The YouTube Invalid Traffic 'bug'

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Hi everyone and thanks for all the amazing comments! Sadly the problem still isn't resolved - you can follow the latest here: smallbusinesstoolbox.uk/yt/x - Ironically this vid has now gone semi-viral so I'm struggling to reply to all the comments - thank you, please keep them coming as it's exposing how widespread this issue is! 👍 I'm hearing more and more conflicting opinions of what's going on too. Some saying it's a bug, some saying it's by design. Either way it's not good news for any small creators out there and if you're also impacted you have my deepest sympathies. Don't let it get you down and keep doing what you do. 👍😎

[@whiskeywisdomplus]

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you have multiple other youtube channels associate with your google account that also has "Small Business Toolbox" under it? And I'm going to assume you've switched profiles on your videos with said other youtube accounts associated with your same google ID?

[@flagshipbowtie]

Poor clueless thing. it's not a bug. Read TOS. It's called Right to monetize. It's a scheme. They push vids off unmonetized and demonetized channels to viewers pocketing 100% off ad revenue.

[@ZanetDesign]

​@@whiskeywisdomplus interesting thought I have 3 channels and wonder if where I switch it gives irregular views on my channels, I just have the issue of not knowing if its that, madness that youtube can't tell us...so question, do all those affected have multiple accounts on the same log in?

[@bensa6016]

Just for your information: I got recommended your channel just now. I`m not located in the UK, I am not particularly interested in the UK tax system, had never seen the channel before and your video was suddenly on the top of my page. So your channel is definitely not dead, it is apparently being recommended to new people.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Interesting! I don't think the bug has hit views much, just revenue. Hope you enjoy my next vid about data backup strategies for small businesses! 👍😉

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@SmallBusinessToolbox Same here, although, given the cost of providing quality content, the channel might as well be dead if the traffic is invalid and that's going to hit the ad revenue. I'm guessing it's only so long until the algorithm stops recommending it at all.

[@lagpoker8699]

same here

[@PercussusResurgo]

Me too from Canada

[@africaart]

Yeah, I guess KZbin wants to keep all the revenue. The algorithm know it's a hot topic. Usually a video with the word Kill in the title being recommended to me when I have never watched the channel videos before.

[@londonerwalks]

So sorry this is happening to you. It sucks that KZbin (through AI) can wreck a successful business. If it helps, your video came up randomly for me as a suggestion and I had never heard of your channel before, so KZbin must still be recommending you.

[@LilyGazou]

This also came up in my feed.

[@OurOkieHomestead]

Same

[@Beyond_The_Impossible]

Same for me.

[@safjade]

This happened to me too, I hope YT sort this bug out for all the creators

[@nfcapps]

KZbin AI has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. So, if you mention the name "KZbin" it will just automatically start recommending your video to everyone. I might be joking, but AI is some of the STUPIDEST technology that humans have yet created, so I might be telling the truth.

[@mk500]

It is so unethical for KZbin to recommend this video to me (I haven’t watched you before), and then show me several ads when watching this video, while simultaneously telling YOU they won’t pay YOU. Wow. Just wow. Great video though. I’m an avid KZbin consumer and worry all my content will be going away.

[@tomthewanderer]

Another thing to consider is this opens the door for malicious invalid traffic attacks on popular channels purely to take them down either by a competitor or just someone out to be destructive. It is very worrying.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Yup - in all honesty I suspect it could be something like this anyway. 😭

[@thepowerlies]

They are already doing this with false copyright claims. So someone can basically disrupt or destroy your work easily if they want.

[@Synthetic-Chicken]

@@SmallBusinessToolbox It is exactly this, I've been in this kind of field of work for a long time now, people used to pay for likes/views/engagements, that doesn't work as well anymore due to adsense and your main direction of channels, most channels that have direct competition, go straight at the throats of their competition. Now AI and its tools have advanced even more, chatbots or bots in general with extreme direction are able to do these things very easily. Has been a lot of people doing these sorts of attacks as well as copyright claims, also be extremely careful with doing counter claims, it's a way people Doxx you and get your info cause you have to provide all your legitimate details when you do a counter claim.

[@unclemick-synths]

​@@Synthetic-Chicken yep, the whole copyright thing is just to appease the big media corporations. Historically copyright law was put in place to serve the interests of the publishers. When copyright duration gets extended its still only about the interests of the publishers, agents, and managers, not the creators. Any benefit to creators is entirely collateral and handy for spin to sell the idea. So I'm not surprised by lack of action to fix the defects.

[@LordAizenBankai]

KZbin chat support is the most usless thing

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Always seems to be bots and / or copy paste from web.

[@InnerEagle]

@clarahenderson470 ChatGPT would help way more What you mean is probably the normal automatic chatbots we had for the past 15 yrs

[@briskettaco]

It’s a lot of “I’m sorry you feel that way” and no solutions. It is like speaking with HR.

[@theseanwardshow]

KZbin is so huge that it's literally not worth their bother to care about individual creators aside from the very biggest. A small tweak to their systems on their end results in huge changes to people's lives down on the ground and it makes no difference to them at all. It's as if the message from KZbin is "it takes full time effort to grow and maintain a channel but don't ever count on it for your living because it could go away at any time without warning."

