YouTube Algorithm 2023: What Creators Need to Know

[@VEGTheAgingHippie]

My frustration with the recommendations is that 99% of them are videos with many thousands of views. This prohibits me from discovering small channels which I may find more interesting. There seems to be a bias toward large established channels which in my opinion makes the platform become stale and uninteresting. I wish there were a way to find some of the millions of worthwhile channels that remain undiscovered. Many of the channels that I find most interesting have a small subscriber base and I only found them by hearing about them from other creators. It would be great if You Tube had a page dedicated to smaller channels. I realize that You Tube is a business and needs ad revenue to operate, but even if such a page were restricted to premium members, it would be a huge game changer as well as an extra incentive to continue my premium membership.

[@oneeyedphotographer]

Channels that are both small and new. A channel ten yours old and small is probably not worth recommending. Perhaps Communitychannel too is not worth recommending, it its day it was amongst the largest channels, but Natalie has a career in comedy outside of YT now.

[@GlenBixley]

I agree, I struggle to find something new, even on the "watch something new" tab. Rather then surgesting a new channel or even a new video, I feel the list is always full of videos from the channels and repeated videos with a high view count all the time, and it seldome recomends anything new.

[@DigitalNomadsExplore]

Agreed! It should a mix of large and small channels.

[@VEGTheAgingHippie]

@@oneeyedphotographer How are you sure that older small channels are not worth recommending? Many creators have spent thousands of hours perfecting their videos and learning their craft. Of course you will never actually get the chance to see them because you are inundated with the money making channels. There really is very little You in You Tube anymore. It's all about the money.

[@VEGTheAgingHippie]

@@GlenBixley Well Glen, this has been the way it is for years because at the end of the day, creativity and being different don't sell ads. What particularly galls me is when these big channels include advertising which I pay a monthly fee not to see. Then they ask for donations. As if a channel with a million subs needs frigging donations! I don't really think that the executives at You Tube are the slightest bit interested in promoting small channels. They don't have to.

[@Tolbat]

The only algorithm you should have is one that looks for keywords of a search and returns the best results unfiltered. Thats it, just like the old days.

[@Nolwenn_Ues]

❤❤

[@ThoughtPuja]

Yes. That's good advice, but if your audience doesn't see an impression of your thumbnail, they won't watch your video. Impressions are key, and there's no way to control that as a creator. Thanks sir

[@ShannonRenee]

The algorithm is basically a popularity contest because its interactions based. Ppl with a larger following get shown favoritism as far as their content being shown to potential viewers. It really puts smaller channels that are trying to get theirselves out there at a disadvantage. Sometimes I wish every social media site would just go back to being chronological instead of algorithm based

[@JustinLamar2k]

No one is at a disadvantage. If people like your content, it gets shown to more people. That’s how you grow.

[@UsefulElectrons-ni1fq]

Exactly, if it were chronological then the actual “creators”, those who have unique ideas would be rewarded for being innovators! Soon as a new idea comes out then you have those with larger followings who then use the idea in their own forum to the actual creators disadvantage.

[@TheLifeBoat]

​I agree but if you can do it as good or better than people will stay. I'm really new and very small but I feel it from my little channel.

[@marie-odilehechinger9067]

​@@UsefulElectrons-ni1fqc'est une réalité puisque c'est public vous avez tout dit les gens s'inspirent de ceux qui ont des idées mais n'est-ce pas aussi en soi une forme de satisfaction personnelle de pouvoir inspirer d'autres personnes. De toute façon l'authenticité des gens se vérifiera toujours un jour où l'autre des copieurs. Bonne continuation 😉👍

[@marie-odilehechinger9067]

​@@TheLifeBoatrestez vous-même les autres sont déjà pris 😁

[@Unlockingparadoxes]

Believe in yourselves and each other and never give up on your dreams and aspirations and remember to be kind and uplifting to each other and open minded and genuine and respectful and humble. 💯❤️

[@explorewithamna93]

I agree ❤

[@الاياديالذهبيةالجزائرية]

Bravo, you are right

[@الاياديالذهبيةالجزائرية]

I agree with honesty and credibility

[@TMS93]

Please pray for my beginner friends, I have been able to register through 3000 hours of viewing, I will register tonight. Keep up the spirit 💪🇲🇨

[@MDMozahidHossen-q5o]

Tnx❤

[@Pravasatube]

💪

[@GlitchmanVGM]

I really wish that we could customize our interests like "Music," "Gaming," "Videos from smaller channels," etc. so that we primarily get recommendations from topics we are most likely to watch and enjoy rather than the algorithm guessing what we're interested in, because the system is not always correct and often only suggests videos that already have lots of views.

[@GlitchmanVGM]

@@jennalee1 Glad to see that other people also feel the same way. Send your concerns in a feedback message in the KZbin app settings. If enough people request the same thing, they have to pay attention to us eventually.

[@michellesfrugallivin]

1. Variety is the spice of life. A channel shouldn't be forced into making videos on one subject. 2. I like to watch a very wide variety of topics. It really seems like the algorithm that is controlling my suggesting is getting more narrow in what it will show me. And doing a search doesn't always help. It seems like it only wants to pull videos that have gotten tens of thousands to millions of views and has an over-achiever thumbnail picture. I know there has to be other people out there making videos but I can't get to them. 3. My suggested videos really gets caught up on channels I have watched recently.

[@MoneyPitBoating]

Bingo.

[@GEOsustainable]

Thank you. I don't get promoted anymore because I started doing variety.

[@Draemn]

Yep, they even say 6:24 it doesn't actually know the target audience of a video. Super frustrating both as a creator and viewer.

[@alkemystica]

It's the point of crossing that threshold between known and unknown, the big gets bigger while the small have to keep crawling until they learn how to walk. Makes also sense not to put all in one basket and diversify 🙂Could also be that it is 100% random based.

[@lifeofluke]

Bingo. Exactly

[@DDARAP-qb6yf]

Yes. That’s good advice, but if your audience doesn’t see an impression of your thumbnail, they won’t watch your video. Impressions are key, and there’s no way to control that as a creator.

[@DearJamesP]

Thumbnail bait are popular these days in KZbin

[@JDIW]

I wish you guys would address the issue of impressions when it comes to newer channels. I can understand having to make changes to my content to fit more in line with what my audience wants but that's hard to do when the algorithm is refusing to give videos enough impressions to actually attract an audience. It sucks that I have to spend more time finding out how to trick the algorithm into giving my videos impressions than actually engaging with viewers.

