Thanks Nick, sincerely appreciate the feedback! For the links in Shorts, bad actors can make Shorts at much, much higher volume and velocity than long form, so TH-cam felt it needed to address the abuse there (maybe why other platforms have never allowed for links in short-form video, only "links in bio"). For jump ahead, in a recent Creator Insider Newsflash, they mentioned TH-cam hadn't seen any statistically significant change in watch time. Since you have to spam the skip button to get jump ahead, my guess is it's pretty much the same people who used to skip through the segment now just jumping ahead of it instead. (Putting on my creator hat for a moment, we know viewers value efficient watch time, we see that in our retention graphs already, which is also why for a long time now we've seen some creators put sponsor spots at the end of the video, or interweave high-retention action with the sponsor spots in challenge videos, etc.). I haven't heard the search rumors, but I'll pass along the whole video to the teams! Thanks for sharing your ideas with creators as well, and again for the feedback!
Thanks for the clarity Rene! I appreciate it. Definitely concerned about the way it looks like things are headed. And thanks for passing these along, I appreciate it!!!
Regarding killing links in Shorts - the bad actors you mention may not create long form as fast but I don't see them going "oh well, links are dead, let's stop scamming people." They scam because sadly they do. They can find a way to create longer form videos easily to link off the Shorts...that they can still create...apparently fast too. This may be the reason given but the reasoning is lame at best.
I’m sorry but as a viewer, the least I could do is watch the video and skip around on my own if I want to find out the information that the content creator went out of their way to make. It’s counter intuitive in supporting your creators. And the fact that I’m a new creator myself, it’s not very motivating to create content for the platform. Wow. Not a good business move at all.
Notice also how they upped the pay out for shorts but it's still Inconsequential for most creators? I agree shorta should be spun off onto a different platform cuz thwy are channel killers for long content creators. If they want things to be better they need to make a way for Roku and smart TV users to engage. Many people watch on their TVs and it's not easy whatsoever to leave a like or comment or anything --
Nick, thanks for bringing attention to this subject. In the short term, the viewer wins, but in the long term, they might lose if creators stop creating because it isn’t worth the time. If one can no longer make a living by creating on TH-cam.
I totally agree. I had to jump the ship with my channel of 11 years with 10k followers. The channel is very much dead. There is no need to maintain it or make videos on that channel. The result is to completely change the course of direction/contents. Content creators are also viewers!😊 Another challenge for YT is: pls promote high-quality niche channels, not the cookie cutter, copy cat with if you seen one, you have seen them all. Especially there are so many talented creators quit before they made to the finish line to get into the door!
Something is going very wrong with TH-cam. Like many others, my views are right down over the past few months and I have had several regulars say they are no longer being fed my videos. On top of that, there is horrific spam, trolls and bot activity at the moment. It is quickly getting to the point that it is increasingly becoming more effort than it is worth. I didn’t start YT to make money, but a lot of time effort and expense goes into making videos. Added to the advent of cheap mass poor-quality AI content, and it seems that many serious creators will consider their position. I’m already hearing about this happening.
Interesting to see this comment. I am a small channel but have had a regular view count over several years. I am now recently noticing that my view counts have nearly halved for no obvious reason or change in content approach. A little frustrating :)
@@vespastar222 You are right and I feel blessed for how much this has helped me get through some troubled times. My little community keeps me going. Thanks for your message 🙂
Mine too, not sure it MAY be seasonal but it started early LOL, I think YT is fighting with the HUGE # OF AI created shorts and having to prune them out...plus trying to be TikTok which IS HURTING THE LONGER VIEWS and committed viewers who come to YT FOR DIFFERENT THINGS than Tiktok.
And viewers wonder why some of us are investing more time into platforms like Patreon. It’s because Patreon actually cares about the Creators and puts us first. When you do that everyone wins - including the viewers.
Thanks so much for the info Nick! Honestly, If TH-camrs can no longer make a living they will go to other platforms or go work for companies that pay them a lot more. Being a TH-camr is a massive amount of work I work 80 hours a week. It’s truly a labor of love. I make most of my money by providing services outside of TH-cam. if I make less due to this skip feature, I would consider going elsewhere or possibly take one of the job offers to work for a company and work regular hours. I also think TH-cam takes much too much of our Super Chat $. I love TH-cam but taking too much from creators will cause them to not want to work this hard anymore.
You only make money when the video reaches a lot of views. under 500 is under $1... 1000 to 3000 is about $12 under 24,000 views is about $ 80 then 30% for TH-cam and 30% taxes leaves not very much for all the hours it takes. But we don't pay for the platform and the opportunities and engagement with the world is wonderful. I ❤ that @NickNimmins helps us so much with tips. ❤
ive experienced a 90% advertising revenue drop over the last year, while documenting youtube slashing my views and subscribers over and over and over again! it's straight up theft!
Yes they are! I was sailing along and then nothing. No video suggestions or impressions, or let’s say a 95% reduction. I give up. It’s like they use you until you almost get monetized and then they kick you to the curb. Totally discouraging and like I said, I just can’t put the time into it for nothing.
I have been making youtube videos for over 10 years and it just feels like as soon as I've learnt how things work, everything gets harder and changes. It's like I'm reaching for a golden apple on a tree and I almost reach it every year because I'm growing taller but the tree is outgrowing me so I can never reach it every year. Even for you reading this, imagine you could go back 5 to 10 years with the TH-cam knowledge you have now, you would be earning loads of cash within a couple of months for sure. But everything changes all the time and people with MASSIVE budgets and CRAZY equipment make it difficult for some people to compete with. Anyway, we will push on and make it work. Just think things out carefully........ Think of things that AI can't answer, like "I tried XYZ for 30 days and here are the results" or whatever. Things that AI can't answer, that's the way forward. Also, sponsors will start telling us to spread their segment over the entire video in some way.
Thanks Nick, what was interesting while watching this video on my PC, I scrolled down and I couldn't see your description at all, all I could see wat "20k views 8 days ago" I though that was weird, and then I clicked on that by chance and your entire description opened up. So TH-cam gives no indication and doesn't have the more option shown anymore. This is another blow to us creators that are looking to make money with links in descriptions.
It's nice to see a channel talk about this instead of channels I see which try to make it seem as if TH-cam doesn't control anything and we the creators are doing anything and everything wrong. When you have shorts and videos to do thousand on a regular basis and then out of nowhere they are doing less than 100, come on it's ridiculous and we are not slow and dumb. Like I've said before they really don't care. How many of us have gotten to 3900 watch hours or more just to have the rug pulled out from under us?
Firstly awesome video Nick per usual. Would DEFINITELY like (and need) a video explaining the link redirects. I have my main website but I see other creators like Think Media creating custom URL redirects that are easier to remember like you said and contain affiliate opportunities. How do we do this? Thank you!
Sponsors aside, it can be a section someone might find interesting but others did not and that person might miss out, or it is after a most viewed section so it appears as less viewed. Either way, it's a loss for retention, hence a loss for our reach and ability to grow and succeed.
It makes absolute zero sense that on a platform like youtube, youtube would add extra steps so you can view the descriptions of the video because the youtube devs also use those same descriptions, keywords and tags to use it for impressions to spotlight your channel also what Nick says nobody in their right mind wants to click 5 times to view a video description most of us would just give up after two clicks 😅
I could be wrong but the pre launch to this imo is when they added the "Allow Automatic Chapters" feature so AI could read your piece of content to distinguish each section of the video- using that data to help with this jump feature...
One of my biggest headaches with trying to monetize my channel is people being able to find links, its terrible. Great video, Nick! I'm going to VidSummit this year, excited to see you speak!
