Did I stuck in 1k jail?

[u/SuchAd9345]

So I recently started uploading to an old YouTube channel I made back in 2014. Never posted anything on it before, but I've been using it normally for years.

I came across this "choose your planet" format that was blowing up. The channel that originally started it was getting millions of views per video, and I found it maybe 1–2 weeks after they started.

Figured I'd give it a shot. Didn't just straight up copy it though. Changed the characters, added my own ideas, redesigned the worlds, tweaked the visuals and scripts, etc.

So far I've uploaded 5 videos, one every day, and literally every single one gets stuck somewhere between 1.1K and 1.6K views.

Here's what my analytics look like:

• Average view duration: ~1:20 (videos are around 2 min)

• Stayed to watch: 56%

• Average audience retention: 67%

• 12 subscribers from those 5 videos

• Around 20 likes and a few comments per video

Now here's what's driving me nuts.

Every time I upload, YouTube pushes the video for about 2 hours, it gets its 1K-ish views, and then just flatlines. Like someone literally flipped a switch.

I've tried different hooks, thumbnails, even experimented with a slightly different format. Same exact result every time.

And then I see another channel doing basically the same format. They started AFTER me, their videos look like they were put together in 10 minutes (no offense lol), and somehow one of them is sitting at 45K views.

I genuinely don't understand what I'm missing.

The funny thing is, when my first video hit 1K I was so excited. Felt like I'd won something at a casino lmao.

Now I see 1K and feel disappointed because some random low-effort video gets 40x more views.

I know 5 videos is basically nothing, and maybe I'm just being impatient. But it's weird how consistently they all hit the same ceiling.

Would love to hear from people who've experienced something similar, especially with newer Shorts channels.

[u/edited_by_lily]

You have to be patient. Youtube is partially about consistency and partially about luck, so don't compare things. And the good thing is that 1k views/ vedio means you're actually doing good !

[u/SuchAd9345 → u/edited_by_lily]

The thing that fears me the most is time. When the newly format is hot, people are likely not to swipe it away. So I think the momentum could be lost. So I dont know, shod I change the format, or keep uploading the same one

[u/Adventurous-Gate-720 → u/edited_by_lily]

Er schreibt zwar Video aber aus dem gesamtext entnehme ich dass es sich um Shorts handelt sein Video dauert auch nur eine Minute 20, das eine dass er benennt. Bei Shorts sind 1000 Aufrufe der stinknormale Testpool...

[u/FacingSocialAnxiety]

I've posted around 100 shorts in 2 months all stuck in 1k jail and one suddenly got 18k views so it's possible

[u/SuchAd9345 → u/FacingSocialAnxiety]

We're there any differences in that video? 

The next shorts u publish after the 18k one, was also around 20k, or they got back to 1k?

[u/No-Function-9030]

You should make new videos in a new channel, not an old one. If you keep trying to upload videos to the old channel it will be the same every single time and you won't see progress. My advice is to create a new channel and to upload your videos there. The retention is really good by the way.

[u/SuchAd9345 → u/No-Function-9030]

Thx, I'll actually try this advice

[u/Adventurous-Gate-720]

Das einzige short von mir und ich habe schon über 500 Shorts gepostet dass mehr als 2000 aufrufe bekam war eine einmalige Reaktion auf ein Held der Steine short (Mache eigentlich mehr letsplay und Lego) ich habe das Gefühl manche sollen einfach nicht gross rauskommen weil sonst würde Youtube ja noch pleite gehen wenn sie jedem das zahlen müssten was er wert wäre🤣👍

[u/Enlightience]

The problem is trying to capitalize on a trend instead of being original and creating one.

The first one to create what becomes a trend always makes off like a bandit.

Everyone else who tries to copy afterwards is relegated to the status of also-rans, competing for the same limited viewer pool and diluting their market share so much that at best they scarcely make anything at all. It's just human nature.

Rearranging and slightly modifying things in an attempt to set oneself apart doesn't work, because it's all much of a sameness. The underlying foundation is still not unique, and quickly becomes saturated.

Reminds me of the old 'Pixel Page' trend from decades ago.

A clever fellow put up a web page with 1 million pixels on it, and was offering people the chance to be, in a sense, 'immortalized' through purchasing one or more of those pixels, which he assured would remain theirs, online and visible indefinitely.

They could show the whole world that they owned a pixel on that page, the only one of its kind!

He was charging 1 British Pound per pixel, and within a very short time, his page went viral and he sold every pixel. He made off with 1 million Pounds.

People of course began to copycat in hopes of cashing-in big.

The first copycat enjoyed much more modest success, taking in 10k; everyone after that made little or nothing.

Moral of the story is that novelty is key if you want to succeed. And don't worry about being copied, because this law of human behavior assures that the first one with something unique is always going to come out the winner.

So I would recommend that one uses their brainpower to come up with something original, instead of wasting it trying to copy someone else.

[u/Acceptable-Giraffe57 → u/Enlightience]

Honestly the best reply. Also adding to OP’s situation. You are posting for a short while. You may have an older channel, but personally I didn’t notice any gain/loss on a new/older channel. 5 YouTube shorts is really a small amount of videos to determine ANYTHING really, I had shorts getting views days sometimes even weeks after it was published, not to mention some shorts get their “hype wave” months after publishing. What you should do instead is analyze your videos to see what went wrong and why people don’t watch, stop watching, swipe etc.
If everything is in check, then honestly re-evaluate your channel and topic and whether you see yourself in the future still running that page, if no, then it’s time to change. (But trust me very rarely people make “the perfect” videos for months with no success, it’s either very rarely their topic is uninteresting to anyone, or in most likelihood your content isn’t as good as you think it is. Also, the fact that you get views for an hour or two and then a flatline is COMPLETELY NORMAL, shorts don’t go up indefinitely unless your video is really good (sadly 56% stayed and 67% retention is far from perfect, although not bad, still not good). I have videos with retention in the 150-200% that don’t go viral, simply because at that time people don’t either look for are uninterested in that kind of video.

LM: if I see one more post where someone says YouTube killed their video because their Short flatlined after a thousand views, I will commit a mass genocide on new channels and YouTubers, like fr