[@GerailloTV]

I wish you guys would address the issue of impression when it comes to newer channel Geraillo TV

[@Flesson19]

Ill say it for the millionth time, change personalized notifications so KZbin doesn't try to figure out what content people want to watch but offers options, long form, short form, shorts, streams so the viewers can turn each one on or off. I don't get why KZbin won't do that. I think that restricts many from turning on all notifs as they don't want to be bombarded with content they don't want but at times people could miss something they do since KZbin is trying to figure out what the viewer wants instead of the viewer deciding.

[@SomratSkating]

Thank you youtube team❤

[@AllNBAChronicles]

I started a month ago and am really proud of being monetized in a month, however, it is frustrating to know that a lot of videos wont even get shown in the shorts feed. I wont give up, just feel frustrated when I know that similar content from established creators get eaten up hahaha. In saying all that, I am truly grateful!!

[@AkornzStash]

how many videos did u publish in that first month? what is your general topic? i have a meme based channel, and started publishing since the end of july, and if things dont change from the current rate, it will take me 6+ months to *possibly* get monitized. got over 70 videos. some videos have thousands of views, others didnt even get 20 impressions in multiple days, even though those few impressions brought in 80 to 100% click through. and this is same for shorts or long. still got many videos with 50 to 200 views or less. have had week where every video each day did this, then finally get a video that got picked up by algorithm. got 360 subs over 2k watch hours, and even my subs dont even see many of my videos. and this is all with a lot of positive feed back and comments from viewers. idk

[@HUMANISTTVWORLD-yc4hx]

Please educate me on how you got monetised

[@1stdrive]

Instead of an algorithm guessing what viewers want, why not allow viewers to tell KZbin directly? There are some options similar to this now such as selecting not to recommend a channel but I'd like to have a page or a survey where I can manually select what is recommended. You could choose from a list of gaming, cats, reaction videos, videos from under 25s, videos with swearing etc. and not only would this filter out content you don't want but also allow you to find relevant new content. There could be a section where you type a list of keywords for content you want to watch and don't want to watch, as well as select if you want to see Shorts, podcasts etc. Why doesn't this exist?

[@rajammalstudiomake]

Super

[@kameliajaya_Channel]

Mantap

[@flavourindiaka]

I am also frustrated with the KZbin impression,it is limited if you tube send the impression in lakhs then every video goes viral😊😊

[@ThreeChordDave]

It's great advice, but if your audience don't get to see an impression of your thumbnail then they're not going to watch your videos. Impressions are the key and there is no way to control that as a creator. I've had videos with a lot of watch time, tens of thousands of views, lots of likes 96% positive and lots of comments and then the next video which was similar and purposely targeted in the same way gets 5% the number of impressions and 5-10% of the views.

[@ChinaExpatsRC]

This is something no one seems to talk about. Non of those "creator guru" channels talk about it. They always talk about improving thumbnails or AVD, but if no one actually sees your thumbnail then it doesn't matter how good it is

[@Oearth]

I agree. I've had videos do quite well and even be on an upwards trend, then suddenly flatline. When I check the data, it almost always coincides to the hour when YT stopped presenting my video as an impression.

[@shivanshmastivlog]

Thanks sir this useful information my channel is@shivanshmastivlog

[@adeokuneye9288]

This is the same exact thing I am going through... I'm convinced you need to hit yt sweet spot..

[@DangThiPhuong.]

Hello ❤

[@igorzemlianyn]

I think that algorithm should not stop showing your video if it's not watched and continue showing it forever, because there are people somewhere who are looking for YOU! I personally struggle with situations when my video that has not gone well just STOPS being showed to people by algorithm COMPLETELY! It's definitely frustrating, just give more previews to that.

[@TerryMcGearyScotland]

@@igorzemlianyn I’m giving my old videos a new lease of life ( and re-discovery possibilities!) by refreshing thumbnails, tags, title and even unlisting while doing so before making public again. It seems to at least get the attention of subscribers at least.

[@larapeacedieandere1130]

Eine gute Idee 👍🏼. Das werde ich auch ausprobieren. Danke 🙏🏼

[@TerryMcGearyScotland]

@@larapeacedieandere1130 You are welcome. I hope it helps you.

[@fishelectronics]

They don't care about your audience but their profit

[@TerryMcGearyScotland]

@@fishelectronicsIt’s a business not a philanthropic society at the end of the day. Presumably YT has shareholders and is profit driven. Get what you can from them but keep it a pleasure from our side, not a chore.

[@NatalyTS]

About channels in 2 languages. I think that no automatic translator will ever replace a living person and live speech, even with an accent. I also came across the fact that when the same audience is from different countries, it is difficult for youtube to give the right recommendations for videos. I remember one of my videos literally "stuck" because of this. And although my channel was at the beginning of development, I decided to divide it into 2 audiences - Spanish-speaking and Russian-speaking.

[@DangThiPhuong.]

Hello ❤

[@oneeyedphotographer]

It's taking KZbin a while to notice that I never play a generated mix, that I never ever watch shorts. It would be useful to be able to filter recommendations so I can filter out my undesirables - the shorts and mixes, but also too-long videos.

[@thailandamulets]

I think they notice more the majority who do watch shorts unfortunately there is a large Idiocracy on the planet. I don’t watch shorts either, but I upload them and they get lots of views. And I watch millennial sat there scrolling through them all day. So one shouldn’t judge the data just from your own perception. You need to look at millions of individuals to see what the trend is. also, from thousands of hours working with artificial intelligence algorithms, so I can tell you that not even KZbin knows why the algorithm recommends certain content above others, because there are always unexpected results and responses.

[@stevesshowreel.]

I found that it does make a difference what time and what days you upload, look at your audience guide it helps. when you up load it takes a few hours to get into the system so if your audience are on youtube at around 4PM up load at around 11am. play around with upload times see what works best. Then again you can't get all your content 100% some are good and some are not, just like watching a film, not all movies are great 🙃

[@AmnaMoeen]

Believe ur self

[@TerryMcGearyScotland]

Very wise. I took YT analytical advise a few years ago and started uploading around midnight. Recently I checked again only to find that been midday and 6pm was about right. From a few experimental livr streams I found a LOT of new viewers were getting offered my lives around about 1-3pm UK winter time (Daylight Saving Time). And that was only a wander around a Scottish graveyard😂

[@stevesshowreel.]