Not allowing TH-cam Shorts watch time to count towards monetization alone is suss. Also forcing us to scroll past their forced recommendations before seeing the comments is anti-community-building. Not only that, but in this new design (which I hate, and share your feelings on) you don't even SEE the comments box beneath the video (even on desktop or laptop), instead, it's truncated to a vertical rectangle in the upper right and you have to click on the X in the upper right in the new design to even see the ability to scroll past the bs.The more steps you inject between search query and search result, only increases viewer drop off and clicks away from your content. Many TH-camrs (both creators and just the viewers) want to see the comments first before watching or commenting - this new design ruins that.Thanks for covering this topic.
@@fromdajump did they just change that? Cause I get a lot more views on my shorts right now...and even though they're shorter, they're more engaging and fun. How do we know for sure yt is doing this?
@@lovestolaugh they didn’t remove it, TH-cam shorts never counted at all towards monetization ever. It’s easy to find on Google/TH-cam’s website on TH-cam Shorts when you read their terms. This ain’t new. I used to release 28 shorts a week after misleading info I saw from another TH-camr but it’s plain as day on google’s own website segment about shorts - if you are not already monetized - these shorts hours of watch time don’t count towards the 4K hours of watch time you need to be accepted in the TH-cam Partnership program. Look it up
@@lovestolaugh It should count to watch hours IF it wasn't viewed on the shorts table. That's as far as I know. But I don't think they ever counted watch hours when it's seen in the shorts feed.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts Nick! Agree with a lot of the ideas shared here. As always it's important to talk about these things. Espeically with the new layout discussion. Love seeing the TH-cam Creator Liason has already acknolwedged a lot.
Hey Nick! thanks for the shoutout!! Just saw this... interesting.... it still seems to display as normal for me in Australia. Does it depend what system/browser/version you're viewing on? When I'm looking on a phone through the TH-cam app, I see exactly what you're saying, but on desktop, it's still displaying the description properly for me. :) Good to know to make sure you have the right links there!
👋 Nick I didn't know where to find description until I became a creator. When I show people in person how to find the description, no one knew, to get to the description, you had to push more. I started putting links in my chat, to make it easier. Thanks for great solutions to problems. ❤
When I first started watching YT the UI was a minefield to use... other platforms might be simpler but are mostly awkward or jumpy.. if they just sorted that out.. with a intuitive UI and put filters on the content that is not family viewing.. it would be easier to have a platform that is family friendly only.. there would be a competitor to YT.. even if the advert revenue was less.
Rant or no, dude so appreciate you sharing your insight, concerns, and ideas about this too. One reason I love TH-cam as a creator is because, well, there is no platform that comes close to a way to reach people and make a living too. Having said that, I also get, TH-cam is a business and in the business of making money first. Hey, if they don't, it will trickle down hard for all of us - viewers AND creators. The "Jump Ahead" feature along with the upcoming "Community Notes" are, in my opinion, horrible missteps for TH-cam. Yeah, different but still not good. I too share concerns about what off-TH-cam monetization using TH-cam will look like in the (near) future but at least for now we still have a lot of opportunities to grow. Re: website and links. 100% agree and would add, I'd go the 100% website route. Own your name or specific domain and add pages from that. Better to own yourself than invest in too many URLs and such. Appreicate you dude!
Thanks Nick - really appreciate you taking the time to research and share things like this about YT so the rest of us creators can concentrate on what we do best...which in my case is watching your live stream on Saturday 🤣🤣
Yes, please make more videos on this topic. You definitely know what you're talking about and how to find the info!! Your my cheat sheet so to speak...with much respect 😊
Another great one, man, and something that made me think a bit. I have watched TH-cam as one of my main forms of viewing, probably since it started up. In all those years, I think i have only gone out of my way to check the description, maybe once or twice. Have a great day man & much ❤
Mighty hugs thanks for this sharing, Nick🤗💜I agree with you on these points. If YT is aiming to be Shorts dominated, then it would be no different from TikTok, Instagram or FB. How would YT stand out then? It’s strange to watch Shorts on laptop & TV😅 “training” viewers to watch more Shorts does not help with longer concentration. How would we enjoy movies or documentaries in the future then?😂
Thank you for pinpointing the problem of the hidden description. It also affects my channel and promotion of my services because I don't do talking in the video. I mainly rely on viewer reading the description for more details. 🙏🏻
I totally get where you're coming from regarding TH-cam's disruptive changes, particularly those involving easy access to video descriptions and interlinking videos (4:00). It does feel like TH-cam is undermining its creators. Could these changes have a disproportionate impact on smaller, up-and-coming TH-camrs?
I stopped reading descriptions when they changed how to reach them, it was too many clicks to just see what was in the video. Made me watch less random videos the last few weeks honestly.
I've seen a huge slowdown in affiliate sales. I was blaming the brands I'm working with (they've changed their affiliate vendor so many times!), but it could be due to TH-cam hiding the description. This isn't new; the "See More" button has been a problem for a long time! It could also be that people only have money for groceries that are 300% more expensive. It's not a loss of views - I'm still averaging over 8,000 long-form views a day. I think it's what you just said: an extra click! That kills conversion by about 30%, right?
I think so. It's difficult for those of us just reaching the point where we hold out the hope of actually seeing returns for the years of work we've put in to grow our channels.
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I was aware of some of these things, but not this much. AI will be a problem for all of us at some point. Thank you for expressing what all of us feel right now.
Nick, I am a great fan of yours. I have found my number of views going down which is hurting me. I am working very hard every day. I am not sure what to do. Please guide me. Thanks
I can understand most of the changes you'd have to think there is almost everyone in the world that wants to be a content creator and make the maximum dollar off of creating content but it is a big competitive field out there for every time somebody works hard there's going to be somebody working hard to make a loophole so just stick with it it work out it work out if not figure out what it takes to make it work appreciate the tips and tricks Nick watching an learning 👀🍿💪
Something else I noticed recently was that my Amazon affiliate clicks had plummeted. I was baffled as I hadn't changed any of my behaviours. Then the other day I clicked on someone eles's affiliate link and a screen pooped up warning me I was navigating away from TH-cam and did I wish to continue? I didn't of course, because I just wanted to a have a quick look in a second tab whilst still listening to the video. So I'm wondering if this is causing a drop in Amazon clicks. I don't remember it doing that before?
it absolutely affects it. Google did this a long time ago to image search. I used to get tons of views from images on a website from google image search results, and they created this frame that keeps the image as part of the google viewing experience and you have to actively click "visit" to go to the website to get a better look at the image now. its exactly like the "youre leaving the youtube site" popup now. before when you clicked on the image it would take you directly to the website that had the image. needless to say. my traffic TANKED on that site. internet marketing is VERY unpredictable, and you always have to adapt and find a new way to reach people if your livelihood depends on it. it can get difficult at times, because the rules are always changing....like literally from day to day :/
Being one that has clicked on these links in the past, I can tell you that this has been there for several years at least. Who knows why your affiliate clicks have dropped. I wish there was more data available so that you could figure it out and then adjust to compensate. It may just be that the economy is faltering and people are being more careful how they spend their money.
I have listened to your video and I have just a few takeaways. Preface, I am not monetized yet but will someday be monetized. When something is presented to me, I immediately think to myself is there a better way. The “skip ahead feature” leads me to think this will affect watch time hours. Then there’s the in-ad situation. I would make sure I summarize at the end of the video and repeat the in-ad throughout and definitely at the end of the video. The key is to make quality content, so the person will want to watch the whole video. There are hour long videos that I watch without skipping anything. The videos seem to be of movie quality, the sound is perfect, and they are very informative. We got this! Just put out your best content with no fluff.
My eight-and-a-half-year TH-cam "career" is coming to an end in the next few weeks. I'm tired of working so hard for nothing. If anyone reading this is making more than $100 a month with your content, consider yourself lucky. I am really done.
