I'm not a YouTuber, but I found Theo Browne's "How The YouTube Algorithm ACTUALLY Works"[0] to be pretty intriguing. I watched it a few months ago and just re-

I'm not a YouTuber, but I found Theo Browne's "How The YouTube Algorithm ACTUALLY Works"[0] to be pretty intriguing. I watched it a few months ago and just re-skimmed the transript, so I'm not sure if I'm remembering it perfectly, but here's what I took away from it: - YouTube's algorithm recommends videos based on audience viewing patterns. - The algorithm doesn't care what the video is about, it only cares about who is clicking on it and watching it. - Click-through rate and watch time are the most important metrics, they're how the algorithm determines who to recommend your video to, and whether to recommend your video to a wider audience. - It first shows your video to a small group and if it's well-received, expands to a wider audience with similar viewing habits. - It repeats this process until it finds the falling-off point, where the click-through rate and watch time drop off. - Figure out who your niche audience is and make videos that they're likely to click on and watch. - You're going to need to create enough videos in order for the algorithm to figure out where your audience is, and then you're going to want to make more videos for that audience. - The average clickthrough rate you see in your analytics is not the whole story. You might have a 20% clickthrough in your target niche, but if the algorithm starts recommending your videos to a wider audience, your click-through rate is going to start to drop. That doesn't mean your video is not doing well, it could actually be doing well enough with your niche that the algorithm is trying to show it to more people outside of your niche. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58jv8WL6H9I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58jv8WL6H9I