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YouTube Question Worst August in my channel's history. Views crashing worst than January cliff! What is going on with YT?

Nothin' But Gadgets

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I have lost over 1/3 of my channel views in the last five weeks. Normally, July and August have been good months for my channel. For the past five years, July and August have always been growing months. Since I have changed nothing on my channel and have had zero other problems, I am guessing this has something to do with what YT is doing rather than me, because I have changed nothing.

Is anyone else seeing the same thing I am?
 
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Nothin' But Gadgets

Nothin' But Gadgets

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So, I have done a lot of research since posting this and I have found several other YouTubers that have experienced the same thing as me. Starting about mid-July, I and several other YouTubers saw a mountain peak where our views were climbing and then just turned toward and have never recovered from that downward spiral. So, it is not just me seeing this. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for it. Everyone is just doing what they have always done. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
 

Stanley | Team TB

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Whew! It's not just me!!! lol

Yeah, I am afraid that this is a bit of a platform trend. It sucks, but it happens so get used to it. What has been happening (and is going to continue to happen for better and for worse) is the pandemic. In 2020 everyone began to quarantine and many of us saw a pretty nice boost in views due to everyone sitting at home. But this summer it was the exact opposite; doors started opening and 'revenge travel' became a thing (seriously, look that up!). Everyone is sick of being stuck in doors so they are all out doing stuff and not watching YouTube.

Nobody knows what the future holds, but be aware there is an ebb and flow to views. It may be pretty bad heading into the holidays this year but with any luck the big carriers will release some flashy new devices and everyone will be back to their normal viewing habits some time this winter.
 
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Nothin' But Gadgets

Nothin' But Gadgets

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I am not
Whew! It's not just me!!! lol

Yeah, I am afraid that this is a bit of a platform trend. It sucks, but it happens so get used to it. What has been happening (and is going to continue to happen for better and for worse) is the pandemic. In 2020 everyone began to quarantine and many of us saw a pretty nice boost in views due to everyone sitting at home. But this summer it was the exact opposite; doors started opening and 'revenge travel' became a thing (seriously, look that up!). Everyone is sick of being stuck in doors so they are all out doing stuff and not watching YouTube.

Nobody knows what the future holds, but be aware there is an ebb and flow to views. It may be pretty bad heading into the holidays this year but with any luck the big carriers will release some flashy new devices and everyone will be back to their normal viewing habits some time this winter.

I am not so sure that is the cause. Maybe to a small degree, yes, but not to the massive degree we are seeing. Humans are creatures of habit by in large. They do what they do. I have years of analytics and the trend has always been to see an increase of viewership from July through September. I think YT tweaked something somewhere. I know they had been pushing shorts hard earlier this year and it seems like they just abandon that all of the sudden.

One thing I have noticed is an almost abusive level of ads on YT for Facebook, FB Messenger, and Tic Tok. I have gone through the "Stop Seeing this Ad" process at least 200 times in the last month and if I turn my phone on right now and open youtube, I will bet a million dollars one of those will be the first ad I see. Why YT would be promoting competing platforms so aggressively is a serious question. It's like they are pushing viewers onto other platforms against their will with unceasing ads for them.

I don't know if it has anything to do with the drop in viewership, but it might. I have been doing this long time, probably much longer than most people you know. I know about the ups and downs of YT. Figuring out why things are happening and what can be done about them is just part of being a YouTuber.
 

Damon

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I don't know if it has anything to do with the drop in viewership, but it might. I have been doing this long time, probably much longer than most people you know. I know about the ups and downs of YT. Figuring out why things are happening and what can be done about them is just part of being a YouTuber.

But, everyone is experiencing the biggest up-and-down, ebb-and-flow cycle the world has seen since 1917. You certainly haven't been doing things that long.
 
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Damon

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I stand corrected. Since you've been through this once, then you know what to expect, and what to do about it.
 
