How Long Until Video / Channel Blows Up? Very High Relative Audience Retention

WilliamRayWalters

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I really need to study it more.
Well, don't go crazy, you won't necessarily find anything meaningful. The truth is, sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to why the algorithm decides to rank certain videos highly. I've had videos recently that were getting 20k views/day for years and suddenly drop by 90%. I've had others languish for years and suddenly jump by 5x. It is very far from an exact science. If we knew too much about it, it would be an easy situation to 'game' and Youtube does not want that.

Just keep turning out what you consider quality content and content that results in that high retention and you'll give yourself the best chance at growing.
 

just Moto

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I spend a week or two on each video getting into the retention science of things. Overall I only ever average 4 mins but on a 10 minute + video that works well for me. I can now post a vid and it will get 10k + views on the first day then taper right down for 2-3 days at which point it should BLOW UP if I got it right. Sometimes there are instances where it might take a week or two, however it also depends on how many videos I am posting... if I post one too soon, it may effect the previous videos performance ranking... so I prefer to post only once every 10-14 days. I'm of the belief that all channels have a certain ranking in the algorithm whereby they are allocated a certain chunk of views each month and as the audience and stats grow, well so does that portion of allocated/suggested views.
 
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Winger94

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There is a problem of balance because: on one side shorter videos can make your retention rate going really high, but on the other side a bunch of short videos will generate less minutes watched compared to fewer and longer videos. But again, if a video is shorter and entertaining maybe more people will see it, generating more minutes watched.
In the end the suggestion should be focusing on shorter videos but sometimes this isn't so possible, for example for let's play channels, like mine, sometimes is really hard to focus a let's play session in a short video without cutting the hell out of the video and thus denaturating it. So it's just a matter of balance, as i said.
 

just Moto

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Short videos can be great for steering traffic to your other videos because the viewer will be more likely to reach the end and see your end card. If you don't have an end card with at least 2 videos to choose from you are doing it all wrong lol
 
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MCNE

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{UPDATE]
Sorry It's taken so long to reply....we had something crazy happen. One of our videos blew up "kinda". It started to get 100k views a day. It all started last Friday. I noticed a video that was a month old started getting traction on Friday. To give you an idea of our channel on March 8th we got 1,224 views a day for the whole channel. On April 4th we got 84, 217 views a day for the whole channel out of the blue. I don't have the exact views for the 5th and 6th because analytics hasn't updated, but real time has us at 300k views for the last 48 hours. At one point we were getting 15k views an hour. Currently we are bouncing between 3800 - 4800 views an hour for the channel.

All the views were from suggested videos. I checked every video thoroughly. I am in a mix of emotions. I was sick with excitement the past few day, but also nervous and falling apart. I did not want it to drop back to where I was before. I will wait the week out to see if it drops or picks up higher. based on @YouTuber1978 and @Ryan ToysReview posts in the past this is a good sign either way.

Well, don't go crazy, you won't necessarily find anything meaningful. The truth is, sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to why the algorithm decides to rank certain videos highly. I've had videos recently that were getting 20k views/day for years and suddenly drop by 90%. I've had others languish for years and suddenly jump by 5x. It is very far from an exact science. If we knew too much about it, it would be an easy situation to 'game' and Youtube does not want that.

Just keep turning out what you consider quality content and content that results in that high retention and you'll give yourself the best chance at growing.
THIS!!!! That is my mindset. It is such a rollercoaster. I remember reading RyanToys say they went from 40k views a day for the channel to 1 million out of the blue. I pray for this success and am now a believer that it will hit you out of nowhere.
 

MCNE

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Perhaps if you tell us the toy we can offer some more suggestions ;-)
I plan on posting my channel once we hit a certain threshold. I don't want to since my channel is small and it could hurt my retention and watch time.
 
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just Moto

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Awesome stuff! Great news. There's a good chance it will go back down so prepare yourself for that and don't get depressed. It means you made content that people liked and the youtube algorithm recognised this so literally shoved the video in front of hundreds of thousands of peoples faces!!