Thanks, Nick! Another fantastic video of yours. You can see how this will severely impact Information based channels that create tutorials, don't you! Harder on us I expect than it will be on Entertainment or Connection channels (although they'll be affected too). I love thinking about a day that we all just quit TH-cam, on the same day (call it Black Friday) and leave the CEO and marketers there to have to create their own darned shorts - billions of them because we content creators left the platform, and left them in the dust after getting sick and tired of being treated like crap. Why don't they invite some of us to those meetings to get our imput before making these new changes which they make, over and over again.
I guess it’s time for creators to do more product placements and highly creative integrated content. This might lead to more “topic-related” sponsorships instead of a tidal wave of “quare case” ads. 😊
Hey Nick, is there any way to contact you or ask you for some help? I'm a Roblox TH-camr with over 1 million subscribers, and I haven't gotten my silver or gold playbutton since the day I hit 100,000.
Whoa....with traffic like that, you need to funnel customers to your digital products. Or advertise products, like roblox games of others, for pay of course.
😢 so, much change online now days anywhere Nick. I am a creator of few channels myself I worry about the future sometimes. But I enjoy the work u do. KEEP AWESOME NICK😎
They do. I pinned a comment from TH-cam’s Creator Liaison where he shared the other side of the story and also mentioned he would be passing on my concerns. They listen. But they do have a business to run.
They sure do listen, but they will ALWAYS take steps to make more profit for the company and less for the creator. All this stuff happening is a clear indication of taking money away from creators. The same thing that has happened to bloggers in the last 12 months is going to happen to youtubers in the next 12 months, mark my words. Google is remodeling so that creators get less and Google gets more. I mean, when TH-cam takes around 50% of your TIPS!!!!!!!!! That's not a good sign... It's the same as the bosses that take waiters tips, exactly the same. "Oh but youtube is free for you to use and that's why" oh ok, so the restaurant owners can also say that there is no charge for being a waiter and that's why he takes half of your tips.... it's unethical and immoral.
@@NickNimminas a business I’m surprised they don’t allow more people to get an income. If people can earn and so can TH-cam. Just like tiktok it is easy to earn.
I worked in a shopping mall for years. Opposite was the sky tv stall with their sales team. They'd use every trick in the book to get ppl working as much as they can. They would offer them juicy incentives then remove them once they were settled. If billions and billions of views are coming from shorts and they pay you a fraction of the price then it's a no brainer they want all the views there.
I make business stories, and recently started to watch your videos. These are helping in many cases... but this video made me fall into some actual thoughts... if it gets overly biased towards viewers, it'll be difficult for us...
It is actually possible to work an ad into a video without retention,loss. Difficult but not impossible. If you can show people something interesting about the product it can actually increase retention. Where a lot of youtubers go wrong is telegraphing their intent to deliver an ad and then sounding dead inside while they read out an unconvincing product description.
IMO the underlying unspoken big problem is that the TH-cam audience is bored with zero budget TV. Every channel I watch is getting less views on longs and shorts. Creators are releasing more videos per week but not getting more total views.
So if the audience is bored, what signal does that send to creators? It means the expectations for quality content is higher, so we have to do better and make more entertaining and valuable content. Creators can no longer coast and expect big results.
@@NickNimmin Well said. On a related note, I wonder if the explosion of AI generated videos and TH-cam's officially embracing of the practice is affecting viewer interest in the platform. AI videos have catchy titles, thumbnails and images but you can pick them out shortly after the video starts because of their shallow intellectual presentation.
I think you did a really good job here balancing constructive criticism with solution-based advice for creators. I imagine trying to navigate and optimize the 3d surface that social media is and maintain creator quality, viewer satisfaction, and platform safety can't be easy and at some point decisions need to be made where to compromise. On the topic of the new layout, one thing to note is that the behavior of the description in a live stream or premiere exactly mimics what has been happening on mobile for these types of video. When you click into these from the TH-cam app, the whole title-descrption-suggested videos section are covered by the live chat. On desktop, it's more jarring because the video is side by side with this area. In my head, the team that developed the new desktop layout probably figured it would harmonize the experience across devices.
I think that’s happening as well with making features similar across devices. With that said, these things being covered or difficult on a phone is also a step in the wrong direction when it complicates the paths to action IMO.
It seems to me a better alternative is to have product placement throughout the video rather than a segment. That said at a commercial cannot be skipped. This is how it is done in movies in which there is a bottle of champagne or whatever in the scene.
@@drmatthewhorkey Or make the promotional segment worth watching. Some creators make them funny and original, so that they become enjoyable and one does watch them.
Yes, I agree. I have a new channel which I started 10 weeks ago, and it took off with 30-40 subscribers daily and a good amount of watch hours. For one week now, TH-cam is throttling my channel to slow me down and giving me only 3-10 subscriber daily and a tenth of views per video. It is more than clear that TH-cam is favoring big channels.
More than likely a change in viewer behaviour or your audience isn't responding as well to your newer content, or your older content may now be slowing down. There could be other things going on, but I would not jump automatically to "TH-cam hates small channels".
@@NickNimmin Oh, thank you Nick for responding. I did not expect that. It just feels like that TH-cam is throttling it down. Is there a way to find out why my channel is stucking? Can you be hired for this as an expert?
Finished the video. Now, I find myself just typing 'hey, how do you do this' into the AI chatbot to get my answer instead of going to Google and finding a video. This will be a problem, but many people still love to see things in action, not just read. Do we really want that viewer, the one who skips through to find what he needs and never comes back? I also want to add that the description as it is today is bad. The solution would be to send people to your site, as you mentioned, and burn that site into the video itself so TH-cam can't block it. Well, they will. They may start limiting the reach of your video just because you mentioned a website in it! Don't believe me? Haha, you know they already limit the reach of a lot of stuff they don't agree with, sending traffic off-platform is one of them.
Do you have any solutions to the invalid traffic issue that is absolutely destroying small creators? TH-cam support just gaslights creators and offers them no solutions.
@@NickNimmin yes, the break down is correct, 86% of views on a video from Browse features, and yet the RPM is a few cents per 1K, on old viral videos. The new videos are ok.
Knowledge is power! Thank You Nick. In the old days I could download videos off TH-cam, obviously I really need to upgrade to TH-cam Premium. Any recommendations on downloading my Favorite videos would be greatly appreciated, thanks! PS The coffee video you made is the Shizle! "There is no life without coffee"
Please don’t look at it as news. I’m just sharing my concerns as it seems these new updates are heading us in the wrong direction for creators who monetize off platform.
I’ve started showing people at least in shorts where to click on my profile and to click the link “in my youtube channels bio” which is just a link list of my affiliates and my other products. I might start doing that in my long forms now after this video. I think if creators both verbally and visually show where to go can help make sure people get to the right spot.
I use the fast forward option on only a couple of creators content, and only because they insert so many long sponsor breaks. Peter diamandis is one example where he puts in several breaks that are up to 2 or 3 minutes long. No thanks. Otherwise I just let them go. The skip function is something I won't use though, because I don't trust others to decide what I think is important to see.
I remember hearing about this a few weeks back and I knew it was going to end up spelling bad things for creators. Let's watch time means less ad revenue for TH-cam as well. I know personally I'm not going to put a crap ton of ads on the video that is going to have chunks of it skipped out on because TH-cam's AI deemed it to not be important enough for people to want to watch. Not sure what they're thinking with this one because it's bound to hurt them in the long run.
Good luck with that. We can file a counter chargeback (and we would win), which would render youtube debanked. You cannot mess around with chargebacks and people's money. If thry tried that the government would fall down on them like a ton of bricks.
Hey @NickNimmin - In addition of this video I like to add another TH-cam change finding that I came across a couple of days ago! I have a 220k+SUB & 100M+View Channel. YT Released the vertical "Live" opportunity where content creators can go live and make a buck. I went live for 24 hours with 350k viewers and only made $8 from ad revenue, all my settings were set correctly, no copyright issues (music) etc. It feels to me, in regards to all my other content, that youtube is using vertical livestreaming to reach more people for less ad share with the content creators, what do you think?
also take note of how youtube resets views to zero, after a livestream ends. also try watching your live from an unregistered non logged in account, and notice it's a completely different chat group always with zero likes. THEY ARE STEALING VIEWS & ADVERTISING REVENUE FROM US, EVERY WHICH WAY POSSIBLE!
