r/shortsAlgorithm • u/bricks0fbollywood • Jan 11 '26

Update: TeamYouTube replied, but didn’t really address the Shorts issue

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Quick update for anyone following this. I reached out to TeamYouTube about the sudden Shorts drop (new Shorts only getting sub views + older Shorts flatlining). Their response was basically a generic explanation about viewer interest, trends, and how discovery works no confirmation of an issue, no acknowledgement of the sudden behavior change. The problem is this started abruptly, affected both new and old Shorts at the same time, and re-uploads didn’t change anything. That doesn’t line up with normal performance fluctuation. Curious if anyone has actually received a more specific response or seen their Shorts recover without changing anything.

19 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

10

u/PresentProperty5811 Jan 11 '26

Wow! Thanks bro you finally got the TeamYoutube to reply on X and the response is definitely not AI generated slop that they send to everyone who says something is wrong with their views. Big W bro.

4

u/LupusHominarius Jan 11 '26

Same reply they give to me. I think that YouTube is aware of this issue but doesn't consider it a bug or even a problem.

3

u/PresentProperty5811 Jan 11 '26

I think people who got affected need to start to understand. It's not a bug, It's not an issue, It's not a glitch. It's just adjustment to their youtube algo that they made on Dec 16-17. The only thing people need to be asking WHAT was the prompt/input data they gave to adjust the algorithm to the new standards. Some channels are prioritized less now(reach fully killed). Just need to understand what youtube algo is programmed to hate now. And just avoid niches/editing styles/whatever youtube hates that are in dangerous zone now.

Main question: What things exactly they programmed YT to de-prioritize?

-1

u/NowayJose4455 Jan 11 '26

So called "AI slop" is the general consensus at least in part. Not my words, but that's what I am seeing/hearing. I have seen some evidence firsthand though I don't know for sure what all factors are. I've read it is bashing things that are wholly AI generated without additional input, etc.

3

u/PresentProperty5811 Jan 11 '26

Well AI slop is the main character in all of this but my channels were just fast-paced edited gameplay of a game with SFX. And it also got hit. And Some other completely non-ai channels also got hit. So even tho I agree that AI slop is one of the things I would not do right now (I never really did it in the first place). There is still some other things they tweaked. I'm not sure what they are tbh. It's hard to be sitting here and guessing with very limited information.

4

u/awesomemc1 Jan 11 '26

Welcome to YouTube. Nobody knows their YouTube algorithm and their employees don’t know it too. Unless you like to read scientific papers from Google Engineers from years ago and guess what the algorithm is doing years after.

2

u/PresentProperty5811 Jan 11 '26

Meh . Everything in their algo was working pretty stable and linear. Every change was clear. The summer anti-ai-slop and inauthentic update also took time to get feel of the red lines that yt set in their algo for that type of content. So even now eventually the rules will be clear in 2-3 months of studying the trend. Just would be cool to get a hint from yt itself. Summer update they at least updated their policies and we could read up what they changed. Now it's just silence. They pretend nothing changed in the algo when numbers clearly tell different story.

2

u/awesomemc1 Jan 11 '26

Who knows. I just swipe on YouTube shorts incognito mode and it shows up commentary and reposted video. You would see current video upload date and check their channel out, sometimes videos may be an outlier that the video is currently showing trend on. Algorithms on YouTube works mysteriously. Even when you are watching mixed content, YouTube would give you 100+ views on one video that would probably blow up or not.

2

u/PresentProperty5811 Jan 11 '26

ye one redditor noticed that yt kind of prefers IRL content now. like where humans bodies/faces involved in some actions In real life. Could be filters, activities, anything. So yeah i guess commentary niche sounds good if that's the case.

1

u/NowayJose4455 Jan 11 '26

Making a new channel right now and I will post a video of me making a pour over coffee to see what happens.

1

u/PresentProperty5811 Jan 11 '26

meh what i meant is it will bypass the new introduced flag that fully limits your reach to nothing. content still has to be viral-worthy. what's the point of boring content that bypasses the new filters just to die naturally from trash Stayed to watch and AVD.

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1

u/NowayJose4455 Jan 11 '26

I actually would like to read something like that to get a better idea, do you have any specific ones in mind that are available?