@@TerryMcGearyScotland you need to see where your views are coming from. Most of mine come from the USA and India, USA are 7 hours behind so if I up load around 2pm British time, by the time it gets into circulation which is a few hours it would be around 10 am USA time. Most of the time whatever you do it still goes wrong

[@TerryMcGearyScotland]

@@stevesshowreel.A lot of algorithmic serendipity: the time difference/scottish/hike/with a numerical value/thumbnail with a female in/ etc. You get the idea I’m sure😂

[@stevesshowreel.]

@@TerryMcGearyScotland yep, most of the advice you get is useless. Put a nice lass in the thumbnail and hey presto magic happens 😂😂

[@IrriScape]

Just started my Channel about 10 months ago, it’s growing on a pretty steady pace, wish it would grow faster. I’ve watched other videos like this to try and help improve things to gain more traction.

[@personalnotesmusic]

Love the focus on audience rather than algorithms!

[@Moe-eid]

For me, I have been working on KZbin since 2015, and unfortunately, until today, I did not understand how the algorithm works, nor the actual factors that cause the success of a video or the failure of another video.

[@YouTubeLiaison]

Make better and better videos that the people who previously watched your videos can't help but click on, watch to completion, and love so much they want to watch even more of your videos.

[@Igiveupyoutubechannel]

@@KZbinLiaisongive me shoutout 🎉 sir you have power of god

[@srstudioGaro7352]

How to solved reused content? Sir,

[@austinroque]

My channel is new, going pretty well monetized and 4k subs in under 4 months. I do travel content, but so far my Vegas content is the only content that is “blowing up” frustrating as I’ve traveled around the world. I don’t really understand because all my analytics in terms of retention and click through rate is pretty much the same. It just seems like if it isn’t Vegas, it isn’t being pushed

[@YummyGastronomy]

Thanks guys, great stuff! I just learned multi language audio tracks are enabled. I despised the idea of condensing helpful details into short subtitles, so this is going to be wonderful for me.

[@palmsandsand]

I would love to know how you measure similar channels that began at the same time, specifically when one creator lightening speeds past 1K with 30 videos and another creator has created hundreds of videos and can barely get past 500. I've noticed this and really would love to understand how KZbin addresses this.

[@FraserAtSea]

If you’re speaking personally, keep going! ❤

[@seraphofthursday]

Dead on. I've see that quite a bit myself. Odd.

[@suseema7078]

Those who see my comment, may your KZbin channel grow more and more day by day!❤

[@BroNerfeVlogs]

🎉

[@education4708]

❤❤❤

[@bangalicartoon793]

❤

[@deekshabharti1396]

🙌

[@JamesKerLindsay]

My biggest concern is that YT now focuses too much on subscriber response when deciding whether to push new videos more widely. I accept that this may work for many channels where there is a common theme. But it is often terrible for mine. I deal with international politics. Not all my videos attract a similar audience. Those interested in the Middle East are unlikely to choose a video on the South Pacific. So the response from my subscribers stops the video from getting wider circulation. I understand that this doesn’t affect all channels. But for many, the current system does have a profoundly negative effect. As important as they are, it would be good to look beyond current subscribers.

[@YouTubeLiaison]

I think it's probably regular viewers, regardless of whether they're subscribed or not? But if you change topics a lot, not every viewer will be interested in watching every topic - and no one, including KZbin, can force anyone to watch topics they're not interested in. You'll also face wider competition, including from channels dedicated to those specific topics that have established audience trust. One thing you could try is coming up with an over-arching theme and value prop that people would want to go to beyond just the topic. Doctor Mike and Legal Eagle are good examples of this. Instead of competing on commodity coverage, they provide expert personality in a larger space. Just an idea!

[@deltacommand9312]

Professor, Todd answers your question at 6:14 I would consider setting up other channels for different audiences in your existing channel. From a marketing undergraduate from 40 years ago :)

[@travelguy8431]

Agreed

[@10ON10]

I agree

[@swdwmwary]

Love from India Assam

[@ABrickDreamer]

I believe many creators, in right or wrong, always wonder if the algorithm really understands what their content is about and who is it for. It would be great to have a tool in which we can input information about our content, not for the audience but for the system. Impressions seems to vary a lot video by video even if in within they same style and niche, sometimes it’s very hard for the creators to identify why some videos performed better than others

[@GlitchmanVGM]

This is very true! Regardless of what some say, the algorithm is a HUGE factor in how many views a video gets. I assume that this is because the algorithm takes some time to find the right audience for the video. Why can't we directly TELL the system what our video is about so that it can recommend it to the right people??

[@VIVIDTCG]

@@GlitchmanVGM I agree! Instead of just an open category like entertainment or gaming... what type or what its actually about. If people click the like button it should show them more of that youtuber and videos that are alike, all the time and not just sometimes. Trendy videos should stay in the trends tab, if I'm saying that correctly.

[@Draemn]

The answer is simple: it does not understand your content. It simply presents your video to the audience that seems to be interested in your channel. Then it shares it a little bit outside that pool of audience to include a few test viewers that are likely to share viewing interests with the target audience. If it doesn't get traction, it stops trying to find the right viewers for your video.

[@VIVIDTCG]

@@Draemn there should be a definite way that it can categorize your content so it does understand your content and stop testing it with people that wouldn't be interested in the first place. If they never clicked or liked that type of video they should not get an impression for it. Subscribers that hit the notification bell still miss stuff they would have wanted to see!

[@dirtspec3]

agree. sometimes out of the box stuff from rly small channels like mine get shelfed prematurely because of this non-understanding.

[@suzanslifestyle]

One think l want to recommend to KZbin, please make it easy access to Description area on video . I have lots of sponsorship video , they require to put discount code on Description area but not everyone knows how to get there. Maka it more accessible.

[@MUNSHITRAINER]

❤ good morning

[@suzanslifestyle]

@@MUNSHITRAINER morning my friend ☕️

[@lvfreeAdventures]

The watch time should be the king - not some short and very limited surveys and guessing what actually viewer feel when watching. It also sounds like youtube is making subjective decision what videos have more values in future...

