YouTube Help Why Getting Subscribers is Hard

[Jeff Goober]

I'm not sure if this is normal but this is my lifetime views and subscribers at the moment
Joined Aug 29, 2014
Total
LifeTime
Views
572K
1.39K subscribers

I recently was monetized in October of 2020 again lol so that is a plus...Is it just me or is getting people to subscribe kinda hard lol I ask people to subscribe and like my videos in whatever video I am making..My channel is a variety channel and not a particular "niche" but the theme of my channel is Vlogs, Unboxings, and Retro Video games and I separate certain videos in playlists to organize them all...recently I started to grow a beard, and apparently, some of those videos are doing well and made a separate playlist for my beard videos lol so I guess I should start making more beard related videos Anyways I have been on Youtube since 2014 and have half a million total channel views, how do you get people to subscribe? Should I hide my subscriber count? I know some people might not subscribe to a channel because of the subscriber count..has anyone tested this out....Any advice would be appreciated

 

[Beanie Draws]

Personally I think your channel is TOO variety (just my personal opinion) like, I open your channel and first impressions I get is 80's retro gaming, but I see so much vlog stuff and I have zero interest in vlogs. Most of your vlog content struggles to crack 100 views on a 1000 subscriber channel, so that would tell me something. Unfortunatly vlogs just really aren't that interesting, unless your vlogs actually have a theme There's no way I'd ever subscribe to a channel with so much variety that it just feels so all over the place.

If the beard related stuff does well for you, I'd focus ALL your energy into that.

Have you looked at your audience retention graphs to see just how much of your videos people are watching?

Before asking how... I'd be asking WHY. WHY should someone subscribe to you, and take your ego (that will sound harsh but just roll with me here) out of the picture. Videos are supposed to either answer a question, or provide entertainment of some kind.

You need to set a focus, otherwise you'll be all over the place and very few people are interested in that. The fact some of your videos have 50 views after 4 months is a slight worry, and it's all around the vlog content. My vlog videos are my worst performing videos. At the end of the day, unfortunatly it seems like people just don't care about vlogs. My life isn't interesting enough to put into a vlog, which is why I draw instead. My drawings are far more interesting than me.

The idea of hiding your subscribers could be something to think about. The only person who will see your sub count will be you... and you're doing that to GROW your sub count... which again just makes me wonder why? Why do you care about the sub count? I'd be focusing more on making content people want to watch.

Sorry if that all sounds harsh, but that's just my personal feelings and I'd rather be honest. I personally care very little about subcounts. I've celebrated the milestones, but at the end of the day, it's a vanity metric. I'm more interested in the individual viewers who actually watch my videos than the number metric that they might represent.

 

[SILTHW]

I'm not sure if this is normal but this is my lifetime views and subscribers at the moment
Joined Aug 29, 2014
Total
LifeTime
Views
572K
1.39K subscribers

I recently was monetized in October of 2020 again lol so that is a plus...Is it just me or is getting people to subscribe kinda hard lol I ask people to subscribe and like my videos in whatever video I am making..My channel is a variety channel and not a particular "niche" but the theme of my channel is Vlogs, Unboxings, and Retro Video games and I separate certain videos in playlists to organize them all...recently I started to grow a beard, and apparently, some of those videos are doing well and made a separate playlist for my beard videos lol so I guess I should start making more beard related videos Anyways I have been on Youtube since 2014 and have half a million total channel views, how do you get people to subscribe? Should I hide my subscriber count? I know some people might not subscribe to a channel because of the subscriber count..has anyone tested this out....Any advice would be appreciated

I wouldn't be doing my job as a mod if I didn't mention that a few of the questions in your post are asked quite a bit. I would search on the "hide your subscriber count question", as opinions vary widely.

As strange as it sounds, you didn't really say WHY you want more subscribers. So maybe it is worth looking at a few of the reasons why people chase subscribers to better answer your question.

Access to YouTube Features:
This is the place where YouTube sends the most mixed messages. They have said that subscriber count is largely irrelevant (not completely irrelevant, see next section) to getting boosted in search and discovery, yet they gate access to features on number of subscribers. Outside of the custom URL at 100 subs and the community tab at 1000 subscribers, this isn't a great reason to chase subs.

