This. I make sure to every now and then look through the list of people I'm subscribed to and check if any of them have a little dot next to them indicating new content. DO NOT SUNSET THIS.
you could originally have history be disabled and get recommended videos based on liked videos, (how it should be) now it's based on watch history, and because of this change I no longer have a UA-cam recommendation feed. I'm also too stubborn to turn watch history back on and succumb to tech giants information greed.
I am at the 8:58 mark. I must say. Do not remove the subscription. I deactivated my history so the only things I see first when I open my UA-cam are the search bar and my subscriptions.
Ok, everyone needs to reign in their virtue signal guns. It's clearly a tongue-in-cheek comment. He's saying the subscription functionality is underrepresented on the website. He's not literally requesting that they sunset the feature.
It feels like a lot of these issues could be solved by just shouting out individual videos on the basis that they're good in a vacuum rather than treating channels as a stock that people need to get on the ground floor of. Even if the creator gets burned out and leaves the platform, a funny short film, a catchy song, or a documentary about the history of animals interrupting sporting events could make people happy forever.
It's worth mentioning that your metrics are prone to having less subscriber turnout because you make extremely varying content upload to upload. To be honest, I'm not very interested in public domain super heroes, but I clicked on this video and others from my subscription feed because it sounds interesting. A successful let's play channel greatly benefits from subscribers because people are invested in the serial, and it's similar with essays that are on a consistent subject matter. That said, your reasons for not shouting out anymore are completely fair and it is super annoying that UA-cam will essentially black list channels whose subscribers don't click on videos.
Also, I think your contributions to channels behind the scenes is great! A lot of people don't realize they need advice when it's the final piece they need
This is accurate. I have a few essay channels that I'm subscribed to that I can always count on the algorithm to recommend to me as soon as they upload, no matter how unrelated my recently watched videos are. It has learned that I will click on any video they upload, so it always offers it to me. Whereas for most channels I'm subscribed to, I don't have the time or interest to click on every single upload, so the algorithm bases recommendations of their videos way more on my recent activity.
It's yes and no. You can see that Austin's biggest videos are his most low-brow and "rent paying" content, like "X number of useless facts in Y amount of time", which are clearly not his passion, but seem to move the needle on keeping AdSense money coming in. He clearly loves making his SuperZeroes content and that's awesome and I'm glad he does it, even if those videos would never pay the rent if he started making a "public domain super heroes" channel from scratch without the viral content to bolster it. That said, I've been on UA-cam for 10 years and I've had *some* success (nearly 21k subs, 2 million views) with multi-hour video game/series reviews, but if I make a video that does well organically/algorithmically and then try to follow it up with a similar game in the genre, popular or not, those don't pick up nearly as many views, even if it should be a exactly what my original viewer was looking for. To that end, subscribers DO have a big effect on numbers. For example: I made a multi-hour Deus Ex: Human Revolution review in 2021 when I had less than 2,000 subscribers and to date, it's garnered 50,000 views. At the time, I knew hbomberguy was making his own video (and they're pretty similar, pulling from similar sources in a lot of cases), but his video came out six months later and now sits at 15 million views. To date, I have no lock on what content is really going to resonate with my subscribed audience or a new one, even though UA-cam's Inspiration page tells me that some of my videos SHOULD be popular and I'm changing titles and thumbnails constantly, even using Test and Compare to A/B test the results. I just kinda make what I want to make and MAYBE the algorithm will cast a light upon it. Unfortunately, this year it's been a bit dry as each new video has performed worse than the last. It's tough.
Massive respect to you for addressing this topic. Subscriptions bloated by people who don't actually care about your content is a huge demoralizer, even before the algorithm dirties the situation further. Thanks for taking the time to address and explain the issue shoutouts tend to cause. Hard disagree with you on removing the subscription system tho. Like others have mentioned, I also actively use the subscription tab, and I've "trained" the algorithm to show me videos from people I'm subscribed to within the first few videos on my recommendeds as well. Primarily by telling it to show me fewer shorts (which you can frustratingly only do on desktop)
Real, I got 75 subs but I can't break even 30 views. That's why I just say "comment and share" subs are worthless then I got another channel with just 8 subs and I had one video be 41 views and the rest just dwindled from there but it's something.
@@plasmamuffin1320 Of course, and I do that too, but sometimes videos that from my subscriptions get buried under other subscriptions, or sometimes UA-cam just refuses to show them to me at all in my sub feed. In the case of premiers, especially those that are announced days in advance, they get buried DEEP. For some reason I don't even get notifications about premiers going live, nor the actual videos getting pushed into my feed, so having the recommended to me makes sure I don't miss a previously premiered video from my favorite creators!
This was a great video and mirrored my own evolving thoughts on this. I also like the idea of hiring or just giving money to smaller creators. I would say, however, that a lot of formal, showy “collaborations” are pretty overrated in my experience. I’ve created scenes for other people’s videos, or had other people create scenes from my videos, and I have found that these do very little to move support in either direction. When collaborations are done, I think they should be done because the other creator has something special to add the video that no one else could - like, say there is a scene in the video where you talk about something relating to architecture and you have an architecture channel expert explain that thing. But even then, I find a lot of viewers don’t really want to spend time with a stranger, so even the most practical-minded collaborations can actually be counterproductive.
I once found a chess channel through a collaboration with a math channel I watched. I think I didn't realize I had passing interest in chess until then. I wonder if the collaboration is more effective if the channels do different genres, but those genres are tangentially related
JJ what 🎉 I never expected my favorite Canadian political pop culture UA-camr would also be watching this content. I have been a fan of the both of you for many years. So interesting to see your perspective on the matter. I guess it would make sense UA-camrs also watch UA-cam. Yet like a student seeing a teacher in the grocery store it's like woah that person is a human what. Thanks for letting me write this cringe comment 😅
I’m confused, there’s a subscriptions tab in UA-cam, and if you click this you see ONLY videos from the channels you’ve subscribed to. Myself and many others browse UA-cam this way. So why should we sunset channel subscriptions? They still function as intended
My problem with using the subscription tab is that it takes a million years to un-sub from all those channels I subbed to with good intentions. 85% of them I don't actually end up watching, so they just make it harder to find the stuff that I do watch. Thus, I use the Home tab always. they need to simply give us a checkbox page with the ability to mass unsub from channels we no longer are interested in, if they want the Subscription tab to work for the majority of us who sub to things willy-nilly.
@@peachy_lili I would ask why you subbed to so many channels you had no intention of watching, when the intended purpose of subscribing is to deliver their videos to you
@@TarezOfficial 10 is how many I know in any one community I'm in, and only if I'm new to it. I'm not exactly chronically online but I have tons of interests, hobbies, and fandoms I'm actively in. Adds up to hundreds, maybe over a thousand. This also kills any channel that doesn't upload often enough to be in your conscious memory or has nothing to upload due to downtime and hiatuses.
Yeah, hard disagree on "UA-cam should just get rid of subscriptions". While the bulk of your traffic might be drive-by views, making it seem from the creator's perspective that subscriptions are useless, that's not the case at all. Some of us actually use that feature to get notified of our favourite creator's new uploads. The feature is there for us, not for you. Just because you get little use out of it doesn't mean it's useless. And no, recommendations are not a good substitute. When I watch a couple of videos from a certain creator, YT starts recommending me more of their videos. And at some point, I've either seen 'em all, oer perhaps not, but it starts recommending me videos that I've already seen or have no interest in. So I ignore them. At which point YT adjusts its recommendations, and as a result, I miss out on their next video. Or only see it months later when YT decides to try again based on whatever opaque parameters their algorithm runs on.