[@kelechi_77]

but they should look at channels with a certain amount of views at least, i think only like less than 10% of youtubers have reached 1 mil views across their whole channel, but thats probably still a massive amount of people to accommodate for, maybe they should get a bigger staff team idk

[@crimeunlimited]

This. The entire YT content creation is a catch-up game; I had another channel with 8k followers, The algo kept changing on us and YT get adding/making changes to features; It gets annoying.

[@iwasntaguntilimovedouttheh3961]

I seen a video where even huge creators can have their channels taken.

[@annoholics]

You are right about individual KZbinrs. This problem is however bigger then a single KZbin channel, as it seems. A lot of YT channels complain about this, so in that case it is going to effect business for YT. As I understand it now, what YT is detecting is that an abnormal amount of traffic is being generated by people that otherwise never would visit your channel. I saw one person finding a probable cause. He saw that one of his video's was suddenly visited a lot from the Philippines, while normally he does hardly have any visitors from the Philippines. He expected that some website embedded or linked to his channel. After some time his revenue went to normal levels again.

[@NikkiConnected]

Thank you for speaking up on this!🙏🏽My channel was hit by the glitch, too! A 90% drop for more than 3 months starting in April, it bounced back for 3 weeks, and for the last week, it's flatlined again. It DESTROYED my income. You're right, most of us have around the same number of subs. Regarding the ads, I've seen expensive ads like Apple, running on my channel while YT refused to pay me. We need to stay vocal about this. I've interviewed with Tasia, done livestreams,, and posted about it. We have to stay vocal. My advice, keep a blog, you own and start a Patreon (or other non-KZbin membership) with exclusive content. Best of luck to you and everyone affected. 💖

[@MartiA1973]

Wish you all the best. Creators like you have been my university for years.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Thank you! I doubt I'll stop making content... it just might have to be on a different platform. 😬

[@gene416]

This kind of stuff is happening on all platforms- Etsy, TikTok, KZbin, etc. feels like they don’t want anyone to use the internet to make good money so they are suppressing everyone so they can’t afford to live and have to go work.

[@TayWoode]

It seems like they just want big companies to make any money and push individual creators away, like when you have a small but popular shop or a restaurant and a big supermarket chain or McDonalds comes and takes over

[@Ed-ds8qy]

Isn't leftism great!? 😡 /sarc

[@FinZilla-feastvalley]

But some KZbinrs r earning lot from yt..they r buying new homes ,cars etc...I don't know they r real or fake ppl

[@techextranet]

This channel was just now randomly recommended to me and a bunch of ads played. I don’t have this issue but good luck!

[@PooDotStinkPants]

Until KZbin makes staff available to talk to (actual phone calls), these problems will persist.

[@DorianUrbanowicz]

I'm so sorry this is happening to you. Two of my channels were hit in late April and haven't recovered since. It's absolutely mind-blowing YT hasn't fixed this yet. I've heard stories about creators becoming heavily depressed, pulling their children out of school/kindergarten, selling their houses. It's really, really bad. We don't deserve this. :(

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Ah man, so sorry to hear. It's a crazy situation and makes you question KZbin's entire business model. 😬

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

It's because they don't care. There aren't many alternatives and none of the alternatives is large enough to pose much of a threat to them.

[@Greenaura101]

@@SmallSpoonBrigadetiktok

[@LilyGazou]

@@SmallSpoonBrigade it will change when enough people move.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@LilyGazou Which is easier said than done. A good first step would be for people that are posting videos here to also post them somewhere else.

[@Videoman2000]

That happened to my sister's channel. She is making a virtual hike and travel videos. She made a video about a local event, then shared it on Facebook in a group of the town she lives, and then she got invalid traffic because of friend and family. Since then the channel is dead.

[@BrennanValeski]

Hey Andy, thanks for commenting about this and the shoutout. Sorry to hear you’re also facing this problem! It’s the worst I’ve ever experienced and faced after so many years on this platform. KZbin continues to give us the PR safe answer (aka nothing). All we can really hope for is our channels are randomly fixed or if KZbin ever truly addresses this. “In the dark” is an understatement! Wish you and all of us the best!

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

You're very welcome - thanks for making a vid too! Yup, same here. 12 years and I've never seen anything like this before. 😥

[@jerijordan_]

Maybe this glitch is purposefully set in the algorithm so they can justify giving you less of your share of the Ad revenue. and KZbin never has to speak to you or explain the algorithm. Like they are purposely stealing from creators with a random excuse like invalid traffic.

[@nfcapps]

It's not a glitch. It's part of the plan. They want everyone to leave so that they can control ALL the narratives and then they can control the promise that way, or so they think.

[@kantnergirl08]

I THINK THIS TOO!! KZbin is pocketing the money!!! It’s happening to me right now too so unfair!!!!!!!!!!

[@jerijordan_]

@@kantnergirl08 Girl what happened, tell me?

[@jerijordan_]

@@kantnergirl08 Girl you are traveling around Tawain! That's what's up! I wanna do that too. So koooooool!