I know about the vertical live feature, but I'm not aware of any type of promotion where TH-cam promised any particular amounts to be made. Knowing that the views that appear via the vertical feed do not currently get ads, then you've likely collected that ad revenue from views on the regular live stream watch page via your channel. The main way you would make money via vertical live streams is fan funding, like super chats and stickers, memberships, etc.
@@NickNimmin ok, so you say that YT is not offering watch page ads on vertical livestreamin? I do have the possibility to ad adds in the stream. No, they don't promise certain amounts, but $8 adsense for a livestream with 350k is very poor. My videos and shorts are ok, but the livestreams seem to decrease rapidly for some reason. Maybe i misunderstand.
The vertical live feed on mobile does not currently get ANY ad monetization because they have not developed an ad format for that particular feed. A vertical live stream can be viewed on a regular live stream watch page on desktop, which is where it can make money from ads. Most of those 350k views likely came from the vertical live feed.
whats their play for taking our money out of content? their brand connect is a major bust, their shopping is WILDLY limited and mostly just links to walmart. rarely can I even find the exact product I am showing. they NEED to put more of a focus on creators, i get that viewers come first. but i am feeling like they are hostile at this point to me.
Yes they are! I understand some channels buy subs and views, but YT shouldn't punish everyone for it. I lose subs, watch time hours, and have even lost a few views on videos. (I take pictures of all of this). It is irritating to say the least.
Oh I don't like the sound of that skip ahead feature. I'm trying so hard to pivot my vlogging channel this year, targeting viewers who do NOT skip the certain sections that get consistent drops due to the topic type. I made a second channel for the most popular parts, which were taking my main channel in the wrong direction for me. That was a smart move, as it turned out. I'm hoping that one will help fund the main - very not commercially viable because of all the non-mainstream elements - channel. So yeah - not looking forward to AI guiding people to skip those parts without even checking them out to see if they like them or not.
They certainly are, what’s worse is some channels who promote growth and monetize off that are not facing the new reality and pushing newer users to purchase older, outdated methods.
I'm concerned about where this is going as well! Im not even monetized (though im trying on my other channel because i couldnt on this one even though others who do the exact type of videos as i do in my niche are monetized) but this is concerning. Also you mentioned mentioning links you have in the description boxes in your videos but i am a faceless and i dont talk in my videos due to my speech issues and also the type of videos i do. Do you have any ideas on how i could do this without havinv to be on camera and not having to talk? I hope that makes sense
💙 as a viewer…I REALLY dislike watching the sponsored portion of a video….as a creator, I understand why those blurbs are there Maybe there’s a better way to incorporate sponsored segments into our content. Instead of one giant skippable blurb, why not sprinkle it in throughout the entire video? Just my two cents 🤗
Nobody likes commercials, including creators. To say otherwise, would be disingenuous. TH-cam has no choice but to deal with that reality first, or lose the game. Compared to that reality, creators who can't deal with change, and/or make a living based on said changes, would be easy to say goodbye to. Even "Nick" knows this is true, hence he walked back nearly his entire video at the end.
hello i have a question, youtube recommend my videos to audiences who have nothing to do with my content (i add the type of content in my setting of the videos), my videos are getting recommend to random audiences, like catolic or paranormal and im dedicated to videogames, thats why i have a bad click rate in my videos now (and like i said, i add in the settings that my videos are videogames). i have been trying to fix that, but i havent found a solution till now
Keep in mind, when TH-cam are showing you the videos you're content is being recommended to, that any person in your audience is regularly interested in and looking for videos on many disparate topics. The people who may have been watching a paranormal video to could also have an interest in your particular niche of gaming. TH-cam tells us that they pull videos for viewers, they don't push videos out to a random audience. The interests of the potential viewer dictate whether or not your video is suggested to them. Now if you're content topic on a video is unclear to TH-cam, they may have to test it out with who they think is the right audience and will use feedback from those people to dial in the exact video topic. Make sure you're title is clear and that you have a clear, short description that state what your video is about. This will go a long way to getting your videos on the right track.
If you do make a domain name that redirects to your affiliate it could be possible for the AI search to pull up going to that website for a “free trial of opus clip” or something. If someone found a way to leverage AI search like that it would be nuts.
Not to mention anyone can watch your full video on the homepage without having to see an ad. They have to click onto your video for the ad to play. This is horrible for creators to make money off of AD revenue.
@@NickNimmin sometimes I find myself doing that by accident and when I realize that I click to the video just so they get revenue. Watch out - it's usually talking heads because the preview has subtitles so no immediate need to click to see tiny screenshots or hear sounds!
I’m curious why I’m told in my video comments on multiple videos that my subscribers have to resubscribe to my channel all the time. Why would this happen continuously…
Thanks Nick, sincerely appreciate the feedback! For the links in Shorts, bad actors can make Shorts at much, much higher volume and velocity than long form, so TH-cam felt it needed to address the abuse there (maybe why other platforms have never allowed for links in short-form video, only "links in bio"). For jump ahead, in a recent Creator Insider Newsflash, they mentioned TH-cam hadn't seen any statistically significant change in watch time. Since you have to spam the skip button to get jump ahead, my guess is it's pretty much the same people who used to skip through the segment now just jumping ahead of it instead. (Putting on my creator hat for a moment, we know viewers value efficient watch time, we see that in our retention graphs already, which is also why for a long time now we've seen some creators put sponsor spots at the end of the video, or interweave high-retention action with the sponsor spots in challenge videos, etc.). I haven't heard the search rumors, but I'll pass along the whole video to the teams! Thanks for sharing your ideas with creators as well, and again for the feedback!
TH-cam just needs to get rid of shorts all together imo. Or put them in an entirely different app
Thanks for the clarity Rene! I appreciate it. Definitely concerned about the way it looks like things are headed. And thanks for passing these along, I appreciate it!!!
Regarding killing links in Shorts - the bad actors you mention may not create long form as fast but I don't see them going "oh well, links are dead, let's stop scamming people." They scam because sadly they do. They can find a way to create longer form videos easily to link off the Shorts...that they can still create...apparently fast too.
This may be the reason given but the reasoning is lame at best.
I’m sorry but as a viewer, the least I could do is watch the video and skip around on my own if I want to find out the information that the content creator went out of their way to make. It’s counter intuitive in supporting your creators. And the fact that I’m a new creator myself, it’s not very motivating to create content for the platform. Wow. Not a good business move at all.
Notice also how they upped the pay out for shorts but it's still Inconsequential for most creators? I agree shorta should be spun off onto a different platform cuz thwy are channel killers for long content creators.
If they want things to be better they need to make a way for Roku and smart TV users to engage. Many people watch on their TVs and it's not easy whatsoever to leave a like or comment or anything --
Nick, thanks for bringing attention to this subject. In the short term, the viewer wins, but in the long term, they might lose if creators stop creating because it isn’t worth the time. If one can no longer make a living by creating on TH-cam.
👍
they got us by the balls, id gladly leave if there was an alternative. only game in town, unfortunately.
💯 facts
@@EagleRun23 they do now, but if they start pulling this kind of stuff, it might even out the other platforms.
I totally agree. I had to jump the ship with my channel of 11 years with 10k followers. The channel is very much dead. There is no need to maintain it or make videos on that channel.
The result is to completely change the course of direction/contents.
Content creators are also viewers!😊
Another challenge for YT is: pls promote high-quality niche channels, not the cookie cutter, copy cat with if you seen one, you have seen them all. Especially there are so many talented creators quit before they made to the finish line to get into the door!