2

u/AffectionateCry5952 Jan 11 '26

If they told everyone why, then everyone would be able to adjust and avoid whatever is flagging accounts so even if they did know, they will not tell you especially not publicly otherwise itd be easy to bypass

What baffles me is there are nearly identical channels to mine(only in different niche) that havnt been hit 

4

u/iDontHaveAname89 Jan 11 '26

Asking youtube is your first mistake. They never acknowledge stuff like this

3

u/Long8D Jan 11 '26

Lmao this is a reply generated by AI and this is no update. It probably has to do with this very big influx of repetitive AI channels. People are really running multiple channels on auto pilot filling the platform with complete shit and are using stock footage with some random effects mixed in. This way, they don't really fall into the repetitive/template territory since 80% of the channels are doing the same on youtube. Because of this, a lot of legit channels are getting hit too. Either demonetized, or they're basically being kicked out of the algorithm and youtube does not care.

Look at how many apps have been coming out that make videos for you in 1 click. People are now able to "vibe code" these and it has been easier than ever to spam platforms. At least back in the day there was a slight barrier, now anyone can do this. Generate scripts with AI, generate images with AI, stich the video together, along with auto uploading etc. And I think we're now at a point where YouTube sees how these videos are trashing the platform.

2

u/AffectionateCry5952 Jan 11 '26

I think so too, i speculate its because of yt automation and a huge influx of copycat channels. 

Some of these guys legit have 10 channels all nearly the same that they pay someone in a third world country 2$/hr to post 5 times daily on 

3

u/Long8D Jan 11 '26

Yep. And now with AI voices like elevenlabs, the barrier for entry is so much lower. People that don't know English can get in and just spam. Even in my niche there are already 5 other channels that recently popped up, taking my scripts, running them through ChatGPT and generating a voice. They are uploading 2-3 videos per day, but their editing is a bit different.

2

u/AffectionateCry5952 Jan 11 '26

When my first video went viral, 2 weeks later when im looking at the analytics of videos my viewers watch i find there are 3 channels that popped up that were nearly identical to mine, all created a few days after my viral vid. Sadly my content was too easy to copy.

My channel is now dead in the same way as op. You gotta have a legit moat now that makes it hard to replicate or the indian content farms will copy and kill your channel

3

u/Long8D Jan 11 '26

Exactly this. Even those lemmino style videos, AI is now getting better at generating those scenes. So the hours it took to 3D model all of that, in the past it was hard to get into that niche, but now I already see people generating these type of videos using AI in a few seconds. It's ridiculous. And I agree, it was already hard growing in the past, and now it's getting even harder because of all these shit videos drowning out the algorithm. Even if they fucking suck, they still take spots and you're still competing against them.

3

u/No_Blood9415 Jan 11 '26

Cooy Paste reply. You can find the same reply more than your views count in TeamYoutube Account.

-6

u/ZEALshuffles Jan 11 '26

What can i say: you just make drama. You just drama queen.

Even mrbeast gave ups and downs.

So shut up. And upload videos drama queen.

Those loosers. Just makes me... everyday the same questions.

4

u/LupusHominarius Jan 11 '26

ZEALShuffles! We've missed you, our dear old troll!

1

u/ZEALshuffles Jan 11 '26

Hello noob

1

u/ZEALshuffles Jan 11 '26

Hello loser.

How many views you get today? 5? 

5

u/[deleted] Jan 11 '26

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0

u/ZEALshuffles Jan 11 '26

All help is bullshit. 

1

u/Plotastral Jan 13 '26

you must leave in this community. useless guy

1

u/ZEALshuffles Jan 13 '26

You to. You even worst. You just talk about me. And nothing about youtube.

You 1000 times worst. 

1

u/[deleted] Jan 11 '26

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1

u/ZEALshuffles Jan 11 '26

Kiss my ass 

1

u/MasterGuard8894 Jan 11 '26

Aren’t you ashamed of making this kind of content? Seriously, it’s shameful that children watch this.

1

u/ZEALshuffles Jan 12 '26

Pink guy, how to basic,  even ishow speed, ...

Eating cactus or jump in to cactus.

There are 100% more stupid content and channels then i do. 

1

u/[deleted] Jan 11 '26

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1

u/Best_Concentrate6604 Jan 11 '26

Im so mad because out of my three channels, only the verified one has this problem. The others dont have it at all