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Maxie Mba

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Am as frustrated as you are dear @Nothin' But Gadgets, my channel views are decreasing in 80% and SUBSCRIBERS dropping. I don't really know what to do ‍♀️‍♀️‍♀ someone please help me
 
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Stanley | Team TB

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@Maxie Mba and everyone else... heed @Damon 's advice. Whether this is the result of the pandemic or any other influence the most important thing to take from this is that it is not the last time this will happen. Growth on YouTube comes and goes. There will be times of feast and times of famine. You will need to learn to adapt and you will need to be patient. At times like this you need to put on the blinders, ignore the numbers and just keep on creating.
 
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Nothin' But Gadgets

Nothin' But Gadgets

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@Maxie Mba and everyone else... heed @Damon 's advice. Whether this is the result of the pandemic or any other influence the most important thing to take from this is that it is not the last time this will happen. Growth on YouTube comes and goes. There will be times of feast and times of famine. You will need to learn to adapt and you will need to be patient. At times like this you need to put on the blinders, ignore the numbers and just keep on creating.

I agree with both of you, but as you said, " You will need to learn to adapt ". In order to "Adapt" you must first know what you need to adapt to. As a person who worked in addiction rehab, the first step in fixing any problem is, identifying what the problem is and admitting it. I find all to often, when it comes to YT, the advice of "Close your eyes and keep pressing on", is not wise advice that anyone would give if in any other situation, but somehow, it is good advice when it comes to being a YouTuber.

Personally, I think that in all cases in life, YT or not, the best course of action is to first, discover what the problem is, and then take whatever steps are necessary to adapt or correct it. If in fact, what we are all seeing is related to Covid, then there is nothing we can do. But from my many years of experience as a YouTuber that runs over a dozen channels in many different genres, I am not convinced that Covid is the cause of this. I am talking with Tubers on many different forums and many genres. My gut tells me this is a YT algorithm issue. I have nothing to back this up, but just my instinct and understanding of human behavior.
 
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Nothin' But Gadgets

Nothin' But Gadgets

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Am as frustrated as you are dear @Nothin' But Gadgets, my channel views are decreasing in 80% and SUBSCRIBERS dropping. I don't really know what to do ΓÇìΓÖÇΓÇìΓÖÇΓÇìΓÖÇ someone please help me

I am so sorry to hear this. Everyone I am talking to is seeing this across the board. AS of yet, there is no conclusive culprit for this, so no one knows what to do. We are all in the same boat. My hope is that if enough people raise the red flag and call YT's attention to the problem, especially the big channels, YT will address it. Stanely and Damon think this is a Covid issue. If this is true it is drop-dead simple to tell if this is the case for anyone who has access to YT's analytics. Has YT lost 30 to 50% of its overall total viewership in the last six weeks? Yes? Well, then we could say this is a Covid issue. If not, and YT's overall viewership has not changed or gone up, then that would tell us that it clearly has nothing to do with Covid. Maybe someone knows how to get this data and post it for us to confirm or rule this out.
 
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Damon

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Either way it's out of our control. The only thing I can control is the quality of videos, the number of videos, and the audience I choose to serve with those videos. If it's COVID, only the good LORD can help us. If it's an algorithm issue, only Google-YouTube's genius engineers and computer science doctorates can fix it. The only thing I can do is continue to produce content. If I continue to produce content and all this gets sorted whatever the cause, then I will have even more content to benefit from the coming uptick in views and subs. But, if I sit here worrying about what the cause and stop making videos, if things return to normal--and I don't think things will return to normal--you've just set yourself up for an ever downward spiral of failure.

You understand addiction recovery. Continue to work the steps. The very process of working the steps is designed to help you analyze the problem and fix what's wrong. The same with videos. The act of never ending continual content production is designed to help you analyze the problem and continue even when you have no control over the outcome.

Let's say YouTube has lost 50% of it's viewership over the past six weeks. There is nothing I can do about that. But, I can keep creating new content. And we have seen massive dips in viewership given all the scandals regarding the many Adpocolypses and such. What did I do? Made more content.

Let's say a new Zed-variant of COVID outbreaks this week. There is nothing I can do about that, but I can keep making new content. Well, we've already experienced COVID, the South African, beta, delta and lambda variants. What did I do? Made more content.

What Am I seeing? The same rise in views and subs I always see for my channel. It's amazing! The more and better content I create specific to my audience, the more views and subscribers I get no matter what happens out there.