[@JabarisFitnessChannel]

A feature I think would help fitness channels is to add a health and fitness category. I feel like if there's a category for that I feel new creators can find an audience.

[@arcgadgets214]

I've had my channel for 3 years now. And I've over the years modified the type of content I upload though still the same niche. So, my latest type of content is getting more engagement and audience retention. My returning viewers are also increasing. So I guess constantly paying attention to the engagement patterns does help small beginner channels.

[@MasterOf4Dragons]

Maybe KZbin can create a new section on the landing page to promote new channels, specifically for promoting new channels without directly competing with established channels. This could be similar to how KZbin currently promotes shorts, where there is a separate section dedicated to shorts.

[@freemagicfun]

I would rather see a new creator tab than a shorts tab (I hide it monthly). 😎

[@SURYOFATIKHCHANNEL]

Thank you

[@personaldata1270]

That's a gud thought.. Also, Yt can have a ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA of 3k passed ,or 5k passed or 10k passed channels for showing a channel on a "NEW CREATORS TAB

[@studentsclubofPLSirteacher]

Please translate this video into Hindi

[@mdnoyan4954]

Halp me sir

[@freemagicfun]

I have no faith in the YT algorithm. I watch WAY too much KZbin, yet my feed is always the same dozen videos I do not want to watch. When I click "something new"... it is stuff I ignored before. YT has absolutely no idea what to show me... even though I watch hours of videos every day. I suspect that my interest are simply what YT does not want to promote. Ad revenue is king, after all. 😎

[@torqgarage]

same tbh

[@johnnythefilmmaker]

Facts

[@realyoukejuice]

Yup

[@SairaFatima-pu7vz]

Yap

[@EvaDeMetal]

Exactly the same here

[@WiredCustomsSpeedShop]

Thanks for all your help! My channel has been thriving!

[@PureMovieClips]

How do you expect us to think about "why my audience didn't like my video" when the video was never recommended to them?

[@mycammedia]

Because they have no intention of it being so. Keep an eye on your CTR, ratio of likes, etc against the TOTAL NUMBER OF IMPRESSIONS and you will likely see all kinds of miraculous shenanigans.

[@luminousmeditations]

As a new creator, it's really helpful to hear these discussions. Thanks.

[@BossWidow-b2e]

That’s a good advice, but some of the audience doesn’t see attraction, or impression the video I try because I am new KZbinr but this is a sign for the KZbinr. Thank you sir.

[@splatterdaynightmares]

I did premieres for 6 months straight 5 days a week with the same audience every night because no matter what I did I wasn't seen and it didn't make a darn bit of difference. All it did was help me get my adsense back that I waited for 3 years to reset and that fell through the cracks. I still have the same people every Saturday night and hang out for 2 hours and they stick around the whole. It still doesn't matter. It stays around 100 views on VODs and 150 for lives. And I tested it. I created a different channel with a video with the same title, description, thumbnail, and video. What happened? It got 2000 views as opposed to 100. WTH is going on?

[@DangThiPhuong.]

Hello ❤❤❤❤😊😊😊

[@MerajFathi]

After some months of working on my channel I am finally understanding some important things about content creating. Many new channels hear that you should have patience and consistency. This is true but creators must know about their content quality and important factors that set them to higher ranks and focus on them.

[@daPalma]

I've just qualified for the partner program and I'm totally stoked, albeit I'm now a tad lost in what's the best way forward from here for my channel. So thanks for your knowledge and advice. I'm currently a content creator sponge trying to absorb all that advice and navigate my channel to success 🤞🏼

[@faresingh-n2k]

interest knowledge ❤❤ 7:08

[@digitechtruck]

Yes, this is more valuable information for all creator like small or big. Too much learning and yes audience is important. Build up long term relationship with audience

[@simplyhomestylecooking9632]

"Great insights on the 2023 KZbin algorithm changes! It's so helpful to understand how viewer retention and engagement are more crucial than ever. Thanks for breaking down how Shorts and long-form videos can work together for channel growth. Quick question: What specific strategies do you recommend for improving watch time on newer videos with lower view counts? Looking forward to your tips!"

[@shonvibes]

My experience as a content creator on YT severely improved when I stopped paying attention to the analytics altogether. They were demoralizing and had been sending me in the wrong direction in what I created because "analysis" is the exact opposite energy of what I provide to my audience which is more "woo woo" space, if you will. The more I paid attention to the analytics, the less my content connected with my core audience. When I left studio analytics alone, yes, at first I saw a steep drop in viewership but I also saw an increase in engagement through likes and comments. I THEN noticed that I'd also begun to see longer retention times and higher impressions click through rate. So I still try to not focus too much on what creator studio is telling me to do and create based on the inspiration I get as an artist and a person providing content in what some consider to be the spiritual space. I've also noticed that my same videos, while they get lower views here on YT, do AMAZINGLY well on TikTok - even those with 16:9 aspect ratio and are longer than 5 minutes. So these guys can say "algorithm doesn't matter; audience is what you should focus on," all they want but from my experience, on YT, not as many people who would enjoy my kind of content see it on YT as they do on other platforms. It's not just TikTok. I do better on IG - long and short, FB - reels mostly, and even my newly created Twitter account is being very well-received and my brand new Pinterest pins are sending people to YT to watch my vids. So, I def do agree that focusing on your audience is the most important thing. But there's something about how YT works that doesn't always allow for my audience and potential audience to even see what I've put out there for them. Hey, even as a viewer, there are channels that I love that all of a sudden YT stops highlighting on my homepage. I'll notice because weeks will pass and I haven't seen a video from someone and I'm like, "Hey...where's such and such?," and I go and look on their channel and they've dropped several videos since I last viewed one. It's just that these didn't display on my homepage b/c YT's algorithm noticed that I found a new interest and just started offering me a ton of stuff on that topic from a ton of different channels as opposed to continuing to show me work from creators I love. And I didn't see the notifications about new content from those creators I love and am subscribed to - despite having the bells on their channels set to "all" - because, when you're subscribed to a lot of channels, which most of us are, when you log onto KZbin and see your notification icon says 10 or 20 or 50 or whatever, you don't click to see what those 10 to 20 to 50 notifications individually are. AND, I also have mobile notifications enabled, but, again, when so many come through, you just ignore them - particularly if you're a busy creator or business owner like myself.

