never watched those videos, meaning you can re-craft them into new content.

overall you won't be losing many views, and you may even end up getting new views from re-crafting them with new copyright free music.

I'm planning on doing something similar with content I never actually published and they've just been sitting around since 2016.

And on one final note, it's nice seeing an artist from 2016, and it sounds like you're into metal too, which is always cool in my opinion.

Thanks for the in-depth reply! This is along the lines I was thinking too The oldest of the olds have somewhat weird crop and I don't really like the art anymore etc so I probably won't be recycling all of them but some for sure!

Yess, It wish there was more royalty free metal music! Would love to put than on my videos but so far I've only found a couple of nice tracks

 

[amisclinic]

Is there something stopping from editing with a new music from studio ?

 

[WonderMonkey]

I'm a young channel, but one of the videos I had up way back has the most views, but of course, that was over a great deal of time. Since it doesn't quite contribute to my "Get Monetized" numbers, I am going to take it down, freshen it up, and put it back up.

I tell you the above as I would look and see if you feel that your user base enjoys it (or finds value) in the video as it is now, or maybe would with a bit of freshening up. If the answer is yes, then do that. If the video doesn't do that for you, then it's your choice. It's ok to have videos which aren't up to your current standards as long as those videos are early in your timeline.

 

[Beanie Draws]

Is there something stopping from editing with a new music from studio ?

You can


I haven't played around with doing it much, but you can replace the duration of the video, with a new song. Thanks to the new audio library filters, it seems easier to find songs. the tough part there is the song needs to be the right length and if it isn't it probably gets stuck with silence or something.

considering the content is already old, and hidden back in the gallery and probably not getting many views on a daily basis, I'd still personally just download, re-edit, then reupload and you have the benefit of it being new content for the algorithm with a fresh coat of paint for your new subscribers.

 

[HowIDoThingsDIY]

If you think they are hurting your brand, then I would delete them.

 

[ابراهيم الوادعي]

No, this is a big mistake because you can get views from it