YOUTUBE, this is really bad…

Summary

In this heartfelt video, a long-time YouTuber reflects on their 15-year journey and the recent challenges their channel faces, including being mistakenly categorized under YouTube Kids, which has led to a significant drop in views and revenue. The creator expresses gratitude for their supportive team and viewers, vows to adapt and evolve their content to maintain relevance and excitement, and sets an ambitious goal for 2025 to create the best gaming videos, staying true to their identity and engaging with their audience on a deeper level.

Takeaways

• 😀 The YouTuber has been on the platform for 15 years and has a deep emotional connection with it.
• 👥 The channel has a team of professionals including editors, thumbnail designers, and managers who rely on the channel for income.
• 💼 The channel's revenue has been negatively impacted, making it difficult to cover the team's expenses.
• 🔍 The YouTuber's content was categorized under YouTube Kids, which has restricted engagement and revenue from the main YouTube platform.
• 🚫 The categorization under YouTube Kids has resulted in the inability for viewers to subscribe, like, or comment on the videos.
• 📉 There has been a significant drop in viewership on youtube.com after the channel was categorized as made for kids.
• 🤔 The YouTuber believes that their viewer profile has been confused by the YouTube algorithm due to the YouTube Kids categorization.
• 🔄 The content is not being recommended to the appropriate audience, affecting the channel's growth and engagement.
• 🎮 The YouTuber is passionate about gaming and wants to continue making gaming videos but acknowledges the need for change.
• 🔄 There is a plan for a major change in the channel's content and approach to address the current issues.
• 🚀 The YouTuber is determined to make a comeback in 2025 with the best gaming videos and to be more relatable to the audience.

Q & A

How long has the YouTuber been on the platform?

The YouTuber has been on the platform for 15 years.

What is the YouTuber's perspective on YouTube being a business?

The YouTuber views YouTube as a fun thing and not just a business, but acknowledges the financial responsibilities towards the team.

What are some of the roles in the YouTuber's team?

The team includes editors, thumbnail designers, and management.

Why is the YouTuber concerned about the current state of their channel?

The YouTuber is concerned because their channel has been categorized under YouTube Kids, which has negatively impacted viewership, engagement, and revenue.

What are the implications of a channel being categorized under YouTube Kids?

Being categorized under YouTube Kids means that viewers can't subscribe, like, or comment on the videos, and there is no revenue generated from those videos.

How has the YouTuber's content been affected by being on YouTube Kids?

The YouTuber's content is not being recommended to their intended audience and is instead being recommended in places that don't align with their audience, leading to a decrease in viewership and revenue.

What is the YouTuber's hypothesis about their viewer profile being affected?

The YouTuber hypothesizes that their viewer profile has changed significantly due to being categorized under YouTube Kids, confusing the algorithm and leading to misalignment with their actual audience.

What is the YouTuber's plan to address the current situation?

The YouTuber plans to change the content and approach to make the best YouTube gaming videos, aiming to be more relatable and engaging to their audience.

What is the YouTuber's goal for 2025?

The YouTuber's goal for 2025 is to make the absolute best YouTube gaming videos and to be more of himself, aiming to be relatable and engaging.

How does the YouTuber feel about the support from their audience?

The YouTuber is extremely grateful for the support from their audience and is excited about the future changes and the opportunity to continue making content.

Outlines

00:00

📈 Channel Struggles and YouTube Kids Impact

The speaker reflects on their long-standing relationship with YouTube, emphasizing the platform's significance in their life for over 15 years. They highlight the evolution of their channel, from a personal hobby to a business that supports a team of professionals. The main issue discussed is the channel's recent categorization under YouTube Kids, which has led to a significant decrease in engagement and revenue. This categorization restricts viewership, prevents subscriptions, likes, and comments, and ultimately affects the team's financial stability. The speaker expresses their concern about the channel's future and hints at a major change to address the problem, while also acknowledging the need to evolve their content to maintain relevance with their audience.

05:01

🔄 Viewer Profile Confusion and Content Relevance

Continuing from the previous paragraph, the speaker delves deeper into the challenges they face due to their content being categorized under YouTube Kids. They theorize that their viewer profile has been altered, causing confusion in the YouTube algorithm, which in turn affects content recommendations. This misalignment leads to their videos being recommended in inappropriate places, further diminishing their reach and engagement. The speaker is determined to overcome these obstacles and make a strong comeback in 2025 with the goal of creating the best gaming videos. They express their passion for Minecraft and their desire to continue playing it, but also acknowledge the need to diversify their content to resonate with their audience. The speaker concludes by inviting viewers to share their thoughts and preferences, showing their commitment to adapting and evolving their channel.

Keywords

💡YouTuber

A YouTuber is an individual who creates and shares content on the YouTube platform. In the context of this video, the YouTuber is the narrator who has been active for 15 years and has a deep emotional connection with the platform. The term is used to emphasize the personal and professional journey of the narrator and the challenges faced by content creators on YouTube.

