- Why do you want subscribers?
Let us know in the comments below
because I'm about to tell you something
you don't want to hear.
(explosion booms)
Subscribers can actually ruin your channel.
(object clatters)
Convincing viewers to hit that Subscribe button
is no easy task.
It takes dedication, creativity,
and countless hours of hard work.
And while we all dream
of reaching those monumental subscriber milestones,
it is crucial to recognize that
not all subscribers are created equal.
So today we're going to shed some light
on the dark side of subscribers,
the four types of people
who, when they do click on that button,
may be undermining the success and growth
of your YouTube channel.
And if you want to find out just how fickle subscribers are,
go into the advanced analytics,
change a time period to lifetime,
and select subscription source to find
out how many subscribers you've lost.
786 -- (camera beeping)
It is awesome to have the support of your loved ones,
but relying on them as your subscriber base can be
a double-edged sword.
Often friends and family subscribe out of obligation rather
than a genuine interest in your content,
and this could negatively impact your channel's
discoverability within the YouTube algorithm.
You see, YouTube takes into account all sorts
of engagement metrics from likes, to comments, to watch time
to determine the relevance and quality of the content.
Now, let's say that your friends
and family do subscribe to your channel.
For the first couple of videos that you publish,
they'll likely see them on the homepage, but
if they're not clicking on those thumbnails, or if they are,
but only watching for 10 seconds to give a video a like,
those aren't really positive signals.
You want highly engaged viewers that organically
develop into subscribers.
And what you don't really want is 15 to
20 subscribers who are your friends
and family who just aren't watching your videos.
Ah, viral videos, the misplaced audience.
Picture this, you have a viral video that
skyrockets your subscriber account overnight.
But here's a catch.
It has nothing to do
with the rest of your channel's content.
I think we might have to delve into the stock footage
for this one, but imagine you walk
into a restaurant that advertises itself
as having delicious sushi.
You've heard rave reviews
from elsewhere about their unique sushi dishes
and you are eagerly anticipating the experience.
And then you sit down, take a look
at the menu and it's nothing but burgers.
Bit of a turn off that, right?
That is the huge risk viral videos bring
if they don't match your channel's niche.
Absolutely you will gain a lot of subscribers
from that viral video, and those new subscribers
will see the videos that you publish next.
But if they're not interested, they're not going to watch,
and essentially you're back to square what?
But perhaps even worsen viral content subscribers are
competition subscribers.
There's nothing inherently wrong with competitions
especially when you are recognizing
and rewarding your existing loyal audience.
But when it comes to a new audience,
they're only there for one thing, that prize.
Unless a viewer becomes highly engaged
in the content whilst entering the competition,
once it's over, that viewer is gone as well.
They might still be a subscriber,
but we're not watching you on a regular basis.
On top of this,
competitions that require a person to subscribe are actually
against YouTube's terms of service.
It's considered a manipulation of the metrics.
And it could, in a worst case scenario,
see your channel actually terminated.
Try to remember the last time you saw a giveaway video
on YouTube that required you to subscribe.
Yeah, you just don't see 'em anymore.
And of course, if we are talking about manipulation
of metrics, we have to mention fake subscribers as well.
Don't do that.
Obviously this is against YouTube terms of service as well
and it's going to damage any credibility Your channel has.
YouTube on a very frequent basis, audits subscriber counts,
and if it finds any of these fake ones,
it's going to remove it from your channel,
so it's wasted money.
And at the end of the day,
all you're doing is buying a single number.
That number is not going to watch any of your content.
It's not going to invest anything in you as a creator.
And what you're going to do, buy 1,000 subscribers
and then 4,000 hours of watch time.
Even if you do that
and get successfully monetized, you still don't
have an audience who's going to watch your videos
and earn you ad revenue from your content.
I thought this was going to look more impressive when
I was recording, but yeah, five subscribers,
(audience cheering)
woo-hoo.
As four sub for sub,
(deep bass sound)
do we even need to talk about that in 2023?
No, let's move on there.
Instead, let's talk about something a little different.
The vocal minority of your YouTube channel.
It is essential to value and listen to your audience.
As your channel grows,
so will individual thoughts and opinions
and not all of them will support the message you have.
So as your channel grows, as you get more subscribers,
as your community gets bigger,
you don't have to listen to everyone,
as weird as that sounds.
Catering solely to the preferences of a small group
of say subscribers can have unintended consequences
on the success of your channel.
The YouTube algorithm on your hand is always
striving to understand your entire audience.
So while a few comments may say one thing,
the analytics on your channel may be telling you
something entirely different,
and that's sometimes is what you need to
pay attention to most.
So yeah, subscribers,
they can be a tricky thing to understand,
which is why you should treat your first subscriber
as your most important one.
And this is why.