8:35 Terrible take. I check my sub feed daily, and it's how I even found this video. The algorithm is terrible at recommending me videos, so if they removed the subscription feed, I'd probably just stop using UA-cam.
I’ve come to understand that UA-camrs saying that the majority of their views not coming from their subs has been a longstanding cope we’ve had to hear for a decade now. When I compare other UA-camrs I’m subbed to, who share their analytics, there have been plenty of times where a channel will highlight that specific types of videos or a series will get a higher viewership from their subscribers, which tracks. A lot of subscribers want to watch the specific content they subscribed for. You can prove it by looking at a channel’s views for specifically well-performing videos and series. UA-camrs may sometimes want to experiment and make different types of videos, but it will cost them the views and/or loyalty of the people who followed them in the first place. But a lot of them refuse to acknowledge this point, and instead continue making videos that get less than half the amount of attention that their other content draws. Edit: UA-camrs will commonly point out that UA-cam wants to push out recommended content over subscription content. That’s the whole point of the site. Without a recommended feed, the only way a small channel would get ANY attention is by collaborating or getting a shoutout from a large channel. In fact, as algorithmic as the feed may be these days, I’ve never been suggested SO MANY small channels with new catalogs. It’s almost like being exposed to old-school UA-cam, where smaller channels are the bread and butter. One consequence of this is that those channels tend to have highly viewed videos, but not enough subs to reflect the performance of the videos. But I think that correlates more to the modern-day audience who relies on the suggested feed, over the subscription feed. But all that really means is that modern-day subscribers are actually much more valuable today, because they’re genuinely interested in the content.
Yes- but you’re not everyone. That’s what he’s saying. While you might do that and I might do that, we are small potatoes in the minds of UA-cam. All they care about is the numbers.
8:30 Without the subscription page I would not watch youtube. I might not watch everything from the 300 channels I subscribe to (since I last counted). But the majority of what I watch comes from there. I don't want to fall down rabbit holes. I have perosnalized suggestions turned off.
Personally, I tend to start with my subscription tab before moving over to recommendations. It's also how I intentionally keep videos in a feed where I can't watch right now, but know I might want to watch later in the day
I can see what youre saying about subscriptions not mattering, but as someone whose used youtube as tv for the past 13 years and purely goes to his subscription page everyday to see if the people he KNOWS he enjoys watching have uploaded anything today (like you), I would probably die if they removed subscriptions. Its true youtubes changed alot and will probably keep changing, and its true that people change and post new content or may leave the platform all together, but as things are now, its true, its not as great as it used to be, people do post less and finding specific things on youtube sucks ass now, but I still want to try and hold on to what I have as long as I can
I actually go directly to the subs feed a lot to address the subs don’t matter! My subs often don’t end up in recommended. The bell also helps (sometimes). My biggest problem though is I’ve subbed to so many channels I don’t always have time to watch all the videos from my favourite creators.
"My biggest problem though is I’ve subbed to so many channels I don’t always have time to watch all the videos from my favourite creators." You shouldn't view that as a problem. You don't have to watch everything that exists that *could potentially* interest you.
Possible changes you could make: - Instead of sharing the creator, share the video. This only commits viewers to watching the video, which leaves the choice of subscribing completely up to them - ask viewers to only subscribe if they're interested and gonna watch their videos - contact the channels ahead of time to make sure they actually want that shout out
How would you do that on a recommendation video? He could blitz through many channels as an aggregate, or he could take a bite out of UA-cam videos and reupload them to his channel as part of a compilation.
@scrittle Instead of highlighting the creator's work and what they do, he could talk about why he liked one of their videos in particular. Then, instead of linking to the channel, he could link to that video. Also, it doesn't have to follow the same format as his small creator videos. He could share their vids in community posts or social media and have a smaller but similar effect.
@@jazerasor1455 so do just roll over and comply with people who do things to you that you don’t want them to even if you know they’re going to do them anyway? I guess I just still have at least a tiny shred of self-respect left.
🤓 "well acksually dey're tracking ur history constantly" Missing the point. He says he doesn't want to depend on the algorithm to pick his content, Jarl's watch history is a red herring and you all fell for it.
As someone who _doesn't_ check my subscription feed, I still know removing subscriptions from UA-cam entirely would be awful for all the people that do use it regularly
Fantastic video. I've been working on breaking my algorithm habits and focusing on the creators I find most interesting and compelling - yourself included. That's something that is only possible through the subscription tab. Genuine support, whether that's comments or sharing or just watching everything, makes a huge difference and it also feels good. I hope I can find my people too, but until then I will keep loving what I'm doing and what other creators are doing.
I remember applying for a shoutout every single time you were doing one of those. I think not getting a shoutout is one of the best things that could've happened for my channel. Don't get me wrong - I'd have loved the boost, but I would have not been ready for it. Nowadays my channel is growing slowly, but steadily, and I'd like to believe that the quality of the videos is matching the pace. I'm happy to grow together with my audience and learn from the mistakes rather than not truly earning it. In any case - it was a cool thing you did for a lot of creators and i hope to be able to pay it forward in a similar way one day.
The only thing I disagree with is, UA-cam should definitely NOT sunset the subscription system I still use is constantly, because it let's me see whenever a creator fr whom I want to see more videos has uploaded one. Heck, it's how I got to see this very video. Other than that, all your other points make sense. Such are the rigors of being a content creator, I suppose. That anecdote about the small creator for whom your recommendation did nothing but put destructive pressure on them was heartbreaking.
I think the subscribe feature is still very useful for people who do check their sub box. I personally spend a lot of time there instead of on the feed. There are just channels, that I don't want to interact with on a daily or even weekly basis, but want to be reminded of every couple of weeks and the algorithm's memory just doesn't last that long. Also it gives people the illusion of control, so I think UA-cam also sees it as very useful for that.
1 cool video for every 20 videos presenting a creator waffling about a random subject for 3+ hours that you forget about after 5 minutes. Everyone wants to be a Fred Knudson but nobody can dedicate the same time and polish.
I turned off history, turned off reccommendation feed and ONLY browse youtube on my subscirbe feed!!! Because the algo is crap hahaha i found this exact vid from my sub feed!
subscriptions are really the only way to keep up with channels that upload infrequently. My current model is to only subscribe to those channels and then let the home page give me videos from channels that upload a lot.
I watch you from my subscription feed, Austin. I have for years. I definitely would have stopped watching your videos a while ago because UA-cam wasn't recommending me your videos. but the subscription feed has KEPT me here as my interests continue to align with your ever changing content.
I'll add my data point to the others. 90 percent of my youtube interactions are through the Subscriptions page. If youtube removed subscriptions, then I'd either jump ship or have to build my own subscription tracking application. I can't imagine slogging through whatever crap youtube shovels up. And adblockers aren't just for ads, I've blocked shorts from even displaying on my screen as that nonsense is nothing more than brain rot.
@@Yesica1993 Hopefully this message goes through. If you use uBlock Origin, you can use the "element picker" to select one of the "shelfs" to remove it. -I'll post a separate comment with the two filters.- I realized I don't know the filter for the Home page, so I'm not sure.
@@Yesica1993Not sure if you can fully block shorts but there is a way to restrict them from appearing on your feed. Click on the three little dots on the top of the shorts page. A message will then pop up asking if you want UA-cam to recommend fewer stories to your home page. After refreshing the page, no more shorts appeared on my home page. Hope this helps.
@@MandMProductions44 Hm, this is interesting. I am not seeing the 3 dots option. Maybe that's only available if you already have your Watch History on? Could be. But I don't want to mess with it because I never remember how to get back to it, LOL! Anyway, thanks. I'll keep an eye out and see what I can figure out.