[@jerijordan_]

@@kantnergirl08 I’m so sorry to hear that. There are other video sites that monetize. 1 Monkey don’t stop the show!

[@isthata4x4]

I can't believe "this youtube feature is threatening my channel" videos have just become a new genre at this point

[@bigwildcat2020]

What we need is a worldwide class action lawsuit against Google over this...

[@ToonShmix]

I honestly think this is the way

[@bigwildcat2020]

@@ToonShmix in fact, you can actuall sue Google in a Chinese court...this is the best way to do so, since US and China are in a very hot water right now. This is the only way to get attention.

[@sci-fi.tsunami]

I wish somebody would take Google down. They are everywhere. I can't get away from them. I lost my Xbox account because of their friggin phone verification. I changed my phone number years ago. I know my Xbox user ID & password but they're useless because my account used Gmail & Google won't let me access my account without a stupid SMS verification code. The phone on my Xbox account was a landline. It couldn't receive text messages anyway. I HATE GOOGLE!

[@UnintendedConsequences]

I was just thinking the same.

[@Chartaconservation]

Just to confirm what you’re saying, I haven’t been shown one single ad in this video :( I’m so very sorry that you and other creators of high value to viewers are experiencing this. It’s awful. They need to sort this out asap.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Interesting! Good to know! Yup, crazy situation.

[@PercussusResurgo]

How ironic is it that I have been targeted with three ads and I am not even halfway through watching your video. The conclusion is that they have no problem advertising on your channel they just don't want to pay you for it?

[@CostaCarTrader]

Yes there is a clause that states google can stop paying you at anytime but continue to show ads on your videos. It´s absolutely disgusting but they are too powerful to be stopped

[@dakat5131]

The whole "Oh noes, you posted something that isn't suitable for advertisers" thing was suspicious long ago. It's an excuse that almost makes sense until you realize they'll just run ads anyway, on the videos that supposedly no one wants to advertise on.

[@Sunday_Morning570]

I have watched multiple videos on this topic. To me, it sounds like a scam by KZbin to pocket extra money. KZbin can tell creators about what is going on with traffic on their platform? Absolute BS!

[@RichmanKnowsTech]

My channel was hit with this bug on the 19th of August. I chatted with Creator Support, and they sent me to all the generic 'help' links, but did nothing to actually help. When I asked if they could tell me the specific videos that were causing the problem, they told me this: "For the exact videos, our internal policies prohibit us from sharing these specifics to avoid partners from going around our policies. We empower you to check the articles I shared to avoid your future videos from being impacted by the same issue. We hope you understand our limitations." They also told me to avoid partnering with untrusted parties when it comes to video creation and building your channel, whatever that means. Anyway, best of luck with your situation.

[@jasminetelesford9848]

Your channel is gold! It has helped me alot and i have learned alot from this channel.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Thank you!

[@nomadprints]

Good luck resolving this mate. I've gotten huge value from your channel over the years.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Thank you so much!

[@Mrgraypr]

Perhaps the issue is occurring outside of KZbin. I’m unfamiliar with the KZbin backend. Are you able to track where your videos have been reposted on third-party websites?

[@electronicsrepairschool]

I got hit by the same bug, unfortunately the support team is useless, i can only hope this it will be fixed which i doubt it, i've seen content creators having this problem from last year.

[@CordCuttersLI]

Hey Andy, Thankfully your video popped up in my feed because I too have been hit with this BS and have been researching this to death as well. When I saw your screenshot at 6:40, my jaw dropped because that's the precise day my revenue dropped dramatically as well. The thing I noticed that stood out in the analytics for me was the Ad impressions per view. On and before August 11th my videos ALWAYS had a positive ratio of Ad impressions to views. To be precise, on August 11th my channel had 6692 views with 8807 ad impressions (or a ratio of 1.32 ad impressions for each view); whereas on August 12th, I had 7521 views with only 5866 ad impressions (or a ratio of 0.78 ad impressions for each view). Since then, my ratio has never been over 0.82/1 and has been as low as 0.6/1). Before August 12th, my ratio has never (excluding when I first started) been below 1.3/1 and has been as higher that 1.5/1 on several occasions. I have been thinking of making a video like yours, and might do so in the near future. The accusations on KZbin's part that implies that somehow we are at fault for this alleged "invalid traffic" is both ridiculous and insulting. I am sure there is such a thing as invalid traffic, but it's clear that their system is broke and needs to be fixed. I just hope that they step up at some point and admit there is a problem and fix it. Good Luck with this. I'm going to look for your Tweet and RT it.

[@heitstrengningmusic]

KZbin recommended this video to me, I don't know who you are or what your channel is about, but I'm so sorry you have to deal with this. I can't imagine the stress of it all. It's honestly terrifying and I wish there was something we could do. Really hope they get this mess in order!