Last week was holidays. Some people fared well. Others didn't. CPM's were also doubled because advertisers knew people would be sitting around watching videos. I was stoked to see my channel peak at around 150k views a day for the last week, however what comes up must come down lol. Not always, but in most cases yes.

So what could happen are a few things.

  • Your video will continue to bring in the views, subs and $$ and turn you into an youtube sensation (not so likely)
  • The video will decrease in views but become whats known as an "evergreen" where is brings in a nice amount of views consistently for years and often gets re suggested by youtube (most likely)
  • It will get a tonne of views then die off (it happens)
Best thing you can do is study that video and understand why it worked so well, then hopefully you can repeat the process again.

And ultimately, be happy with the fact you are building your audience. A happy audience is everything in most cases. Don't flood/overwhelm them with content trying to get another vid to blow up. Focus on a quality content vid that will work well for you even if it takes 2-3 weeks.

I used to think I had to upload 1 video a week now it's more closer to one every fortnight. Combine a happy audience with the quality content they came to see and you will succeed!
 
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RiffRaff

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500k views! What on earth was the video about! Was it a cute baby laughing? I'm going to go and check now, better not be a minecraft video. I don't know why I'm typing when I can just go and look....
 
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MCNE

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Awesome stuff! Great news. There's a good chance it will go back down so prepare yourself for that and don't get depressed. It means you made content that people liked and the youtube algorithm recognised this so literally shoved the video in front of hundreds of thousands of peoples faces!!

Last week was holidays. Some people fared well. Others didn't. CPM's were also doubled because advertisers knew people would be sitting around watching videos. I was stoked to see my channel peak at around 150k views a day for the last week, however what comes up must come down lol. Not always, but in most cases yes.

So what could happen are a few things.

  • Your video will continue to bring in the views, subs and $$ and turn you into an youtube sensation (not so likely)
  • The video will decrease in views but become whats known as an "evergreen" where is brings in a nice amount of views consistently for years and often gets re suggested by youtube (most likely)
  • It will get a tonne of views then die off (it happens)
Best thing you can do is study that video and understand why it worked so well, then hopefully you can repeat the process again.

And ultimately, be happy with the fact you are building your audience. A happy audience is everything in most cases. Don't flood/overwhelm them with content trying to get another vid to blow up. Focus on a quality content vid that will work well for you even if it takes 2-3 weeks.

I used to think I had to upload 1 video a week now it's more closer to one every fortnight. Combine a happy audience with the quality content they came to see and you will succeed!
Thank you for telling me not to get depressed. It is still getting views, but my goal is to stay calm if it drops more.

One thought...many people who are successful on here say they post every week or month, but I think kids channels should post daily. It seems like kids do not tire of content and consume it more than adults or even teens. My 3 yr old watches youtube constantly and has watched the same videos 10 times. I am not kidding. That is how some kids channels get so big. The 1-4 yr old range can watch a single video multiple times and they love new content too.

They are natural bingers. I say all this because I was thinking that toddler or younger kids channels should post quite often because the audience is so hungry. Any thoughts?
 

just Moto

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One thought...many people who are successful on here say they post every week or month, but I think kids channels should post daily. It seems like kids do not tire of content and consume it more than adults or even teens. My 3 yr old watches youtube constantly and has watched the same videos 10 times. I am not kidding. That is how some kids channels get so big. The 1-4 yr old range can watch a single video multiple times and they love new content too.

They are natural bingers. I say all this because I was thinking that toddler or younger kids channels should post quite often because the audience is so hungry. Any thoughts?
Yeah that sounds logical, I only just realised your a kids channel. I read that the reason funtoyz collector became so popular was because her voice put the kids into a hypnotic trance that kept them calm and for this reason the parents just gave the kids the ipad and put on a playlist to keep them quiet for hours on end... so i guess make sure you utilise playlists too!
 
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