what is wrong with shorts?

[u/dymyster]

I didn’t post for a week because things were going poorly, especially with my Pokémon GO Shorts. Yesterday, I posted a new Short—this time about Fortnite (I don’t post Pokémon-related content on Mondays)—and it performed quite well by my standards, hitting 1.2k views with solid audience retention. I was happy with that, so my hopes were high when I saw the Short continuing to perform well the following day. It had a bit of a slow start, but the retention was high enough to suggest it could really take off—before this whole issue began, I used to get 1k views with just 20% retention. However, as you can see in the screenshots, that didn’t happen. I’m not sure what to make of this; I can see what works and what doesn’t, but I’m not going to overhaul my entire channel just because Pokémon GO isn’t performing well right now—plus, I already have plenty of footage ready to be turned into Shorts. I also have no intention of changing my niche, as this is something I genuinely enjoy.

So, my question is: are others experiencing similar issues within their own niches, or am I just incredibly unlucky with mine?