Generate views and high Average View Duration on video release (velocity):
This is the important one. And this is why you don't just want "subs", you want a very particular type of sub. YouTube has been absolutely clear that if a video that gets a large amount of view and those views have a high average view duration, you are going to get boosted by search and discovery. That is huge because that's how you gain an audience. Not just subs, but an audience. YouTube loves an audience. But this is where you are going to have a bit of an issue without a focused niche. Let's use round numbers. Let's say you have 300 subs. But you more or less have 3 niches. Do you have 300 subs for all of your videos, or do you really have 150 subs for one type of video, 100 for anther and 50 for the last? In that case, you are not really getting much velocity from that third type of video. Having all your subs interested in one niche is more useful for velocity than having a fragmented sub base.

You want velocity because it builds audience. You want an audience because an audience provides better avenues of monetization than your subs ever will. Which brings us to...

Subs = $$!
Let's just clear this one up right now. The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is not where most YouTubers make money. It is the exception to make big money from the YPP, not the rule. Most make money by monetizing their audience (not subs) via sponsorships, merch, affiliate sales and side businesses (buy my book, my video, my time). Note I didn't say "or" there. Most people making money from YouTube are making it from multiple sources.

In the end if you focus on developing and serving an audience, subs will come. If you focus on developing and serving an audience, YouTube features will unlock. If you focus on developing and serving an audience, monetization opportunities will come.

Worth noting, you can find the details on what I've written above via the Creator Insider channel on YouTube.

 

[Kindred]

Personally I think your channel is TOO variety (just my personal opinion) like, I open your channel and first impressions I get is 80's retro gaming, but I see so much vlog stuff and I have zero interest in vlogs. Most of your vlog content struggles to crack 100 views on a 1000 subscriber channel, so that would tell me something. Unfortunatly vlogs just really aren't that interesting, unless your vlogs actually have a theme There's no way I'd ever subscribe to a channel with so much variety that it just feels so all over the place.

If the beard related stuff does well for you, I'd focus ALL your energy into that.

Have you looked at your audience retention graphs to see just how much of your videos people are watching?

Before asking how... I'd be asking WHY. WHY should someone subscribe to you, and take your ego (that will sound harsh but just roll with me here) out of the picture. Videos are supposed to either answer a question, or provide entertainment of some kind.

You need to set a focus, otherwise you'll be all over the place and very few people are interested in that. The fact some of your videos have 50 views after 4 months is a slight worry, and it's all around the vlog content. My vlog videos are my worst performing videos. At the end of the day, unfortunatly it seems like people just don't care about vlogs. My life isn't interesting enough to put into a vlog, which is why I draw instead. My drawings are far more interesting than me.

The idea of hiding your subscribers could be something to think about. The only person who will see your sub count will be you... and you're doing that to GROW your sub count... which again just makes me wonder why? Why do you care about the sub count? I'd be focusing more on making content people want to watch.

Sorry if that all sounds harsh, but that's just my personal feelings and I'd rather be honest. I personally care very little about subcounts. I've celebrated the milestones, but at the end of the day, it's a vanity metric. I'm more interested in the individual viewers who actually watch my videos than the number metric that they might represent.

Wow this was incredibly useful - I also have vlogs on my channel and sometimes I wonder about the marketability of vlogs and the difficulty of inserting key words into the title to make them searchable. I feel like vlogs do well when you're super big on YouTube as you already have subs that are interested in you / know you - if that makes sense. I also agree about that 'provide entertainment' things too- I feel like its all about purpose and niche

 

[Jeff Goober]

Personally I think your channel is TOO variety (just my personal opinion) like, I open your channel and first impressions I get is 80's retro gaming, but I see so much vlog stuff and I have zero interest in vlogs. Most of your vlog content struggles to crack 100 views on a 1000 subscriber channel, so that would tell me something. Unfortunatly vlogs just really aren't that interesting, unless your vlogs actually have a theme There's no way I'd ever subscribe to a channel with so much variety that it just feels so all over the place.

If the beard related stuff does well for you, I'd focus ALL your energy into that.

Have you looked at your audience retention graphs to see just how much of your videos people are watching?

Before asking how... I'd be asking WHY. WHY should someone subscribe to you, and take your ego (that will sound harsh but just roll with me here) out of the picture. Videos are supposed to either answer a question, or provide entertainment of some kind.