💡Platform

In this script, 'platform' refers to YouTube, which is a video-sharing service where users can upload, share, and view content. The narrator describes the platform as being a significant part of their life, highlighting its importance in their personal and professional identity.

💡Channel

A 'channel' on YouTube is a personal space where a user can upload and organize their videos. The narrator mentions their channel as a reflection of their growth and memories, showing the personal attachment and the community built around their content.

💡Business

The term 'business' is used to describe the commercial aspect of being a YouTuber. The narrator explains that while they treat YouTube as a fun activity, it has evolved into a business, requiring financial support for team members such as editors and managers.

💡Revenue

Revenue in this context refers to the income generated from the YouTube channel, which is essential for supporting the team and covering expenses. The narrator mentions the lack of revenue as a significant problem due to their channel being categorized under YouTube Kids.

💡YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids is a version of YouTube designed for children, with content filtered for appropriateness. The narrator's channel was mistakenly categorized under YouTube Kids, which led to restrictions on subscriptions, likes, comments, and revenue generation, impacting the channel's sustainability.

💡Viewer Profile

A viewer profile on YouTube is an algorithmic representation of a user's preferences and viewing habits. The narrator hypothesizes that their channel's viewer profile has been confused by the YouTube Kids categorization, affecting the recommendation algorithm and visibility of their content.

💡Content Creator

A content creator is someone who produces material for media platforms. The narrator identifies as a content creator and discusses the challenges faced, such as maintaining viewer engagement and adapting to changes in the platform's algorithm.

💡Minecraft

Minecraft is a popular sandbox video game that the narrator mentions as part of their content. It serves as an example of the type of games they enjoy playing and creating content around, but also represents a point of contention regarding the channel's direction and audience preferences.

💡Comeback

In the context of this video, a 'comeback' refers to the narrator's intention to revitalize their channel and regain their audience's interest. The term is used to express determination and the plan to overcome current challenges with a renewed approach to content creation.

💡Engagement

Engagement in the context of social media and content creation refers to the interaction between the content and the audience, such as likes, comments, and shares. The narrator seeks to improve engagement by changing the direction of their content to better resonate with their audience.

Highlights

YouTuber reflects on 15 years on the platform, emphasizing its importance in their life.

The channel allows the YouTuber to look back on personal growth and changes over time.

The YouTuber acknowledges the business aspect of YouTube, including the team that supports content creation.

Financial support for the team is a concern due to changes affecting the channel's revenue.

The channel has experienced a significant drop in viewership and engagement.

The YouTuber has been in communication with other creators and YouTube itself about the issue.

A major change is coming to the channel in response to the current situation.

The YouTuber reads and values comments, noting that some viewers may have outgrown the content.

Content is not scripted, aiming to maintain an authentic and fun gaming experience.

The channel was mistakenly categorized under YouTube Kids, affecting its visibility and revenue.

The categorization under YouTube Kids has led to a loss of subscription, like, and comment features.

The YouTuber discusses the impact of the categorization on team finances and the need for change.

Viewer profiles on YouTube are being confused due to the YouTube Kids categorization.

Content is not being recommended to the appropriate audience, leading to further decline.

The YouTuber is committed to making a comeback with high-quality gaming videos in 2025.

The goal is to create content that viewers can relate to and enjoy as if hanging out with an older brother.

The YouTuber invites viewers to comment with their game preferences and ideas for future content.

Despite the challenges, the YouTuber remains optimistic and dedicated to the community.

The YouTuber uses the metaphor of a shark to express determination to overcome the situation.