Something is going very wrong with TH-cam. Like many others, my views are right down over the past few months and I have had several regulars say they are no longer being fed my videos. On top of that, there is horrific spam, trolls and bot activity at the moment. It is quickly getting to the point that it is increasingly becoming more effort than it is worth. I didn’t start YT to make money, but a lot of time effort and expense goes into making videos. Added to the advent of cheap mass poor-quality AI content, and it seems that many serious creators will consider their position. I’m already hearing about this happening.
Interesting to see this comment. I am a small channel but have had a regular view count over several years. I am now recently noticing that my view counts have nearly halved for no obvious reason or change in content approach. A little frustrating :)
but you have still a lot of views? I would be so grateful of having so many views. But also I am still learning and just starting. Bless you.
@@vespastar222 You are right and I feel blessed for how much this has helped me get through some troubled times. My little community keeps me going.
Thanks for your message 🙂
It's the beginning of the end. I'm no longer convinced about Nick's last comment: "TH-cam is still a 'gigantic' opportunity.
Mine too, not sure it MAY be seasonal but it started early LOL, I think YT is fighting with the HUGE # OF AI created shorts and having to prune them out...plus trying to be TikTok which IS HURTING THE LONGER VIEWS and committed viewers who come to YT FOR DIFFERENT THINGS than Tiktok.
And viewers wonder why some of us are investing more time into platforms like Patreon. It’s because Patreon actually cares about the Creators and puts us first. When you do that everyone wins - including the viewers.
If so, I hope Patreon stays this...far too many entities shifted their direction/focus for 'profit/scalability.'
I couldn’t agree more with you
"...Patreon actually cares about the Creators...". Provided you don't have wrongthink, that is.
Thanks so much for the info Nick!
Honestly, If TH-camrs can no longer make a living they will go to other platforms or go work for companies that pay them a lot more. Being a TH-camr is a massive amount of work I work 80 hours a week. It’s truly a labor of love. I make most of my money by providing services outside of TH-cam.
if I make less due to this skip feature, I would consider going elsewhere or possibly take one of the job offers to work for a company and work regular hours. I also think TH-cam takes much too much of our Super Chat $.
I love TH-cam but taking too much from creators will cause them to not want to work this hard anymore.
You only make money when the video reaches a lot of views. under 500 is under $1... 1000 to 3000 is about $12 under 24,000 views is about $ 80 then 30% for TH-cam and 30% taxes leaves not very much for all the hours it takes. But we don't pay for the platform and the opportunities and engagement with the world is wonderful. I ❤ that @NickNimmins helps us so much with tips. ❤
@@KarenColeUKLawyer not true. My RPM is much higher than that, I make $300-400 per video and I get around 20k views :)
Totally agree 💯
ive experienced a 90% advertising revenue drop over the last year, while documenting youtube slashing my views and subscribers over and over and over again! it's straight up theft!
Yes they are! I was sailing along and then nothing. No video suggestions or impressions, or let’s say a 95% reduction. I give up. It’s like they use you until you almost get monetized and then they kick you to the curb. Totally discouraging and like I said, I just can’t put the time into it for nothing.
I have been making youtube videos for over 10 years and it just feels like as soon as I've learnt how things work, everything gets harder and changes.
It's like I'm reaching for a golden apple on a tree and I almost reach it every year because I'm growing taller but the tree is outgrowing me so I can never reach it every year.
Even for you reading this, imagine you could go back 5 to 10 years with the TH-cam knowledge you have now, you would be earning loads of cash within a couple of months for sure.
But everything changes all the time and people with MASSIVE budgets and CRAZY equipment make it difficult for some people to compete with.
Anyway, we will push on and make it work. Just think things out carefully........
Think of things that AI can't answer, like "I tried XYZ for 30 days and here are the results" or whatever. Things that AI can't answer, that's the way forward.
Also, sponsors will start telling us to spread their segment over the entire video in some way.
Thanks Nick, what was interesting while watching this video on my PC, I scrolled down and I couldn't see your description at all, all I could see wat "20k views 8 days ago" I though that was weird, and then I clicked on that by chance and your entire description opened up. So TH-cam gives no indication and doesn't have the more option shown anymore. This is another blow to us creators that are looking to make money with links in descriptions.
It's nice to see a channel talk about this instead of channels I see which try to make it seem as if TH-cam doesn't control anything and we the creators are doing anything and everything wrong. When you have shorts and videos to do thousand on a regular basis and then out of nowhere they are doing less than 100, come on it's ridiculous and we are not slow and dumb. Like I've said before they really don't care. How many of us have gotten to 3900 watch hours or more just to have the rug pulled out from under us?
Firstly awesome video Nick per usual. Would DEFINITELY like (and need) a video explaining the link redirects. I have my main website but I see other creators like Think Media creating custom URL redirects that are easier to remember like you said and contain affiliate opportunities. How do we do this? Thank you!
I appreciate the solutions that you provide. Thank you for keeping us updated.
Sponsors aside, it can be a section someone might find interesting but others did not and that person might miss out, or it is after a most viewed section so it appears as less viewed. Either way, it's a loss for retention, hence a loss for our reach and ability to grow and succeed.
Ye0, that’s part of my concern as well.
It makes absolute zero sense that on a platform like youtube, youtube would add extra steps so you can view the descriptions of the video because the youtube devs also use those same descriptions, keywords and tags to use it for impressions to spotlight your channel also what Nick says nobody in their right mind wants to click 5 times to view a video description most of us would just give up after two clicks 😅
I could be wrong but the pre launch to this imo is when they added the "Allow Automatic Chapters" feature so AI could read your piece of content to distinguish each section of the video- using that data to help with this jump feature...
One of my biggest headaches with trying to monetize my channel is people being able to find links, its terrible. Great video, Nick! I'm going to VidSummit this year, excited to see you speak!
See you there!
How did you get 156k subs in 8 months? I’d be curious how you did it.
@@jaredmello short form content. Short form and finding a format that people watch
@@WhitepepperFarm gotcha
Not allowing TH-cam Shorts watch time to count towards monetization alone is suss. Also forcing us to scroll past their forced recommendations before seeing the comments is anti-community-building. Not only that, but in this new design (which I hate, and share your feelings on) you don't even SEE the comments box beneath the video (even on desktop or laptop), instead, it's truncated to a vertical rectangle in the upper right and you have to click on the X in the upper right in the new design to even see the ability to scroll past the bs.The more steps you inject between search query and search result, only increases viewer drop off and clicks away from your content. Many TH-camrs (both creators and just the viewers) want to see the comments first before watching or commenting - this new design ruins that.Thanks for covering this topic.
@@fromdajump did they just change that? Cause I get a lot more views on my shorts right now...and even though they're shorter, they're more engaging and fun. How do we know for sure yt is doing this?
@@lovestolaugh change what?
@@fromdajump is TH-cam removing the ability to use watch hours from shorts to count towards your 4000 watch hours to get monetized?
@@lovestolaugh they didn’t remove it, TH-cam shorts never counted at all towards monetization ever. It’s easy to find on Google/TH-cam’s website on TH-cam Shorts when you read their terms. This ain’t new. I used to release 28 shorts a week after misleading info I saw from another TH-camr but it’s plain as day on google’s own website segment about shorts - if you are not already monetized - these shorts hours of watch time don’t count towards the 4K hours of watch time you need to be accepted in the TH-cam Partnership program. Look it up
@@lovestolaugh It should count to watch hours IF it wasn't viewed on the shorts table. That's as far as I know. But I don't think they ever counted watch hours when it's seen in the shorts feed.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts Nick! Agree with a lot of the ideas shared here. As always it's important to talk about these things. Espeically with the new layout discussion. Love seeing the TH-cam Creator Liason has already acknolwedged a lot.
I really hope they don't take away links completely. I also don't like that they took away links from shorts. Thank you for creating this video Nick!
Ugh! Thanks for getting on this so quickly, Nick!