You need to set a focus, otherwise you'll be all over the place and very few people are interested in that. The fact some of your videos have 50 views after 4 months is a slight worry, and it's all around the vlog content. My vlog videos are my worst performing videos. At the end of the day, unfortunatly it seems like people just don't care about vlogs. My life isn't interesting enough to put into a vlog, which is why I draw instead. My drawings are far more interesting than me.

The idea of hiding your subscribers could be something to think about. The only person who will see your sub count will be you... and you're doing that to GROW your sub count... which again just makes me wonder why? Why do you care about the sub count? I'd be focusing more on making content people want to watch.

Sorry if that all sounds harsh, but that's just my personal feelings and I'd rather be honest. I personally care very little about subcounts. I've celebrated the milestones, but at the end of the day, it's a vanity metric. I'm more interested in the individual viewers who actually watch my videos than the number metric that they might represent.

When I first started my channel all I did was vlogs..my life is pretty boring but I would try and put somewhat of a decent title or story in a vlog..Some of the popular "how to start a youtube channel and how to get views to a channel back in the day said to make a vlog a channel, so I thought I was on the right path but like you said my vlogs never get views lol

I recently just changed my channel name and just got the gear to be more of a retro video game channel..this is why I only have a few videos on the topic...Some of my unboxings videos have been working out and taking off which is answering people's questions. WHY they should subscribe.. I myself looked up stuff before I buy and those videos have been getting a few amazon affiliate sales so that's a plus and is funny how when you use amazon affiliates you can see what people but xD And now that I'm going to be doing a lot of retro stuff soon that is another reason why someone should subscribe if they are into old retro games from the past.

As for my audience retention.. I never really paid any attention to my analytics which is a huge mistake on my part So I am just learning about my analytics from TubeBuddy and youtube videos iv been watching lately.. So the video that is doing well I'm going to be making more videos related to my most 5 viewed videos...And almost all of my views that are decent are ALL from youtube and google search. So the video that is doing okay I think I got the SEO figured out, I just need to work on my thumbnail game and titles more.

My daily vlogs I only do now around Vlogust,Vlogtober or Vlogmas but yeah they don't really get any views lol, I know those videos are popular with the popular Vloggers so It's hard for me to get views around that time it seems like.

As for sub count..I feel like a lot of people just look at the number of subs...I feel like if 2 people have the same type of content..if the smaller channel has the better gear and is doing everything right and the other channel doesn't but has a way higher sub count..I feel like some people would automatically subscribe to the channel that doesn't have the best gear or video just because the sub count is higher. that's my take on it... So I feel like it's good and bad if I hide my sub count, I know some people like seeing a channel grow and following them since the begging which is awesome! Being a full-time YouTuber and working from is the reason why I would want a lot of subscribers..I make a small amount from amazon affiliate and AdSense at the moment but I know when you have a bigger sub count brands sometimes will reach out to you..I know there are tons of ways to monetize a youtube channel and have a lot of subs usually would workout with the goal of being a full-time youtuber..That is the dream we all want right?

Not harsh at all..I love all the feedback, I recently started to change my channel up, so Yeah you are right I'm going to lay off the vlogs and focus more on the videos that are doing well which is my unboxings, retro games and my beard videos LOL

 

[Jeff Goober]

I wouldn't be doing my job as a mod if I didn't mention that a few of the questions in your post are asked quite a bit. I would search on the "hide your subscriber count question", as opinions vary widely.

As strange as it sounds, you didn't really say WHY you want more subscribers. So maybe it is worth looking at a few of the reasons why people chase subscribers to better answer your question.

Access to YouTube Features:
This is the place where YouTube sends the most mixed messages. They have said that subscriber count is largely irrelevant (not completely irrelevant, see next section) to getting boosted in search and discovery, yet they gate access to features on number of subscribers. Outside of the custom URL at 100 subs and the community tab at 1000 subscribers, this isn't a great reason to chase subs.

Generate views and high Average View Duration on video release (velocity):
This is the important one. And this is why you don't just want "subs", you want a very particular type of sub. YouTube has been absolutely clear that if a video that gets a large amount of view and those views have a high average view duration, you are going to get boosted by search and discovery. That is huge because that's how you gain an audience. Not just subs, but an audience. YouTube loves an audience. But this is where you are going to have a bit of an issue without a focused niche. Let's use round numbers. Let's say you have 300 subs. But you more or less have 3 niches. Do you have 300 subs for all of your videos, or do you really have 150 subs for one type of video, 100 for anther and 50 for the last? In that case, you are not really getting much velocity from that third type of video. Having all your subs interested in one niche is more useful for velocity than having a fragmented sub base.

