Why you should NOT start YouTube Shorts (beware)

Summary

This video script debunks the myth that a YouTube Shorts channel can earn up to $41,000 per month, revealing that such claims are misleading. The creator shares their experience, explaining that even if monetized, a channel would likely earn only $480 per month based on typical YouTube Shorts revenue. The video exposes the harsh reality of YouTube Shorts, showing that the algorithm favors short attention spans, which can hurt long-form content creators. It also highlights the disconnect between the popularity of Shorts and long-form engagement, urging creators to choose between the two formats to avoid self-sabotage. The script serves as a cautionary tale for aspiring YouTubers, advocating for informed decision-making in content creation strategy.

Takeaways

• 🎯 The video script claims that a YouTube Shorts channel is said to make up to $41,000 a month, but this is misleading and not accurate.
• 📉 The channel mentioned is not even monetized, and even if it were, it would only make about $480 per month based on typical earnings from YouTube Shorts.
• 📈 The creator of the video owns a monetized YouTube Shorts channel and earns about 8 cents per 1,000 views, which is a common rate among other creators.
• 💡 The video aims to expose the 'Dark Truth About YouTube Shorts' and share personal experiences to help others avoid wasting time, money, and effort.
• 🚀 The creator started a new YouTube channel intending to capitalize on the growing popularity of YouTube Shorts and long-form content.
• 📹 The initial long-form video received very few views, while the Shorts gained more traction, leading to a focus on Shorts to reach monetization thresholds.
• 🔄 The creator planned to switch back to long-form content after monetization, but faced a drastic drop in views, largely due to the short attention span of Shorts subscribers.
• 📊 A key issue was identified as 'average view duration' (AVD), which was very low for long-form content among subscribers coming from Shorts.
• 🤖 The YouTube algorithm favors videos that retain viewers' attention, and if subscribers from Shorts do not watch long-form content, the algorithm deems it less valuable.
• 📈 Some successful Shorts creators have billions of views but struggle with engagement on their long-form content, while others like Mr. Beast have chosen to focus on one format.
• 🚫 Many channels promoting YouTube Shorts do not use them themselves and may not disclose the potential risks to their audience.
• 💡 The video suggests that creators should choose between focusing on YouTube Shorts or long-form content to avoid self-sabotage and maintain audience engagement.

Q & A

What is the claim made by the video about a YouTube Shorts channel's earnings?

The video claims that a particular YouTube Shorts channel is making up to $41,000 a month, but this is disputed as misleading.

Why does the video creator believe the $41,000 monthly earnings claim is misleading?

The video creator believes the claim is misleading because even if the channel was monetized, it would only be making about $480 per month, based on the average earnings per 1,000 views for YouTube Shorts.

What is the average earnings rate for YouTube Shorts mentioned by the video creator?

The video creator states that they and other YouTube Shorts creators they've spoken to make about 8 cents per every 1,000 views.

What was the video creator's initial strategy for their new YouTube channel?

The initial strategy was to upload long-form content a couple of times a week and post Shorts every day, with the belief that it would help grow the channel and attract an audience interested in the same topics.

How did the video creator's first long-form video perform?

The first long-form video received only 19 views in the first week, which was disappointing compared to the Shorts that received thousands of views.

What was the video creator's realization after one of their long-form videos and a Shorts video went viral?

The creator realized that it's easier to reach the monetization threshold with Shorts than with long-form content and considered focusing on Shorts to get monetized quickly.

What are the key elements that the video creator identified as contributing to the virality of YouTube Shorts?

The key elements identified were captions, jump cuts, animations, background music, and sound effects.

Why did the video creator's long-form content struggle to gain views after they switched to focusing on Shorts?

The struggle was due to the audience that subscribed from Shorts having shorter attention spans and not engaging with the long-form content, leading to poor average view duration and algorithmic deprioritization.

What is the impact of a low average view duration (AVD) on a YouTube video's visibility?

A low AVD can negatively impact a video's visibility as the YouTube algorithm may interpret it as not being engaging, resulting in less promotion to a larger audience.

What advice does the video creator give regarding mixing YouTube Shorts and long-form content?

The advice is to choose between building a YouTube Shorts channel or a long-form content channel and stick with it, as mixing both can lead to self-sabotage and audience mismatch issues.

What is the video creator's stance on YouTube Shorts as a platform for new creators?

The creator acknowledges that YouTube Shorts can be profitable and beneficial for some niches or as a way to stay in front of an existing audience, but warns against mixing Shorts with long-form content for new channels.

