Unfortunate YouTube Algorithm News :( (Patreon)

(Warning - Wall of Text Announcement)
Hey Squad - Thought I'd share some important new information that I've learned regarding YouTube - I'm sure you've heard a lot of other YouTuber's talking about the new algorithm being rough. It's been known that the new algo really pushes and promotes creators that focus on "Shorts", creators that retain user attention with longer videos, and creators that engage in live-stream - Now, I already talked about how this is very unfortunate for us since: Shorts don't really make sense for computer software tutorials, our videos are short by design specifically to "not" retain user attention, and I haven't really had the time to set-up a livestream schedule yet. All these factors don't really help us unfortunately, but up to this point, I figured we could overcome the disadvantage through just making sure we have the best quality tutorials available for those who need the information.

However, there's a new change to the algorithm that has jeopardized that strategy - And, the problem is the new algorithm heavily discriminates against older videos. In the past when I make a tutorial, over time that video would slowly accrue new views at a rate of a few hundred per day/week, and over a long period of time the video would eventually get several 20-50k views - This was how I made most of my revenue on YouTube since I was playing the long game, knowing that people in the future would find the tutorial later as it became relevant to their workflow. But, looking at the view data the past 3-5 months is pretty clear that strategy doesn't really work anymore. Basically the week after a video is created, it rarely, if ever gets new views - Which means, that in all likelihood, even when people are looking for tutorials on a specific subject, even if they search specific keywords for our tutorial on the subject, there's a high chance that they wont find it if the video is more than 6 months old.

Now, honestly I don't necessarily disagree with the choice to bias towards newer content - It's honestly probably the most sensible move since most people just wanna see what their favorite creators are posting that day. It just sucks for us specifically, because our whole concept revolved around producing evergreen information that people could find long into the future :(

Anyway, it's very clear that the type of channels that will do well going forward are channels that can consistently and constantly produce new content - The types of channels that will thrive in this environment are going to be news, blogs, podcasts, journals, drama, opinion, and reaction channels where the main focus is essentially responding to day to day events about whatever is relevant at the time. The type of channels that will take the most damage in this new environment are the channels that focus on Quality over Quantity - the channels that can only produce 1 or 2 videos a month will be the type of channels that will struggle to grow the most going forward -

Simply put, before you could kinda defy the algorithm and still grow as a channel. But, now if you defy the algorithm, the only ones who will ever seen your content are the ones who already subscribed and rung the bell for notifications. So, I'm going to try and adjust our strategy a little in order to accommodate the demands that YouTube is setup to support -

My only golden rule I refuse to compromise on is my video length and focus. If I can make a good tutorial that successfully delivers the information you need in less than 60 seconds, then I will absolutely not make it any longer than it needs to be. I don't care if YouTube doesn't like it, I'm not going to waste people's time with over-bloated tutorials - Tutorials will always be an integral part of my channel's content, simply because I'm always learning new things, and I love sharing what I learn with you guys - But, it is also evident to me that tutorials alone are not a sustainable model for the channel to survive, grow, and thrive - I'm going to have to add a secondary layer of content that is more "casual?" in order to ensure the channel does not rely on evergreen style tutorial content to gain views.

I'm still, not "entirely" sure what type of content that will take the form of. But. it needs to be compatible with live-streams, constant daily uploads, and easily clipable for shorts type videos. All I know is I don't really want to become a drama/reaction channel. I'd like to keep the content related to 3D or game design if possible, but I think if we can find some sort of sweet spot to where even people who are not into 3D or game design can have fun watching, that would be an ideal sweet-spot for the non-tutorial related content.

Anyway, that's the status of our channel at the moment, I'll be sharing some possible ideas I have for new content in a few days, and you guys can give me feedback through the voting polls, but in the meanwhile if anyone has any ideas or thoughts you'd like to share, I'm all ears for some brainstorming :)

Thanks again for being here, and as always hope you have a Fantastic Day -

All the best,

-RS-