@ Ok, it seems that the three dots only appear if you have the UA-cam app. Otherwise, there is only the option on desktop to click “x” next to the shorts tab on your home page to temporarily stopping seeing shorts for 30 days. In short, I would suggest downloading the UA-cam app on your phone and signing into your account if you want to fully stop seeing shorts on your home page. Really hope it works this time.
The subscription feed stat is not a reliable metric for subscription click-through, since UA-cam knows which channels you watch a lot and will give you lots of convenient ways of noticing their videos before you've even had a chance to open the subscription feed. So many of the regular viewers who _would have_ watched it in the subscription feed don't, since UA-cam already knew that they would.
I’ve been on UA-cam since 2012, mostly making videos about writing and books. I have created over 1200 videos. You would think with so much content, the algorithm would give me a break, but it hasn’t. I’ve been on the verge of quitting many times. I haven’t had a video get over a thousand views since 2017. The only time I get any traction is when I talk about something negative or controversial, which I don’t like doing. I have over 1000 subscribers, but it’s only because I’ve been on UA-cam for so long. It frustrates me when I see someone with 20 videos and they already have 100k subscribers. The problem is UA-cam doesn’t do a good job at bringing like-minded people together. I have to search for the content that I want to watch. It’s rarely recommended to me.
Nah, I find new content with recommendations, but when I'm not in the mood for something new, I just stick to watching videos from my subscription feed. Subscriptions are also there to alert me to when my favorite creators upload new content as well.
Hey man when you actually use it for what it's for, subscribing is pretty cool. I generally watch videos (including this one) directly from my subscribed tab. I know most people don't but don't tell youtube to remove that option, it's pretty useful.
My recommended feed is mostly either topics I have no interest in or videos I watched once 10 years ago, so I prefer to go to the subscription tab to find new stuff to watch.
I love your videos, Austin. You know how to tell a story, and I can (and have) watched you talk about things I have absolutely no interest in just because you do it in such an entertaining and engaging way. I think those focusing on what you said in passing about removing subs entirely missed the point of the video, but whatever. I admire your character, man, and I am always gonna be here to watch what you make. Making a video talking about this and helping people understand the consequences of shoutouts and stuff is commendable, especially when most UA-camrs would not even think of the damage they could do, or ignore that entirely and focus on the fact that "they had good intentions." I'm rambling, but yeah. Love your videos, very inspired by your story and your character, and I commend you for making this.
Sunset the sub-button?? Bro, I literally start every UA-cam session by checking my subscription box. Removing that feature would just make my experience worse!
The subscription tab does still matter for people who actually use it as intended. I prioritise watching the channels I'm subscribed to over what UA-cam recommends. I do recognize that the people who do use the subscription tab seems a relatively small group comparatively but it only looks small because the people who do browse by recommendations is so huge. Especially in the current climate of YT Shorts and TikToks.
Subscriptions + watch later is how I use youtube. I just constantly throw what looks good from subscriptions and recommended into watch later, and then burn that queue down
I literally only use the subscriptions page. I have history and recommendations turned off and I find new people to subscribe to organically. If they were to remove the subscription feed, I don't think I would continue to use UA-cam.
Just because people click on the main page to get to your video does not mean subscriptions are worthless. If I did not see your video on the recommendations page, I would have clicked on your video from my subscriptions page anyways but because I saw it on recommendations first, it messes with the statistic. Some channels I watch that upload very infrequently would likely not appear on my recommendations page if I was not subscribed to them or they would at least be buried but subbing seems to give them priority
We started out with absolutely nothing and no promotion. Growing your channel without any “help” is one of the most validating things you can experience because you know the success is “real”. I’d hate to have started off with an artificial boost in the numbers.
I use the front page and subscriptions for different things. I have a huge variety of interests - engineering, gaming, music, camping, automotive stuff, aircraft, politics, etc. And if I watch a string of one type of content, the algorithm will "zero in" and I'll stop seeing as much of my interests. So my "subscriptions" tab is a nice reset to the algorithm.
90% of what I watch on UA-cam is from my subscription feed. The way I open UA-cam is a shortcut bookmark to my subscription page so I skip the homepage. I wouldn't be so upset if UA-cam got rid of me being able to keep track of the content creators I want to watch
insane that youtube seems to think subscribers dont mean anything. meanwhile people have millions of followers on tiktok, an app where that number LITERALLY does not matter
I have turned off my UA-cam history, and just view my subscription and saved playlists, but I am subscribed to too many channels and often miss videos of interest in my subscription feed
I am pretty sure turning off your history doesn't change the algorithm, it just doesn't save the the specifics and you then can't call up a video you watched previously.
@GaviLazan It probably is still running in the background and effects recommended videos when I am watching anything, but my home screen on phone is just the search bar and youtube logo, so I always start from subscriptions
I turned of my algorithmic feed and watch history after I disabled data gathering from UA-cam/Google. The majority of the content that I watch is from channels I am subscribed to. I do rely on finding and getting to know good channels. I also know that I am in the absolute minority in regards to this.
I only subscribe to channels I want all videos notified, and when I get a notification, is much likely that will watch that video. I don't subscribe to channels I "somewhat" like. For me, subscriptions are important because they are my core interest on the platform.
I 99% watch videos from channels I’m subscribed to. I only check the sub feed. I have watch history turned off which means the home feed now gets completely turned off.
Id like to hop into this comment section to say the same thing. Even if the subscribtion metric doesnt mean what it uses to, millions of users still open the app everyday and only watch content from within their subscription feed. I love my sub feed. That being said, i am one of those dormant subscribers who won't unsub to old people. I have hundreds of subscriptions and only actually on click on maybe 20 of them.. that being said again you, austin are one of those 20 so if i lose your subscription i might never see your videos again
So I militarisitcally mark all creators I do not want to see as "Do Not recommend Channel" I also hate Shorts, vapid content that don't teach me anything. My Home feed is highly curated, I have also slowly been transitioning to TubeSync.
Yeah I'll join in with the many number of people posting that they use subscriptions. I use my subscription tab for 80% of the videos I use, with the recommendation algorithm only taking up 20% of the videos I watch. I think subscription percentage of views depends heavily on type of channel one has. For video essay channels like yours, its a low percentage. For, lets say, a channel that does solo-pokemon speedrunning videos, like Scott's Thoughts, it makes up the majority of the views for most of their videos.
I don't use the app because of this. in my browser there is a bookmark for the UA-cam subscribe page, I don't even go through the front page. I installed an extension in my browser that hides UA-cam shorts too so that Doomscrolling doesn't happen. I took these measures both on the desktop and on the cell phone.
7:25 If only there were a page that only showed you the people you specifically told people you wanted to watch. You could like, subscribe to their channels like they were a magazine, and UA-cam would just feed you that. Call it, I dunno, a subscription feed.
I don't know how or when i did, but the best thing I did was turn off viewing history on UA-cam. It stops the home page from showing recommendations and the video recommendations on the side bar are much more closely linked to the video I'm watching.
I've definitely gotten sucked down the recommendation rabbit hole on more than one occasion, and it happens more and more as time goes on. Hower, the subs tab is always my first stop. I don't find content to watch through it as often as I used to, but I think that's more an issue of me unsubbing from a lot of channels, and my old favorites no longer posting content, versus me not being satisfied with it. I very much want to have control over what I watch and not be spammed left and right. Ironically, I found your video via recommendations and I clicked on it, and here I am (good video by the way!).
Great episode. Thank you for your candor. (And great humor) That's a rare thing on this platform. And about "Thanking", here is _another_ kind of "thanking" that is, ironically, not good: One of my favorite channels thanks his Patreon supporters at the end of every show! Approx 25% of each episode ends with him boringly reading out ALL the names.This is really annoying because it leaves out all of us who did _not_ contribute. We are now guilt- tripped. And it leaves a bad taste in the viewers' mouths. That ends up being my takaway.
