
Everyone wants to know the secret to getting YouTube views. It should be as simple as people subscribe, then they watch your stuff. But that’s not how it’s set up.
Getting subscribers is easier than getting views, in my experience. I’m at 13k subs, but my views are always hit or miss. The ones that do best are tutorial videos. And it takes weeks for them to get traction as they get worked into the search terms.
Views seem to be based on titles and thumbnails. I often see people with large subscriber counts say “most of my views are from people not subscribed.” I think that rings true in general. But why?
I wish I knew the definitive answer, but it’s obvious that YouTube has a different definition of “subscribe” than most people have. Subscribing means: I get this thing regularly when it comes out. I think YouTube’s definition is “this is the type of content I want to be shown from whoever makes it.”
When you have over 10k subs and ANY video gets viewed less than 200 times, that’s not a rejection of bad content. That’s a redefinition of “subscriber.” So the secret to getting views isn’t getting subs, it’s always playing the title/thumbnail game. Forever. And ever. Amen.
And it’s still hit or miss. On my Tuesday/Thursday livestreams I’ve noticed that my videos on Odysee (where my YouTube stuff is backed up automatically) get more views when I include negative titles. “Horrible art by terrible people!” “Check out this horrible art!”
It’s SIGNIFICANTLY higher in views. It’s a discouraging word game for someone who just wants to draw and make stuff. But that’s the deal.