You want velocity because it builds audience. You want an audience because an audience provides better avenues of monetization than your subs ever will. Which brings us to...

Subs = $$!
Let's just clear this one up right now. The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is not where most YouTubers make money. It is the exception to make big money from the YPP, not the rule. Most make money by monetizing their audience (not subs) via sponsorships, merch, affiliate sales and side businesses (buy my book, my video, my time). Note I didn't say "or" there. Most people making money from YouTube are making it from multiple sources.

In the end if you focus on developing and serving an audience, subs will come. If you focus on developing and serving an audience, YouTube features will unlock. If you focus on developing and serving an audience, monetization opportunities will come.

Worth noting, you can find the details on what I've written above via the Creator Insider channel on YouTube.

Thanks for the feedback..I'll make sure to search everything before I post. Doing Youtube full-time and working from home and monetizing my channel multiple ways is the reason why I would want a lot of subscribers I make a small amount with the AdSense that I just got approved for in October of 2020..and amazon affiliate links, which is awesome making money while I sleep by just doing videos that I enjoy making, I would like that to grow. That's the dream

 

[SILTHW]

Thanks for the feedback..I'll make sure to search everything before I post. Doing Youtube full-time and working from home and monetizing my channel multiple ways is the reason why I would want a lot of subscribers I make a small amount with the AdSense that I just got approved for in October of 2020..and amazon affiliate links, which is awesome making money while I sleep by just doing videos that I enjoy making, I would like that to grow. That's the dream

I think focusing on growing an audience for the type of content you are most passionate about is going to be your best bet. You are doing well!

 

[Jeff Goober]

I think focusing on growing an audience for the type of content you are most passionate about is going to be your best bet. You are doing well!

Thanks..I'll keep making content and I'll try not to let the sub count discourage me lol

 

[BraveStar]

Yea, sadly YouTube today is nothing like YouTube of 10 years ago. Back then I used to watch content based on the creator. These days the content tends to be very specific with the creator only being part of the reason for watching. It happened with several tech-related channels I used to follow. They incorporated too much smartphone content and slowly bored me out of their channels. I often avoid subscribing to channels that have too much variety these days because I use the subscription section of Youtube to consume my subscription content and hate having it cluttered with videos I'm not interested in watching. I often do spring cleaning on my subscribed list and unsubscribe from channels I don't watch anymore due to too much content I don't watch.

 

[Kindred]

Yea, sadly YouTube today is nothing like YouTube of 10 years ago. Back then I used to watch content based on the creator. These days the content tends to be very specific with the creator only being part of the reason for watching. It happened with several tech-related channels I used to follow. They incorporated too much smartphone content and slowly bored me out of their channels. I often avoid subscribing to channels that have too much variety these days because I use the subscription section of Youtube to consume my subscription content and hate having it cluttered with videos I'm not interested in watching. I often do spring cleaning on my subscribed list and unsubscribe from channels I don't watch anymore due to too much content I don't watch.

Yess - I can't believe how much YouTube has changed. I also used to watch videos by creators who made variety and now my subscriptions are pretty specific content - I guess that's something to consider when making my own videos

 

[Damon]

Yeah, you gotta pick an audience you want to serve and serve them.

 

[Stream live]

Do your best
Show your telent perfectly
Then you got it

 

[healthwithlynn]

Personally I think your channel is TOO variety (just my personal opinion) like, I open your channel and first impressions I get is 80's retro gaming, but I see so much vlog stuff and I have zero interest in vlogs. Most of your vlog content struggles to crack 100 views on a 1000 subscriber channel, so that would tell me something. Unfortunatly vlogs just really aren't that interesting, unless your vlogs actually have a theme There's no way I'd ever subscribe to a channel with so much variety that it just feels so all over the place.

If the beard related stuff does well for you, I'd focus ALL your energy into that.

Have you looked at your audience retention graphs to see just how much of your videos people are watching?

Before asking how... I'd be asking WHY. WHY should someone subscribe to you, and take your ego (that will sound harsh but just roll with me here) out of the picture. Videos are supposed to either answer a question, or provide entertainment of some kind.

