My worst August EVER! 30% drop in views! What is going on with YT?

Interesting. My channel is all automotive. I've had an increase of nearly 60 subs in August. My time watched has jumped a lot too. Might just be your subject?

Last year winter sucked for me. Hopefully I've filmed enough ahead of time to keep it going good through the winter.
 
Mustang Shane said:
Interesting. My channel is all automotive. I've had an increase of nearly 60 subs in August. My time watched has jumped a lot too. Might just be your subject?

Last year winter sucked for me. Hopefully I've filmed enough ahead of time to keep it going good through the winter.
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Normally I would agree, but that is just it. I have been doing this for five years. I know the seasonal trends like the back of my hand. My content has always done great in July and August, ALWAYS. So, unless the American society just completely changed who they are (which is about as likely as the sun ceasing to shine), there is something else at play. I think it has to do with recommendations. I think YT tweaked the algorithm.
 
Jungle Explorer said:
Even though I now have over 13k subs, 99.4% of my viewership comes from discovery. Only 0.06% of my subs ever watch my videos. I have the least loyal subs in history. One wonders why they even sub at all. But to be honest, it has to do with my content. My content is an answer to a question. If you don't have the question, there is no reason to watch the answer. So, unlike channels that produce broad-based content that is for the amusement and entertainment of the masses, my content focuses on specific issues.

So the loss of views is in discovery. I know this. The question is, Why? For the past seven years, July, August, and September have always been growing months where I recover from the January cliff. But now, I have seen a greater drop than what happened in January. I am losing an average of 1K views a day from my monthly average, and it is not slowing down. The only thing I have done differently is that I produced some YT Shorts back in May and June. That is it. Outside of that, I have done nothing. Well, I am not making as many videos as I did last year, but that is normal for me in the summer. Last year I put out fifty videos. This year I am on track for about 30 full-length videos (not shorts).

I have found some other Youtubers that are seeing the same thing, so I don't think this is exclusively an issue with my channel. I have three channels in different genres (one gaming), and they are all seeing a similar downtrend. YT is doing something. I know they were pushing Shorts really hard earlier this year to try to steal some steam from TikTok, but that appears to have died. I am not sure what is going on right now, but I am sure it will eventually come to light.
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Sorry to hear this. Man, why does youtube have to be such a crapshoot?
 
I
saris said:
There is a website called Tubebuddy . One of the most useful tools that a youtuber needs to have . It can help with tips and tricks grow up your channel quick and I am grateful that I found it 2 months ago . Its a MUST for a youtuber . https://www.tubebuddy.com/rewardedyoutubetool2021
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I am a premium TubeBuddy user and have been using it for many years. There is probably no one that has better SEO on YouTube than I do. In most cases, I can release a new video and SEO to the very top of the search results above videos with millions of views. TubeBuddy has a feature that allows you to see the SEO of other videos on YT. You would be surprised to see how little SEO the best-performing videos on YouTube have. A video with millions of views might have a single sentence in the description and one or two tags. What this means is that SEO does not really make that much of a difference. The simple fact is that most YT views come from "Suggested Videos". Essentially, YT decides who gets to see your video. They say that suggestions are based on your activity, but I have tested this out and it is not true. YouTube constantly suggests way more content than I have zero interest in than they do content I would even consider clicking on. YT PROMOTES the content they want to be seen through suggestions. They give weighted preference to certain types of content. Right now, they are giving weighted preference to Shorts, and driving more people to them, than to long-form content. There is nothing that can be done about it except to try to promote your videos externally by sharing links on the platforms, driving your own traffic to your videos.
 
Jungle Explorer said:
I am a premium TubeBuddy user and have been using it for many years. There is probably no one that has better SEO on YouTube than I do. In most cases, I can release a new video and SEO to the very top of the search results above videos with millions of views. TubeBuddy has a feature that allows you to see the SEO of other videos on YT. You would be surprised to see how little SEO the best-performing videos on YouTube have. A video with millions of views might have a single sentence in the description and one or two tags. What this means is that SEO does not really make that much of a difference. The simple fact is that most YT views come from "Suggested Videos". Essentially, YT decides who gets to see your video. They say that suggestions are based on your activity, but I have tested this out and it is not true. YouTube constantly suggests way more content than I have zero interest in than they do content I would even consider clicking on. YT PROMOTES the content they want to be seen through suggestions. They give weighted preference to certain types of content. Right now, they are giving weighted preference to Shorts, and driving more people to them, than to long-form content. There is nothing that can be done about it except to try to promote your videos externally by sharing links on the platforms, driving your own traffic to your videos.
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This is unfortunately correct.