[@darrenpaulgreen]

Andy this sounds like a bloody nightmare, particularly coming hot on the heels of the copyright claims on your GH channel. I seem to recall you almost foreseeing this issue when you set up your websites and can only concur that putting so much power in the hands of these tech platforms with their increasingly poor customer service just ain’t a good idea. I hope KZbin sees this and sorts out whatever is going on and more than that recompenses you for the lost income. All the best, Darren

[@RobertGossCreator]

I can understand your frustration, I have been a KZbin partner for many years. A few years back KZbin started demonizing channels and I never look at KZbin the same after that. We work hard making videos to hopefully build a solid foundation as a business only to have it taken away at any time

[@LilyGazou]

Same happened on Etsy.

[@DoctorGoodVibes]

The lack of ability to communicate with KZbin as a content creator is a HUGE problem. I am always worried too 😢 gotta be fixed

[@theorganicsocialco]

Your video appeared in the explorer recommended page and we’re based in Asia. Keep up the good work.

[@EcommerceGold]

I'm another channel that has been hit and gone through the same thing with KZbin, emails, twitter etc with no joy. My analytics are similar to yours with normal traffic levels and daily revenue numbers and then on the 25th August, a 90% drop in revenue with no explanation and I haven't even had the invalid traffic warning in my dashboard.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

So sorry to hear! Very interesting that your channel is in a niche similar to a lot of other creators (including myself) who have been hit. 🤔

[@TasiaCustode]

Andy, thank you for speaking out about this as well! We all need to stick together in this mess. I certainly won't be silenced! I wish we already had a solution for you. I've updated my running list of affected creators and so far I'm at 57 of us and counting! This is so brutal. Also, we ALL watch our own content once when it goes live. As you said, it's the only way to even pin a comment. One view? There is no way that is invalid traffic. This is clearly a bug and YT won't admit it. It's infuriating. EVERY content creator needs to get together right now and make some noise until we have actual solutions and real change. As I said in my Talk Techie To Me podcast episode about this, it's not okay for a company to hide behind 'it's your fault, even if it's not your fault'. AS IF!!! We'll keep in touch about this!

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

No worries Tasia and thanks for your great vid too! I'm coming out all guns blazing now. I have a few contacts up my sleeve who I'm hoping can help. I've also noticed they're still running high CPM ads against my content which is the icing on the cake. 🤬

[@TasiaCustode]

@@SmallBusinessToolbox same thing with the ads on my channel too! 😡 keep us posted.

[@Adamerhartvideo]

It hit me too.

[@TasiaCustode]

@@Adamerhartvideo ugh I’m so sorry that you’re here with us, Adam. 😞 I’ve added you’re name to our growing list. It’s brutal and I hope we see a resolution soon.

[@MasterEditor5]

@@TasiaCustode I am also affected by this issue. My revenue dropped heavily in November 2022. It stayed there for 4-5 months. That time KZbin gave me no reason. Just said I am getting Low CPM ads and that is an automatic thing. 2 weeks before, I got the invalid traffic notification. I am getting low CPM ads again. I am earning only 25% of what I used to earn from KZbin.

[@TheEcomBull]

It happened to me, I’m also on a high CPM niche so you might be on to something. It seems to have resolved now, but for a few weeks some of my videos revenue flatlined.

[@mylatinescape]

What a great video Andy! My wife and I help expats retire in Colombia and we are worried that KZbin is not the correct partner for our business needs. I also personally think that many creators should have some basic protections once their social media accounts reach a certain size. It is ridiculous how social media companies expect free work and, on top of this, to mandate all the terms!!!

[@abbeysjoyofcooking4586]

I'm so sorry to hear this is happening to you. This video has been recommended by KZbin so clicked on it. Hoping for the best for you and your family.

[@LearnElectronicsRepair]

I've got the same problem, started on 1st September. My channel seems to fit very well with your 'commonalities', yes? Views are about the same as normal, the percentage of views coming form YT search, YT recommendations etc are all normal, but my revenue is down about 30% for the same number of views. I also have the same 'invalid traffic message' and the useless help page with no option to appeal or do anything else. For whatever reason, just before I got to 100K subs, I got selected by YT to get onto a scheme where I have my own 'personal manager' on a six month program to help grow the LER channel as they say it has very high potential. Anyway I had the first face to face video call/chat with YT just about a month ago and my next one is scheduled for this coming Friday 15th Sept. I can assure you the only topic of the 30 minute session will be to fix this problem, unless I get it sorted quicker than that. So I can hopefully help or at least advise on this matter at the weekend after a proper face to face chat. I hope that helps.

[@MeticsMedia]

Thanks for your video. It‘s a really disappointing situation. I have 4 channels affected including this one with over 200k subs. I actually do have a partner manager team at youtube but unfortunately they weren‘t able to do anything either. They said that they‘ve spent a lot of time looking into it but they can‘t share any details with me. They say it‘s not a bug and it‘s just the system protecting advertisers from unvalid clicks. I tried to communicate to them our situation as creators multiple times along with the threads to the entire platform. But I can‘t seem to be getting on the same page with youtube so I‘ve given up on discussing it with them. I‘ve turned off the embedding feature on all videos on all channels but I haven‘t seen an improvemnt so far. I‘ll let you know if I find something helpful. All the best!

