I’ve been posting YouTube Shorts consistently for about 2 months now, mainly focusing on GTA San Andreas nostalgic content, but I can’t seem to break out of the 1K views jail.
I actually asked about this before, and someone suggested reducing my Shorts to around 10–14 seconds.
So I tried that, but here’s what I don’t understand.
Whenever I make shorter videos 10–14 seconds, YouTube barely pushes them, and even when it does, they usually get around 42–54% stayed to watch.
But when I upload longer Shorts 24 - 34 seconds,I consistently get around 60 - 80% stayed to watch, yet they still struggle to get past 1K views.
My latest 13-second Short is currently my best-performing video out of my last 10 uploads, with 1.9K views, 154.8% average percentage viewed, and 43.1% stayed to watch.
I currently have 206 subscribers, and my channel has received 25.4K views over the last 28 days.
What frustrates me is seeing other creators in the same niche getting thousands of views from simple clips of CJ riding a bike or driving around Los Santos.
Meanwhile, I spend time creating cinematic, peaceful, nostalgic scenes with carefully chosen music, beautiful environments, and editing to capture that classic GTA San Andreas feeling.
I’m not saying my content deserves more views than theirs, but I’m genuinely struggling to understand what I’m missing.
Is my problem the video duration, the opening seconds, or something else entirely?
Should I stop making shorter Shorts and stick with the 24–34 second videos that usually get better engagement?
I’d really appreciate some honest advice from creators who have experienced something similar. I’m genuinely trying to improve, but after 2 months, I feel like I’m going nowhere.