Transcription
Views are down. There's a big shift happening on YouTube right now, and it's resulting in views being down for a lot of videos that creators make, and they're frustrated. They want to know what they can do to turn things around. A lot of times I'll say, you know, maybe it's because viewers' habits are changing, right? And therefore, YouTube has to change. But the thing is, it's not just viewer habits, right? YouTube is making changes as well, partly because of these changing habits, but also because they need to stay on top of their competition, be it Instagram or TikTok. They're fighting for advertising dollars. And a lot of people get upset about that. Um, I don't, uh, and I'll talk about that a little bit later in this video, but, um, what I mainly want to focus on is the way search has changed.
I know for myself, uh, if I were to think back to three or four years ago, I remember saying things like, you know, the way I search for things, if I need to know how to do something and I need to search for it, that had changed. It used to be that I'd go to Google and I would search for a website and learn, you know, search for a website, find the website, and then go to their support pages and learn how to use their software. For example, if I was trying to learn how to use software, I would use Google. That was my main search engine to learn how to do anything. But a few years ago, I realized that YouTube became my number one search engine that I used. I would always go to YouTube, uh, instead of Google, because I preferred to watch a video showing me how to do this thing that I wanted to learn, right? That was far better.
Now, it usually meant that I would have to sift through a bunch of videos, right? I'd search and I'd be given a whole bunch of different choices. Some people would teach me this thing in a 20-minute video. Other people would only need a five-minute video, right? Some two-minute videos. So, you know, I tended to gravitate towards the shorter videos, especially if it was a simple task that I was learning. But, you know, in some cases, longer videos made more sense. But the fact of the matter is, there was choice. I was able to search and sift through and find what I needed.
Today, I've realized that I don't do that anymore. Now, if I need to search for how to do something, I open up ChatGPT, right? And maybe your favorite AI tool is Claude or Gemini, right? There's, I mean, there's several. I use ChatGPT right now, and that's the first place I go if I need to search for something. I can't remember the last time I searched Google for anything, right? And that used to be the number one search engine. I believe it probably still is. Uh, and YouTube was the number two search engine. Again, I believe it still is, but AI is catching up.
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Now, let's get back to the video. So, because our viewing habits are changing and our searching habits are changing, what do you think YouTube has to do? They've got to change as well. They've got to, they've got to get with the times, right? They have to change their methods. They have to tweak their algorithm. They have to figure out where people are going for the information they need. And YouTube wants to try to be there when people go, uh, to look for that information. YouTube wants to be the source that you go to. So, they're making changes. They make changes to their algorithm. What happens when they make changes to their algorithm? It's going to affect creators. The videos that they put on the platform is going to affect the way they get discovered, the way those videos get found. Some of those videos are going to get found a whole lot more, and they're going to experience an increase in views. Others, and these are the ones I hear from a lot, are going to experience a downturn in views, a lot less views than they're used to. And it's frustrating, and I get that. I mean, I've been there.
Um, several times when I've noticed that on a whole, all my video views are going down. What do I do? Uh, but I don't get upset at that. And, and that's, I want to kind of bring this back to, you know, people are getting upset. Um, by people, I mean creators, uh, upset at these changes and like, I've just figured out how this works, and now it's not working for me anymore. Like, what do I got to do? This always used to work. Um, you know, that's just part of it. That's part of the game. YouTube is a game. Um, you know, you might not like to think about it that way, but as a creator, one thing you got to realize is, you, so you and me, YouTube doesn't owe us anything, right? Um, they don't exist to make creators' lives easier. That's just a fact. Like, they're, they're not here for us.
What they've done, well, before I get to that, YouTube cares more about the viewers. Actually, they care about the advertisers, right? Because advertisers are who pays them money. That's how they make their revenue. And they want to maximize that. And that's okay. YouTube is a business. It's made to make money. That's its purpose. And we, it doesn't do us any good to get upset about that. Um, because I hear people saying, you know, oh, it's just a company. They're only in it to make money. Yeah, that's right. They're only in it to make money. That's that's the whole point. Um, and by they, like they making money is really like everybody. I mean, YouTube is a publicly traded company, so anybody can own a piece of it, right? And a lot of people do. A lot of people's retirement funds are invested in Alphabet, which owns Google and YouTube. So, yes, they're in it to make money. Therefore, they need to make the advertisers happy. Uh, and they want people to watch videos for longer. They want more people watching videos and watching for longer. They want people to stay on the platform because the more people are staying on the platform, the more watch hours they're racking up, the more money they're going to make from their advertisers. Okay, that's that's the economics behind it.