Outlines

00:00

💡 The Illusion of YouTube Shorts Profitability

The video script starts by debunking the myth that a YouTube Shorts channel can easily make $41,000 a month. The creator points out that the channel mentioned in the video is not monetized and even if it were, the earnings would be significantly lower than claimed. The script reveals that the creator owns a monetized YouTube Shorts channel and, based on their experience and industry knowledge, the average earnings are around $0.008 per 1,000 views. The creator then expresses their intention to expose the 'Dark Truth About YouTube Shorts' and shares their personal journey of starting a YouTube channel to capitalize on the growing popularity of YouTube Shorts and the perceived potential for high earnings. They discuss their initial strategy of posting long-form content alongside YouTube Shorts to grow their audience and views but acknowledge that this approach led to their first major mistake, setting the stage for the rest of the video.

05:02

🔄 The Struggle with Mixed Content Strategy on YouTube

In the second paragraph, the creator delves into the challenges of maintaining a mixed content strategy on YouTube, combining both short and long-form videos. They recount their experience of initially focusing on long-form content, which resulted in low views, while their shorts gained traction. The creator then details their plan to use YouTube Shorts to reach the platform's monetization threshold quickly and then switch back to long-form content. They discuss the elements that make shorts go viral, such as captions, jump cuts, animations, background music, and sound effects. However, after achieving monetization, the creator faced a significant issue: their long-form content was not performing well, despite high production values. The key problem was identified as the average view duration, which was very low due to the audience's short attention span, a trait inherited from their preference for short-form content. The creator explains how YouTube's algorithm works, emphasizing that if a video is not engaging to its own subscribers, the algorithm will not promote it to a wider audience. They conclude by sharing insights from other creators who have faced similar issues and by questioning the motives of channels promoting YouTube Shorts without warning of the potential pitfalls. The creator also acknowledges that while YouTube Shorts can be profitable for some niches and creators, mixing them with long-form content can lead to self-sabotage and a disjointed audience.

Keywords

💡YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts are short-form videos that can be up to 60 seconds long, created to compete with other short video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. In the video, the creator discusses the misconception that YouTube Shorts are a guaranteed way to make significant revenue, which is a central theme of the video. The script mentions that despite the potential for high view counts, the monetization from Shorts is often much lower than expected.

💡Monetization

Monetization in the context of YouTube refers to the process of earning revenue from the platform, typically through ad views (AdSense). The video script debunks the myth that a YouTube channel can easily make up to $41,000 a month from Shorts, stating that even if monetized, the actual earnings would be significantly less, around $480 per month based on the creator's own experience.

💡CPM (Cost Per Mille)

CPM stands for Cost Per Mille, which is an advertising pricing model where advertisers pay for every thousand views of their advertisement. The video script uses CPM as an example to illustrate potential earnings from a long-form video that went viral, with a CPM of over $10, which would have resulted in substantial earnings if the channel were monetized.

💡Subscribers

Subscribers are individuals who choose to follow a YouTube channel to receive notifications when new content is posted. The video discusses the difference in engagement between subscribers gained from YouTube Shorts versus long-form content, noting that Shorts subscribers often have shorter attention spans and are less likely to watch long-form videos in full.

💡Algorithm

The YouTube algorithm is the system that decides which videos to recommend to users. The script explains that if a majority of subscribers do not watch a video in full, the algorithm will not promote the video to a larger audience. This is a critical factor in the success of long-form content, as the algorithm's behavior can significantly impact view counts and revenue.

💡Engagement

Engagement refers to the level of interaction and interest that viewers show towards content, such as likes, comments, and watch time. The video points out that high engagement is necessary for the YouTube algorithm to promote content. The creator found that despite efforts to make long-form content engaging, the engagement was low due to the nature of the audience attracted by Shorts.

💡Attention Span

Attention span is the amount of time a person can focus on a task without becoming distracted. The video script highlights the difference in attention span between viewers of YouTube Shorts and long-form content, suggesting that Shorts viewers have a shorter attention span and are less likely to engage with longer videos.

💡AdSense Revenue

AdSense Revenue is the income generated from advertisements displayed on YouTube videos. The script mentions that the creator initially believed that long-form content would produce more AdSense Revenue, which was a driving factor behind their focus on creating longer videos.

💡Long-Form Content

Long-form content refers to videos that are longer in duration, typically over 10 minutes. The video script contrasts long-form content with Shorts, discussing the challenges of maintaining viewership and monetization when transitioning from one format to the other within the same channel.

💡Viral Videos

Viral videos are those that spread rapidly across the internet, gaining a large number of views in a short period. The video script uses the creator's experience with viral long-form and Shorts content to illustrate the different outcomes and audience behaviors associated with each type of content.

💡Content Niche

A content niche refers to a specific topic or area of interest that a YouTube channel focuses on. The script mentions that despite having a better quality of long-form content in the creator's niche, they struggled to maintain viewership after attracting an audience primarily interested in Shorts.