Yes.. someone needed to bring attention to this... TH-cam needs to be more considerate to it's creators and make it easier to view descriptions!!!!
Hey Nick! thanks for the shoutout!! Just saw this... interesting.... it still seems to display as normal for me in Australia. Does it depend what system/browser/version you're viewing on? When I'm looking on a phone through the TH-cam app, I see exactly what you're saying, but on desktop, it's still displaying the description properly for me. :) Good to know to make sure you have the right links there!
It seems like it was an experiment that went far and wide.
👋 Nick I didn't know where to find description until I became a creator. When I show people in person how to find the description, no one knew, to get to the description, you had to push more. I started putting links in my chat, to make it easier. Thanks for great solutions to problems. ❤
When I first started watching YT the UI was a minefield to use... other platforms might be simpler but are mostly awkward or jumpy.. if they just sorted that out.. with a intuitive UI and put filters on the content that is not family viewing.. it would be easier to have a platform that is family friendly only.. there would be a competitor to YT.. even if the advert revenue was less.
Rant or no, dude so appreciate you sharing your insight, concerns, and ideas about this too.
One reason I love TH-cam as a creator is because, well, there is no platform that comes close to a way to reach people and make a living too. Having said that, I also get, TH-cam is a business and in the business of making money first. Hey, if they don't, it will trickle down hard for all of us - viewers AND creators.
The "Jump Ahead" feature along with the upcoming "Community Notes" are, in my opinion, horrible missteps for TH-cam. Yeah, different but still not good.
I too share concerns about what off-TH-cam monetization using TH-cam will look like in the (near) future but at least for now we still have a lot of opportunities to grow.
Re: website and links. 100% agree and would add, I'd go the 100% website route. Own your name or specific domain and add pages from that. Better to own yourself than invest in too many URLs and such.
Appreicate you dude!
Thanks Nick - really appreciate you taking the time to research and share things like this about YT so the rest of us creators can concentrate on what we do best...which in my case is watching your live stream on Saturday 🤣🤣
🤓👊
Yes, please make more videos on this topic. You definitely know what you're talking about and how to find the info!! Your my cheat sheet so to speak...with much respect 😊
Another great one, man, and something that made me think a bit. I have watched TH-cam as one of my main forms of viewing, probably since it started up. In all those years, I think i have only gone out of my way to check the description, maybe once or twice. Have a great day man & much ❤
Mighty hugs thanks for this sharing, Nick🤗💜I agree with you on these points. If YT is aiming to be Shorts dominated, then it would be no different from TikTok, Instagram or FB. How would YT stand out then? It’s strange to watch Shorts on laptop & TV😅 “training” viewers to watch more Shorts does not help with longer concentration. How would we enjoy movies or documentaries in the future then?😂
Thank you for pinpointing the problem of the hidden description. It also affects my channel and promotion of my services because I don't do talking in the video. I mainly rely on viewer reading the description for more details. 🙏🏻
Ok so....why don't you just start talking then? Incorporate it into your narrative? Nothing wrong with that.
Been keeping up since your first 100k subs! You've come a long way and I love to see it. Thanks for keeping up updated Nick!
🙏 Thank you! It’s been a long journey!
I totally get where you're coming from regarding TH-cam's disruptive changes, particularly those involving easy access to video descriptions and interlinking videos (4:00). It does feel like TH-cam is undermining its creators. Could these changes have a disproportionate impact on smaller, up-and-coming TH-camrs?
It depends. As long as we can mention things in our videos we’re still good.
I stopped reading descriptions when they changed how to reach them, it was too many clicks to just see what was in the video. Made me watch less random videos the last few weeks honestly.
I'm already struggling. I don't need another reason to struggle. I'm learning a ton but it's definitely a struggle 😞
Same, it’s awful!
Same here im doing outdoor videos but struggling too
@@TBIJourney I can feel your pain
TH-cam wants to get paid but doesn’t want to pay or it seems 🤷♀️
@@Mindfulmaven7 sounds like you Right because all my videos got Ads but im not monetized yet so they get paid and im not
Nick please help, my re-apply button is not appearing. What should I do
How long has it been? The wait is 90 days if you're previous appeal was rejected.
Nice summary - thanks Nick. Seems terribly short sighted by TH-cam.
I've seen a huge slowdown in affiliate sales. I was blaming the brands I'm working with (they've changed their affiliate vendor so many times!), but it could be due to TH-cam hiding the description. This isn't new; the "See More" button has been a problem for a long time! It could also be that people only have money for groceries that are 300% more expensive. It's not a loss of views - I'm still averaging over 8,000 long-form views a day. I think it's what you just said: an extra click! That kills conversion by about 30%, right?
I think so. It's difficult for those of us just reaching the point where we hold out the hope of actually seeing returns for the years of work we've put in to grow our channels.
I was aware of some of these things, but not this much. AI will be a problem for all of us at some point. Thank you for expressing what all of us feel right now.
Nick, I am a great fan of yours. I have found my number of views going down which is hurting me. I am working very hard every day. I am not sure what to do. Please guide me. Thanks
I can understand most of the changes you'd have to think there is almost everyone in the world that wants to be a content creator and make the maximum dollar off of creating content but it is a big competitive field out there for every time somebody works hard there's going to be somebody working hard to make a loophole so just stick with it it work out it work out if not figure out what it takes to make it work appreciate the tips and tricks Nick watching an learning 👀🍿💪
Something else I noticed recently was that my Amazon affiliate clicks had plummeted. I was baffled as I hadn't changed any of my behaviours. Then the other day I clicked on someone eles's affiliate link and a screen pooped up warning me I was navigating away from TH-cam and did I wish to continue? I didn't of course, because I just wanted to a have a quick look in a second tab whilst still listening to the video. So I'm wondering if this is causing a drop in Amazon clicks. I don't remember it doing that before?
it absolutely affects it. Google did this a long time ago to image search. I used to get tons of views from images on a website from google image search results, and they created this frame that keeps the image as part of the google viewing experience and you have to actively click "visit" to go to the website to get a better look at the image now. its exactly like the "youre leaving the youtube site" popup now. before when you clicked on the image it would take you directly to the website that had the image. needless to say. my traffic TANKED on that site. internet marketing is VERY unpredictable, and you always have to adapt and find a new way to reach people if your livelihood depends on it. it can get difficult at times, because the rules are always changing....like literally from day to day :/
Being one that has clicked on these links in the past, I can tell you that this has been there for several years at least. Who knows why your affiliate clicks have dropped. I wish there was more data available so that you could figure it out and then adjust to compensate. It may just be that the economy is faltering and people are being more careful how they spend their money.
I feel like a lot of people get scammed a lot so they give out a warning first so you don’t get hacked
I have listened to your video and I have just a few takeaways. Preface, I am not monetized yet but will someday be monetized. When something is presented to me, I immediately think to myself is there a better way. The “skip ahead feature” leads me to think this will affect watch time hours. Then there’s the in-ad situation. I would make sure I summarize at the end of the video and repeat the in-ad throughout and definitely at the end of the video. The key is to make quality content, so the person will want to watch the whole video. There are hour long videos that I watch without skipping anything. The videos seem to be of movie quality, the sound is perfect, and they are very informative. We got this! Just put out your best content with no fluff.
My eight-and-a-half-year TH-cam "career" is coming to an end in the next few weeks. I'm tired of working so hard for nothing. If anyone reading this is making more than $100 a month with your content, consider yourself lucky. I am really done.
Thanks, Nick! Another fantastic video of yours. You can see how this will severely impact Information based channels that create tutorials, don't you! Harder on us I expect than it will be on Entertainment or Connection channels (although they'll be affected too). I love thinking about a day that we all just quit TH-cam, on the same day (call it Black Friday) and leave the CEO and marketers there to have to create their own darned shorts - billions of them because we content creators left the platform, and left them in the dust after getting sick and tired of being treated like crap. Why don't they invite some of us to those meetings to get our imput before making these new changes which they make, over and over again.
