YouTube views suddenly dropped in one video

[dabu9]

Hi guys,

Something strange is happening with my most viewed video. I'm concerned about it since this video is responsible for 22% of my earnings. All other videos are fine/normal, there is only issue with one video.

This video has around 4.4mil lifetime views and in the past 365 days average daily views of this video has been 7090 views per day. BUT since yesterday from 300-400 hourly views it dropped to 20-30 hourly views. Here are few screenshots.

#1 - You can see that views are suddenly lost. This never happened before and video is uploaded 4 years ago.

#2 - All other videos are fine. This is realtime statistics of ALL videos on channel. Since this video is getting around 20% of all channel views you can notice that something is wrong but in general you can see that all other videos are fine.

#3 - This is my second most viewed video. No problem or whatsoever on this video, or any other video.

#4 - These are view statistic for troubled video. Average views per day in the last 365 days is around 7090 views per day, which is 295 views per day in the last year. And since yesterday I'm receiving 20 views per hour...

As you can see from the last image (#4), this video never had any issues with views. The issue is definitely NOT the most common reason why videos get dropped - because video is no longer viral. This video was never viral and I started to loosing views dramatically and suddenly and views were pretty stable for the past 2-3 years.

There is one last thing I'd like to mention

I changed original thumbnail on this video three days ago but I didn't like it and few hours BEFORE I started to losing views I returned original thumbnail that was main thumb for the past 4 years. After I restored original thumbnail I started loosing views. But it doesn't make sense that this is the reason why I lost so much views because I restored original thumb that people loved. I didn't insert bad thumbnail and started losing viewers after this.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this. Perhaps we can together solve this mystery? Thanks

 

[SuperSurpriseFun]

I would guess it got dropped as a suggested video from another highly viewed video. You'll know for sure in a couple days when your traffic source analytics update.

I've had this happen and usually in a few days or a week it picks up again. It seems like the algorithm/YouTube arbitrarily tries things out from time to time just for funsies.

 

[dabu9]

Hi SuperSurpriseFun, thanks so much for your reply. Today I got my first analytics for this video, but tomorrow I'll know even more. Views are still at around 20 per hour. Youtube is so cruel :/

As you said, most of the views (+77%) are coming from suggested videos. But not just suggested views dropped, everything else dropped. Could it be that youtube is punishing me for something?

1. Here are statistics before dropdown

2. And here are statistics first day after I started losing views. And not just suggested views dropped, everything else dropped.

3. Day after the first 24h of dropdown will be much much worse than on image #2. I guess I'll drop to 500-700 views per day (comparing to the old yearly average of 7.090 views/day; and the day before this incident of 8.384 views/day).

My daily earnings are now $32-35 and they were around $45-50 before dropdown. That's monthly loss of at least $300 up to $450.

Once again, thanks for you reply SuperSurpriseFun and for comforting me.

>> If anyone else has to add something I'd be more than happy to hear your thoughts.

 

[xingcat]

I would guess a change in algorithm, as well. Google frequently tweaks its algorithms and that can result in huge shifts in ad revenue on everything from videos to entire websites. Have you tweaked your tags recently? It may be worthwhile to check in on those and see if there are other, newer terms you can add or reposition the way you tag or describe the video.

 

[dabu9]

I would guess a change in algorithm, as well. Google frequently tweaks its algorithms and that can result in huge shifts in ad revenue on everything from videos to entire websites. Have you tweaked your tags recently? It may be worthwhile to check in on those and see if there are other, newer terms you can add or reposition the way you tag or describe the video.

Yes, that could be the case with alhorithms. Because I haven't changed anything except thumbnail and keywords or description I didn't change probably for half year already It's a great idea to see how users are finding this video and to use specific keywords to drive them to this video. This is something I forget to do and I should do it from time to time.

Thanks for your response xingcat, you've been very helpful.

 

[dabu9]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to say that everything is back in normal with this video. Here are few screenshots.

#1 - Everything looks stable in the last 48 hours.

#2 - The curve At one point it dropped to 400 views per day

Once again, thanks so much SuperSurpriseFun and xingcat for jumping in and helping me on this matter and for comforting me. Best of luck in the future guys!

 

[William Yang]

Hello DABU , I'm current having the same issue as yours , but since yours has already fixed , my highest views video dropped from 300 views per hour to 15 ~ 19 views per hour today , what is the problem ? I've never change anything it just went from 350 views to 15 views per hour , could this be fixed ?

Thanks ~

 

[William Yang]

This is it , it suddenly drop from that point , how long should I wait it ? Or I'll just edit something in the tags or description ?

Thanks for helping !

 

[KatyAdelson]

This thread is from 2015 and is discussing a different algorithm shift with members that may no longer use the forum. YouTube sometimes changes algorithms that will affect search results, but any current shifts in views are related to a newer change. Please create a new thread discussing this topic instead of bumping older threads. ^_^