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Cheers for the info! I've reached out to my partner manager for one of my other channels but I'm expecting a similar response. This could be the end of an era. 😥

[@saspry]

What's mind blowing is that this "Invalid Traffic" problem has been around forever since the dawn of Adsense... and the tech whizzes at Adsense, while they can "identify" if traffic is invalid, have still NOT come up with a way to IGNORE that traffic on a case by case basis!!! Sounds a simple enough solution for me. It's certainly a LOT easier than a content creator trying to work out WTF is happening and how to "fix" it. Good luck mate!

[@GlueGunsRoses]

Same thing literally happened to me last week. I too was sent the form that made no sense. I too had normal views, didn't click on ads or anything else.

[@Craylor]

I’m sorry you’re facing this too, Andy. Thank you for making a video about it.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Thank you for your efforts on the subject too! Did you do a vid? Saw you on X but didn't see a vid - sorry if I missed it! 😁

[@Craylor]

@@SmallBusinessToolbox I haven’t done a video yet! Thinking of possibly doing a live stream about it.

[@fm-oldmanphil]

I have just seen 8 ads on this video....I'm just a very small creator but growing and this kind of thing is always in the back of my mind. It is hard work creating videos and it must be heart breaking for you but I am hoping that it can be resolved. Wishing you all the best

[@julin8597]

I am sorry this is happening. It is really frightening what is going on with youtube. They really need to pay attention to the creators who literally make youtube what it is.

[@KainKustomGarage]

This is very Scary, sorry Man...Thanks for getting the word out, I reposted your video on my Community page

[@wallysworms]

I just started a youtube channel. Luckily, I'm not a business. It is awkward and not the first time youtube does something that messes up a certain amount of channels. Hope you'll get through it and be able to solve it. Thank you for sharing.

[@WLW.]

KZbin falsely limited 4 of my videos in 90 days which lead to my self certification score going low and every video from then being limited. It took several months until it was fixed.

[@gillykubeart]

I just got recommended your video and I’m in Australia and mostly watch art videos 😅

[@LunaBobbi]

Just subscribed to you. Seems at least you are swimming along in the Algorithm. I only look up cat videos and videos about wigs and you came up. I will binge on your channel. I love it!

[@primalireland-histcult]

Thanks for the video, I'm only at 1300 subs and this is a nightmare! Ironically 2 ads appeared in the middle of your video, wish us all luck!!

[@TheLadyWrites]

This has been happening to so many recently. it's disheartening for a new channel growing to the first milestones.

[@EarthsMedicine]

Thanks for this video. Annie Dube also made a video about this yesterday. There are many creators who work super hard to produce videos etc. & they depend on the revenue from ads to help meet their daily expenses. It's sad that there is no recourse for this serious glitch. KZbin really needs to correct this issue ASAP!!

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

I keep hearing of more and more! 😥

[@SimonWakefieldUK]

In many ways though it's the creators own fault. When you are using advertising where advertiser's are bidding on a demo of the viewer not working with a site or channel directly there is always a risk that other factors not in your control can impact income as the ad network has to protect its advertisers to keep them buying more ads. If a large percentage of their ad spend is generated by fraud they won't keep buying ads. You have to put hours each day in generating your own advertisers who will pay for and spots in your videos so if click fraud (or on YT I guess view fraud) becomes an issue for you or you niches ad rates get decimated as can happen when one channel in your niche does something that sees YT put the nich in a restricted advertiser group

[@RichardInTheLakes]

Hi Andy, so sorry you are having these problems. I look forward to all your videos. It’s hugely disappointing that you are not getting any support on this. I also don’t like the youtube is pushing ‘shorts’. Ugh Question have you considered publishing your back catalogue on X? It would be interesting to see their payout rate compared to KZbin.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Cheers! Yes, defo considering X. I don't think I have enough followers yet to publish longform video. 👍

[@andymarriott8150]

Morning Andy so sorry to hear your channels going through this mess - just a thought around the traffic issue and I maybe way off base. KZbin must use your IP address to track your movements on your channel so I'm wondering if the issue could be others in your household be looking at your content on the same IP address? could it be the youtube app being active on your phone as well as your computer so your basically getting multiple readings which the Yuotube AI more than likely isn't equipped to deal with

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Nobody in our household watches my channels - they're sick of 'KZbin dad'. 😂👍

[@andymarriott8150]

@@SmallBusinessToolbox I'm not laughing at you I'm simply laughing with you lol

[@jeremydaniel1568]

Do you use a VPN? That can create an invalid traffic detected by google error. When using a VPN you share an IP address with many others. You don't know what they are doing.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Nope, no VPN.

[@mrdecember]

I had the same issue but instead of dropping my revenue, they just closed my Adsense account entirely. 97% of my traffic was driven by KZbin recommending my content themselves, so I believe that there is definitely a bug somewhere. I've been searching through my contacts to see if there's anyone I know that I can reach out to to help with this

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

That's crazy! And very scary. I've heard this is possible. The whole ecosystem seems to be incredibly fragile and nobody seems to know what's going on. 😬

[@ThyrzaSegal]

I also had this video come up randomly in my feed and it is not in my usual direction of viewing.I am happy to have clicked on it as I think this is a massively unfair thing that has happened to you and I agree that it is important to get the word out. I sure hope adsense takes note and someone gets a hold of you to help you out with this garbage.

