It has been a long time since I have posted on this forum, and now that I have grown to a channel of nearly 25,000 subscribers, I think I have a bit more experience with being able to help out. So, today I wanted to talk about the ups and downs of a YouTube channel, why it happens, and what you can do during each.
Ups:
An up period usually starts when one video of yours somehow gets a lot of traffic either through a trending topic, getting featured on an outside website, or just a creative video that happens to get popular. Whatever the case, your channel usually benefits from this, and you get a large boost on your channel for a period of time. In this time, you usually feel untouchable and your channel is going to continue growing like that forever. It is easy to get complacent during an up period because the numbers seem so good we feel like we just have to keep doing what we are doing rather than improve.
Up periods are great signs that you are doing good things on your channel and people are interested in what you do. During an up period, the best thing is to make content similar to what got you to the up period and try to extend it as long as possible. Consistently making similar content will also allow you to make the transition from up to down a lot more gradual and easier to manage, but eventually, you will have a down period some time.
Downs:
A down period is part of YouTube, and as content creators, it is something hard to accept. We want our content to consistently get the same amount of support and continue growing at a fast rate. However, sometimes, we just have no control over it. Usually after an up period caused by one video, it is followed by a down period that is drastically worse than the up period. For example, I had a very good month of March on YouTube in which I averaged about 14,000 to 15,000 views per day because I released a couple videos that ended up doing very well. On the other hand, in April I began to start a severe down period which has resulted in me having days of less than 5,000 views. Even though I try to continue making similar content as what got me the up period, it sometimes just doesn't get the same support. This can be caused by a decreased interest in the topic or something going on with your audience. My audience is mainly comprised of 13-24 year old males, which means that most of them are going to be in school. Since spring break was in March, students are not going to have the same amount of time to spend watching videos in April, meaning there will be a decline in video views across all of YouTube.
When we have our down periods, it is important not to get discouraged. Down periods are not necessarily due to anyone doing something wrong on their channel, and it usually isn't. That's why when we have our down periods, we have to keep a positive attitude and continue improving our content like we should in an up period. I have not been able to find a surefire way out of a down period because most times they begin because of something out of our control as content creators. The best ways to alleviate down periods is to upload trending topics relating to your channel. For example, as a PokeTuber, I could upload videos about Pokemon Sun and Moon, the recently announced Pokemon games. This can make my down periods not as bad. The same can be done with most other channels with trending topics.
With all of this said, I hope that you have come away with a better understanding of the ups and downs of YouTube, and I hope that we can continue to improve our content to make YouTube the best.
Ups:
An up period usually starts when one video of yours somehow gets a lot of traffic either through a trending topic, getting featured on an outside website, or just a creative video that happens to get popular. Whatever the case, your channel usually benefits from this, and you get a large boost on your channel for a period of time. In this time, you usually feel untouchable and your channel is going to continue growing like that forever. It is easy to get complacent during an up period because the numbers seem so good we feel like we just have to keep doing what we are doing rather than improve.
Up periods are great signs that you are doing good things on your channel and people are interested in what you do. During an up period, the best thing is to make content similar to what got you to the up period and try to extend it as long as possible. Consistently making similar content will also allow you to make the transition from up to down a lot more gradual and easier to manage, but eventually, you will have a down period some time.
Downs:
A down period is part of YouTube, and as content creators, it is something hard to accept. We want our content to consistently get the same amount of support and continue growing at a fast rate. However, sometimes, we just have no control over it. Usually after an up period caused by one video, it is followed by a down period that is drastically worse than the up period. For example, I had a very good month of March on YouTube in which I averaged about 14,000 to 15,000 views per day because I released a couple videos that ended up doing very well. On the other hand, in April I began to start a severe down period which has resulted in me having days of less than 5,000 views. Even though I try to continue making similar content as what got me the up period, it sometimes just doesn't get the same support. This can be caused by a decreased interest in the topic or something going on with your audience. My audience is mainly comprised of 13-24 year old males, which means that most of them are going to be in school. Since spring break was in March, students are not going to have the same amount of time to spend watching videos in April, meaning there will be a decline in video views across all of YouTube.
When we have our down periods, it is important not to get discouraged. Down periods are not necessarily due to anyone doing something wrong on their channel, and it usually isn't. That's why when we have our down periods, we have to keep a positive attitude and continue improving our content like we should in an up period. I have not been able to find a surefire way out of a down period because most times they begin because of something out of our control as content creators. The best ways to alleviate down periods is to upload trending topics relating to your channel. For example, as a PokeTuber, I could upload videos about Pokemon Sun and Moon, the recently announced Pokemon games. This can make my down periods not as bad. The same can be done with most other channels with trending topics.
With all of this said, I hope that you have come away with a better understanding of the ups and downs of YouTube, and I hope that we can continue to improve our content to make YouTube the best.