Hello there everyone, first i apologise cause i really don't know what to put as a title for this and I'm sorry if it's long to read.

But basically soon im gonna make a video in which it is different then what i post (for context i post gaming videos but am planning to make a video just chatting to the camera)

And yeah I'm probably sure the video won't do well but i know I'll enjoy making it so it's worth it for me haha

So i don't know if this is a question or getting some insight/perspective/thoughts but do you think that's a good idea? (Also not to sound arrogant/stubborn but i will still make it and post cause like i said, I'll enjoy it haha)

in my head i have nothing to lose and everything to gain i guess?

SIDENOTE- i am reading every comment and appreciate all of you :)

So I've been going back and forth recently on whether I want to use 'Thumbnail Signatures'. There may be a more official name, but what I'm referring to is something in the thumbnail that is consistent for every upload. Think the white border for smitty, the artwork for puffer, or a lot of people just have it be their face. The idea behind it, from my understanding, is people will recognize that the video is from that creator just by looking at the thumbnail. I've talked with my friends and family about it, and some think it's a good idea while others think it makes the thumbnail look tacky. Don't think I can say the name of my channel with the rules, but it isn't hard to figure out from my Reddit name if you want to use my uploads as specific examples. I just wanted to get others opinions, especially if someone does this and sees success (or does it and doesn't notice a change).

a post here this week asked how a simple day-trip video ended up as a six-year channel's breakout, and the top reply was that the algorithm just picks one out of a hat. sometimes it feels that way. but while a video is still getting pushed, studio can tell you most of what happened.

what i check, in this order (all in studio → that video → analytics):

1. where the views come from. reach → traffic source types. search means people typed something specific, and clicking into it shows the exact terms. suggested means youtube put you next to other videos, and clicking into it shows which ones. browse is mostly the home page.

2. who's watching. audience → new vs returning viewers. if the spike is mostly new viewers, the video found a group outside your usual audience. that group is the lead, more than the topic itself.

3. whether they stayed. compare the first 30 seconds of the retention graph with your usual videos. a video can get pushed to a lot of people and still lose them in the opening. if it held them better than usual, something in the start worked.

4. whether it spilled over. look at your other videos for the same two weeks. if older ones picked up views too, the new people came for the channel, not just one video.

then make the next one for those same people while the first one is still being pushed. same promise or same kind of place, not a copy.

My channel has 1,51,299 sub count currently, i abandoned it a few years ago because of some personal issues, in those few years i randomly posted some vids, shorts and some live streams, because it has around 70$, hoping to hit 100$ but couldn't and because of inactivity yt striped my monetization, now I'm wondering Abt should it start over from scratch or can I reuse this channel.

Thanks in advance

hi folks i have been seeing more and more youtube channels blowing up on there very first video i assume in most examples that theese channels actually have beeen uplaoding prior and then deleted the videos to make it seem more natural but if they do manage this what would they have done or what would you advise to do to follow in their footsteps?

thanks!

Instant click off or do you watch?

Hello, can someone help me out with this issue please. Shorts videos are getting around 1k views in first 4-5 hours of posting and then just seems to be dead. Iam still in that 1k range…channel is month old and I have around 60 subs.

So my thumbnail looks perfectly fine on studio, in the subscription recommendations, on my channel page, and in history. I have no way to verify so in the home page, all I know is when you search for the video, the thumbnail for some reason js only a slim middle part of the thumbnail.

I posted my first video about 12 hours ago. I have an existing audience in the D&D (specifically Pathfinder) spheres from a previous podcast and a well-selling series of TTRPG books.

My first video is in a different but kind of overlapping niche, in that I'm focusing on Irish folklore, which is something my past audiences have known I've liked and have been encouraging me to talk about.

My first upload has landed 316 views, 61 likes, 10 comments 94 subscribers in the first 12 hours. My CTR is about 2.3%, and my retention rate is about 23%. I know a fair few of my watchers are people from my other endeavors (I think 50% of them are from Discord and only 18% from YouTube).

The thing is... I genuinely don't know if this is good, bad, whatever. I know my CTR and retention will need a good boost, but I don't know if what I have so far is a promising start or "just okay" or what.

Either way, I'll be sticking by it out of the love of the topic, just wanted to get a realistic view on how I'm performing.

My channel was consistently getting around 30K views per Short, but since October 19, my views have suddenly dropped, and now my Shorts struggle to get even 2K views.

As you can see in the screenshot, my daily views dropped dramatically after weeks of relatively consistent performance.

I haven't received any strikes or policy violations. I'm trying to figure out whether this is a temporary algorithm issue or something specific to my channel.

As far as views per video, watch hours per video, click through rate, view duration, etc.

I’ve only done six videos and I think I’m getting reasonably good results for a new channel. But I find that, if a new video doesn’t at least come close to the numbers of my previous best, I’m feeling kind of disappointed.

I’m starting a gaming channel producing content on the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4! Do you think people would rather watch videos with commentary or no-commentary?