Transcripts

I feel like once every couple years you

see a YouTuber post a video like this

and some people will watch it and most

people just kind of click and then leave

but this is really important to me

because this platform has literally been

my life and for 15 years I have been on

this platform and I love it it has

literally been more than half my life

and the nice part about my channel is I

can look back at myself when I was a kid

and see how much has changed and how

many memories have been brought and how

many of you that I've got to meet in

person and how many great things we've

done but there's a really big problem

and it's a problem that has kind of

dived very deep not only into myself but

into my channel here's the thing as a

YouTuber things turn into almost like a

business and I've always treated YouTube

as a fun thing because it's how I treat

it and it's how I feel with it but I

have people that work for me and they're

on our team you know people like editors

or people like thumbnail designers or

people like management and they cost

money they have bills every single month

they have rent they have utilities they

have you know families they have things

they have to pay for and since I've been

making YouTube videos I've been

extremely Beyond grateful to be able to

have some of the most talented people on

our team being able to fulfill new

projects and do new things that we want

to do but here's the reality guys

something's wrong with my channel and

it's not good at all and I want to show

you because I've spoken to YouTubers

I've spoken to strategists I've spoken

to YouTube itself and unfortunately

nothing is really coming from this and

so there's a big change coming and I

want to tell you but before I show you

really quickly I read the comments I

really do I read all the comments and I

know for majority of people you may have

grown out of my content maybe you've

grown older maybe you're 18 19 20 years

old now and this isn't the type of

videos you watch Minecraft videos and

you know what I've hit that Plateau as

well too

where I just want to play games and have

fun and genuinely just rock with y'all

and we're doing it we're not going to be

doing the same thing that we've always

been doing I want to change this up I

know a lot of YouTubers that are playing

Minecraft may not actually enjoy it but

the real the reality is I still like it

but I think it's the way that we've been

portraying the videos I don't want it to

be something that feels like it's a

script even though the videos aren't a

script like a lot of them aren't some of

them are storytelling yeah but not all

of them are scripted but moral the story

is this something really really bad is

happening to my channel and I've spoken

to tons of my YouTuber friends and

nobody knows why this is happening I've

spoken to YouTube I've spoken to

strategists I've spoken to a lot of

people and so now I have one idea that

I'm going to pull and I want to do it

but first I want to show you the problem

is so to catch you up to speed here

there's two two YouTubes there's

youtube.com and there's YouTube kids.com

and whenever you upload a YouTube video

you need to select is it made for kids

or is it not made for kids now my

content is relatively friendly like you

know you could throw it on the TV it's

not like we're swearing or cursing or

anything like that but we have edgy

humor we make jokes you know like I'm

not going to pretend I'm Coco melon but

I also just want to have fun right so

it's not intended for little gooo gagas

but it's intended for those that can

understand humor a little bit right so

about 9 months ago my channel got put

into YouTube kids now what does this

mean it means a lot of things number one

people can't subscribe number two people

can't like or comment but also there's

no revenue generated on those videos and

going back to what I said earlier about

having a team it's less about me it's

about the team it's truly is it's gotten

to the point now where we can't even pay

our monthly bills for our team without

having to let people go and I don't want

to I really don't want to and I'm

grateful that in the process of YouTube

I've started other projects and started

other things that are covering expenses

over here but it's like putting a

Band-Aid on a broken arm it's not going

to fix the problem so I'm going to show

you this okay raw in the flesh you're

going to see this right here so here's

my channel okay here's the back end you

can see these are the video views right

views haven't been great the last a

little bit whatever the case is but I

want to show you something interesting

365 days ago okay blue is YouTube kids

purple is

youtube.com right here we were averaging

a median of viewership and even before

this it was just average right it was

just average say you know just just a

medium and right here is where we had a

massive spike in YouTube kids viewership

over one million views in that day from

YouTube kids but ever since YouTube kids

kicked in

things have just gotten worse for

youtube.com now I've been on YouTube

long I've been on this platform for a

very long time since 2009 and YouTube

The Way YouTube shows content to people

is by building a viewer profile if you

ever played the game Sims where you get

to like customize your character and

like you know change your hair type and

you know how you look and whatever it's

essentially building a viewer profile

like who is watching your videos so we

can suggest it to more people like that

and go broader and broader and broader

now ever since my content has been put

into YouTube kids I believe this is just

a hypothesis because we've been studying

this for 9 months I believe that my

viewer profile has changed significantly

it's getting a mixture between

youtube.com and the people like yourself

who watch the videos and YouTube kids

and it's kind of confusing the two now

my content doesn't even get recommended

amongst other creators in fact it's

getting recommended in the weirdest

places that don't even align with my

audience whatsoever and it's gotten to

the point now where like I said we

literally can't pay for our our team

members anymore and again it's really

really a bad situation it's the absolute

last thing I've ever wanted to do

because I live and breathe YouTube like

literally live and breathe this so we're

changing it up I've heard your thoughts

I've heard your concerns a lot of people

may have grown under the content but you

know what

we don't back down here y'all we don't

walk away from this stuff you guys grew

up watching me unspeakable moose or

maybe me or maybe unspeakable whatever

we're

coming and we're about to make the

craziest and best comeback and we're

going to do something great my goal for

2025 is to make the absolute best

YouTube gaming videos that you will ever

possibly watch but more

importantly be myself

and be Andrew I want to be somebody that

you guys can feel like you can relate to

I want to be I want to feel like I'm

your older brother and we're just

hanging out having a good time playing

video games I want to make the absolute

best videos ever and by me putting this

video out there is me speaking into

existence and saying that this is all

coming and happening so I want you to

comment down below what video games you

guys want me to play what do you want me

to do I'm not ditching Minecraft by the

way I love Minecraft I don't hate

playing Minecraft I I love it the

problem is is that the videos we're

doing just aren't hitting and that's

okay that's fine I'm here for the

long-term play and more importantly I'm

here for y'all and for those that are

sticking with me and rocking with me

still I freaking love y'all we are going

to do something incredible here and I

want to let yall know that it's about to

go down so if you're a real one with us

you've been with us I'm super excited to

have you back and I'm super excited to

show you what's coming because this

whole situation with the YouTube kids

stuff and everything else is just it's

unfortunate it really sucks it really

really really sucks but we're going to

fix it you know why sharks got to eat

even in the ocean guess what what if

shark's not g to find a little fishy to

eat on what is he gonna do just like oh

no sharks eat we're coming to eat y'all

we're coming to win and we're coming to

make the absolute best videos ever so

thank you so much for watching and I'll

see yall tomorrow in a brand new daily

video