[@This1LifeWeLive]

agree, I found that my views plumeted the last few years, despite producing more engaging content and looking at my stats, only 1,000 people of 75,000 even have a bell. Mostly because I large portion didn't have the bell when they first subbed, and then the next wave wasn't sure what a bell was. I STILL get people asking when I'm putting another video out, despite putting one out a day or three before. It's maddening. I'm looking at switching over to other medias.

[@shonvibes]

@@This1LifeWeLive That is crazy to me! I didn't know that some people don't even HAVE a bell.

[@DoItDoItNow-qp2ji]

*THISSSSSSSSSSS!!!!*

[@vaskoobscura_]

My biggest issue with the algorithm is that it's too accurate. On the home page it gives me a perfect representation of the type of videos I've watched over the past month. And that's where I have my problem. The video choices I get have no diversity of content. It's all the same all the time and it gets stale fast. I would love to see a few random videos tossed in the mix on the home page to keep things exciting. Also would be cool if 20% of the videos featured would be from video topics I searched for in the past. There are a ton of creators out there that I love to watch but since their videos aren't in line with what I typically search for the algorithm never shows me their content. What if viewers had a way to favorite a creator's channel so that every time that creator posted new content it would automatically be featured on our home page for us to discover. Or maybe a favorites-homepage that just displays videos from channels that we favorite in chronological order of publication. That would be amazing. That way I would never miss a new video from someone I want to keep up with.

[@DangThiPhuong.]

Hello ❤

[@CleyXFit]

That's why you should put on the notification for the channel, you go to your notifications to check and see their videos. And you should search gour favourite creators if they are really your favourite. KZbin give you what you want. So start telling it what you want.

[@DangThiPhuong.]

@@CleyXFit hello 💖

[@CleyXFit]

@@DangThiPhuong. Hello, how are you ?

[@DangThiPhuong.]

@@CleyXFit Nice to meet you

[@mayortventertainment]

I have so many educational videos that have not gone viral. I just pray the algorithm picks it up one. Thanks for this video.

[@MotorAddicts]

What we find is if we upload our content to Facebook it gets a lot more reach and growth, also Facebook gives you ad revenue. For example one video on KZbin gets 3.9k same video on Facebook 420k. We have found shorts also hit the CPM, so looks like we may have to do a separate channel for shorts.

[@zoomenter33]

Thanks for the great interview and excellent information. Obviously different audiences like different things, a new channel shouldn't have to created to serve those audiences. Say a viewer enjoys funny videos then those videos and or playlists of such videos should be recommended to them instead of pigeonholing channels to one topic or theme. This will prevent creative burnout for the creator and will still give viewers what they want to watch.

[@studentsclubofPLSirteacher]

I have earned from KZbin twice. But I reset my mobile because the space on my mobile was full. Perhaps this is why I am not able to fill the US tax for KZbin 2024 form. What should I do? Please tell me quickly 🙏

[@BaltimoreAndOhioRR]

Does KZbin use the algorithm to "punish" channels? I almost always have a handful of videos that consistently perform very well - not viral, but just good steady performance. It seems every time I make critical comments here (or have issues the "help" team fails to correct), the bottom drops out of all my good videos. I say this tongue in cheek, but lately I'm not so sure. I noticed this a little while ago, and sort of joked about the coincidences in my head, but then I kept noticing. I have no other social media and I do no advertising or promotion of my videos anywhere. I'm 100% at the mercy of the algorithm. It seems odd how my channel - including all my top videos- can just drop to 2009 levels at a whim. It's almost as if my channel, and all it's videos, gets blacklisted (or at least put into a lesser tier) for some reason other than the individual videos themselves. Like I'm being punished or something..... I'm curious to hear your opinion, and I hope it's more in depth than, "No, we don't".

[@mycammedia]

the smartest comment here - and of course your observation is completely correct - you should see what happens if you dare ask anything with teamyoutube on twitter - and you will only ever get the answer "no, we don't" - it goes from removing your vids or shorts from feed, etc withing minutes of publishing (no matter what the CTR or even even like ratio is (98% for me) - all the way up to removing your best performing video for details which you will NOT be told. In my case - I am treated like that even though my channel is about RESCUING KITTENS AND CATS and we are an animal shelter.

[@MyRetroWatches]

I don’t know. Personally think the algorithm has changed recently as I’ve seen well over 50% drop in views in 2023 despite making the same content as always. 6 years on the platform now and never seen such a drop.

[@chargeheadsuk]

Or maybe the audience have changes what they want to see.

[@GreenChairPresents]

Yup. Too much manipulation. They need to just let it be. It’s almost like they’re trying to control the weather and cause more chaos than success.

[@ariesmarsexpress]

How can the audience like it if they never see it?

[@TheRenegadeReport]

That's up to you. There are thousands of places you can post your videos, you can make a substack and create articles to embed them into etc. It doesn't take long for thr algorithm to find you if you find your audience.

[@GreenChairPresents]

Bingo

[@friendscharmingtv4620]

​@@TheRenegadeReportexactly 💯

[@milosh9k]

The audience is not the perfect measure, in the history of art the audiences gave wrong appraisals countless times. You should consider improving beyond the audience, it is a very complex and challenging task but worth it. Anyway, thank you so much for your efforts to improve KZbin, it has been a long way and the positive results are visible for any period of time! ❤

[@YouTubeLiaison]

While customers will typically want faster horses, you still need to pay attention to what kinds of cars they're buying 💛

[@chez_guy]

i disagree. the audience is the ONLY measure. if you're not making videos for people, who or what are you making it for??

[@milosh9k]

@@chez_guy Yes, the audience is the only measure, unfortunately, sometimes it takes time for the audience to comprehend the real values. J.S. Bach was considered a second-rate composer during his lifetime, it took about a hundred years to be rediscovered and to be recognized as one of the greatest composers of all time. The audience laughed at Van Gogh while he was alive. Dozens of great artists died unrecognized by the audience.

[@travelguy8431]

@@chez_guyas the person above alluded to, if Ford listened to the audience, he would have made a faster horse, not the car. This is what the original commenter meant. You need to be ahead of your audience and not just give candy to the baby.

[@chez_guy]

@@milosh9k ahh that makes sense. very interesting take. thanks!

