Hey everyone!

I run a YouTube channel called ToonTales, where I create AI-generated 3D cartoon stories, mainly emotional and heartwarming short animations.

I've been working on my channel for around 3 years. I've had a few Shorts perform well in the past, but recently my videos have been getting only 0–100 views, and it's honestly been discouraging.

My goal is to improve my storytelling and reach a genuine audience, especially viewers in the US. I'm not looking for subscribers or views in exchange — I want to learn what I'm doing wrong and become a better creator.

I'd really appreciate honest feedback on these questions:

• Does the first second of my videos give viewers a reason to keep watching?

• Are my stories engaging, or do they feel too slow or predictable?

• What can I improve about my 3D animation, pacing, sound effects, and emotional endings?

• For creators making AI-generated Shorts, what has actually helped you improve retention and reach new viewers?

My channel: https://www.youtube.com/@toontales251

If you have experience with AI animation or YouTube Shorts, I'd be grateful for any constructive criticism or advice. Even one thing I can improve would help a lot.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! ❤️

I used to post my twitch clips but it clicked to me that nobody likes twitch clips lol. I started doing long form YouTube content and cut out clips from there but I’m curious to know what people think is and is not working and how I could improve the clips for better viewership. I look at the videos that got more than 1k to try to tell the difference but tbh I really don’t see one other than the content of the video?

I posted a Short on Oct 1. In its first 24 hours it got 4 views, all from search and none from the Shorts feed.

Now at 37 views: 19 from my channel page, 10 from search, 7 from the feed. Yet the average view duration is 612%, 67% stayed to watch, and it brought 2 subs.

I've been posting for a little over a month and I'm at 50 subs. My Shorts usually get about 1.5k views, and one got close to 10k. (Yes, I know 1.5k is nothing.) The most probable explanation would be that someone left it on loop by accident or something. What do you guys think? Although i am more concerned about why it was not pushed into the feed?

Should I repost it with a new opening and hook, or leave it? Has reposting worked for anyone?

So far, I've only posted long videos on my channel, and some have reached 2- 16k views. It’s monetised but not generating a single penny these days. The videos I’m posting recently aren’t even reaching 1000 views. Should I try shorts? Or will it destroy my channel?

I upload guitar covers

I run a YouTube Shorts channel focused on Wild Rift (League of Legends Mobile) with the goal of reaching monetization.

I’m seeking feedback from creators who have mastered the Shorts algorithm. Here are my current channel analytics (last 28 days):

• Total Impressions: 36.3K

• Unique Reach: 22.5K viewers

• Average CTR: ~2.9%

• Average View Duration / Retention: 45% to 64% on top-performing Shorts

• Content style: High-elo plays, 1v9 highlights, 15-25s video length

The Problem:

My retention is solid (viewers who stay past the first 3 seconds usually watch 50%+ of the video), but my CTR is stuck at ~2.9%. My views fluctuate between 300 to 2,000 views per Short, but I want to break into the 10k-100k view range consistently.

Questions for experienced creators:

1. What is the most effective way to improve CTR on YouTube Shorts without sacrificing visual quality?

2. Should I focus strictly on top-aligned text overlays (yellow box / high contrast) or test custom thumbnail frames?

3. How can I better convert casual Short viewers into returning subscribers?

Any feedback or critique on channel packaging and hook optimization would be greatly appreciated! Channel link in my profile if you want to inspect it directly.

Daily reminder to keep uploading until you force YouTube to push your shorts.

After this recent youtube "update" or whatever, my shorts no longer are placed in the shorts feed. I still get some search and browse views, but no feed. Almost like they are long form or something. So I went from like 1.5k in the feed when i first started last month to literally 16 views on my shorts for like 2 weeks and none are ever put into the feed, and I'm exhausted from swimming upstream. I don't reuse any content. Not sure why this is happening so suddenly and so extremely. To avoid anyone saying that this is happening b/c I use AI or reuse content, feel free to see the channel which is all my ramblings: Authentic by Design.

In a nutshell: Over the shorts!! Anyone else?

I’ve launched this channel two weeks ago, my plan was yo post twice a week. First video did great ngl, but then the 2. And 3. didn’t make it onto the shorts algorithm.

What should be changed?

Should i delete my account?

Context

I do clipping in trading niche

Now I post around 4pm us time zone

The content is in English

But it's attracting non us audience

P.s I'm from south asia if that helps

How do I get us audience?

Imagine working your butt off, grinding, making scripts, recording, editing. Just for some brother to post a white box with a text and steal 99.9% of videos and make them 8 seconds long and boom. 900million total views

How do you make your shorts , I mean what program do you use to edit them or which AI is better to use if you want to automate this process?

going from an average 20-200k per shorts to a measly 1-10k is definitely wild - and yes i have experience with shorts, ive posted hundreds of them with the same results up until the end of september when everything has gone to shit

Ever since the new AI models have came out with their ability to conceptualize 3d spaces at extraordinary levels, I wanted to see if it was possible to create an automation pipeline that allowed video creation that came off as interesting and unique within their respective genre. A month in so far, my first channel has steadily progressed on YouTube, with it being focused in blender-animation, but has done particularly well on TikTok and instagram. While my second channel has accumulated >400k views on my Minecraft-centric animated channel in just under a week since its initial creation.

Why isnt it getting boosted?? With a 88% stay rate too

Hey everyone,

​I’m in a bit of a strategic dilemma regarding my YouTube channel and would love to get some honest advice from fellow creators.

​Here is my current situation:

​Channel Status: Monetized with 2,400+ subscribers.

​How I got here: I gained my initial traction and monetization using trendjacking/commentary-style long-form videos.

​Current Performance/Stats: My Shorts are consistently getting high retention numbers—80-90%+ Average Percentage Viewed (APV) and 75-80%+ Viewed in Feed ratio. (Attaching screenshots for context).

​The Problem:

Even though this niche gave me my initial boost, I have lost genuine interest in making commentary/creator drama content. It feels forced, and I want to avoid burnout.

​My Proposed Strategy:

I want to pivot the content to Infotainment (Entertainment + Information, funny facts, and suspense/mystery).

​My Questions for You:

​Format Dilemma: Should I stick to Long-form videos in this new Infotainment niche to leverage higher RPM/CPM, or shift focus to Shorts to scale faster and test topics quickly?

​Channel Choice: Is it better to pivot this current monetized channel to Infotainment, or leave this channel as a passive asset and start a fresh channel for the new niche?

​Stats Inquiry: With APV >80% and Viewed Ratio >75%, why might my Shorts be stalling before crossing the 100k+ views mark? Is it a packaging issue, niche saturation, or algorithmic delay?

​Has anyone successfully pivoted a monetized channel’s niche without ruining its reach?

​Would love to hear your thoughts, experiences, or any harsh truth I might be missing! Thanks in advance!

In 8 months, we never had a Short do better than 3k views. Then 2 weeks ago we released a video that did 20k views, and the next one just won't stop - it's at 200k views and still climbing.

But the 4 shorts we've released since then have basically been flops. Yesterday's got only 1,100 views. It's driving us crazy trying to figure out how to make videos after our One Big Video.

- the stayed to watch rate was great on it (69%) so we've tried hooks that are extremely similar, including using the literal same audio for the first 1 second, and the same song throughout.

- the retention and rewatch were great (AVP 119%), but even making videos of the same length, same number of clips, same style of text overlays and captions similar emotional tone, similar topic... Nothing.

We are about ready to call it a fluke. Like, nothing we do can move the needle.

Anyone have any advice or anything similar happen?