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YouTube News YouTube Subscriber Cull

Pete A Turner

Known Member
110
8
Not sure how many of you got hit in the past 24 hours, but YouTube just zapped 106 subscribers from my channel. Which is fine, these were obviously not true followers of my content...my other numbers have remained the same, so it's just some housekeeping...but

YT claims I dropped by 106 subscribers yesterday...however, the number is actually over 300. Yesterday I was well north of 3300 yesterday but today I'm 3045. not 3200ish. Any thoughts on the discrepancy? I know YT isn't that bad at math?
 

Avocado

Well-Known Member
TubeBuddy User
238
12
Subscriber Goal
1000000
Yeah same here, I was at 23,110. Now I am 22,900ish. This happens every so often. They delete old accounts, inactive accounts, and spam accounts..
 
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Pete A Turner

Pete A Turner

Known Member
110
8
Yeah same here, I was at 23,110. Now I am 22,900ish. This happens every so often. They delete old accounts, inactive accounts, and spam accounts..
Ya, I don't mind the culling...it's the numbers not adding up that's weird to me. I'm down basically 300 subscribers...but they say the only took 100? Either way...less fat on the ol channel. Now I just need to cover those 100+ subs with more active ones!!!
 
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SILTHW

Professional cat wrangler
3,619
27
Subscriber Goal
1000
Ya, I don't mind the culling...it's the numbers not adding up that's weird to me. I'm down basically 300 subscribers...but they say the only took 100? Either way...less fat on the ol channel. Now I just need to cover those 100+ subs with more active ones!!!
We definitely see the mismatch between what they say and the actual number pretty much every time they ramp up a purge. It seems to take a few days for the numbers to actually settle. Specifically, we have seen people notice differences between what the YouTube API is reporting, what the desktop version says and what the mobile app says. Then magically they sync after a few days.
 
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Avocado

Well-Known Member
TubeBuddy User
238
12
Subscriber Goal
1000000
I wish Youtube analytics would be up to the second. A lot of stuff will wait days to populate and say "Data Processing".
 
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SILTHW

Professional cat wrangler
3,619
27
Subscriber Goal
1000
I wish Youtube analytics would be up to the second. A lot of stuff will wait days to populate and say "Data Processing".
Little trick. Plug in Google Analytics. It is often more immediately accurate than YouTube analytics. It just doesn't give you exactly the same data. But views/visits is something it does well.
 
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Kindred

Well-Known Member
TubeBuddy User
213
10
Subscriber Goal
1000
Yeah I find that I get random drops every so often which must be the clear out from YouTube - when they get rid of any bots or inactive subscribers
 
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Avocado

Well-Known Member
TubeBuddy User
238
12
Subscriber Goal
1000000
Little trick. Plug in Google Analytics. It is often more immediately accurate than YouTube analytics. It just doesn't give you exactly the same data. But views/visits is something it does well.
I will try that thanks!
 
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Pete A Turner

Pete A Turner

Known Member
110
8
We definitely see the mismatch between what they say and the actual number pretty much every time they ramp up a purge. It seems to take a few days for the numbers to actually settle. Specifically, we have seen people notice differences between what the YouTube API is reporting, what the desktop version says and what the mobile app says. Then magically they sync after a few days.
I had a second day of culling, which was actually the accounting for the 1st day's numbers. Said another way, the numbers match now, it just took 2 days for the Analytics tab to update to reflect 2 days of culling.
 
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Pete A Turner

Pete A Turner

Known Member
110
8
Little trick. Plug in Google Analytics. It is often more immediately accurate than YouTube analytics. It just doesn't give you exactly the same data. But views/visits is something it does well.
Nice, I may do that...it's a good tip regardless. Now back to work on videos!
 

Stanley | Team TB

Amazingly Decent and Not-At-All Terrible Fishing
Administrator
TubeBuddy Staff
2,644
25
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250000
It's been my understanding that the culls don't all happen for everyone at the same time. They got you that day, could be me today. That having been said damn man... I've never seen someone get hit so hard. They really took a chunk, sorry.
 

Bears and Butters

Known Member
TubeBuddy User
120
10
Subscriber Goal
100000
It's been my understanding that the culls don't all happen for everyone at the same time. They got you that day, could be me today. That having been said damn man... I've never seen someone get hit so hard. They really took a chunk, sorry.

We have had friends who have said that this happens every year.. and you're so right. They aren't all done on the same day. From a data management perspective, it's not feasible to do all accounts at one time, as it's easier and more effective to do them in batch processing.

We lost subs like this every year too... we're just waiting for this years kick to the taco LOLOL!!
 
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Beanie Draws

Mythical Poster
2,883
27
www.youtube.com
Subscriber Goal
30000
subscribers.PNG

It happens from time to time. I generally spend more time focusing on the data that MATTERS, Impressions, CTR, views, etc. I've had friends lose 500 or more subs in a single purge. I probably lost a few, but I don't pay much attention to that.

If you REALLY want to get depressed lol, take a look at your subscribers lost compared to your subscribers gained over the lifetime of your channel :joy: :joy: :joy:
I'd have 41k subs if I hadn't lost 10k subs over the space of 6 years :p

Happens to everyone. Sometimes the stats don't align and YouTube will usually notify you of any discrepency, but I find it's better to just ignore the subscribers metric and focus on things like CTR, Audience retention, Video completion percentage, impressions and traffic sources etc, and of course most importantly, MAKE MORE AWESOME VIDEOS! :cool:
subs lost.PNG
 
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Welcome to Gaming

Known Member
TubeBuddy Pro
122
12
Subscriber Goal
200
Figured something weird had been happening because I was on track to hit 500 in April. Been gaining a sub or two every day since New Year but all of a sudden I was picking them up and losing them the same day so ended up floating around the 470 zone.
 
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Pete A Turner

Pete A Turner

Known Member
110
8
View attachment 10009
It happens from time to time. I generally spend more time focusing on the data that MATTERS, Impressions, CTR, views, etc. I've had friends lose 500 or more subs in a single purge. I probably lost a few, but I don't pay much attention to that.

If you REALLY want to get depressed lol, take a look at your subscribers lost compared to your subscribers gained over the lifetime of your channel :joy: :joy: :joy:
I'd have 41k subs if I hadn't lost 10k subs over the space of 6 years :p

Happens to everyone. Sometimes the stats don't align and YouTube will usually notify you of any discrepency, but I find it's better to just ignore the subscribers metric and focus on things like CTR, Audience retention, Video completion percentage, impressions and traffic sources etc, and of course most importantly, MAKE MORE AWESOME VIDEOS! :cool:
View attachment 10010
This is a great point...my numbers that matter didn't change at all...if anything...they've gone up this week. There's more work to do.