SEO to a certain point is good, of course. But I learned early that it was not going to drive your channel or videos to some great popularity. I work for large marketing firm and they have helped me with my channel many times to grow. I am the "video" guy, that brings in a bunch of other money for them and I am the Youtube guy that also beings in extra money for them so they have no problems lending a hand here or there with some of my pet projects.

After about a year of research, development and execution, my channel did grow a bit, my usual growth rate was 20 a month, I was doing maybe 30. But the time, effort and the cost (if I had to pay them) would of been not worth it in any way shape of form. My views barely saw any increase and I still had little to no interaction. This was tied into a Social Media campaign that also, did little to nothing to work. If I was a client, I would of spent easily 2K if not more, and I would of been p****d.

I tried Tubebuddy and it did nothing for me, so I abandoned that a while ago.

Anywho... yeah long gone are the wild wild west days on Youtube. If I was smart enough back then, I would of took my channel and worked it much better... who knows where I would be now with it. Oh well.
 
JayZippo said:
This is unfortunately correct.

SEO to a certain point is good, of course. But I learned early that it was not going to drive your channel or videos to some great popularity. I work for large marketing firm and they have helped me with my channel many times to grow. I am the "video" guy, that brings in a bunch of other money for them and I am the Youtube guy that also beings in extra money for them so they have no problems lending a hand here or there with some of my pet projects.

After about a year of research, development and execution, my channel did grow a bit, my usual growth rate was 20 a month, I was doing maybe 30. But the time, effort and the cost (if I had to pay them) would of been not worth it in any way shape of form. My views barely saw any increase and I still had little to no interaction. This was tied into a Social Media campaign that also, did little to nothing to work. If I was a client, I would of spent easily 2K if not more, and I would of been p****d.

I tried Tubebuddy and it did nothing for me, so I abandoned that a while ago.

Anywho... yeah long gone are the wild wild west days on Youtube. If I was smart enough back then, I would of took my channel and worked it much better... who knows where I would be now with it. Oh well.
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Yeah, me too. I have actually been a YouTube member since the very beginning. But I originally just used it to share family videos with friends and family. There was a time when YT was the ONLY free online streaming video place where people could upload videos that would be compatible with most devices. I had my own website back then, but providing online streaming video was costly, and cross-platform format compatibility was a bugger. If I would have known what YT would become and started early, oh man, I would be sitting really good right now. Unfortunately, it took two years of YT begging me to become a partner before I expected. Those two years (2014 to 2016) was a crucial time of YT growth that I completely missed. Every year I have been a YPP member has had some sort of crap that has hurt me. The Apocalypse, COPPA, COVID, and now SHORTS. It's not like I am not surviving, and I have made back my financial investment many times, but I am not earning enough to justify my time investment. The only thing that keeps me going is that, unlike when I was a builder and I stopped making money the second I stopped working, with YT, I can stop working for months and I will still be making money. So I look at it as more of like stock investment. I may not make a lot immediately, but over time, it will pay me back and more. I look at each video like a dripping faucet. Some drip fast, some drip slow. The more dripping faucets I have, the faster the bathtub fills up.

I also make money in all these areas to survive:

My own website: https://thejungleexplorer.com/
As a writer on Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Victor-Bailey-10
As a photographer: https://stock.adobe.com/contributor/208198523/the-nature-guy
As a Reviewer: https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/118274775653594710874,
https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=g_cQdzLAWJ2oYlyLhCg_xw
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/jungleexplorer
As a Crypto Miner
As a Crypto Investor
Selling on eBay


It takes a lot to make a living online these days. It take more work than a fulltime job. But I am my own boss, and I am free from the chain that binds. That is worth more than all the money in the world.
 
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Jungle Explorer said:
Yeah, me too. I have actually been a YouTube member since the very beginning. But I originally just used it to share family videos with friends and family. There was a time when YT was the ONLY free online streaming video place where people could upload videos that would be compatible with most devices. I had my own website back then, but providing online streaming video was costly, and cross-platform format compatibility was a bugger. If I would have known what YT would become and started early, oh man, I would be sitting really good right now. Unfortunately, it took two years of YT begging me to become a partner before I expected. Those two years (2014 to 2016) was a crucial time of YT growth that I completely missed. Every year I have been a YPP member has had some sort of crap that has hurt me. The Apocalypse, COPPA, COVID, and now SHORTS. It's not like I am not surviving, and I have made back my financial investment many times, but I am not earning enough to justify my time investment. The only thing that keeps me going is that, unlike when I was a builder and I stopped making money the second I stopped working, with YT, I can stop working for months and I will still be making money. So I look at it as more of like a sock investment. I may not make a lot immediately, but over time, it will pay me back and more. I look at each video like a dripping faucet. Some drip fast, some drip slow. The more dripping faucets I have, the faster the bathtub fills up.

