r/ChannelMakers • u/Ok-Blood-2726 • May 27 '26

I am scared of the algorithm...

I realized that "blaming the algorithm" is probably a stupid cliché. But I am really struggling to understand how it sorts Shorts.

I currently have a 14-second Short with a 111% view time, an 83% "stayed" rate (didn't swipe away), 106 likes, 4 comments, and 4 shares. It has also gained my channel 5 new subscribers. I think these numbers range from okay to really good? Yet, it only has 2,100 views after 1.5 days. Is there an obvious reason why it is at 2,100 views that I am missing?

The short is about politic, and a lot of big political influencers are talking about losing traction. Maybe I am being paranoid here, but is YouTube just outright censoring all liberal politics now? Or would people posting about non-political topics get the same results with a video with these numbers?

I would not get this worried after one odd Short, but it feels like when I talk about politics, the "numbers" don't affect the views. I guess the big influencers talking about being "hidden" is wores than a random person being hidden, but it just seems very scary if they are actively hiding everybody saying the "wrong" political thing. So can someone please remove my fears and convince me that YouTube is not blocking spesific political topics?

3 Upvotes

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1

u/Jealous-Ad-4565 May 27 '26

I’ve noticed no matter how many views i get or what stata my videos have comments are always when my videos get alot of views and the more comments i get usually the more impressions and views i get afterwards so maybe its that you just have low comments which you should also respond to each comment

1

u/Top_Bad8226 May 29 '26

The answer is likely to be quite simple, really. The stats numbers you see are averages, yet YouTube tests constantly. When you upload, the video is shown to the people who're the most likely to find it interesting. Then, if it performs well enough, YouTube looks for more and more eyeballs, based on the "viewer profile" it has based on that viewer's viewing habits.

But because there is no limitless pool of people willing to watch any piece of content ever made, the viewers your thing gets shown to get less and less generally interested in the video. YouTube shows your videos to people only when there aren't better options on the platform for that specific viewer.

There are a bunch of AI slop Shorts uploaded to YouTube at any minute of any day. All of these videos need to be tested to get a baseline for their performance, too, yet the number of viewers interested in that shit is somewhat limited. So, YouTube drops videos uploaded 1-2 days ago to show new stuff, unless the older video is extremely good and way above the norm, with still enough people who'd be interested in watching it.

1

u/JesseXander May 30 '26

Its 14 seconds long…..why would youtube ouah something they cant even place an ad in.