If I find a channel I like, I will go though their back catalogue and only subscribe if I know I'll watch when they post something. I'm subbed to just over 130 channels which keeps me entertained all day. With at least one 2 hour live stream each day, (sometimes I can hop from the end of one live stream to the start of another one. I had 3 in a row yesterday)
Algorithmically driven content is ruining the Internet, IMO. I use a browser extension to turn off recommendations so I only see my subscriptions, so getting rid of them would pretty much be the end of using youtube for me. I refuse to engage with algorithmically driven content, because it's all designed to be addicting and keep you on the site (as you pointed out). I can find new channels from word of mouth recommendations by friends / other youtubers / social media etc. Now I understand that I seem to be in the minority here (though maybe not based on your comments here) but this is my personal experience and how I enjoy using the site in a sane and mentally healthy way.
When I was a kid, I used the search function to find videos all the time because the home page wasn't doing it for me. That was until UA-cam mutilated search to hide most content so boosted videos got suggested instead. I've pretty much stopped brute forcing search results and resorted to listening to user suggestions & subbing to Twitch streamer vod channels. Algo content is often awful.
I turned off and deleted all watch and search history on Google two years ago. Best decision I’ve ever made. UA-cam doesn’t recommend anything to me. I have no algorithm. My only source of content is my subscription feed.
Am I weird? Like the first thing I always do when I open this app is going to the subscribed tab I understand I might be in the minority. But when people talk about the algorithm and subscriptions it makes me feel like the subscribed tab is invisible or something
Half the time I'm on UA-cam I spend on the home page and the other half on my subscription tab. Removing that latter for me would be a deal breaker because it would be too hard to keep up with the channels I actually watch, that's the whole point of why I subscribe to channels.
The idea of getting rid of the sub feed is so stupid and creator biased i cant believe you believe that Im still subbed to you, the reason i dont click your content is because nearly all (this video is the exception) look uninteresting, boring or self serving. Look at your own content first before blaming the metrics
5:07 Comparing viewcounts on a Short to a longer video on a super niche topic that’s different from why most people subscribed is extremely disingenuous.
Your second point two is faulty logic. It's justifying your choice based on how someone else responds. But, you can't know how Barry will reply. what if Barry also understands the algorithm and posts a written community thank you or a comment on your vid... bypassing the problem and taking your endorsement in stride.
8:30 How about actually taking some accountability for what you are watching instead of asking UA-cam to remove a core feature of the platform? You don't need to click on recommendations, you can just use notifications from channels you sub to uploading, or access the videos through the search/channel pages. I can see why you would have that perspective, the bulk of your views came from a few videos that trended rather than people who click on everything you post after getting some lucky videos that trended. But not every channel grows that way, some grow more steadily and get the majority of their views from subscribers.
I understand the points made, but I think channel who have 10k-30k or so who are trying to make a name for themselves would help, it would circumvent the small for fun channels over stressing for a new audience, they could of course flame out and have few of the new subs stick around. It might just be me since I don't sub to channels because someone recommends them, I see what it's about watch a video or two and sub if I like it.
"UA-cam should get rid of the subscriber feature". HELL NO. I watch YT primarily from my push notifications and the bell button drop down menu. Only when I've watched everything I wanted from my new notifications do I watch things recommended to to me. If I sub to someone, and I'll watch all of their content, I hit the bell button because THAT'S how I watch most channels. I use that bell button list of videos more than anything. Sometimes, I will only watch some videos from a sub (not super common, but sometimes), so I don't hit the bell button and only watch from my recommended for them. But that bell button is EXTREMELY useful for me. Getting rid of it would make YT a thousand times worse.
as someone who watches youtube videos 80% by picking them from my subscription feed, youtube removing this feature would completely ruin my experience
Same here! Almost any other video I watch is by accident because UA-cam forces it in front of my eyes...
I just commented that I deactivated my history so I could only see my subscriptions when I enter UA-cam.
So I get you.
This. I make sure to every now and then look through the list of people I'm subscribed to and check if any of them have a little dot next to them indicating new content. DO NOT SUNSET THIS.
you could originally have history be disabled and get recommended videos based on liked videos, (how it should be) now it's based on watch history, and because of this change I no longer have a UA-cam recommendation feed. I'm also too stubborn to turn watch history back on and succumb to tech giants information greed.
Yep, The subscription button and notifications are perfect.
It always surprises me thst people dont use the subscription tab. It's all I use to browse youtube
It's crazy because i don't even use my subscription feed, I didn't even remember there was one lol
UA-cam is a nation of two peoples divided by a tab... Or something like that.
Yeah, that's how I found this video
yeah its crazy, I use it every day!
me too, 90% of the other stuff is 💩 I dont want to see what Logan Paul did last night. 🤮
As one of the channels you shouted out I'll just say it was one of the most memorable things to happen to me during my mediocre time on UA-cam.
shame you fell down that rabbit hole of puppy kicking extremists
Shout a fella out 🥺🥺🤜🤜
is there news
@@Freakmenn No
I remember your shout out video!
NO dont get rid of the subscriptions tab, I use it every day!
are you single?????????
@@maggiethedog9113wtf
Dude my book mark to youtube is the sub box
same!
Police: "Who radicalized you?"
Me: "UA-cam, when they removed the subscription tab."
I am at the 8:58 mark.
I must say. Do not remove the subscription. I deactivated my history so the only things I see first when I open my UA-cam are the search bar and my subscriptions.
You can do that???
@@ItalianPokeMage Yes! I didn't realize people DON'T do it that way!
Ok, everyone needs to reign in their virtue signal guns.
It's clearly a tongue-in-cheek comment. He's saying the subscription functionality is underrepresented on the website. He's not literally requesting that they sunset the feature.
How do you do this? i would really appreciate knowing it would really help
@@TheHadMatters I don't think you're using the term "virtue signal" correctly
It feels like a lot of these issues could be solved by just shouting out individual videos on the basis that they're good in a vacuum rather than treating channels as a stock that people need to get on the ground floor of. Even if the creator gets burned out and leaves the platform, a funny short film, a catchy song, or a documentary about the history of animals interrupting sporting events could make people happy forever.
Bruh the video just came out.. how did you comment all that
@@MrAnt728 It's probably a patreon-first viewer thing
Honestly the best way to handle channel shout outs (unless the content is similar to yours, or the creator is a similar sized/larger creator).
Shout out content, not the creator, whilst still celebrating the creator for their work
It's kinda what Tom Scott does on his Newsletter. Quality videos
It's worth mentioning that your metrics are prone to having less subscriber turnout because you make extremely varying content upload to upload. To be honest, I'm not very interested in public domain super heroes, but I clicked on this video and others from my subscription feed because it sounds interesting. A successful let's play channel greatly benefits from subscribers because people are invested in the serial, and it's similar with essays that are on a consistent subject matter.
That said, your reasons for not shouting out anymore are completely fair and it is super annoying that UA-cam will essentially black list channels whose subscribers don't click on videos.
Also, I think your contributions to channels behind the scenes is great! A lot of people don't realize they need advice when it's the final piece they need
'Algorithm' is often a euphemism for 'audience' with content creators.
This is accurate. I have a few essay channels that I'm subscribed to that I can always count on the algorithm to recommend to me as soon as they upload, no matter how unrelated my recently watched videos are. It has learned that I will click on any video they upload, so it always offers it to me. Whereas for most channels I'm subscribed to, I don't have the time or interest to click on every single upload, so the algorithm bases recommendations of their videos way more on my recent activity.
I'm in the same boat! This!