You need to set a focus, otherwise you'll be all over the place and very few people are interested in that. The fact some of your videos have 50 views after 4 months is a slight worry, and it's all around the vlog content. My vlog videos are my worst performing videos. At the end of the day, unfortunatly it seems like people just don't care about vlogs. My life isn't interesting enough to put into a vlog, which is why I draw instead. My drawings are far more interesting than me.

The idea of hiding your subscribers could be something to think about. The only person who will see your sub count will be you... and you're doing that to GROW your sub count... which again just makes me wonder why? Why do you care about the sub count? I'd be focusing more on making content people want to watch.

Sorry if that all sounds harsh, but that's just my personal feelings and I'd rather be honest. I personally care very little about subcounts. I've celebrated the milestones, but at the end of the day, it's a vanity metric. I'm more interested in the individual viewers who actually watch my videos than the number metric that they might represent.

oh wow this helps so much thank you. i have only been on youtube for 2 months and your reply helps a lot.

 

[KS Moto Cafe]

Yea, sadly YouTube today is nothing like YouTube of 10 years ago. Back then I used to watch content based on the creator. These days the content tends to be very specific with the creator only being part of the reason for watching. It happened with several tech-related channels I used to follow. They incorporated too much smartphone content and slowly bored me out of their channels. I often avoid subscribing to channels that have too much variety these days because I use the subscription section of Youtube to consume my subscription content and hate having it cluttered with videos I'm not interested in watching. I often do spring cleaning on my subscribed list and unsubscribe from channels I don't watch anymore due to too much content I don't watch.

This 100%. 15 years ago, I watched youtube for random gags and fun drinking games in college but then it evolved to "how to" videos for my attempt at DIY tasks, then evolved again to "life style" and "cooking" videos, and now my subscriptions to other channels really narrowed down to niche needs for my entertainment and current needs. I think my journey is related to my experience in life. I am no longer that College student that had unlimited energy and time; I am now a family man with never ending growth of responsibilities, I now have to prioritize how I spend my days and hours better than before.

When I started my channel in December 2020, I was very focused on the number of subscribers but now I realize, # of subs is not as important versus # of views and the duration that my viewers watch per video. When I see a channel with 5k+ subs but their recent videos only show 100 to 200 views makes me believe that A. the channel might have purchased subscribers or B. their content has dried up and the subscribers don't care too much for their channel. I don't expect all of my subscribers to watch my episodes because some subscribers are subbed to hundreds if not thousands of other channels, therefore unless my channel pops out, I can't expect them to see me. I do try to engage in the comments section as much as possible and much like this forum, use it so that my viewers feel like their posts are actually heard and that they can actually reach me.

 

[Damon]

When I see a channel with 5k+ subs but their recent videos only show 100 to 200 views makes me believe that A. the channel might have purchased subscribers or B. their content has dried up and the subscribers don't care too much for their channel.

Not necessarily. I have 8k+ subs and some videos only get a 100 or 200 views after I post them. You have to understand that some channels are highly seasonal. The fishing season hasn't quite yet hit in full. The videos I post now won't get watched until the season comes in or until the next cycle starts, a year or two from now. It usually takes a couple years for my videos to hit because of that seasonal nature. The views come two or three years after I've made a video. The videos I post now, I don't expect to see a "return" off them for a year maybe two or three. In other words I'm thinking two or three years ahead, not how many view am I going to get right now.

I'm thinking, "Who will this video serve three years from now?" That's evergreen content. That will get you millions of views. If all you focus on is what will my audience view right now, then you get a boost of views up front, then everything dies. It's a chess game, not a video game. (Pun most certainly intended.)

 

[KS Moto Cafe]

I'm thinking, "Who will this video serve three years from now?" That's evergreen content. That will get you millions of views. If all you focus on is what will my audience view right now, then you get a boost of views up front, then everything dies. It's a chess game, not a video game. (Pun most certainly intended.)

Interesting! So they are long term "investment" videos for the evergreen content.. I guess I can see that for travel guide, cooking, how to, and review videos but some of the content I was referring to were definitely "relevant to now" type of vlogs where the vlogger is chatting about how people cope with COVID, Texas Winter Storm, US elections, etc but I see your point. And fishing is one of my fav hobbies, so I will definitely check out your channel =D

 

[The Storm is coming]

Yep I agree, but sometimes it's really hard to determine if you should make short-term videos that will get you subs or long term videos that can grow your channel UCuxNMml6WSsXMShnFik7L-w

 

[Riyan]

Same problem.