I also make money in all these areas to survive:

My own website: https://thejungleexplorer.com/
As a writer on Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Victor-Bailey-10
As a photographer: https://stock.adobe.com/contributor/208198523/the-nature-guy
As a Reviewer: https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/118274775653594710874,
https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=g_cQdzLAWJ2oYlyLhCg_xw
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/jungleexplorer
As a Crypto Miner
As a Crypto Investor
Selling on eBay


It takes a lot to make a living online these days. It take more work than a fulltime job. But I am my own boss, and I am free from the chain that binds. That is worth more than all the money in the world.
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Dude, that is awesome! Yeah it is a lot of work, but it can be much more rewarding this way.

I like the term sock investment. I only hope for many filled bathtubs in your future!

When you say very beginning, do you mean Youtube beginning or when Google bought them beginning. Just curious. (me its 2006-2007). I made some videos in 2014-2016 but I was not paying attention to my surroundings (story of my life ADHD and all). Many people said I could of been much bigger if I did what I do 2-3 years earlier. Some say I never would because I speed up my voice, (everyone had a schtick, that was mine) and I honestly, wouldnt mind another 5-6K of subs, if they were good subs, not the abandoned / bot / spam subs I got now.

I ran my own biz too. With the same ideals but after my 4th year (Web dev, video) I was making enough to bring on a part timer, and I also felt I could of opened my own office if I wanted to in the next few years. BUT, health insurance is incredibly expensive, the good ones are when you are a sole proprietor were astroniomical. Add in the fact I was calling, emailing, doing lunchs, dinners, on site visits, finances, bill collection... then at 10PM I am struggling to stay awake and actually get the job done I was paid to do. Signing off at 1AM I just realized... um, no. I had to make the decision. Bring in a part time administrator, part time developer or ramp my business down and look for a job.

So I opted to go the corporate route. Found a larger marketing firm, that paid ok, but had good health insurance, flexible time and lets me do my thing to get the job done. Can't complain really.
 
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JayZippo said:
Dude, that is awesome! Yeah it is a lot of work, but it can be much more rewarding this way.

I like the term sock investment. I only hope for many filled bathtubs in your future!

When you say very beginning, do you mean Youtube beginning or when Google bought them beginning. Just curious. (me its 2006-2007). I made some videos in 2014-2016 but I was not paying attention to my surroundings (story of my life ADHD and all). Many people said I could of been much bigger if I did what I do 2-3 years earlier. Some say I never would because I speed up my voice, (everyone had a schtick, that was mine) and I honestly, wouldnt mind another 5-6K of subs, if they were good subs, not the abandoned / bot / spam subs I got now.

I ran my own biz too. With the same ideals but after my 4th year (Web dev, video) I was making enough to bring on a part timer, and I also felt I could of opened my own office if I wanted to in the next few years. BUT, health insurance is incredibly expensive, the good ones are when you are a sole proprietor were astroniomical. Add in the fact I was calling, emailing, doing lunchs, dinners, on site visits, finances, bill collection... then at 10PM I am struggling to stay awake and actually get the job done I was paid to do. Signing off at 1AM I just realized... um, no. I had to make the decision. Bring in a part time administrator, part time developer or ramp my business down and look for a job.

So I opted to go the corporate route. Found a larger marketing firm, that paid ok, but had good health insurance, flexible time and lets me do my thing to get the job done. Can't complain really.
Click to expand...

I had a YT account and was uploading videos long before google bought it out. I had a Gmail account back in the days when the only way you could get one was via an SMS text message to your phone. Gmail was the very first form of account that Google offered. Before that, it was strictly a search engine. You had to fill out a form online with your phone number and then wait for a text message with a link that would allow you to create an account. This was before the days of smartphones and universal data plans. Not everyone has text messaging and data was very expensive. So, you had to have a phone plan with both Text and Data to even get Gmail account. Crazy right? I had a Gmail account and a YouTube account with the same exact name. So, when Google bought YT, my accounts just merged into one seamlessly.

Back in the 90s, I owned my home inspection business and worked 16 hours a day 7 days a week. I was also running an Amazon.com book store (that is all Amazon sold back then) and had 30 thousand books for sale. In addition to this, I was working on building a webmaster business. I also thought about bringing on a helper, but insurance was too expensive. I closed up shop in 2001 and returned to the Amazon rainforest where I built a mission with elementary school and a free clinic for indigenous Amazonians. This is where the name Jungle Explorer comes from. I was working in the Amazon at the time when I created the accounts.
 
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