Highlights

A YouTube channel is claimed to make up to $41,000 a month from YouTube shorts, but the channel is not monetized.

The channel's actual potential earnings are about $480 per month, not the inflated $41,000 mentioned.

The creator of the video owns a monetized YouTube shorts channel and earns about 8 cents per 1,000 views.

Many viral videos mislead viewers by twisting facts to gain more views.

The video aims to expose the dark truth about YouTube shorts and the challenges faced by short form creators.

The creator started a new YouTube channel to capitalize on the potential earnings from YouTube shorts.

The initial long-form video received only 19 views in the first week, while shorts gained more traction.

Focusing on long-form content was the creator's first big mistake.

A breakthrough occurred when one long-form video got 120,000 views, but the creator was not monetized yet.

The creator realized YouTube shorts could be a shortcut to monetization due to easier threshold reach.

After studying what goes viral on shorts, the creator focused on making engaging content.

Monetization was achieved within 60 days, but the focus shifted back to long-form content with poor results.

The creator discovered that average view duration was the main issue, with viewers only watching a small portion of the long-form content.

YouTube's algorithm promotes videos based on audience engagement, and lack of views from subscribers can limit reach.

The creator suggests that mixing YouTube shorts and long-form content can attract two different audiences with different attention spans.

Some successful shorts creators have seen less engagement on their long-form content.

Mr Beast, a prominent YouTuber, gave up on YouTube shorts after realizing the potential downsides.

Many channels promoting YouTube shorts may not use them themselves and may not disclose the risks.

The creator advises choosing between building a YouTube shorts channel or a long-form content channel and sticking with it.

YouTube shorts can be profitable for some niches and can be a great way to stay in front of an existing audience.

The creator has made thousands of dollars from their own YouTube shorts channel.

The video aims to raise awareness about the challenges of mixing shorts and long-form content on YouTube.