[@Kai.shorts]

The video gets into the recommendations, and this is when you are lucky, and when you are not lucky, the algorithm does not work yet, but we hope it will improve over time as the neural network improves❤

[@Draemn]

The problem I have with the algorithm being designed around the viewer is that is really bad actually understanding what the target audience of a video is (i.e. it doesn't have a way to understand what the video is about). If a channel typically uploads videos that are based around "sewing" but then they upload a video about "travel," the algorithm tests this video against the viewers the channel typically gets. Because it doesn't really understand that it should be "targeted" towards a different set of viewers that the channel currently doesn't reach. You even mention this problem saying people should consider creating additional channels for different content. As a smaller channel trying to gain traction, this is just way too frustrating to have to try and build multiple channels to cover a variety of different content you make and is a really bad solution. As a viewer, I find it frustrating how bad the suggestions are at trying to suggest new content/interests, relying too heavily on suggesting more content that too closely matches what you are watching. It takes too much work to "curate" a good viewing feed and it takes just clicking 1 or 2 of the wrong videos to skew your suggestions completely. Again, the user now has to create multiple channels if they want to have a well curated algorithm because it gets too confused if you try to watch certain content together and will just push one out of your feed entirely.

[@flandersfamilytoday]

Love this. We can all make excuses/ blame others why we are not successful, but “give the people what they want!” And ANYONE can see success.

[@JackieUnfilteredASMR]

I hope you grow on KZbin everyone! It’s slow but surely worth it! 🎉❤

[@5MadMovieMakers]

Focusing on long term trust instead of short term temporary gains is great advice, not only for KZbin but for life

[@CPR4THEBODYlivingaenrichedlife]

I been around a while but I had to leave when my husband got really sick some Years ago now im.a single mom because he passed away 4 months ago. I'm sharing my journey of relocated starting over and flipping a fixer upper. It's not fair how the algorithm is bias.

[@mamanana4979]

Very good and very nice 👍

[@Illaboratel]

Facts. Wish it was easier for the people in the music industry. I am not gonna upload daily because it takes time to create content.

[@baluasonnhavlog7267]

Cảm ơn đã chia sẻ video này, quá tuyệt vời ❤❤❤❤❤

[@nehajohn6334]

True 👍

[@emrekocak35]

*We have a more important problem than the algorithm. Reused content issue. Even though thousands of creators create their own content 100%, they lose their monetization feature and they can't prove it to you. Appeal video are always negatively received because no one knows which videos are causing problems and you don't tell them. You are left with no choice but to delete random videos.*

[@shortE2psubscribe20k]

Hello sir Reused Content monetization ?......?

[@KETOPUNJABI]

Thanks 😊 very knowledgeable 😊

[@karoleenascottage]

I do enjoy those occasional opportunities when KZbin recommends my video and I watch the views climb to 6,000 or so. For a new creator that’s very exciting!

[@JasonParkerMagic]

Love to hear interviews about the algorithm... especially revisiting it periodically so we can learn about changes. Thanks!

[@MDPOLASH-4P]

Hi❤❤

[@RurbanWalker]

Great discussion. Awesome to get insider perspective. Only one thing said didn’t make sense to me in the audience over algorithm part. I get it if my video gets 200 views the first two days and then dies. It says the audience did not stay tuned. Makes sense. However, what about the video that doesn't even get 10 views the first week. That suggests it was never distributed, such that audience opinion was never even obtained. So, there must be something in the algorithm that rejects some videos even before any audience behavior is observed.

[@DetroitThreatManagementCenter]

Thank you! Our focus has always been to share our knowledge with our audience and the world-everything else is second. This is refreshing to hear. Focus on your audience!

[@YouTubeLiaison]

Give your audience more of the videos they love for them to love

[@AamirRazaAttari]

​@@KZbinLiaison Excellent💯 work👍 Sir!

[@Bickey_kr]

that's right

[@Active.Mithilesh]

Super video

[@ambassadoroffaith1018]

❤❤❤❤

[@EnglishListeningNews]

Hi. Thanks for this informative video. KZbin Studio recommended it to me in its weekly summary. You guys were talking about how to improve the “suggested videos” section, I wonder it might be an idea to allow views to create their “top 5 or 10 categories” in the Home recommendation area. To be honest with you, as a viewer, I am often lost and cannot find the videos that I feel like watching at the time. And I often wish that I had a section where I can only see the videos related to a certain field, like English learning, News, Make-up, Meditation, Yoga… This way I would be able to find the right videos more easily depending on the mood that I am in. And maybe viewers can also set some keywords into each section (like for English learning, English Listening, English Pronunciation, English Vocabulary…). This way, KZbin no longer need to “guess” what we want to see. We KNOW what we want and when. Like, for me, before going to bed, I want to see some Travel related videos or Meditation related videos and would hate to see Latest News coming into my feed (because I won’t be able to sleep well….) Anyway, it would be great if KZbin could look into the possibility of letting viewers create their own preferred “reception boxes” so that they can find the desired videos easily and less distracted by other irrelevant ones at the time of the day. At the moment, me as a creator, I am trying to reach some English learners who are keen to learn the language through News stories. But I am finding it very difficult to achieve good SEO for it… I feel if there is a function on YT to target the audience more effectively, it would help me too.

[@AI-DnD-Campaign]

The most consistent thing i've seen on youtube is: suggested vids = 0.2% ctr, browse features = 15% ctr. Small channel = stomped down by bad suggested video ctr and goes dead. Big channel = purely browse features boost from first minute

[@cedarfallsfarm9833]

While it's great to think about the audience instead of the algorithm, how do you build your audience without it? Both are equally important, especially for a channel trying to reach that level of growth to reach monetization.

[@pedestriansonly]

Same questions... as a beginner that's not easy at all. We have both of jurney videos and city walk videos on our channel here and I cannot find out if both topics have the same or almost the same audience or not. And how long should we wait and see if it works or should we split them for two channels...

[@cedarfallsfarm9833]

Look at the analytics every way you can. It may be a little helpful, but not absolute. I have one video that stayed at less than 50 views for 6 months. Suddenly, at the end of the year it became popular. No matter what I load, it remains the most watched video over the last 48 hours.

[@nbeast_]

When I published my first video tutorial in 2015, I quickly surpassed 100,000 views and received a ton of supportive comments and likes. Most IT tutorial channels were killed by this new algorithm. Literally none of their content could be found in searches, and even if someone did find it, everyone rushed the video, destroying their watch hours, which forced the algorithm to cease promoting their content. It was clear that KZbin had nerfed everything because they had found their sweet spot and didn't want to give everyone a chance.

