Why Are My Views Dropping on YouTube?

Sep 7, 2020

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Have you ever asked yourself the question: "Why are my views dropping on YouTube?" If so, you wouldn't be the only one. Getting views is hard enough, but when they start to decline it's even worse. But what reasons are there for this happening, and what can be done to stop it from continuing? In this article, I'll answer these questions and more.

YouTube views drop due to a multitude of different reasons. Maybe the issue is the videos themselves, or maybe it's something more technical. Figuring out which issue is plaguing your channel is crucial so you can see continued growth. Whether you're not publishing enough or your click-through rate is poor, fixing the problem is essential for success.

Often, people believe that they've solved the problem of their views dropping on YouTube by focusing on a particular issue. However, as you will learn in this article, it's quite common for multiple issues to be happening all at the same time. Due to this, you might need to fix multiple issues to stop your decrease in YouTube views.

Why Do Views Drop on YouTube

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Why do views drop on YouTube? It's a difficult question to answer, as there are many reasons why views might be declining. That's the thing about YouTube- everything affects another thing. So, if you've noticed a drop in views on your YouTube videos, it's important to recognize that the problem might not be what you initially thought.

Here are some reasons why your views might be declining:

Publishing Frequency

Do you ever wonder what happened to certain channels that were incredibly popular at one point? YouTube has been around for a while now, and many channels have grown to be massive in size. But where have all these massive channels gone, and why did they disappear in the first place? Often, publishing frequency is the reason for the channel's decline.

An issue many creators face on YouTube is the feeling of never being about to "get off the ride." In other words, many creators fear if they stop publishing new videos, their channel will stop growing. Unfortunately, this usually is the case. Many creators end up burning out and then they go months without publishing a new video. This causes a decline in growth.

If your videos aren't getting as many views as they once did, determine if the issue is your publishing frequency. If you were publishing 2 new videos each week, but then you started only publishing 1 new video each week, your publishing frequency would've been cut in half. If you publish half as much content as you used to, it's no wonder your views declined.

Video Topics

A lot of YouTube channels achieve success by creating videos about a trending topic. The problem is, many of these channels do not change their content after the trending topic has declined in popularity, leading to a massive decrease in YouTube views. If there isn't as much interest in a topic as there once was, then videos on that topic will become less sought-after.

This is one of the reasons why I always get a little bit frustrated when people focus strictly on creating videos on trending topics. Many channels ask me what they should do to grow. Often, I tell them to create more evergreen, search-friendly videos. Many people don't like this advice, and they focus on creating videos on trending topics. Then, their views drop.

If you've been creating videos about a specific topic that was popular when you started your channel but is now is less popular, your video topics might be the issue. Try creating videos on different topics and seeing what happens. There might be a transition period of even lower views, but it will be worth it if your channel recovers.

Click-through Rate

If fewer people are clicking on your videos, you will get fewer views. It's amazing how such a simple issue can become such a destructive one, isn't it? There's a reason why click-through rate is always brought up when people talk about getting views on YouTube. If your click-through rate has declined recently, then your views will have declined as well.

Usually, a decline in click-through rate is due to a change in thumbnail style. If you've been using yellow thumbnails for months, but then you switch to using blue thumbnails, people won't recognize your videos as easily. Due to this, more people will skip over your video, because your thumbnails will be less recognizable to them.

Along with a change in thumbnail style, the issue might simply be that people are not interested in the topics you create videos on anymore. So, if you're creating videos on topics that people aren't interested in as much, fewer people will click on your videos. Again, this will cause a decrease in YouTube video views.

Average View Duration

One of the more technical issues you could be faced with might be a decrease in your average view duration. Average view duration is a quality-score metric. This means that YouTube looks at it to determine if a video is good or not based on viewer behavior. If your average view duration has declined recently, your videos will be promoted less by YouTube.

Dealing with average view duration issues can be quite difficult, as typically, the issue is the construction of the videos themselves. If a video doesn't flow very well, or if the on-camera presence of the presenter isn't strong, viewers will begin to lose interest in the video they are watching quickly. If this happens, viewers will find something else to watch.

If your average view duration has decreased recently, try to determine what the cause might be. Did you change up the editing style of your videos recently? Maybe you changed your video equipment? Look for any reasons why viewers would be watching your videos for a shorter length, and see if they can be adjusted.

Sudden Decrease in YouTube Views

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Dealing with a sudden decrease in YouTube views can be a difficult task. Before taking on anything, you should prepare yourself to put in the effort to fix your issues. If you want to stop your views from declining, you need to prepare yourself to put in work, test things, and be patient. Once you've put yourself into the right mindset, then you can begin.

First and foremost, your first objective should be to figure out the issue or multiple issues that are plaguing your channel. Start by evaluating your channel and videos. Try to determine if any major changes have been made to the things I mentioned above. Has your publishing frequency decreased? Did you change your thumbnails? It's important to get a diagnosis.

Once you've figured out an issue or multiple issues that you need to deal with, you'll need to figure out how you can go about dealing with the issue. For an issue like publishing frequency, most times publishing more frequently will solve the issue. If the issue is average view duration or click-through rate, then you'll need to do some more intensive testing.

Testing comes down to trying different things and evaluating the feedback. Try using a certain style of thumbnail for 5 videos, and determine if your click-through rate increased or decreased. Change the way you edit your videos for 5 videos, and see if your average view duration increases or decreases.

Diagnose the problem, and do what is necessary to fix it- it's that simple.

Conclusion

Whatever your issue or issues might be, diagnosing the problem and fixing it is in your best interest. The sooner you can fix the problems you're dealing with, the sooner you'll be able to begin to grow your channel exponentially again. Soon, you won't be asking yourself: "Why are my views dropping on YouTube?"- you'll be asking yourself: "Why am I growing so fast?"

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