Stop asking for YouTube Subscribers, they don’t *really* matter!

When I first started my YouTube channel, all I ever dreamed of was reaching 100,000 subscribers and receiving that play button - and finally feeling confident and fulfilled. News flash: that didn’t happen. Because frankly? Subscribers don’t matter. You don’t need a lot of subscribers on YouTube to be successful - and in fact, my only goal on YouTube has completely shifted, and it’s changed the way I think about my YouTube growth strategy in general. In today’s episode, we will not only cover why subscribers don’t really matter (and why you shouldn’t bother asking for them) and what actually matters instead. Let’s get into it!

Why subscribers don’t matter

To understand this shift in strategy, you need to know the history of the YouTube homepage.

When YouTube first launched in 2005, it was essentially a static website where everyone who visited youtube.com would see the same featured videos, or otherwise search for content they were interested in. You can think of YouTube at this time as a bulletin board. The featured bulletins were chosen by YouTube staff. At this point in time, the main strategy for growth was frequency - posting often and trying to post content that you thought the YouTube staff might want to feature.

Soon, YouTube introduced subscriptions - a new model where the user could curate their feed of featured videos by following creators they wanted to watch. Instead of seeing the featured videos page when you logged in, you received your own customized magazine of videos by creators that you subscribed to. So we upgraded from a shared bulletin board to a customized magazine with videos of your choosing. A change in growth strategy followed this platform change - now the play was to get into as many people's subscriptions as possible. Creators would prompt viewers to subscribe, and one of the best ways to get new viewers was collaborating with other creators - because that was one way you could show up in new subscription feeds. This was the era of YouTuber cliques, generic challenge videos, and lots of collaborations.

But the subscription feed was eventually replaced as the default landing page for YouTube by the homepage. A page of recommendations not curated by the viewer - but by the algorithm. Now, instead of seeing a custom list of videos from creators that you followed, you would log in to YouTube to see videos recommended to you by the algorithm. YouTube is choosing the videos for you - but instead of a random YouTube staffer doing it like in 2005, now specialized AI that got to know you were doing it. Essentially, we've evolved past that curated magazine era and moved into a world where your AI virtual assistant picks out videos for you.

In the era of the subscription feed, getting subscribers was the main aim for growth and success on the platform. But we're no longer in the subscription era.

My only goal is to increase views

My only goal for my YouTube channel in 2023 is to increase my views. This honestly wasn't something that I worried about a ton in the past because I was so laser-focused on subscribers.

But as I started doing more brand deals - and brands were expressing to me that their main priority (and really, what determined the amount that they were willing to pay me) was the reach of the video that they would be sponsoring - I had this aha moment.

Whether you want to work with brands or not doesn't even matter - because if you want to sell merch, sell digital products, or advertise your own business - still, the success of all of that is more connected with your average view count than your subscriber count.

So what exactly is my goal? I'll be honest; this is kinda vulnerable for me to share because I'll be real: I'm sort of insecure about my view count. I get, on average, 10K views per video, and you would think that with my subscriber count - that would be higher. (It sometimes can be higher but it can sometimes be lower - it fluctuates like it would for anyone) There are a lot of reasons for this that don't have to do with the quality of my videos (at least, that's what I tell myself). Here are my theories:

• My channel has been around for a while.

• A lot of people may have subscribed for different content.

• I make tip videos for creators; not everyone who starts keeps going. Many people who subscribed to me may have given up.

• If they don't go to their subscriptions feed, they may never see my videos if I'm not able to break through to their homepage.

How to increase your views

Okay, but how do you get more views then? In the subscription feed era, we knew that getting subscribers was the key to getting views. But it's different now...

You need to think about it like this: you're not convincing the viewer to subscribe - you're trying to convince their algorithm to subscribe to you. Because users aren't curating their own feeds anymore, right? The algorithm is curating a feed for them based on how and if they engage with your content.

Click-through rate and retention - that's it. These are the indicators that tell the algorithm to show more of your videos to a viewer - or, essentially, "subscribe" them to you.

So, that's what I'm trying to increase. I want to get my thumbnails and titles clicked on more often, and more significantly, I want to keep people watching until the end of my video.

My click-through rate is already between 4-7%, which is pretty good, but I want to increase my view duration from 30% to 50%.

Click-through rate:

If you're struggling with your click-through rate, there are a few things you can do to improve it. First, make sure your thumbnails are visually appealing and eye-catching. Use your brand colors, clear images, and text overlays to make your thumbnail stand out. Your title is also important - it should be descriptive and accurately reflect the content of your video. Try to use strong, attention-grabbing language in your title that will make viewers want to click. Don't be afraid to experiment with different thumbnail and title combinations to see what works best for your content. With some effort and experimentation, you can improve your click-through rate and boost your video's visibility.

Retention:

It's all about keeping people until the end and getting them to watch more. This is why I said before, it's not all about asking people to subscribe - in fact, stopping the whole proceeding of the video to ask for subscriptions is one way to mess up your view duration (because if you're not quick about it - people might click off of the video). Ideally, you keep your video fast-paced, interesting, and valuable - and your viewers will want to watch until the end. If you can get them to watch until the end, especially if you can get them to watch another one of your videos - then as far as their home page algorithm is concerned, they will basically be "subscribed" to you. You can easily test my theory. Go to my YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/katie, and watch a video. Then following that, watch another one. See if I start to show up on your home page, I bet I do!

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Okay, creators - that’s it for today’s episode. Just remember, while subscribers are still important for building a community and establishing a loyal following, views are ultimately more important for achieving success on YouTube. By focusing on increasing click-through rates and retention, you can boost their video's visibility and reach a wider audience. So don't get too caught up in the number of subscribers, and instead prioritize creating valuable content that keeps viewers engaged and coming back for more.

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