[@LesClay]

It sad

[@Flowerdreamvedio]

I feel like I'm being cheated out of the watch time hours seams to be broken. I been doing ytube videos for 3 years now its so frustrating you just don't give people a break

[@ColesWorldofMathematics]

As an educational channel that uploads math tutorials, I now have over 1000 videos. Even with playlists for organization, it's still very hard to find specific content since my channel deals with a variety of different math topics (algebra, geometry, trig, pre-calc, calculus etc). So I have been seriously thinking about starting another channel that just focuses on Calculus (since that is my biggest following). I realize it's the "same content", so it should be the "same channel" based on what was said in the video. But if you want all the same content on the same channel, then YT needs to figure out a way for educational channels to better organize their content which makes it easier for people to find it.

[@ActivistasdelCambioCO]

Amigo nuestro canal es de política Colombia y tiene casi 50.000 suscriptores y nos dijeron que tal vez tenemos un shadowban que lo máximo en visitas es 1000 o menos. Te podrás imaginar la impotencia.

[@Gruzbee]

It's been very very hard to find my brand on KZbin this past year. As a video game streamer, I am up against a lot of hurdles due to the nature of being a variety streamer, and because I am a dude that streams with a catgirl vtuber model (no voice changer), I find it double hard to break into an audience. Most will watch for the train-wreck, but many click away when they see (hear) that I'm just a guy and not some fantasy girl.

[@JimLeonard]

Sounds like you've already identified what needs changing (either the content or the presentation).

[@GreenChairPresents]

Trying to control it in the first place is a negative

[@Thisdayinthepast-chnl]

Sumarization: - Focus on audience satisfaction, not just the algorithm, when creating content for KZbin. - Prioritize viewer satisfaction over watch time when recommending content on KZbin. - KZbin uses surveys to improve its recommendation system by prioritizing long-term satisfaction over short-term watch time. - Creators should prioritize creating long-term value for their audience and KZbin has a team to help new creators succeed. - Creators have more options for content creation, but should consider whether the audience for each format is the same or different. - Creators should try combining channels for different languages and formats to increase engagement. - KZbin offers opportunities and challenges for experimentation and connection across formats, including improving recommendations with large language models and addressing overwhelming choices. - Video platforms are improving their design and interface to make content discovery easier and more enjoyable

[@milk2Manna]

Thank you for caring about the success of small, new creators and for the advice of focusing on building audience relationships for the LONG HAUL.....

[@mychannelciledug]

Terimakasih, kami tetap berbagi dan Semangat Bosqiu

[@Tolbat]

This video does not line up with reality, I have videos that have a higher rater of people choosing to watch it than pass it bye, and they watch most of the video if not all, and click like, then the video drops off the algorithm and gets no views. I can release the same video at a different time and get completely different results.

[@travelwithtanveery]

agreed

[@GreenChairPresents]

Exactly. We’re a new platform only a few months old and the views/likes/comments from video to video is all over the place the place. No consistency. Trying to control the “audiences” choices is a gift and a curse… for us it’s a curse.

[@ParkersPensees]

I've been fighting the "algorithm doesn't like me" feeling for a while. I think it's helpful to think about the audience instead of the algorithm, but I do think I may have done some serious damage to my channel from the start. I switched like 60 videos over from a different channel and released them all on the same day 2 years ago and I think it signaled the algorithm that I have a lot of videos that literally no one has watched. Been trying to dig myself out of that hole for a while. I'm too invested to start over but I've recently made a brand new channel with related content but slightly different and it's way outperforming the channel I'm commenting from. So all that to say, I think the audience substitution for algorithm is helpful but not wholly accurate.

[@NidaKhan-nk]

Thank you for providing much needed knowledge 🎉

[@slordar]

The biggest issue I see with this is the assumption that people want similar content. Sometimes people may only like content because of a specific creator. For example I'm not that into the game dead by daylight as much these days but I am a big fan of the youtuber/streamer skerms despite my overall lack of interest with other creators in that games space.

[@motosill_garage]

I am not following the trends, just making my own stuff and sharing. So many people are around who have the same point of view.

[@RinkuDas-h4w]

Hello KZbin team, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Just keep giving us information like this.❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@desmondsawyer1471]

My question is if the analytics say that the thumbnail CTR is 10% Average view duration is 45% (9:20 secs) give or take out of a 20 min video why is the impression so low? Why is youtube not serving my video? That is what I’m trying to understand..

[@DangThiPhuong.]

Hello ❤

[@LilusKichenVlog]

Hi hallo🥰

[@beegeewanders]

Very insightful! Thanks for sharing this, I hope to see more of this type of discussion.

[@newsitalylahbib2024]

❤❤❤grazie mille

[@desmondsawyer1471]

I have a suggestion! How about adding a filter option where I can filter out videos with “under 10k views/ over 10k views” filters that you can choose how long ago it was uploaded! Filters that allow me to find channels with low subscribers, filter out regions, filter out likes etc! If it’s for premium members only that would be an assentive to become a premium member as well!

[@DangThiPhuong.]

Hello ❤

[@PostWokeWorld]

Great idea!

[@kothokota_1970]

Good sharing.Thank you.

[@BulkandBrawn]

Great 💡 idea

[@RuffHouseStudios]

KZbin prioritizes monetized videos and has lied about it for years.

[@teflontravels]

Interesting. I think there’s truth to this. I noticed my videos are getting pushed more since I got monetised. But then again maybe monetised videos means videos are getting better which equals more views. Just a thought.

[@adulifestyle.3648]

thank you for 150 subscribers youtube family ❤

[@FilmBrain]

I'd like to echo that it is very hard to expand once KZbin pigeonholes what your audience is. The top two channels in "viewers also watch" are former co-workers that I don't want to associate with and not make videos in the style of, so I feel like I'm effectively punished for changing my style and making things for an audience that isn't what I'm targeting. The videos get plenty of likes and high watch times from those who watch them, but rarely any growth.

[@MoneyPitBoating]

Nailed it!

[@chefgiovanni]

You sir are Spot ON. Amazing content and very slow growth and exposure due to KZbin algorithm.

[@DangThiPhuong.]

❤

[@DangThiPhuong.]