It's yes and no.
You can see that Austin's biggest videos are his most low-brow and "rent paying" content, like "X number of useless facts in Y amount of time", which are clearly not his passion, but seem to move the needle on keeping AdSense money coming in. He clearly loves making his SuperZeroes content and that's awesome and I'm glad he does it, even if those videos would never pay the rent if he started making a "public domain super heroes" channel from scratch without the viral content to bolster it.
That said, I've been on UA-cam for 10 years and I've had *some* success (nearly 21k subs, 2 million views) with multi-hour video game/series reviews, but if I make a video that does well organically/algorithmically and then try to follow it up with a similar game in the genre, popular or not, those don't pick up nearly as many views, even if it should be a exactly what my original viewer was looking for.
To that end, subscribers DO have a big effect on numbers. For example: I made a multi-hour Deus Ex: Human Revolution review in 2021 when I had less than 2,000 subscribers and to date, it's garnered 50,000 views. At the time, I knew hbomberguy was making his own video (and they're pretty similar, pulling from similar sources in a lot of cases), but his video came out six months later and now sits at 15 million views.
To date, I have no lock on what content is really going to resonate with my subscribed audience or a new one, even though UA-cam's Inspiration page tells me that some of my videos SHOULD be popular and I'm changing titles and thumbnails constantly, even using Test and Compare to A/B test the results. I just kinda make what I want to make and MAYBE the algorithm will cast a light upon it. Unfortunately, this year it's been a bit dry as each new video has performed worse than the last.
It's tough.
Massive respect to you for addressing this topic. Subscriptions bloated by people who don't actually care about your content is a huge demoralizer, even before the algorithm dirties the situation further. Thanks for taking the time to address and explain the issue shoutouts tend to cause.
Hard disagree with you on removing the subscription system tho. Like others have mentioned, I also actively use the subscription tab, and I've "trained" the algorithm to show me videos from people I'm subscribed to within the first few videos on my recommendeds as well. Primarily by telling it to show me fewer shorts (which you can frustratingly only do on desktop)
Real, I got 75 subs but I can't break even 30 views. That's why I just say "comment and share" subs are worthless
then I got another channel with just 8 subs and I had one video be 41 views and the rest just dwindled from there but it's something.
If you're subscribed to them then why do you need their videos to be recommended? You can just click the subscribed tab to see them all.
@@plasmamuffin1320 Of course, and I do that too, but sometimes videos that from my subscriptions get buried under other subscriptions, or sometimes UA-cam just refuses to show them to me at all in my sub feed. In the case of premiers, especially those that are announced days in advance, they get buried DEEP. For some reason I don't even get notifications about premiers going live, nor the actual videos getting pushed into my feed, so having the recommended to me makes sure I don't miss a previously premiered video from my favorite creators!
This was a great video and mirrored my own evolving thoughts on this. I also like the idea of hiring or just giving money to smaller creators.
I would say, however, that a lot of formal, showy “collaborations” are pretty overrated in my experience. I’ve created scenes for other people’s videos, or had other people create scenes from my videos, and I have found that these do very little to move support in either direction. When collaborations are done, I think they should be done because the other creator has something special to add the video that no one else could - like, say there is a scene in the video where you talk about something relating to architecture and you have an architecture channel expert explain that thing. But even then, I find a lot of viewers don’t really want to spend time with a stranger, so even the most practical-minded collaborations can actually be counterproductive.
I once found a chess channel through a collaboration with a math channel I watched. I think I didn't realize I had passing interest in chess until then. I wonder if the collaboration is more effective if the channels do different genres, but those genres are tangentially related
@@nathanisboredAn en passant interest?
(Sorry.)
JJ what 🎉 I never expected my favorite Canadian political pop culture UA-camr would also be watching this content.
I have been a fan of the both of you for many years. So interesting to see your perspective on the matter.
I guess it would make sense UA-camrs also watch UA-cam. Yet like a student seeing a teacher in the grocery store it's like woah that person is a human what.
Thanks for letting me write this cringe comment 😅
No do not get rid of the subscriptions I almost exclusively use my subscrip[tion feed to watch viedos.
I’m confused, there’s a subscriptions tab in UA-cam, and if you click this you see ONLY videos from the channels you’ve subscribed to. Myself and many others browse UA-cam this way. So why should we sunset channel subscriptions? They still function as intended
Yeah, I can't imagine how it would be good to remove that.
they still function, but definitely not "as intended"...but you're right, we shouldn't get rid of them; they just need to be more prioritized.
My problem with using the subscription tab is that it takes a million years to un-sub from all those channels I subbed to with good intentions. 85% of them I don't actually end up watching, so they just make it harder to find the stuff that I do watch. Thus, I use the Home tab always. they need to simply give us a checkbox page with the ability to mass unsub from channels we no longer are interested in, if they want the Subscription tab to work for the majority of us who sub to things willy-nilly.
@@peachy_lili exactly this
@@peachy_lili I would ask why you subbed to so many channels you had no intention of watching, when the intended purpose of subscribing is to deliver their videos to you
8:32 Can't agree with you on this one. If there was no easy way to find my favorite channels I might abandon the platform altogether
But perhaps it should be renamed. If it is not really a subscription, maybe it should just be called "Favorite" or "Follow"
You can just search for your favorite channels? i reckon you don't have more then 10 of them so...
@@TheHadMatters I don't think you know what virtue signaling is.
@@TarezOfficial 10 is how many I know in any one community I'm in, and only if I'm new to it. I'm not exactly chronically online but I have tons of interests, hobbies, and fandoms I'm actively in. Adds up to hundreds, maybe over a thousand. This also kills any channel that doesn't upload often enough to be in your conscious memory or has nothing to upload due to downtime and hiatuses.
@@TarezOfficialbless your heart
Yeah, hard disagree on "UA-cam should just get rid of subscriptions". While the bulk of your traffic might be drive-by views, making it seem from the creator's perspective that subscriptions are useless, that's not the case at all. Some of us actually use that feature to get notified of our favourite creator's new uploads. The feature is there for us, not for you. Just because you get little use out of it doesn't mean it's useless.
And no, recommendations are not a good substitute. When I watch a couple of videos from a certain creator, YT starts recommending me more of their videos. And at some point, I've either seen 'em all, oer perhaps not, but it starts recommending me videos that I've already seen or have no interest in. So I ignore them. At which point YT adjusts its recommendations, and as a result, I miss out on their next video. Or only see it months later when YT decides to try again based on whatever opaque parameters their algorithm runs on.
8:35 Terrible take. I check my sub feed daily, and it's how I even found this video. The algorithm is terrible at recommending me videos, so if they removed the subscription feed, I'd probably just stop using UA-cam.
god its always people with no fucking clue talking the loudest
I’ve come to understand that UA-camrs saying that the majority of their views not coming from their subs has been a longstanding cope we’ve had to hear for a decade now. When I compare other UA-camrs I’m subbed to, who share their analytics, there have been plenty of times where a channel will highlight that specific types of videos or a series will get a higher viewership from their subscribers, which tracks.
A lot of subscribers want to watch the specific content they subscribed for. You can prove it by looking at a channel’s views for specifically well-performing videos and series.
UA-camrs may sometimes want to experiment and make different types of videos, but it will cost them the views and/or loyalty of the people who followed them in the first place. But a lot of them refuse to acknowledge this point, and instead continue making videos that get less than half the amount of attention that their other content draws.
Edit: UA-camrs will commonly point out that UA-cam wants to push out recommended content over subscription content. That’s the whole point of the site. Without a recommended feed, the only way a small channel would get ANY attention is by collaborating or getting a shoutout from a large channel. In fact, as algorithmic as the feed may be these days, I’ve never been suggested SO MANY small channels with new catalogs. It’s almost like being exposed to old-school UA-cam, where smaller channels are the bread and butter.
