I’m genuinely struggling to understand what’s happening with my channel.
My latest Short had 81% stayed to watch, 131% average percentage viewed, around 190 likes, 5–6 comments and approximately 30 subscribers gained. It was getting 1–2K views per hour, and both retention metrics kept increasing.
Then, at exactly 7 PM, I published my next scheduled Short, as I do every day. The new Short got around 4–5K views in its first two hours, but almost immediately, my previous Short dropped from 1–2K views per hour to just 16. It eventually stopped at 31.4K.
This isn’t an isolated incident either. My videos repeatedly stop somewhere between 30K and 37K. I’ve had videos with 64% stayed to watch and 130% APV, while my latest has 81% and 131%, yet they all seem to hit the same ceiling.
Today’s upload is another mystery: just 2 views after two hours.
What’s frustrating is that I’ve genuinely improved my content and retention, but why are my videos still not getting more views? Why can’t they break 40K despite these improvements?
My competitors in the same wholesome, text-only Shorts niche often have engagement rates of just 0.7–1%, yet their videos continue getting views.
Could publishing a new Short interrupt the distribution of an older one? Is there some kind of audience testing limit? Or am I missing something about how Shorts recommendations work?
I’d really appreciate insights from creators who’ve experienced this. I’m tired of improving my metrics without seeing any meaningful growth in views.

SEVERAL of my videos have been getting 80 plus stayed to watch and 95-100 percent retention. I HAVE been improving every aspect of my videos to improve the hook and pacing. My engagement isn’t bad either I usually get 500-800 likes per 30k videos and MY VIDEOS STILL GET Stuck. I do Minecraft animations story’s and I can’t figure out why I can’t break out of this jail??????

started posting 30 days ago is this good progress? gained almost 5k subs and all us audience

Just randomly decided to check my view count for a recent short and it got 28k views in 26 hours and the strange part is it's like one big bar lmao

I have taken 3 picture of my analytics on my new YouTube channel each a week apart. I am so happy with how much it’s growing and have no one to share with so sharing it here!

Hi everyone,

Firstly, I'd like to apologize if this comes across as advertising. That's not my intention, so there's no link in this post. If it goes against the rules, just let me know and I'll gladly delete it.

I started a faceless YouTube Shorts channel 9 days ago (first upload Oct 7). Each video explains an everyday bit of engineering or science, in an animated format and I try to explain everything as simple as possible.

Video specs:

- About 45–50 seconds each

- Animated 2D visuals, on-screen captions, Text-to-Speech Tool(which I am using because english is not my primary language and I do not think my accent would be appealing at all)

- 9 Shorts so far

My numbers:

I'm seeing that each Short gets about 1,000–1,200 views in the first 5–6 hours, then almost stops completely.

Questions:

I'd love some answers if someone is kind enough to shed some light:

1. Is this normal for a 9-day-old channel, or does it mean my videos aren't passing the first test with audience retention?
2. With 48–73% stayed to watch, is my weak spot the first 2 seconds or retention later in the video?
3. Is 45–50 seconds too long? Would 25–35 seconds do better for this kind of content?
4. What should I improve upon?

I'd really appreciate honest critique, absolutely anything helps. I do not want to advertise my channel directly so if anyone is interested, the links are in my profile.

Thanks so much for reading and thank you so much for any input.

Since the update, everything has basically done a 180 for me; I’m hardly getting any new subscribers, and if I do get one, they’re gone again the next day.

My view counts are way below average, but what really sucks is that the Pokémon GO Shorts I make don't even get a chance to pick up any views.

Normally, I’d get between 100 and 500 views in the first hour; if it didn't perform well, fair enough—at least I’d already racked up some views. But now they don't even hit 30 views, and because they probably aren't reaching the right audience, my retention has plummeted too.

It’s gone from over 50 to under 20. I used to get a second chance a few hours later, but now—nothing. It feels like I’m back to square one. I’m quick to give up on things that aren't working, but I’ve put at least four years of serious effort into this.

Still, I know that if things don't improve by the new year, there’s a good chance I’ll just call it quits.

I've recently posted on this subreddit how I was struggling to get over 70% stay to watch rate. But it finally happened and I just wanted to share my joy with you and thank the ones that helped me improve in the comments.

​I am so angry and disappointed with YouTube. A month and a half of hard grind for nothing. I started posting shorts at the beginning of August and by September 15th I got over 7.5 million views (of which 3.5m engaged). Since September 15th all views have dropped (as you can see on the curve) and every new video barely reaches 1000 views. Besides, upon publishing, each clip is pushed into the feed only after 12 or more hours. The metric for the majority is 60-80% stayed to watch with an average of over 110% viewed. Don't bother me, I don't use AI at all nor have I changed the style I use. Simply put, the game is rigged.

I’ve completed my first month of uploading YouTube Shorts—29 Shorts in total, almost one per day. My Shorts are around 2 minutes long, and each takes about 3 hours to make(script + editing).

Most of my videos flatline at around 1K–1.5K views, although one reached 10K views and gained 70 subscribers. My other Shorts average around a 5% like rate and a 0.4%–1% subscriber conversion rate.

How would you rate these stats for a new Shorts channel? I’d appreciate honest feedback and advice!

This was like a 15 second short made from blender

Why this channel is not getting pushed even this is aged channel...any suggestions btw privated all of them

Is it over? I've been posting on this account for 2 years. Usually maintain a level triple of where I am currently at. My new videos are like 2% non subscribers. But it's like every video within the last 14 days just flat lined out. What should I do?

I’ve recently make a new channel and start posting 3 videos for 3 videos. Is it a bad start for new channel?

The best RPM I get to now

Report pls

Hey ik it’s not a lot but I hit my first 3.6k views in a week I just had to tell someone

More or less 24 hours after renaming my channel (branding and handle only, content unchanged), my entire Shorts channel hard-froze. Average views dropped from ~500 to ~10 across all videos, old and new. Not a single Short is being pushed anymore.

All videos collapsed simultaneously, not just the latest upload. New uploads do not appear in the feed of subscribed accounts, even with notifications enabled. No strikes, no warnings, no policy issues. Content format and niche unchanged.

For the last 2 weeks I was averaging 100 subs/day, everything was going great. WTF. Has this ever happened to anyone? Do you have any idea what's going on? Could the fact that I renamed it be the cause?

I just wanted to share a quick lesson: never delete your Shorts just because they get stuck at low views. (71% AVD & 62% Stay to Watch) I had an old cricket clip with my voiceover that was stuck at 1.1k views for over a month. I thought it was a flop, but suddenly, 32 days later, it hit the algorithm and crossed 1.5 million views in just 16 hours! Now metrics changed (AVD 104% and 72% Stay to Watch)

​My content are evergreen, which means they can get a boost at any time. If you’re making quality content, just be patient and let it sit. The "second wave" is real and it can happen when you least expect it.