Thank you for always keeping us updated with unbiased and solution driven content
🤓👊
I guess it’s time for creators to do more product placements and highly creative integrated content. This might lead to more “topic-related” sponsorships instead of a tidal wave of “quare case” ads. 😊
Yeah it’s looking that way.
Thank you for being real and honest about this, I feel like these things need to be discussed
Thanks for always making videos about what matters 💖
👊 🤓
Thank you for updating us. Yeah i don't like when TH-cam changes things when it was working fine before. Have a good day 😊
Hey Nick, is there any way to contact you or ask you for some help? I'm a Roblox TH-camr with over 1 million subscribers, and I haven't gotten my silver or gold playbutton since the day I hit 100,000.
Hey. DM me on Twitter.
Whoa....with traffic like that, you need to funnel customers to your digital products. Or advertise products, like roblox games of others, for pay of course.
I agree. I hate it. I saw this change on mine a few weeks ago and I hate it.
😢 so, much change online now days anywhere Nick. I am a creator of few channels myself I worry about the future sometimes. But I enjoy the work u do. KEEP AWESOME NICK😎
TH-cam is not listening to creators.
They do. I pinned a comment from TH-cam’s Creator Liaison where he shared the other side of the story and also mentioned he would be passing on my concerns. They listen. But they do have a business to run.
They sure do listen, but they will ALWAYS take steps to make more profit for the company and less for the creator.
All this stuff happening is a clear indication of taking money away from creators.
The same thing that has happened to bloggers in the last 12 months is going to happen to youtubers in the next 12 months, mark my words. Google is remodeling so that creators get less and Google gets more.
I mean, when TH-cam takes around 50% of your TIPS!!!!!!!!! That's not a good sign... It's the same as the bosses that take waiters tips, exactly the same. "Oh but youtube is free for you to use and that's why" oh ok, so the restaurant owners can also say that there is no charge for being a waiter and that's why he takes half of your tips.... it's unethical and immoral.
@@NickNimminas a business I’m surprised they don’t allow more people to get an income. If people can earn and so can TH-cam. Just like tiktok it is easy to earn.
I worked in a shopping mall for years. Opposite was the sky tv stall with their sales team. They'd use every trick in the book to get ppl working as much as they can. They would offer them juicy incentives then remove them once they were settled.
If billions and billions of views are coming from shorts and they pay you a fraction of the price then it's a no brainer they want all the views there.
@@intuitivedianehow u earn off tik tok?
Thank you Nick for helping us all stay in the loop!!
You bet!
I make business stories, and recently started to watch your videos. These are helping in many cases... but this video made me fall into some actual thoughts... if it gets overly biased towards viewers, it'll be difficult for us...
It is actually possible to work an ad into a video without retention,loss. Difficult but not impossible. If you can show people something interesting about the product it can actually increase retention. Where a lot of youtubers go wrong is telegraphing their intent to deliver an ad and then sounding dead inside while they read out an unconvincing product description.
I signed up for the TH-cam affiliate program. I already had 3 sales in the first two weeks. I was surprised my biggest sale was from a short.
Nice work!
Wait, what? YT has an affiliate program?
@CacklingChick yes when I hit 10k subscribers i was able to apply.
IMO the underlying unspoken big problem is that the TH-cam audience is bored with zero budget TV. Every channel I watch is getting less views on longs and shorts. Creators are releasing more videos per week but not getting more total views.
So if the audience is bored, what signal does that send to creators? It means the expectations for quality content is higher, so we have to do better and make more entertaining and valuable content. Creators can no longer coast and expect big results.
@@NickNimmin Well said. On a related note, I wonder if the explosion of AI generated videos and TH-cam's officially embracing of the practice is affecting viewer interest in the platform. AI videos have catchy titles, thumbnails and images but you can pick them out shortly after the video starts because of their shallow intellectual presentation.
The audience will vote with their views. What they don't like, won't get promoted.
I think you did a really good job here balancing constructive criticism with solution-based advice for creators. I imagine trying to navigate and optimize the 3d surface that social media is and maintain creator quality, viewer satisfaction, and platform safety can't be easy and at some point decisions need to be made where to compromise.
On the topic of the new layout, one thing to note is that the behavior of the description in a live stream or premiere exactly mimics what has been happening on mobile for these types of video. When you click into these from the TH-cam app, the whole title-descrption-suggested videos section are covered by the live chat. On desktop, it's more jarring because the video is side by side with this area. In my head, the team that developed the new desktop layout probably figured it would harmonize the experience across devices.
I think that’s happening as well with making features similar across devices. With that said, these things being covered or difficult on a phone is also a step in the wrong direction when it complicates the paths to action IMO.
@@NickNimmin I agree, I'm pointing out it's been happening for a while
I think it would be great to have a video on analytics coming from your perspective which is why I became a member recently!
Noted!
Thanks Nick for making this video. This feels shady as hell from TH-cam😡
It seems to me a better alternative is to have product placement throughout the video rather than a segment. That said at a commercial cannot be skipped. This is how it is done in movies in which there is a bottle of champagne or whatever in the scene.
Looks like we will all have to get more creative for ad reads. Spreading out the message throughout the video
@@drmatthewhorkey Or make the promotional segment worth watching. Some creators make them funny and original, so that they become enjoyable and one does watch them.
Yes, I agree. I have a new channel which I started 10 weeks ago, and it took off with 30-40 subscribers daily and a good amount of watch hours. For one week now, TH-cam is throttling my channel to slow me down and giving me only 3-10 subscriber daily and a tenth of views per video. It is more than clear that TH-cam is favoring big channels.
More than likely a change in viewer behaviour or your audience isn't responding as well to your newer content, or your older content may now be slowing down. There could be other things going on, but I would not jump automatically to "TH-cam hates small channels".
@@NickNimmin Oh, thank you Nick for responding. I did not expect that. It just feels like that TH-cam is throttling it down. Is there a way to find out why my channel is stucking? Can you be hired for this as an expert?
That jump ahead feature is absolutely horrible for creators
Finished the video. Now, I find myself just typing 'hey, how do you do this' into the AI chatbot to get my answer instead of going to Google and finding a video. This will be a problem, but many people still love to see things in action, not just read. Do we really want that viewer, the one who skips through to find what he needs and never comes back? I also want to add that the description as it is today is bad. The solution would be to send people to your site, as you mentioned, and burn that site into the video itself so TH-cam can't block it. Well, they will. They may start limiting the reach of your video just because you mentioned a website in it! Don't believe me? Haha, you know they already limit the reach of a lot of stuff they don't agree with, sending traffic off-platform is one of them.
You inspired me to start my own channel. Love your content
Awesome! Glad you’re enjoying the videos!
Do you have any solutions to the invalid traffic issue that is absolutely destroying small creators? TH-cam support just gaslights creators and offers them no solutions.
No. I’m dealing with the invalid traffic thing on my channel too.
@@NickNimmin That sucks. :( Sorry you're going through that too.
Nick, is it only me, or all my OLD long-form videos are making a few cents per 1K views, and only the recent videos have the regular RPM?
If you break down your analytics correctly, you should be able to determine is that is in fact the case. I'm not seeing that myself.
@@NickNimmin yes, the break down is correct, 86% of views on a video from Browse features, and yet the RPM is a few cents per 1K, on old viral videos. The new videos are ok.
Knowledge is power! Thank You Nick. In the old days I could download videos off TH-cam, obviously I really need to upgrade to TH-cam Premium. Any recommendations on downloading my Favorite videos would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
PS The coffee video you made is the Shizle! "There is no life without coffee"
Yikes...im not even monetized yet..but this news is concerning.
Please don’t look at it as news. I’m just sharing my concerns as it seems these new updates are heading us in the wrong direction for creators who monetize off platform.
