YouTube Creator Updates: Subscriber List, Shorts View Changes & Break Function

Transcript

If you as a Creator want to see a list of your subscribers, this was previously only possible in the YouTube Studio Desktop version. As of this week, there’s a new feature that’s not yet available to everyone: Creators can now also view who has subscribed to them on the channel page within the YouTube app. In order for this to work, you need to have at least four subscribers, and these subscribers must have their privacy settings configured to display their subscriptions publicly—this is important because otherwise, these subscribers won’t appear in the list. This wasn’t the case in the YouTube Studio Desktop version either. Important to note: You can only view your own list, not those of other Creators.

In the YouTube Studio Mobile, there’s a small update regarding analytics and the header. The goal is to make a clearer distinction between channel analytics and video analytics by displaying the thumbnail at the top. This is a nice feature to avoid getting lost and ensure you’re viewing the correct analytics—whether channel or video analytics. Normally, you should also know what you’re looking at since there are usually significant differences in view counts and other metrics. In principle, I’m all for transparency and ease of use, and seeing where you are makes sense.

Moving on to YouTube Live: The “Take a Break” function has now been fully rolled out. As a quick reminder: You can take a stream break via YouTube that lasts either 3 or 5 minutes. During this break, either a YouTube countdown or a video of your choice is shown. Importantly, ad slots are offered during this break. However, this doesn’t mean they will actually be played. YouTube Premium users won’t see any ads, of course. The likelihood of seeing an ad depends on what’s called ad saturation. If you’ve just joined the stream and already seen a pre-roll ad, you’ll probably see the video rather than another ad.

On March 31st, the definitions for Shorts views are changing. What was previously considered a Shorts view will now be referred to as an “Engaged View,” and there’s a new definition for Shorts views. Previously, views were counted even if the Short continued playing in the background while you slept—each time, a view was counted. This led to very high numbers. The change is happening because Creators have complained that they achieve more views on other platforms. The reason lies in the different definitions of a view on these platforms. Now, YouTube is adjusting its counting to present Creators with larger numbers, which are effectively less valuable. This can lead to difficulties in negotiations with companies since the actual reach is lower than the displayed number.

Important: The partner requirements remain unaffected by this change. They continue to be based on Engaged Views, and the payout from the YouTube Ads pool for Shorts remains unchanged. Views of videos and streams still follow the criteria of Engaged Views. There will merely be an inflation of Shorts views.

The Impact of New YouTube Algorithm Changes

As mentioned before, the immediate consequence of this inflation will be a distortion of view counts for YouTube Shorts. In an example from Creator Insider, we saw a difference of almost 50% more views: While the views were at 23-24,000, the Engaged Views were only around 15,000. I’ve included the graph for you.

My personal assessment is that larger view numbers devalue Shorts views and will lead to communication problems, especially when it comes to the requirements for the YouTube Partner Program. These problems are already visible now when calculating the playback time of Shorts, which doesn’t count toward long-form playback times. Now, you might have a much higher number of YouTube Shorts views, but only Engaged Views count. In my opinion, this merely shifts the problem from A to B. I feel that Creators will be in a worse negotiating position with companies as a result.

A Current Experiment: Push Notifications

Currently, there’s an experiment running for three days: A small group of viewers no longer receives push notifications if they haven’t interacted with a channel for a longer period. The notification is still sent, but you have to actively retrieve it by opening the YouTube app and clicking on the notification. For example, if you tap on “K Media has uploaded a video” and indicate that you want to watch it later, YouTube remembers this and continues to send push notifications.

Important Notes:

• You will definitely receive push notifications if a channel uploads very rarely and the feature is enabled. You won’t be filtered out. However, the cutoff point for being considered a “rare uploader” or “spammer” was not specified, leaving room for interpretation once again. It would be interesting to see if there are differences in view counts from push notifications depending on how often a channel uploads - daily, weekly, or monthly.

I’d love to hear about your experiences and numbers! Do you actively use push notifications? Have you subscribed to our channel and turned on the bell icon to get notified? Let’s discuss! Looking forward to your comments, and see you next week for more YouTube updates. Until then, take care!