One consequence of this is that those channels tend to have highly viewed videos, but not enough subs to reflect the performance of the videos. But I think that correlates more to the modern-day audience who relies on the suggested feed, over the subscription feed. But all that really means is that modern-day subscribers are actually much more valuable today, because they’re genuinely interested in the content.
You are the 0.1%
Same here. Never would have seen this otherwise.
Yes- but you’re not everyone. That’s what he’s saying. While you might do that and I might do that, we are small potatoes in the minds of UA-cam. All they care about is the numbers.
9:16 WOW! I can't believe you shouted me out!
THANK YOU so much! 😀
That is cool. But seriously, you need to stop kicking all those puppies.
Oh geez I thought he was making your channel up 😅
I thought he was making this up as well 😅
Austin you son of a...
@@anyakylie6898 @tomrogue13 it was a joke they created the account (or changed the name) for this 😭
8:30 Without the subscription page I would not watch youtube.
I might not watch everything from the 300 channels I subscribe to (since I last counted).
But the majority of what I watch comes from there.
I don't want to fall down rabbit holes. I have perosnalized suggestions turned off.
Same.
I just re-checked.
I am subscribed to 532 channels.
Most of them are dead though.
@anonanon6596I’m probably subscribed to 2000+, but UA-cam gave up on notifying me when I click the bell after like 700 channels
I hope UA-cam DOESN'T get rid of subscriptions. I depend on them to find the videos I want to see every day. Some of us need subscriptions.
Personally, I tend to start with my subscription tab before moving over to recommendations. It's also how I intentionally keep videos in a feed where I can't watch right now, but know I might want to watch later in the day
I can see what youre saying about subscriptions not mattering, but as someone whose used youtube as tv for the past 13 years and purely goes to his subscription page everyday to see if the people he KNOWS he enjoys watching have uploaded anything today (like you), I would probably die if they removed subscriptions.
Its true youtubes changed alot and will probably keep changing, and its true that people change and post new content or may leave the platform all together, but as things are now, its true, its not as great as it used to be, people do post less and finding specific things on youtube sucks ass now, but I still want to try and hold on to what I have as long as I can
I actually go directly to the subs feed a lot to address the subs don’t matter! My subs often don’t end up in recommended.
The bell also helps (sometimes).
My biggest problem though is I’ve subbed to so many channels I don’t always have time to watch all the videos from my favourite creators.
This.
I regularly unsubscribe from channels I no longer watch so my subscription feed does not get too clogged
"My biggest problem though is I’ve subbed to so many channels I don’t always have time to watch all the videos from my favourite creators."
You shouldn't view that as a problem. You don't have to watch everything that exists that *could potentially* interest you.
Possible changes you could make:
- Instead of sharing the creator, share the video. This only commits viewers to watching the video, which leaves the choice of subscribing completely up to them
- ask viewers to only subscribe if they're interested and gonna watch their videos
- contact the channels ahead of time to make sure they actually want that shout out
So you're recommending him to make Twitch reaction content like Asmongold and Pyrocynical.
@scrittle Never said watch the video and react to it lol. Share the video. Two different things.
How would you do that on a recommendation video? He could blitz through many channels as an aggregate, or he could take a bite out of UA-cam videos and reupload them to his channel as part of a compilation.
@scrittle Instead of highlighting the creator's work and what they do, he could talk about why he liked one of their videos in particular. Then, instead of linking to the channel, he could link to that video. Also, it doesn't have to follow the same format as his small creator videos. He could share their vids in community posts or social media and have a smaller but similar effect.
@@kushj9568 Not a bad suggestion.
I woulda never watched this if it wasn't in my sub feed
100%.
I hope they don’t get rid of the subscriber feature because I literally refuse to give consent to UA-cam track my watch history.
you think they don't already ???
Uhhhh buddy? Your isp, any corporation that wants to buy it, google, and anyone with the skills knows your UA-cam search history.
@@ethaniscool6965 I’m sure they do, but I still won’t consent to it.
@@jazerasor1455 so do just roll over and comply with people who do things to you that you don’t want them to even if you know they’re going to do them anyway? I guess I just still have at least a tiny shred of self-respect left.
🤓 "well acksually dey're tracking ur history constantly"
Missing the point. He says he doesn't want to depend on the algorithm to pick his content, Jarl's watch history is a red herring and you all fell for it.
I still treat UA-cam like back in the olden days. I don’t watch shorts and the first thing I check when I open the app is the subscriptions tab.
I check the subscription tab occasionally to make sure I've not missed any upload I may want to see. But most of the time, its recommendations.
Same.
As someone who _doesn't_ check my subscription feed, I still know removing subscriptions from UA-cam entirely would be awful for all the people that do use it regularly
Fantastic video. I've been working on breaking my algorithm habits and focusing on the creators I find most interesting and compelling - yourself included. That's something that is only possible through the subscription tab.
Genuine support, whether that's comments or sharing or just watching everything, makes a huge difference and it also feels good. I hope I can find my people too, but until then I will keep loving what I'm doing and what other creators are doing.
I remember applying for a shoutout every single time you were doing one of those. I think not getting a shoutout is one of the best things that could've happened for my channel. Don't get me wrong - I'd have loved the boost, but I would have not been ready for it. Nowadays my channel is growing slowly, but steadily, and I'd like to believe that the quality of the videos is matching the pace. I'm happy to grow together with my audience and learn from the mistakes rather than not truly earning it. In any case - it was a cool thing you did for a lot of creators and i hope to be able to pay it forward in a similar way one day.
The only thing I disagree with is, UA-cam should definitely NOT sunset the subscription system I still use is constantly, because it let's me see whenever a creator fr whom I want to see more videos has uploaded one. Heck, it's how I got to see this very video.
Other than that, all your other points make sense. Such are the rigors of being a content creator, I suppose. That anecdote about the small creator for whom your recommendation did nothing but put destructive pressure on them was heartbreaking.
I think the subscribe feature is still very useful for people who do check their sub box. I personally spend a lot of time there instead of on the feed. There are just channels, that I don't want to interact with on a daily or even weekly basis, but want to be reminded of every couple of weeks and the algorithm's memory just doesn't last that long. Also it gives people the illusion of control, so I think UA-cam also sees it as very useful for that.
I am glad you are doing okay and are able to help other people.
8:30 Dear God, without the subscriber page, UA-cam would be unusable to me.
shoutout to your channel! Unique way to present the history of a unique people.
I am so depressed that even you get recommended Dave Ramsey videos.
Why?
@@HunnysPlaylistsProbably some team politics junk
I ONLY use the subscription tab to browse UA-cam at this point, so if they removed subscriptions I would be very sad.
I only use the subscriptions page. Anyone else not give a crap about the videos recommended?
I use both. But I'm frequently disappointed/enraged by the recommendations, so I bounce around to a few places in the app to select a video.
I use the recommended tab to show me videos of channels I like to watch every once in awhile, but don't like enough to subscribe to.
1 cool video for every 20 videos presenting a creator waffling about a random subject for 3+ hours that you forget about after 5 minutes. Everyone wants to be a Fred Knudson but nobody can dedicate the same time and polish.
* raises hand *
It's insulting to be told what I should watch. Or worse, what I would want to watch. They can get lost. I have my own brain!
I turned off history, turned off reccommendation feed and ONLY browse youtube on my subscirbe feed!!! Because the algo is crap hahaha i found this exact vid from my sub feed!
Same.