I’ve started showing people at least in shorts where to click on my profile and to click the link “in my youtube channels bio” which is just a link list of my affiliates and my other products. I might start doing that in my long forms now after this video.
I think if creators both verbally and visually show where to go can help make sure people get to the right spot.
I use the fast forward option on only a couple of creators content, and only because they insert so many long sponsor breaks.
Peter diamandis is one example where he puts in several breaks that are up to 2 or 3 minutes long. No thanks.
Otherwise I just let them go.
The skip function is something I won't use though, because I don't trust others to decide what I think is important to see.
I remember hearing about this a few weeks back and I knew it was going to end up spelling bad things for creators. Let's watch time means less ad revenue for TH-cam as well. I know personally I'm not going to put a crap ton of ads on the video that is going to have chunks of it skipped out on because TH-cam's AI deemed it to not be important enough for people to want to watch. Not sure what they're thinking with this one because it's bound to hurt them in the long run.
Good luck with that. We can file a counter chargeback (and we would win), which would render youtube debanked. You cannot mess around with chargebacks and people's money. If thry tried that the government would fall down on them like a ton of bricks.
Hey @NickNimmin - In addition of this video I like to add another TH-cam change finding that I came across a couple of days ago! I have a 220k+SUB & 100M+View Channel. YT Released the vertical "Live" opportunity where content creators can go live and make a buck. I went live for 24 hours with 350k viewers and only made $8 from ad revenue, all my settings were set correctly, no copyright issues (music) etc. It feels to me, in regards to all my other content, that youtube is using vertical livestreaming to reach more people for less ad share with the content creators, what do you think?
also take note of how youtube resets views to zero, after a livestream ends. also try watching your live from an unregistered non logged in account, and notice it's a completely different chat group always with zero likes. THEY ARE STEALING VIEWS & ADVERTISING REVENUE FROM US, EVERY WHICH WAY POSSIBLE!
I know about the vertical live feature, but I'm not aware of any type of promotion where TH-cam promised any particular amounts to be made. Knowing that the views that appear via the vertical feed do not currently get ads, then you've likely collected that ad revenue from views on the regular live stream watch page via your channel.
The main way you would make money via vertical live streams is fan funding, like super chats and stickers, memberships, etc.
@@NickNimmin will you please address my comments?
@@NickNimmin ok, so you say that YT is not offering watch page ads on vertical livestreamin?
I do have the possibility to ad adds in the stream. No, they don't promise certain amounts, but $8 adsense for a livestream with 350k is very poor. My videos and shorts are ok, but the livestreams seem to decrease rapidly for some reason. Maybe i misunderstand.
The vertical live feed on mobile does not currently get ANY ad monetization because they have not developed an ad format for that particular feed. A vertical live stream can be viewed on a regular live stream watch page on desktop, which is where it can make money from ads. Most of those 350k views likely came from the vertical live feed.
whats their play for taking our money out of content? their brand connect is a major bust, their shopping is WILDLY limited and mostly just links to walmart. rarely can I even find the exact product I am showing. they NEED to put more of a focus on creators, i get that viewers come first. but i am feeling like they are hostile at this point to me.
Thanks for making this video, Nick. Very informative and worrisome.
I also don’t think they should add that skip ahead feature… 😬
Thanks for the heads up, Nick!
Yes they are! I understand some channels buy subs and views, but YT shouldn't punish everyone for it. I lose subs, watch time hours, and have even lost a few views on videos. (I take pictures of all of this). It is irritating to say the least.
One solution is to use a QR code in the videos for the links
Thank you Nick!! I appreciate you.
Oh I don't like the sound of that skip ahead feature. I'm trying so hard to pivot my vlogging channel this year, targeting viewers who do NOT skip the certain sections that get consistent drops due to the topic type. I made a second channel for the most popular parts, which were taking my main channel in the wrong direction for me. That was a smart move, as it turned out. I'm hoping that one will help fund the main - very not commercially viable because of all the non-mainstream elements - channel. So yeah - not looking forward to AI guiding people to skip those parts without even checking them out to see if they like them or not.
They certainly are, what’s worse is some channels who promote growth and monetize off that are not facing the new reality and pushing newer users to purchase older, outdated methods.
The methods to grow are still similar. This isn’t as much about growth as it is monetization.
I'm concerned about where this is going as well! Im not even monetized (though im trying on my other channel because i couldnt on this one even though others who do the exact type of videos as i do in my niche are monetized) but this is concerning. Also you mentioned mentioning links you have in the description boxes in your videos but i am a faceless and i dont talk in my videos due to my speech issues and also the type of videos i do. Do you have any ideas on how i could do this without havinv to be on camera and not having to talk? I hope that makes sense
If you had the domain names you could just put text on screen.
@@NickNimmin ah gotcha thank you Nick!
💙 as a viewer…I REALLY dislike watching the sponsored portion of a video….as a creator, I understand why those blurbs are there
Maybe there’s a better way to incorporate sponsored segments into our content. Instead of one giant skippable blurb, why not sprinkle it in throughout the entire video?
Just my two cents
🤗
Great information Nick. Thanks 😊
I have no interest in youtube shorts at all. No matter how hard they drive me to them, I will not watch them.
Completely agree
Nobody likes commercials, including creators. To say otherwise, would be disingenuous. TH-cam has no choice but to deal with that reality first, or lose the game. Compared to that reality, creators who can't deal with change, and/or make a living based on said changes, would be easy to say goodbye to. Even "Nick" knows this is true, hence he walked back nearly his entire video at the end.
hello i have a question, youtube recommend my videos to audiences who have nothing to do with my content (i add the type of content in my setting of the videos), my videos are getting recommend to random audiences, like catolic or paranormal and im dedicated to videogames, thats why i have a bad click rate in my videos now (and like i said, i add in the settings that my videos are videogames). i have been trying to fix that, but i havent found a solution till now
Keep in mind, when TH-cam are showing you the videos you're content is being recommended to, that any person in your audience is regularly interested in and looking for videos on many disparate topics. The people who may have been watching a paranormal video to could also have an interest in your particular niche of gaming. TH-cam tells us that they pull videos for viewers, they don't push videos out to a random audience. The interests of the potential viewer dictate whether or not your video is suggested to them.
Now if you're content topic on a video is unclear to TH-cam, they may have to test it out with who they think is the right audience and will use feedback from those people to dial in the exact video topic. Make sure you're title is clear and that you have a clear, short description that state what your video is about. This will go a long way to getting your videos on the right track.
TH-cam is making it so hard for all of us to get monitized
Agree
Thanks for sharing. It's accurate to say that the majority of individuals prefer to avoid additional tasks.
Thanks for your transparency Nick
🤓👊
Cheers for the info and discussion as always 👊🏿
No problem 👍
Thanks very much, the tiny creators like me need to learn all we can!
Happy to help!
If you do make a domain name that redirects to your affiliate it could be possible for the AI search to pull up going to that website for a “free trial of opus clip” or something. If someone found a way to leverage AI search like that it would be nuts.
'Thank you Nick, as always an excellent information.
Not to mention anyone can watch your full video on the homepage without having to see an ad. They have to click onto your video for the ad to play. This is horrible for creators to make money off of AD revenue.
I'd question whether that would be a good viewing experience that viewers would choose the use?
@@NickNimmin sometimes I find myself doing that by accident and when I realize that I click to the video just so they get revenue. Watch out - it's usually talking heads because the preview has subtitles so no immediate need to click to see tiny screenshots or hear sounds!
I’m curious why I’m told in my video comments on multiple videos that my subscribers have to resubscribe to my channel all the time. Why would this happen continuously…
That happens because if they choose to not interact with your content for a while it reduces the likelihood they’ll get recommended your videos.
The description thing really is annoying. It's really difficult to get to it now...
TH-cam is ruining itself. Creators are fed up, but they won’t listen.