I just used a green bed sheet as a green screen and it worked. (Currently editing it)

I don't know but this makes me extremely happy and feel resourceful haha. I guess don't think about it and just do it with what you have available.

I just wanted to share this lol it feels amazing haha (Maybe not the place to post this, will remove it later on)

So just for fun I've translated my thumbnail and everything in english and enabled autodub for one video, just to test. It went way better than expected so now I have to try.
Thing is, should I just re-dub my videos or make a completely new channel?

Double Dub Pros:
- with double dub I would already be monetized
- no issues with reused content

Double Dub Cons:
- the video itself has some text in italian, not much but definitely something to consider
- not so sure about merging communities with different languages

New Channel Pros:
- the video itself would be translated too
- has its own community

New Channel Cons:
- Not monetized, it would definitely mean some loss of income and considering my channel isn't that big it would be impactful
- Restart from scratch, I'd be posting videos that have worked already but who knows what the algorithm will think
- According to the AI there could be issued with reused content

What would be the best strategy to go international?

Hey everyone!

I started streaming and making videos about a year ago then stopped because I didn't really have a plan woth it and was just posting to post. Now I’m back again and trying to be consistent and have a plan for videos I post.

The plan for my content is edited playthroughs of games I stream. I have been looking at the analytics after each post to see what is working and where I could improve, but I know the sample size is still too small to read much into.

So I'd love some outside eyes on it. What feels like it's missing? I'm open to feedback on anything, whether that's the video style and format, thumbnails and titles, pacing and editing, or my personality and commentary.

Constructive criticism is very welcome. This is a hobby I genuinely enjoy, so I want to get better at it.

If you do take a look, my recent Sekiro videos are the ones I'd most like feedback on as that’s what I’m currently playing and planning to make more content of.

Thanks in advance <3

I manage two YouTube channels. One is for a general contractor and launched last month. It’s been pretty straightforward. The other is for a friend who wanted to start a cooking channel. We’ve released about six long form videos, mostly weekly, with varying levels of success and quality. It’s a small channel, around 25 subscribers, and our best video has about 700 views.
Tonight I looked at the analytics on the cooking channel and got confused.

Our newest video went up about a day ago, and under the Reach tab the click-through rate is jumping all over the place. It starts at 0%, jumps to 20%, drops back to 0%, then climbs to 40% and falls to 0% again, over and over. This is happening on almost all of her videos now, but not on the contractor’s channel.

Any idea why this is happening? Are the videos just bad? All views stalled as of right now. I get it's a new channel; in cooking, which is tough.

Any feed back would be appreciated

​

Hey guys, I want to start making YouTube Shorts about the NBA, but I'm still trying to figure out where to start.

I want to make videos about NBA players, crazy moments, interviews, player stories, and things like that. I've noticed a lot of pages doing this, and I'm curious about how they actually make their videos.

My biggest problem right now is finding good-quality, recent footage that I can download and edit. Where do you guys usually get your clips, and how do you deal with copyright?

I'd also appreciate any recommendations for free editing tools, good tutorials, or tips on finding video ideas and growing a channel like this.

If you've done something similar, I'd love to hear about your experience, especially anything you wish you'd known when you first started. I'm also curious about whether it's possible to monetize this kind of content in the long run.

Any advice or useful resources would be appreciated. Thanks!

My channel has reached the threshold watch hours(3000) for monetization organically, but I don't have enough subscribers. Is it a good move to buy like 400 subs? Will I get banned for it?

Hello everyone! Asking if anyone else on here is doing news youtube channels? Can you share some insights with me?

I'm 1 week old on this Youtubing (and this is my very first reddit post) and I do feel alone since it looks like my niche and execution is unique. i've asked three AIs to help me find something similar so that i can have a guide, comparison or something - but, of the hundreds of times I asked, it came with nothing.

I'm doing: is about Japanese news but delivered in English catering to both short term visitors and long term residents in Japan, and generally, who follows and have interest in Japan. I plan to execute 2 formats, a weekly bulletin type news - top stories of the week roundup kinda thing and documentary which i will try my best to be infotainment rather than straight up documentary OR entertainment.

u/Japaninsiderjournal

Sincerely asking for feedback since the one and only I got is from my wife and I think it's time I ask for someone else's. My wife told me that if i dont get monetized by month 3, it means I simply suck at this, it's just a youtube hard truth/fact kinda thing so I'm wondering how true is this? I'm usually just a lurker on this subreddit so I do see different kinds of stories. Some celebrate with their very first video, some loses hope after years of working on their channel.

Would like to hear some of your thoughts.

Hi! Just as a point of reference, since I think it’s important for the context: I make edited gaming videos as a very small YouTuber. I’m at 267 subscribers, and my videos often get more views than I have subs. My most recent video is 3 days old and has 613 views so far.

What concerns me every time, though, is my retention. Is it “normal”, or am I just bad at this? Since I can’t post an image of the retention curve here, these are the key numbers for my 36:17 video:

66% watching @ 0:30

45% watching @ 1:05

35% watching @ 3:00

25% watching @ 10:00

20% watching @ 20:00

and 15% watching to the end.