Hello ❤😊😊😊😊

[@AmericanInPortugal]

I love this, thank you. I don't like worrying about all the algorithms etc, I just want to focus on making happy and informational videos which make my viewers happy and informed :)

[@belikewater3627]

Did you like this channel?

[@belikewater3627]

can I ask you a question

[@SerenitySueGraveyards]

What needs to change is the videos that suggest my videos. My channel is for cemetery history, so my videos should be suggested by other similar channels. Yet, in my reach, it shows videos like dogs, pimple poppers, presidents, etc. Why would a person watch my videos when suggested by something no related??

[@PeerCoxFashionRec]

Am I the only pessimistic creator who feels like the algorithm is everything except trying to help small creators😅 i have been ranking for the first years in such weird search terms that had nothing to do with my channel, it seems to be a bit better now after 3 years but I still feel like creators who cant upload every week are having the hardest time with the algorithm. anyways good luck to all small channels!

[@OutOfIdeas9977]

No I agree with you.

[@GreenChairPresents]

We’re right there with you buddy. We make cool consistent content and “the audience” limits the opportunity for real people to enjoy it.

[@ThiagoDepolo]

É importante pensar no público, sem dúvidas, mas é nítido que o próprio algorítimo não tá ligando para (o nosso próprio público) e está muito mais interessado no público baseado na própria pesquisa deles. Existe uma filosofia sobre como entregar vídeos que é totalmente prejudicial para o (novo criador ou para o antigo pequeno criador que decidiu falar de assuntos menos populares). Quem não tiver dinheiro para investir, morar em outro país, não ter uma aparência dos anjos e não falar de nichos extremamente fúteis será jogado para o limbo do esquecimento. (Tem um canal de um professor de português com 500 mil inscritos e está pegando 500 visualizações por vídeo) resumindo, mesmo que o cara faça o vídeo para O PÚBLICO DELE QUE QUER APRENDER PORTUGUÊS o algoritmo não entregará devido a um sistema atrasado e cruel do algorítimo). Está cultura do conteúdo fútil acima de todos está afastando os anunciantes que preferem ir para o TikTok em vez de anunciar nos vídeos bobos reduzindo drasticamente a receita nos canais e falindo criadores. (VOCÊS DEVERIAM OUVIR OS CRIADORES MENORES PELO MENOS UMA VEZ), mas, pela entrevista, parece que vocês não estão muito interessados NOS CRIADORES PEQUENOS. Assim a audiência e esses criadores partirão para outros lugares. A plataforma está perdendo um pouco da essência que fez ser uma gigante no passado, quando vocês tratam e controlam o alcance de maneira injusta e severa, faz com que futuros talentos abandonem. Será que agir assim é uma boa estratégia? Querem vencer? Vai minha sugestão, mas como sou pequeno será que serei ouvido? 1 - Diminuem a métricas mínimas necessárias para monetização em 50% (]para atrair novos criadores) 2 -- Aumentem 10% da receita em favor do criador de conteúdo (sacrifiquem um pouco o GIGANTE LUCRO DE VOCÊS) o criador paga (internet, equipamento, imposto, luz, editores, retoristas. 3 - Criem um atendimento mais humanizado em que pessoas da administração possa ajudar todo mundo e não somente criadores milionários. 4- Criem um sistema de recuperação de conta mais rápido para quando um canal é hackeado 5 - Não abandonem a entrega dos vídeos longos e nem misturem na linha do tempo vídeos longos com vídeos curtos(São os vídeos longos que atraem os anunciantes e vocês sabem disso) 6 - Melhorem o sistema de recomendação do KZbin, não quero ver meu vídeo tutorial recomendado por um video de reality show, assim vocês destroem minha retenção. ( Na recomendação de um vídeo sobre o PhotoShop tem que ter um vídeo de Photoshop (simples). 7 - Entreguem os nossos vídeos para nossos seguidores, aumentem a impressão inicial do vídeo para o criador poder testar formatos (Se eu posto um vídeo e dá 100 visualizações apenas, como terei base necessária para entender o comportamento do meu público). 8 - Melhorem a condição da equipe para que atenda melhor nossas dúvidas.

[@TenajTino]

It seems like the algorithm is more interested in drama than in positive content and that’s unfortunate

[@bboygermy]

Thanks so much for making this and sharing; still in the process of getting back after a long hiatus and this is really helpful!

[@EnglishLearnersHere]

Thanks, Rene and Todd! Knowing your audience is really important so you'll know what content to produce. Hope KZbin will also come up with another factor other than watch time to evaluate the quality or value of a creator's video, especially of small content creators. Thanks. 😍

[@RawbaanYaadmanTV]

Please give this comment a round of applause 🙏

[@OmRankerClasses]

Good information youtube team ❤

[@Pablo]

Always fantastic to hear Todd. Thanks!

[@CrazyAboutFlyFishing]

As a viewer I really wish I had more control about what I get recommended. It's frustrating being put into a box and being recommended the same stuff every day on the same topics and if I make the mistake of watching one video from a topic I get bombared with more for weeks even if it was one of and especially if it was a big creators video. I'm sometimes too scared to watch some videos because I'm only interested in that one video and don't want to be recommended more. I have certain topics I will always be interested in like fly fishing which I want more of and especially new content but instead I keep getting recommended the same channels and same videos. I've tried it with and without search and watch history and it makes little difference except without the history I get recommended more videos I have already watched. In summary the recommendations as a viewer is putting me off watching KZbin, and I now watch a fraction of what I used to. I am sure I am not the only one that feels this way. People are more diverse than the small box the algorithm puts you into. Maybe it's time to rethink and give users more control over what they see and choose rhemselves what they are interested in.

[@GlenBixley]

100% yes please something new and intresting, not the same stale old videos with lots of views, just because it ranks well. Yes it ranks well You have played over an over, and dont give new recomendations.

[@GlitchmanVGM]

I can relate to this! I sometimes hesitate to hit "Like" on a video if it's from a channel or topic that I don't normally watch videos from, e.g. if I watch ONE video on how to fix a sink, I don't need to be flooded with DIY and home improvement video recommendations!! I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this. Why can't we customize our recommendations like on other sites? That would be awesome! 😃

[@Gitshiver]

I feel like expanding the "not interested" option to the model that Google uses for it's mobile feed setup would work, you have a little slider option for "more like this" or "less like this".