Thank you for your input, I'm finished with this conversation.
 
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Nothin' But Gadgets

Nothin' But Gadgets

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Either way it's out of our control. The only thing I can control is the quality of videos, the number of videos, and the audience I choose to serve with those videos. If it's COVID, only the good LORD can help us. If it's an algorithm issue, only Google-YouTube's genius engineers and computer science doctorates can fix it. The only thing I can do is continue to produce content. If I continue to produce content and all this gets sorted whatever the cause, then I will have even more content to benefit from the coming uptick in views and subs. But, if I sit here worrying about what the cause and stop making videos, if things return to normal--and I don't think things will return to normal--you've just set yourself up for an ever downward spiral of failure.

You understand addiction recovery. Continue to work the steps. The very process of working the steps is designed to help you analyze the problem and fix what's wrong. The same with videos. The act of never ending continual content production is designed to help you analyze the problem and continue even when you have no control over the outcome.

Let's say YouTube has lost 50% of it's viewership over the past six weeks. There is nothing I can do about that. But, I can keep creating new content. And we have seen massive dips in viewership given all the scandals regarding the many Adpocolypses and such. What did I do? Made more content.

Let's say a new Zed-variant of COVID outbreaks this week. There is nothing I can do about that, but I can keep making new content. Well, we've already experienced COVID, the South African, beta, delta and lambda variants. What did I do? Made more content.

What Am I seeing? The same rise in views and subs I always see for my channel. It's amazing! The more and better content I create specific to my audience, the more views and subscribers I get no matter what happens out there.

Thank you for your input, I'm finished with this conversation.

I don't disagree with anything you have said here.
 
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Nothin' But Gadgets

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The same thing happened to my channel despite the consistency. I think unlocking has something to do with it, but let's see what winter brings.

I saw in the latest Creator Insider that YouTube is now offering serious prizes (up to $10,000) for people who create Shorts, even if they are not in the YPP program. So, it is clear that YT is still pushing Shorts. I believe they are siphoning off views from long-form channels like mine by recommending Shorts more to viewers.

I am starting to feel like discriminated against minority on YT. In the last year, I have seen YT push and promote LGBT content, BLM content, Gaming content, and now Shorts, but in all my years as a YouTuber, I have not once ever seen YT promote educational useful content creators. You know, the creators that create really good content that actually has practical value in life can get you out in a jam or teach you valuable life skills. I am not saying that all content creators should not get some special treatment, but shouldn't the people that make actually USEFUL and PRACTICAL content get some attention once in a while? I am just saying?
 
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Nothin' But Gadgets

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Just checking back in to give an update. My channel continues to decline for no reason. I am putting out more content than ever. I have videos scheduled for release for the whole next month and more in the pipeline. But my views continue to decline.

It seems that Facebook Messenger and TikTok are still on their ravenous crusade to steal streaming video viewership from YT, and YT is all the more willing to let them do it because I cannot open the YT app without getting hit with incessant ads for TikTok and Messenger. I have clicked the "Do not show me this ad anymore" no less than one thousand times in the last few months and I will bet you 100 dollars if I open the YT app right now, the first ad I will see will be for TikTok or Messenger. Hold on for a minute while I open the app. YEP. Ad for TikTok, front and center. Why in the hell is YT advertising for the competition that is trying to steal traffic from YT?

Did you guys see the Creator Update video last month where they announced awards in the thousands of dollars for the best SHORTS creators, whether they were partnered or not? What the heck? It's like YT is intentionally trying to hurt the long-form content creators by driving traffic to shorts, TikTok, and Messenger. I filled out the survey. They kept asking me if I felt like YT cared about my well-being. I told them, NO HECK WAY. YT does not care about me. I am working my butt off creating quality useful content, and all I see is YT promoting Gaming channels, Shorts channels, and every other kind of gobbledygook crappy content they can, but have you once, JUST ONCE ever heard YT do anything to promote their DIY channels or Educational channels that ACTUALLY create USEFUL content that has REAL WORLD Value. NOT in the five years, I have been doing YT.

