I Posted Shorts For 30 Days. Here's What Happened...

Summary

Joe Scott reflects on his month-long experiment with YouTube Shorts, sharing insights and analytics. After experiencing a significant drop in subscriber growth, he hypothesizes that the algorithm's shift towards Shorts may be impacting his channel. Despite mixed audience reactions, Scott decides to continue creating original short content, tailored for the format, rather than repurposing longer videos, to better adapt to the changing platform landscape.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video creator, Joe Scott, experimented with posting YouTube Shorts daily for a month to gauge their impact on his channel's performance.
• 📉 Joe's channel has experienced a significant decline in subscriber growth and views in 2022, which he attributes to changes in YouTube's algorithm favoring Shorts.
• 🔍 The experiment was driven by a need to adapt to platform changes, as many creators, including Joe, have felt the impact of a shift in YouTube's discovery mechanisms towards Shorts.
• 📈 Despite the overall negative trend, Joe's views slightly increased during the Shorts experiment, but watch time and subscriber growth did not see a corresponding boost.
• 📉 The month of posting Shorts resulted in the second-worst month for subscriber growth in the entire year, with numbers dropping to around 100-200 new subscribers per day.
• 💬 There was a mixed response from the audience, with some expressing dissatisfaction and even unsubscribing due to the introduction of Shorts, while others were supportive.
• 📲 Joe found that the original short content, specifically made for platforms like TikTok, performed better than repurposed content from his main videos.
• 🔄 Joe plans to continue creating Shorts but will focus on original content that is suited for the short format, rather than repurposing existing material.
• 🔄 The layout of YouTube's homepage and subscription tab affects how Shorts are perceived, with the former providing a better user experience by separating Shorts from regular videos.
• 🤔 Joe is left with questions about the exact reasons behind the drop in new subscribers during the experiment and is open to feedback from viewers, fellow creators, and even YouTube staff.
• 🌐 The content creation landscape requires creators to be active in multiple formats—short, medium, and long—to remain relevant and adapt to the changing preferences of audiences and algorithms.

Q & A

Why did Joe Scott decide to experiment with YouTube Shorts?

Joe Scott decided to experiment with YouTube Shorts because his channel had been struggling with a significant drop in views and subscriber growth, and he believed that the algorithm had shifted focus towards Shorts.

How did Joe Scott's channel performance change in 2022 compared to previous years?

In 2022, Joe Scott's channel experienced a significant drop in views and subscriber growth compared to previous years. His views for the year were around 35 million, compared to an expected 54 million based on the previous year's trend, and his subscriber growth dropped to 107,000 from an expected 246,000.

What was the main reason Joe Scott started posting videos on TikTok?

Joe Scott started posting videos on TikTok because TikTok was paying him to do so as part of their push to get more educational creators on their platform.

How did Joe Scott approach the creation of his YouTube Shorts for the experiment?

Joe Scott repurposed his top 30 best-performing TikTok videos that were under a minute long and posted them as YouTube Shorts for the month of September.

What was the community's reaction to Joe Scott's announcement about posting YouTube Shorts?

The community's reaction was mixed. While many were supportive and understanding of the experiment, others expressed their dislike for Shorts and some even threatened to unsubscribe if the Shorts continued to be posted.

How did the YouTube Shorts experiment affect Joe Scott's subscriber growth?

The YouTube Shorts experiment seemed to negatively impact Joe Scott's subscriber growth, making September the second worst-performing month of the year in terms of new subscribers.

What was the most viewed YouTube Short during Joe Scott's experiment?

The most viewed YouTube Short during the experiment was about the 'sketchiest looking thing on your desk that's not sketchy,' which garnered 406,000 views.

What did Joe Scott learn from the experiment regarding the creation of YouTube Shorts?

Joe Scott learned that for YouTube Shorts and TikTok, the content needs to be originally shot for that specific format and not just clipped from larger videos, as the original short he posted performed significantly better.

How does Joe Scott plan to adapt his content strategy moving forward based on the experiment?

Joe Scott plans to continue posting Shorts once or twice a week, but they will be originally shot for the Shorts format. He also plans to experiment with recording short snippets related to his videos for both YouTube Shorts and TikTok.

What was the general sentiment among the audience regarding the integration of YouTube Shorts in their subscription feed?

The general sentiment was mixed. Some audience members felt that the integration of Shorts in the subscription feed felt like spamming and disrupted their viewing experience, while others were more accepting of the change.

What impact did the experiment have on Joe Scott's views compared to the previous month?

The experiment led to a slight increase in views compared to the previous month, but the overall watch time did not improve significantly, indicating that the Shorts did not contribute much to the overall engagement on the channel.