[@andie6666]

Sorry to hear you're going through this, really hope it's sorted soon. You mentioned the type of ads being shown to us now...don't know if this helps but I was shown a weight loss and a seniors life insurance advert..I'm an 8 stone small business owner still just on the right side of 50 😂😂

[@sherickoos]

I am so sorry this happened to you. This happened to another creator I watch and she has 38k subs so I agree that it seems to be happening to mid sized channels. I started a KZbin channel in July and I watch the video I upload to make sure it looks ok and to pin the comment. I hope YT doesn't see this as a bad thing. Ugh!

[@Myover50fashionlife]

Annie Dube has just done a video on this glitch. 1000s are affected and its since the new year

[@charlesarnold4963]

Andy, this is interesting, especially as YT has just increasing the subscription (for ad free experience) price significantly!

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Yup, I think there's problems behind the scenes. Massively more ads. Huge price increase for KZbin Premium. Algorithm is all over the place. 🙄

[@JCunliffeUK]

Your videos helped me out a lot when I was setting up as freelance. I've got a small KZbin channel myself that I haven't put much time into lately. Constantly wonder if it makes sense to start creating content again or if my time is best spent trying to secure more clients. I've managed over 700,000 views and have made about £300 in ad revenue. Which is less than the day rate. It is massively frustrating that your other channel is being negatively impacted as well. Hope this gets sorted, being a content creator is hard enough when things are going well!

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Thank you! I would never advise anyone sets up as a full time content creator now. The platform is fundamentally broken. 😭

[@lynnsworldofwonder]

So sorry for you. You are the third channel I subscribe to that has been hit in the past three weeks. Why not go to the media? Times radio or sky news. They reported on the trouble with Etsy and some change came about. If these issues get a wider audience maybe someone will listen. It's got to be the dreaded bots!

[@theendorsement]

YEEES !! This happened to me on Aug 17th! Down 65%!!! And it has not fixed itself in 3 weeks! Mirror image of what you are dealing with. ANd I have been doing videos for 10 years!!!! I am trying to make it to the end of the year, hoping it fixes itself but going on a month now and nothing has changed. And they answer my emails and chats with form emails and messages. so sad!

[@ZukiraPhaera]

Hey there. I'm so glad you did this video. It is nice to know I'm not alone, even though it totally sucks that this is going on.

[@TheDMGinfo]

Check if there is one video that has the invalid views. Set the video to private.

[@JMGENTERPRISES]

Unfortunately, there is not way to tell if the views are invalid. Unless there is that I am not aware of.

[@sharonmills6388]

Hey if it's any compensation I just got recommended this video and have subscribed. I wonder if it is due to how some people watch youtube these days, as I will be watching a vid on my PC, then if I need to go through to the kitchen, will also play it simultaneously on my Amazon echo device, or my laptop in the dining room, so that there are occasions when I'm watching the same video on three devices at the same time while I'm doing other things in different rooms. I've always assumed that counts as one view, but maybe not? Also, reading the comments, it seems like there is more to it than that, but I hope you get it sorted, as it's grossly unfair.

[@TheSimplesanctuary]

Your page just popped up as the first video in my feed too. Hope that helps

[@PNUKcom]

It's more his average RPM from youtube has dropped 90% than it being they arn't pushing him anymore. If youtube thought it was really a problem they wouldn't share the channel at all. All very weird.

[@GenealogyTV]

Amen. Thousands of creators are having the same problem. I got it too. It makes no sense.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Yup, this must be a known problem. 👍🤷‍♂️

[@tlangdon12]

Really sorry to hear this Andy. I refer people to both the Gosforth Handyman and Small Business Toolbox channels because you make really useful content. It's reasonable for you to want to receive ad revenue, if advertisers a bidding to place adverts within your content. I doubt it is a bug. It seems much more likely that it is a deliberate policy to make the algorithm oversensitive. I do hope this gets fixed, but if it doesn't, you should look for another platform and/or business model.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Thank you! It seems to have hit a lot of similar sized channels around the same time. Fingers crossed it's a bug and it gets fixed. 😬

[@africaart]

You had the word "killed" in the title and they still share it... I lost 90% of the traffic of an evergreen Shorts after converting it to a brand channel

[@johnv6759]

NEVER ever start a KZbin channel or website that solely relies on Google Adsense income. ALWAYS diversify your monetization with sponsors, affiliate marketing, courses, your own digital products, email marketing and more.

[@geekanoids]

Thanks for sharing this informative video. A couple of things come to mind. Have you checked your traffic sources to see if there is anything strange in there? And, my theory is that a service is adding competing videos to their own playlist and using VPN services to loop play the videos, thus harming legit creators.

[@anxiety_fitness]

My AdSense account got completely deactivated due to ‘invalid traffic’ just 7 days after joining the partnership programme. I’ve appealed twice with both times being denied with no reason as to why. Have not violated ToS, it’s ridiculous. KZbin support was also VERY rude and condescending to me. Good luck!