Hi Austin, I'm one of the few people that comes to your videos from my subscriptions page, people just don't know how to use UA-cam anymore
subscriptions are really the only way to keep up with channels that upload infrequently. My current model is to only subscribe to those channels and then let the home page give me videos from channels that upload a lot.
I watch you from my subscription feed, Austin. I have for years. I definitely would have stopped watching your videos a while ago because UA-cam wasn't recommending me your videos. but the subscription feed has KEPT me here as my interests continue to align with your ever changing content.
I'll add my data point to the others. 90 percent of my youtube interactions are through the Subscriptions page. If youtube removed subscriptions, then I'd either jump ship or have to build my own subscription tracking application. I can't imagine slogging through whatever crap youtube shovels up. And adblockers aren't just for ads, I've blocked shorts from even displaying on my screen as that nonsense is nothing more than brain rot.
OH! How do you block Shorts? I loathe those things... even though I have fallen into watching them sometimes. I'd love to block them all!
@@Yesica1993 Hopefully this message goes through. If you use uBlock Origin, you can use the "element picker" to select one of the "shelfs" to remove it. -I'll post a separate comment with the two filters.- I realized I don't know the filter for the Home page, so I'm not sure.
@@Yesica1993Not sure if you can fully block shorts but there is a way to restrict them from appearing on your feed. Click on the three little dots on the top of the shorts page. A message will then pop up asking if you want UA-cam to recommend fewer stories to your home page. After refreshing the page, no more shorts appeared on my home page. Hope this helps.
@@MandMProductions44
Hm, this is interesting. I am not seeing the 3 dots option. Maybe that's only available if you already have your Watch History on? Could be. But I don't want to mess with it because I never remember how to get back to it, LOL! Anyway, thanks. I'll keep an eye out and see what I can figure out.
@ Ok, it seems that the three dots only appear if you have the UA-cam app. Otherwise, there is only the option on desktop to click “x” next to the shorts tab on your home page to temporarily stopping seeing shorts for 30 days.
In short, I would suggest downloading the UA-cam app on your phone and signing into your account if you want to fully stop seeing shorts on your home page. Really hope it works this time.
i found you from the cursed child video its crazy its been that long
As someone that primarily engages with UA-cam via my subscription feed, sunsetting the subscription feature would suck.
The subscription feed stat is not a reliable metric for subscription click-through, since UA-cam knows which channels you watch a lot and will give you lots of convenient ways of noticing their videos before you've even had a chance to open the subscription feed. So many of the regular viewers who _would have_ watched it in the subscription feed don't, since UA-cam already knew that they would.
I’ve been on UA-cam since 2012, mostly making videos about writing and books. I have created over 1200 videos. You would think with so much content, the algorithm would give me a break, but it hasn’t. I’ve been on the verge of quitting many times. I haven’t had a video get over a thousand views since 2017. The only time I get any traction is when I talk about something negative or controversial, which I don’t like doing. I have over 1000 subscribers, but it’s only because I’ve been on UA-cam for so long. It frustrates me when I see someone with 20 videos and they already have 100k subscribers. The problem is UA-cam doesn’t do a good job at bringing like-minded people together. I have to search for the content that I want to watch. It’s rarely recommended to me.
Nah, I find new content with recommendations, but when I'm not in the mood for something new, I just stick to watching videos from my subscription feed. Subscriptions are also there to alert me to when my favorite creators upload new content as well.
The subscription feed is my first stop whenever I open UA-cam. If you get rid of that, it'll just turn into TikTok
Hey man when you actually use it for what it's for, subscribing is pretty cool. I generally watch videos (including this one) directly from my subscribed tab. I know most people don't but don't tell youtube to remove that option, it's pretty useful.
My recommended feed is mostly either topics I have no interest in or videos I watched once 10 years ago, so I prefer to go to the subscription tab to find new stuff to watch.
I’m currently purging my subscription feed of channels I had subbed too many years ago and ultimately don’t watch. I feel bad but it’s best.
I've been using UA-cam since elementary school and the fact that the average user doesn't use the subscription feed blows my mind.
I love your videos, Austin. You know how to tell a story, and I can (and have) watched you talk about things I have absolutely no interest in just because you do it in such an entertaining and engaging way.
I think those focusing on what you said in passing about removing subs entirely missed the point of the video, but whatever. I admire your character, man, and I am always gonna be here to watch what you make. Making a video talking about this and helping people understand the consequences of shoutouts and stuff is commendable, especially when most UA-camrs would not even think of the damage they could do, or ignore that entirely and focus on the fact that "they had good intentions."
I'm rambling, but yeah. Love your videos, very inspired by your story and your character, and I commend you for making this.
I actually found you through a recommendation from the popular channel Mumbo Jumbo
Sorry but getting rid of the subscription feed would be the worst change youtube could make
Got it. Subscribing to Barry's Lego Land. Thanks for the recommendation.
Sunset the sub-button?? Bro, I literally start every UA-cam session by checking my subscription box. Removing that feature would just make my experience worse!
He definitely called that channel Barry so he could make that Flash reference lmao
The subscription tab does still matter for people who actually use it as intended. I prioritise watching the channels I'm subscribed to over what UA-cam recommends. I do recognize that the people who do use the subscription tab seems a relatively small group comparatively but it only looks small because the people who do browse by recommendations is so huge. Especially in the current climate of YT Shorts and TikToks.
Subscriptions + watch later is how I use youtube. I just constantly throw what looks good from subscriptions and recommended into watch later, and then burn that queue down
I literally only use the subscriptions page. I have history and recommendations turned off and I find new people to subscribe to organically. If they were to remove the subscription feed, I don't think I would continue to use UA-cam.
Dude, I literally watch 90% from my subscription feed, including this damn video!
I've been subscribed to you for ages, love it!
You mean the nine months this account existed, pron bot
Just because people click on the main page to get to your video does not mean subscriptions are worthless. If I did not see your video on the recommendations page, I would have clicked on your video from my subscriptions page anyways but because I saw it on recommendations first, it messes with the statistic. Some channels I watch that upload very infrequently would likely not appear on my recommendations page if I was not subscribed to them or they would at least be buried but subbing seems to give them priority
Oh God, the cursed child, that's a thing I forgot about fortunately, glad your rewrite exists 😊
We started out with absolutely nothing and no promotion. Growing your channel without any “help” is one of the most validating things you can experience because you know the success is “real”. I’d hate to have started off with an artificial boost in the numbers.
I use the front page and subscriptions for different things. I have a huge variety of interests - engineering, gaming, music, camping, automotive stuff, aircraft, politics, etc. And if I watch a string of one type of content, the algorithm will "zero in" and I'll stop seeing as much of my interests. So my "subscriptions" tab is a nice reset to the algorithm.
this is how i use it too, and how i think it's designed to be used.
It feels like the solution would be easy, only recommend channels similar to yours. Why would you recommend a lego building channel?
90% of what I watch on UA-cam is from my subscription feed. The way I open UA-cam is a shortcut bookmark to my subscription page so I skip the homepage. I wouldn't be so upset if UA-cam got rid of me being able to keep track of the content creators I want to watch
It's good to see more videos from you. Hope your recovery is going well.
insane that youtube seems to think subscribers dont mean anything. meanwhile people have millions of followers on tiktok, an app where that number LITERALLY does not matter
I have turned off my UA-cam history, and just view my subscription and saved playlists, but I am subscribed to too many channels and often miss videos of interest in my subscription feed
I am pretty sure turning off your history doesn't change the algorithm, it just doesn't save the the specifics and you then can't call up a video you watched previously.
@@GaviLazanturn off the history remove the UA-cam homepage
@GaviLazan It probably is still running in the background and effects recommended videos when I am watching anything, but my home screen on phone is just the search bar and youtube logo, so I always start from subscriptions
I turned of my algorithmic feed and watch history after I disabled data gathering from UA-cam/Google. The majority of the content that I watch is from channels I am subscribed to.
