A lot of Youtube channels are reporting declining viewership lately.

EX1: https://youtube.com/watch?v=cpVnx4_yqTo
EX2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF0tmhEtVJE

Fun times. Looks like a lot of channels are seeing a decline not just Linus. Hes just the latest to talk about it.

Then I saw this article as well and thought I would share.

Anyone here youtube creators? Are you seeing the same thing, a general downturn in viewership?

  • rafoix@lemmy.zip
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    2 months ago

    So many possible reason.

    Linus has a history of scummy behavior which turns people off.

    Everything gets boring eventually. Especially things that are supposed to be funny.

    Google ads are extra obnoxious making the entire platform more annoying to use and most of us will never pay for youtube. Those ads are not even selling products I would be interested in. Investment scams, car accident claim ads, AI voiced robot panda. It just annoying noise.

    Nothing lasts forever.

  • PangurBan@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Yeah, because Linus is kinda shit more and more. Hes wholly turned me off from his content over the years because of how he acts, what he says, etc. And you can ‘trust me bro’ on that.

    I really like and appreciate people like Steve. I like what he’s doing and how he’s doing things. He hasn’t become a greedy corpo and hes just a very intelligent and caring person who believes in standing up for what’s right; Even if that means calling out a friend in the industry.

    I feel like Linus is out of touch with reality. He’s not at all down to earth anymore.

  • CatDogL0ver@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The problem is those channels are very similar. I get tired of hearing the same thing again and again. There is really no need for weekly news

  • lorty@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    It’s not about Linus specifically. Many other channels (with actual good content) have been experiencing the same. Creators are assuming it has to do with restricted mode, but I’m not sure it’s convincing, it probably has more to do with algorithmic changes youtube has made.

  • TORFdot0@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I think it’s a loss of talent and shuttering of shows across his company’s channels that are leading it. I can only watch so many “reporting verbatim the benchmark results of new tech product” or “I made my family a sleeper desk” or “dark horse home theater for my kid” videos. I’d much rather watch the highly produced “Mac Address” videos with Jonathan or retro gaming systems and setups videos with Anthony but they aren’t a part of LMG anymore.

    Riley is doing well on tech linked but he’s talented enough to get a real job and after that, what’s the last interesting thing that LMG has? WAN show clips?

  • chilicheeselies@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    My theory is that we have a limited number of hours a day to view content. We also have a growing number of channels and content in general. Algorithms include new content we kight enjoy, and for every new channel we get hooked on, one of the older ones drops off.

    Tv shows rarely (ever?) Last forever. Why should channels?

  • Redex@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The more interesting part for me, that they mentioned on the WAN show, is that while viewers dropped significantly, the revenue basically hasn’t changed. They’re more or less making the same amount of money from half the amount of reported viewers.

  • kalleboo@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Everyone here is speculating about their content, but the simple answer is YouTube just changed how they count the view number. The change basically happened overnight, so it’s not some slow attrition of views. They said in the WAN Show that while the view count halved, the number of likes hasn’t changed (the view/like ratio doubled), and the revenue they earned hasn’t changed (CPM doubled). All of this points that the same number of humans are watching, but what counts as a view in the “views” number just changed.

  • Fedditor385@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Reasons I see:

    a) the generation that grew up watching LTT is now at age where they don’t watch as much YT as they did before b) increasing amount of things happen which put viewers off c) consumer technology peaked and is now “boring” d) new generations don’t have as much interest in technology altogether

    Let’s explain:

    a + c) people watching LTT years ago were living in an exiting tech era where it boomed and you had mayor leaps in tech basically on a yearly basis. Moving from floppy disks to CD’s to USB sticks. CRT to LCD displays. 16-bit to 32-bit color. Solitare and Minesweeper to Call of Duty 4 and Need for Speed. Symbian and Blackberry to Android and iOS. Tons of manufacturers, tons of competition, tons of new and exctiting stuff.

    Let’s observe the state today: iPhone looks the same for the past half decade. Android is basically just Google and Samsung. Storage is now all in cloud. New games are recycled and upscaled old games. Every new generation of hardware is same thing just 10% better/faster. New OS releases are just refinements without new features. Most changes are done just for the sake of change. Existing hardware can basically be enough for 5+ years. What is LTT realistically supposed to talk about that is interesting? There is simply no more interesting tech.

    This ties in into d) - tech peaked, new generations “just use it as it is”, there is no need to tinker with it, prebuilt PC’s are more than fine for years to come. Since AI the IT job landscape seems to be in decline, both in demand and in pay. People do other stuff now that is more lucrative.

    LTT is dependent on stuff happening so that they can make videos about it. But, stuff kinda just isn’t happening. Or the stuff that happens is just not noteworthy news anymore.

  • pikl@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Stopped watching this douche nozzle when they were having a big meet and greet to celebrate their new studio. And he looks at the camera guy and tells them inf front of all the fans they’re having a good time with… Overtime tonight guys, we gotta edit this footage and have it online today. Would have quit my job on the spot and as a viewer I quit my part in the bullshit right then and there.