This is one screwed-up world we live in where things of real practical value have no value and things of no practical usefulness have all the value. The farmer that produces the food to keep us alive, starve, while some unknown girl makes millions making funny faces in TikTok videos. The future generation is doomed to destruction.

Sorry for the rant, but I am just getting tired of it.
 

Damon

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This is one screwed-up world we live in where things of real practical value have no value and things of no practical usefulness have all the value. The farmer that produces the food to keep us alive, starve, while some unknown girl makes millions making funny faces in TikTok videos. The future generation is doomed to destruction.

Sorry for the rant, but I am just getting tired of it.

Your rant is well justified. You hit on the biggest problem in the world: The whole world is broken to the core.
 
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Nothin' But Gadgets

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Your rant is well justified. You hit on the biggest problem in the world: The whole world is broken to the core.

Yeah, I see bad things for the future. I have mentored many young people in my life. I actually ran a facility for over a decade that was focused on mentoring young people and teaching them real-life skills. It was kind of like a dude ranch. They learned all the basic skills, like cooking, financial budgeting, gardening, meat processing, repair skills (electrical, plumbing, mechanical, etc), health and nutrition, and many other basic life skills. But this newest generation seems to have no interest in learning anything like this. There is a national trend of younger people not even wanting to drive their own car, for example.

The issue is, I believe, they see no value in learning these things because, what they see valued the most in society is, for lack of a better term, silliness. Every day they see young people getting rich and famous for acting stupid and being unwise. They see people like Bella Poarch (Face Girl) that has become rich and famous doing nothing but making funny faces. They see people like Rhet and Link (Good Mythical Morning) become icons doing nothing but acting like idiots while doing a stupid food taste testing show. And the list of examples is almost endless.

We live in a society that worships gobbledegook and silliness and gives it the highest value, so why should they care about learning anything wise or practically, when you can become rich by literally doing stupid things and falling down and hurting yourself.

Don't get me wrong, I do not begrudge people becoming successful, regardless of what they do, but I think there is a serious imbalance of priorities as a society. It is like a said in my last post. I have never once seen YT even mention its DIY creators. YT constantly mentions and its soft content creators, and that is fine, but what about all creators that produce educational content that actually helps people? What about them? Honestly, if it was not for that type of content, I would never watch a single YT video.

It makes no sense to me from a logical standpoint. It seems like YT wants to promote the type of content that only teenagers would be interested in. (take the Shorts Fund for example:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPKT1sBQJm8
). Teenagers have no money to spend, and what they want to buy does not really cost that much. YT makes money from ads. Why target a demographic that has no money?

On my main channel (which is a DIY channel) my demographic of 95% male from the ages of 25 to 60. That channel earns an average of $8 per every 1000 views, with some videos making as much as $12 per 1000 views. It is not uncommon for me to see Toyota, Chevy, and Ford ads running on my videos. You really can't get better paying ads than those. What those ads tell me is that the Ad Mall has valued my content space as being worthy of the best ads.

Now, I have had a lot of discussions with gaming channel creators, and when I tell them about the ads that run on my content and the amount I earn per thousand views, their jaws drop in disbelief. Many of them feel great to earn $1 per 1000 views. This tells me that the Ad Mall does not value gaming channel ad space nearly as high as it does DIY channel content. So, logically speaking, you would want to drive traffic towards your best ad space, not your least valuable ad space.

The way my mind works, I view YT as a highway system and creators as billboard builders. Each video is a billboard on which YT can place ads to make money. YT controls the flow of traffic through search results and recommendations. It makes logical sense that they would want the traffic to go down the roads that have the highest paying ads on them. Shorts are not that road. Shorts make absolutely nothing in comparison to long-form content. Teen targeted content makes very little in comparison to content that targets a more mature audience that has stable jobs and the capability to buy big-ticket items.

I am just saying that this is how my brain works, not that I am right about everything I said. It is just what makes logical sense to me. What does not make logical sense to me is YT's obsession with Shorts and teen demographic targeted content and why they constantly are scalping views from the more valuable channels to drive that traffic towards the least valuable channels. Things that don't make sense to me, bother me. I am sure there is a rational explanation for why they are doing this, but I have never found anyone who knows what it is and can provide a well reasoned logical explanation for it.
 
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