Transcripts

this video claims that this YouTube

shorts channel is making up to

$41,000 a month but it's not what you

think you're led to believe that making

YouTube shorts can be a cash cow just

like any long form YouTube channel but

after looking into the channel that he

uses to hook your attention I realized

that this channel is actually not even

monetized he misleads you further by

using wildly inflated numbers like

$41,000 per month because in reality

even if this channel was monetized the

channel would only be making about

$480 per month I know this because I own

a YouTube shorts channel that is

monetized and I only get paid about 8

cents per every 1,000 views every other

YouTube shorts creator that I've spoken

to makes about the same it made me

realize that many of these videos going

viral twist the facts in order to get

more views from people like you and me

so in this video I'm going to expose the

Dark Truth About YouTube shorts once and

for all I'll tell you what happened to

myself and so many other short form

creators that had to learn this the hard

way that way you don't waste your time

money energy self-esteem all right I

think you get the point last year I

started a new YouTube channel if you

want to know my intentions for starting

a new channel the answer was simple to

secure the bag I knew how much money

that YouTubers were making and I wanted

in at the time I kept hearing about how

YouTube shorts was the future of content

and after seeing the rise of Tik Tok and

Instagram reals I came up with a

brilliant plan I would upload long form

content a couple times a week and then I

would try to post shorts every day my

thought process was that as long as I

was posting about the same topics on

long form and short form my channel

would grow an audience of people who are

all interested in the same thing I would

be getting double the views from shorts

and long form content and I'd be able to

start cashing checks from YouTube in no

time but this was my first big mistake

and by the way if you saw my other video

about this trust me you want to stick

around because something crazy happened

and I'll explain more towards the end so

I uploaded my first first long form

video and got a whopping 19 views in my

first week my shorts on the other hand

were getting a lot more traction one of

the First videos actually got a few

thousand views which was really

encouraging but I knew that long form

content would ultimately produce more

AdSense Revenue so I got really focused

on the long form content I spent weeks

editing that first video with captions

hooks a title a thumbnail and finally I

got my big break one of my first long

form videos took off and got 120 ,000

views my CPM ended up being over $10 so

if I had been monetized I would have

made about $11,000 from this video

during that same week one of my YouTube

shorts blew up and got a couple million

views and a few hundred subscribers

obviously I was really excited I started

imagining my rise to YouTuber stardom

and even had a dream of knocking out

Jake Paul but then my dream was

interrupted by this realization I could

shortcut my channel to monetization with

YouTube shorts see it's far easier to

reach the monetization thresholds with

shorts than it is for long form content

I figured that if I focused a majority

of my time making amazing YouTube shorts

then I would get monetized in just a few

weeks then as soon as I got monetized I

could flip the channel back into a long

form content Powerhouse and start

cashing checks so I studied what went

viral on shorts and realized that it had

captions jump Cuts animations background

music and sound effects so I spent more

time in the editing room hoping that

this would all pay off I uploaded a few

videos and bang a couple more of my

YouTube shorts went crazy viral and I

got approved for monetization within

just 60 days my plan was working

perfectly and I thought that I was on my

way to the YouTube Hall of Fame and

escaping the rat race but this is where

things take a drastic turn as soon as I

was monetized I started refocusing on

long form content again and no matter

what I tried I couldn't get more than a

few thousand views it didn't make sense

my thumbnails were fine because my CTR

was above 10 10% I was writing quality

scripts with good hooks the music and

editing were better than any other

channels in my Niche but then I

discovered one very important stat that

was absolutely destroying me average

view duration my avd was terrible and

when I say terrible I mean like 20% of

the video like I said I was putting

genuine effort like I do into getting

all of my online business ventures off

the ground but that was when I realized

what the problem was it actually had

nothing to do with my content the

problem was my audience the subs that

came from my YouTube shorts would end up

only watching a few seconds of my long

form content even when I tried to make

long- form content more engaging with

captions jump Cuts editing none of it

worked this is because the people who

subscribed from YouTube shorts had

shorter attention spans and only subbed

to consume more short form content when

you upload on YouTube the algorithm

First shows your content to a small

group to see how they respond if a

majority of those people watch your

video all the way through and they leave

comments then YouTube's algorithm

notices and'll push your video to a

larger audience but if your own

subscribers don't watch or only watch a

small portion of your video then the

YouTube algorithm thinks that your video

sucks and as a result YouTube stops

pushing the video to a larger audience

leaving you on a lonely island with no

views so if you decide to post both

shorts and long form content then you're

basically attracting two different types

of audiences one audience that has a

30-second attention span and another who

has a 10-minute attention span viewers

who are scrolling YouTube shorts are

looking for quick hits of dopamine their

intentions are drastically different

from someone who's on YouTube to watch

long form content YouTube shorts are

about entertainment cheap dopamine and

consumption and then they just scroll on

to the next one on their feed and only a

small fraction of people who do

subscribe from YouTube shorts would end

up watching your long form content and

as we all know if your own subscribers

don't watch your videos then YouTube's

algorithm will think your video sucks

but I'm not the only Creator who this

soab story happened to this guy with 3

million Subs had the same issue and this

guy with 1 million Subs said quote short

subscribers mean nothing when posted on

long form content and I have firsthand

accounts from hundreds of more examples

if we look at some of the most

successful shorts creators like MD

motivator who literally gets billions of

views we can see that his long form

videos don't even come close to getting

the same amount of Engagement in fact

it's so bad that he doesn't even bother

uploading them anymore on the other side

of the coin Mr Beast the best YouTuber

in the game who gets billions of views

on his long form content gave up on

posting YouTube shorts after just

uploading 31 of them after coming to

this conclusion it made me wonder why so

many channels are promoting YouTube

shorts so heavily without giving you any

warning or disclaimer about the

potential risks most of the YouTube

channels that are promoting YouTube

shorts don't actually use them on their

own channels most of these channels are

creating their videos for the same

reason that 99% of YouTubers do to

secure the bag they're fully aware that

shorts would hurt their own channel but

they aren't willing to share that

information with you but I also want to

be clear I'm not saying that YouTube

shorts are always a bad thing and that

you should never post them what I am

saying is that if I could go back in

time I would decide between building a

YouTube shorts Channel or a long form

content Channel and I would stick with

it because if you try to do both from

scratch then you're going to

self-sabotage and end up with the same

issue as me I do hope that YouTube

eventually figures this problem out and

I'll make sure to keep you guys updated

on what I'm seeing from my end the first

time I made a video about this it became

my most viral video ever but then this

happened look at that Flatline that is

so not normal for a long form YouTube

video I reached out to YouTube support

but they assured me that nothing was

wrong so to me it kind of felt like they

didn't want this information out out

there but today I woke up Ready for War

and figured screw it let's risk it all

because you guys deserve to know about

stuff like this and I wish I had known

earlier also for some niches who do

already have an audience built from long

form content YouTube shorts can be a

great way to stay in front of your

audience on a daily basis and for anyone

who is considering starting a YouTube

shorts Channel they can be wildly

profitable for the amount of time that

they take to run I've personally made

thousands of dollars from my own own

YouTube shorts Channel and I definitely

don't want to discourage anyone from

starting one if that's their goal the

only point that I'm trying to make here

is that creators can get themselves into

trouble when they try to mix shorts and

long form together so hopefully this

video has helped you become more aware

of how all this works because I wish

someone would have shared this with me

before I wasted a bunch of time