But what about the creator? What about us? Um, YouTube has created a fantastic tool, uh, for us, right? Like YouTube is a free hosting service at its core. It's a free hosting service. They figured out how to make money with it by, you know, having videos on the platform that they can put ads on, and they make money from that. Now, the videos that go on the platform are made by creators, okay? Uh, which is great. And it's giving creators a creative outlet, but they've also given creators a creative way to make a living and to make money doing this. That is fantastic. I mean, that opportunity, this opportunity didn't exist 20 years ago. Um, maybe in a different form, I suppose, but not video, not like this. So, is it easy? No, it's not easy. It's hard. Um, it's getting easier. Like the tools that we use to make videos are getting easier and easier and cheaper. Um, but it's, it's not easy, nor is it meant to be, right?
Um, something else I often hear is people, uh, wanting to give up, right? Creator people who want to be creators saying that they're going to give up. You know, views are down. I just can't take it anymore. It's too frustrating. I'm going to give up. Um, and I sense that some people are saying that almost like, almost like they're saying to YouTube, like, you need to change to stop creators from leaving the platform. But, but if you think about it, do they really need to change for that reason? I, I would argue not. I would argue that, uh, that, uh, they're okay with creators leaving, right? Not all creators, but not all creators are going to leave. Only the ones that are getting frustrated and not able to make a go at it. And, uh, dare I say, those who don't really enjoy making videos, right? You really have to enjoy making videos in order to stay on the platform to make it work. Um, right, 100% of the people who quit on YouTube, uh, are not successful, but a percentage of people who stick with it are. So, you know, when people say that the platform is getting more saturated, right? There's too many creators out there. Well, maybe, maybe this is YouTube's way of thinning the herd. Just, just let, just let it take care of itself, right? If there's enough creators having trouble making this work and they're going to leave, that just makes room for those who really enjoy making the content, and they will end up being successful at it. Okay. So, so naturally, YouTube is going to end up with creators who are able to figure it out and make changes when YouTube makes changes and still able to make it work. You know, there's going to be ups and downs, and that's just normal. That's, and that's normal. Um, and that's fine.
Uh, but, um, yeah, I guess what I'm trying to say is, YouTube doesn't owe us anything. They've given us a really cool platform to play with, perhaps make money with, perhaps make a living with, uh, if we do it right. Um, but they aren't here to make our lives as easy as possible. They're not our boss. They're not a family member. They're just providing a tool. They want to make the viewers happy, right? If you, as a creator, can figure out how to make videos that viewers want to watch, then you're in, right? That's, that's your, that's your key right there. That's your ticket. Make videos that your viewers want to watch. And the algorithm, you'll notice, will start working for you. It'll, it'll put your content in front of more viewers like the viewers who are watching, and you'll start to grow.
So, I think that's all I wanted to say on this. Um, you know, try, try if you're feeling frustrated, maybe take a step away for a little bit. Um, re-evaluate why you're doing it in the first place. Um, you know, don't quit your job. Don't quit your day job to do YouTube. Uh, before you're doing YouTube and before you're successful with it. Um, the best time to start YouTube is when you have some free time, uh, and while you still have a job, if you need to work. If you're retired, that's also a great time to start YouTube. Uh, it's a fantastic hobby. It's fun. It's a lot of fun. Um, it can be stressful if it's your only source of income. Uh, and, and you're probably, if you want to do it for a living, you're probably going to have to figure out other ways to earn revenue besides just YouTube AdSense. Uh, but, uh, no, it can be fantastic. Um, but you have to understand why you're doing it, right? Know what your why is. Are you doing YouTube, uh, because you think you can make more money at it than your last job, or are you doing it because you love it? You know, that's a valid question. Um, I think you have to love it. I think you have to love everything about doing YouTube. Uh, or it's going to be a hard thing to stick with, right?
But anyways, I hope you found this helpful. I, it kind of turned a little darker than I meant it to. I don't, I didn't mean it to be that way at all. Um, my main point of making this video was basically just to say, I think because the way we search for things has changed, that's resulting in YouTube changing. Um, and it may be participating in why impressions and views are down for so many people. All right, so, uh, love to hear your thoughts on this. Feel free to leave them in the comments below. My name is Rob. Thanks for joining me today, and, uh, I'll see you in the next video. All right, guys. Bye.