Was YouTube A Bust This Year?

babyteeth4 said:
Channels that were routinely suggested by the children's app (we were not one of them) did EXTREMELY well this year--I'm talking a tenfold increase in views.
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Wow. What kinds of channels are those, and when are you getting started on creating one? lol. Also, I would imagine that the ad blockers would affect children's videos less than other genres where people are generally more savvy about ad blocking software and also more likely to be using a computer, where it seems like ad blockers are more commonly used. On a side note, I just realized that those little button mashers probably result in a much higher click-rate/lower skip rate. I might have to start my own kids channel (or, just say it and never do it like I do with almost everything else LOL).
 
WilliamRayWalters said:
[QUOTE="Kaleido, post: 1775395, member: 36774]"I literally just watched a channel go from 20k to 200k in a couple of months. Plenty of people are finding an audience on Youtube without promotion...
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I think 20k to 200k is much easier than 0k to 20k. How did that channel progress from 0 to 20k and how long did it take? Did they get help from other Youtubers at all? What genre are they? Some genres are much harder to break into than others. I was talking to my daughter the other day and asking her about various gamers and telling her to get tips from seeing how other successful Gaming channels started out. One by one I asked her about her favorite gamers. Stacy plays, dantdm, etc. It seemed like 90% of them got help or a head start from other prominent youtubers along the way. I'm not saying it's not possible to grow a gaming channel without help, but it seems like many of the top gaming channels today did get a leg up along the way. I'm sure there are some examples of gaming channels recently that have gone from starting from scratch to a couple hundred thousand subscribers over a relatively short period of time, but I haven't seen many examples of that.

As far as YouTube promoting big gamers, if they are so high on retention and long session length as indicators of quality content, then why would they be afraid to put their money where their mouth is and promote smaller channels whose average relative retention is high which would indicate quality content that people would want to see? I mean, I realize that promoting PewDiePie in that list of popular channels is a sure bet, but theoretically they could do just as well if not better by promoting smaller channels with high retention rates.[/QUOTE]

Where were you during January? A lot of new gaming channels grew from 0 to 50K subscribers. Five Nights at Freddy's hype made a lot of new channels successful within just a few days.
 
Franklin said:
Where were you during January? A lot of new gaming channels grew from 0 to 50K subscribers. Five Nights at Freddy's hype made a lot of new channels successful within just a few days.
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I'm not saying it's not possible, only that the first 20k subs are harder then the next couple hundred thousand. Also, that many of the top channels seemed to have gotten some sort of head start toward the beginning. If you have a specific example of a channel that grew from 0 to 50k in a relatively short period of time during the past year I'd love to see it as it would help me to help my daughter grow her channel. I already tell her to concentrate on new games and/or mods for new games, etc, but any extra help from specific examples of channels that have grown from nothing into tens of thousands of subs within the past year or so would be great.
 
Yeah, this year has been a year of changes for Youtube, from Nintendo's policies, Gaming, Red, and all that. It hasn't really changed much for me since I never took part in any of those new features anyway. Another change, though not to Youtube directly, is all this sudden talk about how Facebook is one day gonna take over Youtube. And just like Minecraft took Youtube over, this was def the year of FNAF and all it's sequels, theories, etc. Hell, even I got into it and I'm not into horror games.
 
I'm not sure I would call it a bust, but I do agree about the new features YT has added without any long term commitment to them. Youtube Gaming seems fine to me and live streaming on the platform has been great for me so far (in fact, most of my subs and most loyal fans have found me streaming on YT Gaming) but it does need more features in order to compete with Twitch. I wish Youtube would commit to it fully.
 
This year was pretty good for my channel but I attribute it more to channel improvements I made than to changes YouTube made.

Franklin said:
Adblock apps continue to be a problem.
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AdBlock isn't the problem - it's the amount of channels vs the amount of advertisers. If AdBlock really significantly reduced the amount of ads being displayed the revenue per click would be much higher simply because it would just cost the advertiser more to get that ad space before other advertisers.
AdBlock will only be a problem when bids for advertisement are high and can't be displayed or maybe for very narrow niche channels.
 
YorkshireYank said:
I'm not sure I would call it a bust, but I do agree about the new features YT has added without any long term commitment to them. Youtube Gaming seems fine to me and live streaming on the platform has been great for me so far (in fact, most of my subs and most loyal fans have found me streaming on YT Gaming) but it does need more features in order to compete with Twitch. I wish Youtube would commit to it fully.
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That was how i found your channel through youtube gaming lol XD

But i do agree. It needs more commitment. I only know how to get to it from my video manager and the live stream option. I have no idea how to go on and search of videos without using that option. However when i do stream from there i do get more views (and then subs) than i do from Twitch. It has potential but it just isn't being used.
 
Vidcast said:
For YouTube as a site, it's really messing up, they're making it harder for smaller YouTubers to get big and easier for the big ones to get bigger.
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If you are a business you have to invest in what gets you returns. And small YouTubers just do not do that. Heck, they probably COST YouTube money. If you rise to the top yourself you'd want to be pushed just as hard too. Everyone worked hard to get where they are, and the return is YouTube working hard for you if you succeed to create a massive fan base.

And that is the #1 reason why you shouldn't sweat the numbers. They aren't making it hard for smaller YouTubers to get big. You have to understand that you have just as much chance of making it in hollywood as you do on YouTube. Which pretty much means you either got it or you don't. Accept that fact or quit.
 
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