[@ladybird491]

They did the same to me and they are putting it on many channels. When you started making such low revenue they put that note on it.

[@bluebeatricearchibong]

My channel got demonetized for a bug that led to an invalid click activity of which I knew nothing about I reach out to them and they said I would have reach out to report the issue when I realized I had a lot of people clicking on my videos This reason made no sense.

[@TheRDGuarantee]

10k subscribers and experienced the same problem starting around September 3. Views the same or up but revenue down 60-70%. Finance niche

[@strengthsweatsucceed]

This has happened to me on the 18th August.... Exactly the same and the cpm is way off the rpm now.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Sorry to hear! Crazy stuff. 😥

[@PhoenixDeliveries]

This happened on my channel basically the same day it happened to you. I was finally starting to make really good money from AdSense and now my RPM is half of what it used to be (and yes, the CPM for my niche is high compared to all of KZbin). Support was no help in the multiple times I tried to contact them and this happened directly after my all time highest revenue day

[@mf--]

Probably manually suppressing channels again.

[@dnydeltoro]

I’ve noticed KZbin randomly punishes people when they start doing well

[@thisoverstuffedhouse]

If we do live sales on youtube you have to go back and watch your own replay. Sometimes the chat moves so fast that you miss things and you can only see it in the replay when you can focus on the chat replay. It automatically plays the ads even though it is your own channel. So are they complaining that we should not be watching our own stuff because of ads that they have put there and we have no choice to see them?

[@toolfinderhq]

Really sorry!

[@Nairod2]

How is it that none of the big companies fix the issues with the bot farms ran on their platforms, there is where the invalid traffic icomes from. Any time a big creator post a video there will be a massive wave of spam/scam comments same on IG you post anything, and get a wave of Sponsors/add bots telling you to go "promote it" on their bot pages.

[@MallorcaUnderTheSun]

Hi, just watching this as I write, but KZbin recommended this video to me, and I've just had some ads. I hope it's slowly sorting itself out for you. 🤗.

[@NinjaOrchids]

OMG!!! I just put out a similar video out in form on an Open Letter to KZbin! I have had revenue slashed (a big chunk for me) and since then on the daily more and more is being taken. I've had chats with the chat bot, and got nowhere either, same message as you 'is there anything I can help you with?' Invalid Traffic.... its insane and if a bad actors are jeopardising channels the creator gets hit without investigation! Its appalling!! I addressed more issues in my video as well, but what you talked about here, same here!! Crickets from YT!

[@minhhieunguyen752]

So sorry this also happens to you. I have a question, after submitting appeal form, is that form confirmed to be received yet? My case is they declined that form too because of some incorrect field, but I checked multiple times and see no fault.

[@Jwlar]

This has all been very scary to hear over the last few weeks as a content creator. Especially (as far as I know) you cannot choice if you’re videos are added to a playlist. Fortunately only about 2-3% of my total views are from playlists, but they are all from playlists that I did not set up myself.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Interesting - I haven't even checked playlists! 😬

[@xxkissmeketutxx]

Are views from playlists not monetised? I save many videos in playlists and go back to watch them at a more convenient time.

[@paulrose319]

its a world wide thing as some us channels are getting the same thing

[@jasminetelesford9848]

I think that KZbin is trying eliminate small channels.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

I'm hoping this isn't the case but you could be right! 😬

[@hansdegroot8549]

@@SmallBusinessToolbox That would be really stupid. Every channel starts with 1 video, 1 view, and 1 subscriber. Btw, now that I have watched your video, similar videos pop up, where they mention the same problem. Some are more than 6 months old!

[@OwenPrescott]

I was hit with this like 9 years ago, no feedback from KZbin. I gave up with this platform years ago because of it, I don't think it's a recent problem.

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Interesting - wow!

[@garethgazz9332]

Sorry this has happened to you Andy. I've always enjoyed your videos. I know this would be a massive effort, but if you ever go to London you could go to their office and ask to talk to someone that like, a human being rather than a bot (those automated 'help' things are infuriating). Good luck

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Cheers! Unfortunately I know folk who have tried this and haven't got anywhere. They just spout the same copy/paste nonsense. I have a partner manager but haven't heard back yet. 😬

[@SmokyMountainBlessed]

it happened to me with a much smaller channel, it freaked me out, threw me into anxiety and I am Aspergers Syndrome high functioning autistic and I do KZbin because I could not do a normal job, with high anxiety issues, but I had a camera in my hands since I was a young kid so I just decided to take my passion to KZbin and since I live in a tourist area of the great smoky mountains Tennessee USA I post what I see and I could only take this issue to prayer because I had no idea what was going on and I do not click on ads, I have YT Premium for me and my hubby family plan so we don't even see the ads and I do not ask anyone to click on the ads, I'm just working hard trying to grow my channel

[@neilmossey]

Big thanks for this video, and so so sorry to hear about this. Absolutely rubbish system and reaction. I'm terrified the same will happen to me, because I have a number of channels - and sometimes I watch through my videos, eg for captions - while I'm logged into 'the other channel'. I'm sure it's not this - but noticed your mention at 8:32 that you have other channels. It would still make no sense whatsoever, but my family watch my videos - on the same IP address. I'm paranoid enough to think that this will some time trigger this attack on Creators between 10k & 100k subs... I'm sure you're contacting all you can but have you reached out to Rene Ritchie the KZbin Creator Liaison? Good luck with pressing on, it's a huge help for all of us.