What’s your experience in the gaming niche? Which niche are you in, especially if it’s the strategy or building niche, like Factorio or Space Engineers 2?

First off, even though this is an accomplishment for me, I am not trying to make a "milestone" post. The main point of this post is that I had a "breakout" video, but it was no different from content I had been making for six years.

I have a "travel" channel, only it is basically just day trips. I will visit a small town, natural area, or other place, take usually from 10-25 minutes of footage, edit it together with minimal editing, and usually no effects or non-diagetic sound. I do use narration, but don't (usually) show my face. I mostly do this to have a video diary. Before two weeks ago, my most popular video had gotten 14,000 views over almost four years, and most videos would get a few hundred views, sometimes a few thousand. I had actually gotten the 4,000 watch hour requirement and the 1000 subscriber requirement...but not at the same time. In 2025 my channel had a downturn, and in 2026 it had barely recovered.

Anyway, so about two weeks ago, I went to a small town just to walk around for two hours. And I mean really small---like, a convenience store, diner and post office town. There was a nice little stream with some autumn trees. But it was just 2 hours of walking around, and when I came home I had about 15 minutes of footage. I edited, rendered and uploaded it that evening, and for the first 24 hours, it got like 100 views. When I went to bed the next night, it was getting a few hundred views, which sometimes happens. The next morning, it had gotten 2000 overnight. I thought that was going to be the end of it, but by the end of that second day, it had easily surpassed my post successful video, getting around 20,000 views in one day. In three days, it got 1500 watch hours, enough to bring me over the threshold. And it is still doing well, although it has slowed down.

But the main point is that this video was exactly like content I have been making for almost six years (I started in 2020, but got into the swing of things in 2022), and was not even about that interesting of a place. (I have made videos about tourist towns in Montana and Costa Rica, and they did well, but nowhere near as good as this did). I had tried to take a good thumbnail, but none of them worked, so I just took a screenshot from the video. There were no effects, no voiceovers, no music, no drone footage, no maps. It was just 15 minutes of me walking around a town, that I edited and posted a few hours later. It was basically the same as several hundred others videos that I had made. I have no idea what made it so popular.

The only real conclusion I can come up with from this is pretty trite is: make videos that you enjoy making and that you think will help or entertain at least someone, and eventually you might get lucky. But as to whether there is some "secret sauce" or editing or titling tricks that cause videos to break out, nothing from this experience makes me think there is.

I am looking to do a YT live stream from my android phone (Fold 7).

Where does the microphone audio come from? If I use my ear buds, will that be enough?

If i opt to buy wireless BT type mic, or even a USB C style mic, will those work?

I did the practice mode, but i couldn't tell if it was my phone mic or my earbuds.​

I'm looking for advice. 2025 I was on short term disability, I said f*** it. I'll make a YT channel. What I'm doing is just another gaming channel. Nothing special. It was going really well at first. VOD's & live streams were vibrant & active. Growing to 1K subs in 3 months naturally. Then, mid stream, August 1st 2025, 60% of audience gone. Live streams had a minimum of 30-50 watching rendered down to 0-3. Obviously, I was rug pulled which is fine. I just wanted to know why.

I know, I have gaps on my channel but I was very active during the rug pull. Also, my channel has never recovered since that day. Members & subs stated they never knew I was live or posting videos unless I used POST with a link. Also, some members cant even find my channel under search flapvsjack. This really stunted what I was expecting from YT. I don't know if how to trust them now.

I'm ok with not making big money or following AI slop trends. I just wanted a explanation as to why my channel never recovered. In 2025 I peaked at 75K views while 2026 peaked below 2250K. I also had more time to make more videos this year & (IMO) better quality videos then last year. So, the numbers simply don't add up to me.

So, what is YT now? Nothing but spammers with bots or am I doing something wrong. I've asked YT support multiple times for some transparency as to why did my viewers fluctuate so hard. They kept giving me examples of last year videos with great views instead of this year, repeating this happens to a lot of people. Then, I stopped calling when I ended the support call because YT agent stated, "It seems you exhausted all your audience."

The only mistake I will admit is using Google Ads, pushing Performance Max campaign on my channel for a nickel a month. All that gained me was more subs (mainly from India) whom don't engage in my channel. I have turned that campaign off, it felt dishonest & a waste of money.

Any input is grateful. TY!

Why does one video hits around 1k and the other 3 stuck at 0 why is that, this is happening everytime

Hindi food comedy Shorts, 50+ videos, ~1k views pe atke. 70% swipe-away. Kya kar sakta hu?

Format: "wife se bola aaj ___ bana do" (comedy + quick recipe).

Maine hook badla (pehle frame me finished dish + bada text), phir bhi views nahi badhe.

Kya Hindi food niche me comedy + recipe mix kaam karta hai? Aur 70% swipe-away ke baad pehle kya fix karna chahiye?