I do rely on finding and getting to know good channels. I also know that I am in the absolute minority in regards to this.
I only subscribe to channels I want all videos notified, and when I get a notification, is much likely that will watch that video. I don't subscribe to channels I "somewhat" like. For me, subscriptions are important because they are my core interest on the platform.
I 99% watch videos from channels I’m subscribed to. I only check the sub feed. I have watch history turned off which means the home feed now gets completely turned off.
Id like to hop into this comment section to say the same thing. Even if the subscribtion metric doesnt mean what it uses to, millions of users still open the app everyday and only watch content from within their subscription feed. I love my sub feed. That being said, i am one of those dormant subscribers who won't unsub to old people. I have hundreds of subscriptions and only actually on click on maybe 20 of them.. that being said again you, austin are one of those 20 so if i lose your subscription i might never see your videos again
So I militarisitcally mark all creators I do not want to see as "Do Not recommend Channel"
I also hate Shorts, vapid content that don't teach me anything.
My Home feed is highly curated, I have also slowly been transitioning to TubeSync.
I also never EVER sign into the UA-cam App, I exclusively use the browser on a PC, with Ad Block and Sponsorblock
It's already been 9 years? Where did the time go.
Yeah I'll join in with the many number of people posting that they use subscriptions. I use my subscription tab for 80% of the videos I use, with the recommendation algorithm only taking up 20% of the videos I watch. I think subscription percentage of views depends heavily on type of channel one has. For video essay channels like yours, its a low percentage. For, lets say, a channel that does solo-pokemon speedrunning videos, like Scott's Thoughts, it makes up the majority of the views for most of their videos.
I live on my sub page but guess that's unusual UA-camr behavior
I don't use the app because of this. in my browser there is a bookmark for the UA-cam subscribe page, I don't even go through the front page. I installed an extension in my browser that hides UA-cam shorts too so that Doomscrolling doesn't happen. I took these measures both on the desktop and on the cell phone.
7:25 If only there were a page that only showed you the people you specifically told people you wanted to watch. You could like, subscribe to their channels like they were a magazine, and UA-cam would just feed you that. Call it, I dunno, a subscription feed.
As someone who uses the subscriptions feed a lot:
UA-cam, please don't remove the subscription features!
I don't know how or when i did, but the best thing I did was turn off viewing history on UA-cam. It stops the home page from showing recommendations and the video recommendations on the side bar are much more closely linked to the video I'm watching.
I've definitely gotten sucked down the recommendation rabbit hole on more than one occasion, and it happens more and more as time goes on. Hower, the subs tab is always my first stop. I don't find content to watch through it as often as I used to, but I think that's more an issue of me unsubbing from a lot of channels, and my old favorites no longer posting content, versus me not being satisfied with it. I very much want to have control over what I watch and not be spammed left and right. Ironically, I found your video via recommendations and I clicked on it, and here I am (good video by the way!).
Great episode.
Thank you for your candor. (And great humor) That's a rare thing on this platform.
And about "Thanking", here is _another_ kind of "thanking" that is, ironically, not good: One of my favorite channels thanks his Patreon supporters at the end of every show! Approx 25% of each episode ends with him boringly reading out ALL the names.This is really annoying because it leaves out all of us who did _not_ contribute. We are now guilt- tripped. And it leaves a bad taste in the viewers' mouths. That ends up being my takaway.
If I find a channel I like, I will go though their back catalogue and only subscribe if I know I'll watch when they post something. I'm subbed to just over 130 channels which keeps me entertained all day. With at least one 2 hour live stream each day, (sometimes I can hop from the end of one live stream to the start of another one. I had 3 in a row yesterday)
Algorithmically driven content is ruining the Internet, IMO. I use a browser extension to turn off recommendations so I only see my subscriptions, so getting rid of them would pretty much be the end of using youtube for me. I refuse to engage with algorithmically driven content, because it's all designed to be addicting and keep you on the site (as you pointed out). I can find new channels from word of mouth recommendations by friends / other youtubers / social media etc. Now I understand that I seem to be in the minority here (though maybe not based on your comments here) but this is my personal experience and how I enjoy using the site in a sane and mentally healthy way.
When I was a kid, I used the search function to find videos all the time because the home page wasn't doing it for me. That was until UA-cam mutilated search to hide most content so boosted videos got suggested instead. I've pretty much stopped brute forcing search results and resorted to listening to user suggestions & subbing to Twitch streamer vod channels. Algo content is often awful.
I turned off and deleted all watch and search history on Google two years ago. Best decision I’ve ever made. UA-cam doesn’t recommend anything to me. I have no algorithm. My only source of content is my subscription feed.
Am I weird? Like the first thing I always do when I open this app is going to the subscribed tab I understand I might be in the minority. But when people talk about the algorithm and subscriptions it makes me feel like the subscribed tab is invisible or something
Exactly!
A video talking about a certain topic and including channels who profundize on it may be better as it attracts people actually interested on it
Half the time I'm on UA-cam I spend on the home page and the other half on my subscription tab. Removing that latter for me would be a deal breaker because it would be too hard to keep up with the channels I actually watch, that's the whole point of why I subscribe to channels.
The idea of getting rid of the sub feed is so stupid and creator biased i cant believe you believe that
Im still subbed to you, the reason i dont click your content is because nearly all (this video is the exception) look uninteresting, boring or self serving.
Look at your own content first before blaming the metrics
I absolutely love that background you have, the lighting is amazing
Bisexual lighting ftw
"That's not bisexual lighting girl you are getting pulled over"
5:07 Comparing viewcounts on a Short to a longer video on a super niche topic that’s different from why most people subscribed is extremely disingenuous.
Idk I’d rather have an artificially boosted subscriber count while still getting the same amount of low views vs low views and barely any subscribers.
Glad to see you recovered so well
This is why I always hit the bell. I rarely pay attention to youtube's recommendations and just check notifications from subscribers.
Your second point two is faulty logic. It's justifying your choice based on how someone else responds. But, you can't know how Barry will reply. what if Barry also understands the algorithm and posts a written community thank you or a comment on your vid... bypassing the problem and taking your endorsement in stride.
When life turns your passions into a pressure cooker, make a stew.
8:30 How about actually taking some accountability for what you are watching instead of asking UA-cam to remove a core feature of the platform? You don't need to click on recommendations, you can just use notifications from channels you sub to uploading, or access the videos through the search/channel pages.
I can see why you would have that perspective, the bulk of your views came from a few videos that trended rather than people who click on everything you post after getting some lucky videos that trended. But not every channel grows that way, some grow more steadily and get the majority of their views from subscribers.
Most people are just hairless apes, they'll watch anything if it catches their eye like a shiny coin
I understand the points made, but I think channel who have 10k-30k or so who are trying to make a name for themselves would help, it would circumvent the small for fun channels over stressing for a new audience, they could of course flame out and have few of the new subs stick around. It might just be me since I don't sub to channels because someone recommends them, I see what it's about watch a video or two and sub if I like it.
"UA-cam should get rid of the subscriber feature". HELL NO. I watch YT primarily from my push notifications and the bell button drop down menu. Only when I've watched everything I wanted from my new notifications do I watch things recommended to to me. If I sub to someone, and I'll watch all of their content, I hit the bell button because THAT'S how I watch most channels. I use that bell button list of videos more than anything. Sometimes, I will only watch some videos from a sub (not super common, but sometimes), so I don't hit the bell button and only watch from my recommended for them. But that bell button is EXTREMELY useful for me. Getting rid of it would make YT a thousand times worse.