[@Inventors_Toolbox]

Possible reason for the 'bug'. See if the following makes any sense. I noticed while watching this video that I would get intermittent notices from my browser that it was being slowed by one of my ad blockers. This got me thinking, I'm only a few minutes into the video and the ad blocker reported over 80 ad's blocked on this page. Over 1,600 ad's blocked from youtube today. KZbin see's it's ad's being reloaded over and over because they aren't being played and can't uniquely identify which computer the ad's are being reloaded due to tracking blockers. As such KZbin automatically assigns the blame to the content creator. KZbin's algorithm assumes the multiple ad reloads are the creator trying to game the system. Is it possible this is a cause of the 'invalid traffic' bug. I remember recently KZbin made changes to try and prevent browsers with ad blockers from working on the site, which has lead to ad blockers publishing updates to get around KZbin's changes and it's been an escalating battle. Possibly the algorithm has not been adjusted to properly monitor changes to the ad traffic over the network made by youtube in its efforts to push ad's through the blockers leading to this 'bug'. They can't backtrack without loosing their ad's. But the ad monitoring code may be too complex to figure out how it's being interfered with by youtubes ad pushing. Changes are just happening too fast. Guess it's just simpler to let hundreds of smaller creators crash and burn rather than spend the money trying to fix/identify the issues. The bug is likely happening to larger creators too, but youtube's giving them a pass as they need them.

[@xjet]

KZbin has forgotten what made it great... videos produced by creators. Sadly, they are probably victims of their own success. There are now so many creators that it would be simply impossible to deal with each and every complaint using "a real person" -- hence 99 percent of the time you're left interacting with a bot which simply regurgitates the stock reference material. I've had the same problems as you recently with copyright claims (albeit using a different source) and again, YT doesn't care a jot. Unless YT starts recognising the harm they're doing to the essential creator community then eventually one of the YT-wannabe competitors will start gaining real traction and YT's dominance will begin to wane. Nothing lasts forever and YT needs to be aware of that. Things have got so bad for me that I'm looking at the option of self-hosting my videos and relying on Patreon for funding because when I first entered the YT partner program (many years ago... when it was basically by invitation only) I was making very good money. Now, despite getting a *lot* more views and putting a lot more effort into production, my revenues are probably less than 20 percent of what I was earning back there. I already earn more from Patreon than from KZbin so ditching KZbin and its adsense revenues wouldn't be the end of the world for me -- in fact it might be a relief!

[@johannachristou6894]

Sorry to hear this... I have heard something along those lines... 😢😢

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Thank you!

[@kantnergirl08]

THIS IS HAPPENING TO ME TOO RIGHT NOW SOOOO UNFAIR!!!!!

[@FAFOSanders]

Just had a pop up ad for “Amica Insurance” on this video 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Greenaura101]

Im so sorry this has happened to u am so scared it will happen to my faceless channel too 😢😢😢

[@LearningandTechnology]

I’m also affected. I’ve also made a video on this - because we need to get as much visibility on this as possible. For now, I’ve completely disabled ads on my channel - at least they won’t be paid either. Also - I’ve done into the AdSense account attached to my channel and edited the types of ads that can be displayed. (I demo that in the video if you want to see it)

[@sannivanni]

Sorry to say, but I've seen ads on channels with completely disabled ads. 😢

[@LearningandTechnology]

@@sannivanni true - they are doing that, but I’m hoping that it will limit them and/or act as a “reset” on my own traffic to ads

[@10MinuteWorkshop]

Sorry to hear this Andy - what a nightmare! 😯

[@SmallBusinessToolbox]

Cheers Peter! Reading the comments on here clearly it's a widespread problem and KZbin don't care. 😭

[@MeyTribe]

Not sure anyone can make youtube aware of this issue.... Mostly cause they are aware of it. KZbin themselves posted about that in November, and after they didn't fix the issue- deleted their tweets on the topic. We wouldn't see a spike in viewers, as "invalid traffic" is for ads, not just for views. What you could see is if a specific video has a higher than normal RPM (that happens when you actively say in the video- please click on ads to help me make more money ) Sorry you're in this mess, I am as well... This was a full time living for me as a disabled person looking for something to generate income for days/weeks that I am bedridden, but yeah... Goodbye to KZbin? Opened a Patreon account, and substack, and blogging in writing more. Hope you take your content to written format, it is in the rise, especially with a platform like Substack that makes a post become a newsletter. Anyway... Hugs ? and support from Bulgaria

[@thelittlecostumery]

@MeyTribe I first thought of you when I watched this video. I had watched your’s first about the same problem. Sorry this is happening to so many. 😢

[@PlanetImo]

Sorry to hear this happened to you. I had heard of it as Annie Dubé made a video on it the other day, but luckilly it hasn't happned to me, yet.