  • 3dcadmin@lemmy.relayeasy.com
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    2 months ago

    Oh and as if by magic, after I said something I received an email from a client bemoaning about the drop in youtube viewers. She reckons it is not only a drop in viewers but in viewing time as well. Mentioned bloody AI as well just because everybody is

  • arc99@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I’m sure declining viewers has nothing to do with the various controversies such as auctioning off prototypes, rushed reviews with misleading or false conclusions, mistreating staff etc. Channels like Gamers Nexus really laid into him.

  • flop_leash_973@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Broadly maybe the viewers are just getting sick of all of the shilling for cheap shit that goes on with the ever increasing sponsor segments so many channels have these days. Arguments will be had about just how needed all of those marketing dollars are for the creator to keep doing their thing vs them getting used to a lot of money and wanting even more of it. But the end result is a worse viewing experience for the consumer. I know there are a lot of channels that make good content that I’ve stopped watching because they spend a quarter of the video shilling junk. Sure sponserblock would get rid of those sections, but it won’t send a message like unsubscribing and stopping watching them completely will.

    Also maybe this is a larger Youtube usage hit due to their aggressive anti-adblock nonsense and uptick in ads and shitty UI design.

    For Linus specifically, he has the above issues as well as having been very publicly outed as a slimy deuce. What his channels put out is not unique enough these days to justify dealing with the shilling and his companies bad behavior.

  • HC4L@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I just don’t get suggested his content anymore. Then again I just found out every channel I’ve ever subscribed to is under a seperate category and usually not under the main YouTube page…

    Basically I’m blocking every channel I’ve subscribed to without ever realising…

    • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I have to go to my subscribed channels just to see what they’ve posted now. YT definitely changed up their algorithm and it’s useless for me now. It doesn’t present anything I’m interested in.

      • nilzen@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        do you have the “important” tab at he top of subs now? it shows me videos i have already watched and I have no clue how it works or how youtube decides what is important but it’s unnecessary and annoying.

      • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        before, if I clicked on a new video it might show me a few videos after that which fit the same theme/category. Now if I watch one fucking video it completely floods my algorithm with the same shit back to back. I have different accounts on every device I watch something on (like in the kitchen when cooking, etc) and they’re so fucking drastically different in the feed it’s insane.

    • Goretantath@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Its because theres too many “dead subscriptions”. The algorithm punishes channels that have subs that dont interact with saud channel.

      • orclev@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        This is such a strange concept. Like fundamentally a subscription is just a mechanism to allow a viewer to easily keep track of new content on a channel. By viewing the channels contents you’re engaging in 100% of the interaction you should be expected to have with a subscribed channel. If Google really wanted to address the problem of old subscriptions people are ignoring they should just prompt people to unsubscribe to channels that they haven’t watched any videos from in a long time. Instead they’re fucking with view counts because that saves them money. The whole thing is fishy, but Google has always treated being inscrutable and capricious as if those were virtues.

    • naitro@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      This is now the second time in a short period of time that I stumble across someone who didn’t know the subscriptions page existed. Or at least that is how I interpreted what you said.

      I always thought it was obvious that the main feed is for discovering new stuff based on watch history and the ol trusty content can be found in the sub box. It is always fascinating to see how differently people use software I use daily while thinking it is how everyone does it

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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      2 months ago

      i never login so, its nice to not see the same person/influencer(often ragebait, propaganda when you close and open youtube again.

    • mesa@piefed.socialOP
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      2 months ago

      I guess the point is channels are seeing a dropping viewership across the board. Or at least two different creators of VERY different videos have had the same experience so far. And the reddit thread behind this has more people (assuming they are telling the truth) confirming the drop.

      • orclev@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It seems like YouTube is doing something where they don’t consider views to be actual “views” anymore. I saw one creator reporting that you only get credit as a view if you also leave a comment on the video because I guess Google thinks this will somehow hamper bots? Sounds like a bunch of bullshit no matter how you look at it. Personally I think Google is just trying to avoid paying creators so they’re only crediting them for a fraction of the views they get, but you just know they’re charging those advertisers for every single view whether they’re paying the creators or not.

          • orclev@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Same, but it depends on the goal. If the goal is to have an excuse not to pay creators while still cashing paychecks from advertisers it seems like a pretty smart move. A dick move certainly, but seems to be working exactly as intended.

        • Beej Jorgensen@lemmy.sdf.org
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          2 months ago

          Way back in the day I was making $500 a month with AdSense ads on my sites. And then one month I started making $250 a month. I hadn’t changed anything. It’s a risky thing to rely on.

          • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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            2 months ago

            most influencers cant rely ads from yt anymore, so they switch to brand deals, promotions, thats where they get thier money from. and sometimes patreon.

        • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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          2 months ago

          youtube seems to be pushing alot more AI garbage than normal lately as well. they just made a contract with Israel to allow them to flood the site with pro-zionist propaganda.

          youtube is also part of the problem, as many videos is made using googles AI video generator.