10 reasons why YouTube channels may lose views

Views still remain one of the most important metrics on YouTube. Likes and dislikes, the number of subscribers - forget it, all this takes a back seat. Views are the metric that demonstrates the quality of your content.   A large number of views means your creativity or content is appealing to your target audience.  Sometimes the reason for a drop in views is quite simple. For instance, if a YouTuber gets tired, the quality of their videos decrease, and the audience comments that the vlogger has become “lazy”.

But is the decline in views always so obvious? Of course not. Below we analyze the reasons for the decline and find ways to regain views.

First, it's important to understand that each case is individual. There are so many factors: they are influenced by how long the channel has been running, the number of ups and downs, and whether the author went “on vacation”, that is, whether he abandoned the channel for some time. This article will help you assess your situation and guide you on how to fix the issues you are experiencing.

Reasons why you are losing views

• Overall activity on the channel has decreased

This reason has its sub-reasons. For example, poor optimization, low CTR (“click-through rate”), creating irrelevant content that does not stick to the niche of your channel.  You may have lost enthusiasm and your audience noticed it. Maybe you are no longer sticking to your  content release schedule.  Has your communication with your audience become worse? This is just a sample of some issues that may be plaguing your channel.

Start with a check-up of your entire channel and the latest videos. Use your analytics and do research. Check to see any indicators on how your content has changed over the past six months, and what could have gone wrong. You can rely on YouTube data. Don’t forget about the visual part, about the content of the videos, and watch your competitors in the niche.

• Featured video on the channel does not work anymore

A featured video is a video that once gained traction and now brings you subscribers and views on all the other videos on your channel.

So you need to check the analytics and see if the “featured video” is still relevant, maybe it’s time to create a new one?

This story has become a classic. The YouTuber gets used to the fact that the featured video grows the entire channel. They release other content, and, of course, it's hard to accept the fact that one day that video is no longer creating the desired results. What should you do in this case? Ideally, you need to look for additional traffic sources in advance. But if you are already stuck in this situation, analyze why the video has become featured and try to create something similar, but more relevant, capturing current trends and search queries.

You need to understand that a decline in reach of a featured video is completely normal. This happens to all popular content at some point. 

Stick to this strategy: first check up your analytics and only then draw some conclusions.

• The channel has ceased to live up to the expectations

This is also possible.

Example: you run a channel about cars, and make interesting videos about different car models. Let's say that two years ago your channel was gaining views and subscribers, and now everything has stalled.  However you did everything according to the schedule, you release content regularly and of high quality.

To find out what is wrong, you should look into the analytics. But this time we are interested in the "Overview" tab. At the very bottom under the videos - "Details".  A chart will open in which we need to add the "Subscribers" item and select a period of 365 days. This way, you will see which of the videos brought the most views and viewers. You can draw conclusions about what is interesting to the audience after viewing this data. Maybe you are not creating content that once garnered you success.

• Content is not varied

Trends tend to change, and if vloggers are able to adapt to this and reformat channels, their channel will live for a long time and gain views.

If you have been shooting the same type of content for several years now then you may become stale. You must keep track of what is popular in your niche, what your competitors are filming. This will allow you to keep up with changing trends. Getting into trends is a task of speed. For example; if you have just watched the TV series "Wednesday" and decided to re-shoot the famous dance, unfortunately, you are too late. People are already tired of this trend. Always stay relevant.

•  Decline in content release frequency

Apart from regularly releasing videos, it is also important to do it at a good pace. If you have consistently posted videos two or three times a week for several years, and then suddenly started to upload videos once a week or two, do not be surprised at losing views. People get used to a certain pace. And when it decreases, they start looking for another content maker who will create videos on topics of interest more regularly.

If you're already a big enough channel, you don't have to worry so much about slowing down. But for newcomers who have just started it is important to keep a consistent release schedule. 

• Use of "old-fashioned" promotion methods

It is pointless to deny how quickly the media is changing. Trends fly in fast, and just as quickly lose their relevance. YouTube, as one of the main entertainment platforms, is no exception. Analytics and algorithms are changing, and if you are still utilizing old methods of boosting views and subscribers - rise and shine, this method died more than five years ago. Thank God that you have not yet been blocked.

It is important to keep up with the times: watch YouTubers who talk about channel marketing, follow the platform news and keep testing and testing.

• Seasonal content

It can be of two types: general seasonal changes and niche.

General seasonal changes

Here we are talking about the change of seasons: spring, winter, summer, and fall content, as well as the holidays that are associated with these periods. It's very simple: YouTubers love to launch special New Year's videos, shoot ideas for gifts for Valentine's Day, and prepare for Thanksgiving or St. Patrick's Day. If we talk about seasons, then during fall we are used to seeing the start of courses, and the launch of new products - they are associated with the end of the summer holidays and the beginning of the school year. In the spring, it is important to talk about seedlings, changing tires, etc.

This content is valid a month before the holidays, at the time of an important date, or a specific season, that is, no more than two to three months. The views will decrease with the lull of the gift season, then recover - and this must be taken into account. Just wait for the Phoenix to rise up from the ashes again.

Niche seasonal changes

These are championships of various sports and events for cosplayers, gamers, artists, and book clubs. Only you are aware of these niche "peaks", so do not forget that content can go down due to a decline in interest of a particular event. Among the famous events, this may be the Olympics, Eurovision, or the Oscars.

If the seasonal changes of your content are specific to your channel, you should be prepared for the fact that you will experience drops in views. Since you have made a choice of a niche you must accept its positive and negative sides.

• Increasing competition in a topic or niche

Competition on YouTube has grown tremendously in recent years. And it will continue to grow. There are more creators, and channels are created every second, but the audience has largely remained the same. There are not infinite viewers. 

The logic is simple: the competition is getting tougher - views are going to only the most compelling content. Just get used to the new metrics and the idea that YouTube is a long game. You have to work hard and spend time to see a good return.

• Violation of the Terms and warnings from YouTube

Yes, this may sound trivial, but it can happen. How to find out  if you violated some rules on YouTube?

Go to the Creative studio, click "Settings" and check the availability of all functions. If in your case there is some kind of violation, it will definitely be highlighted in red, and you can find out the reason in the same section.

• New policy and changes in platform algorithms

Here is another reason to follow the latest news on YouTube. New rules come out and you can find them in the official blog or by letter sent to your email. Be attentive, and don't miss these emails.

Here we will also include the topic of YouTube’s algorithm. Changes are aimed at everyone, therefore everyone suffers if the innovations are not very successful. This cannot be influenced in any way, but you should still be careful enough to read and listen, and learn to play by the rules of the platform.

Usually, YouTube fixes large-scale bugs but there are other situations as well.

There are millions of creators on YouTube. Of these, 1% may suffer a negative impact from a change to YouTube’s algorithms. Let’s imagine you are among that small percentage. The remaining 99% of channels are still flourishing. Here comes the question: will YouTube worry about 1% of dissatisfied creators?  No. Sounds rude, but that's the reality.

If you have already gone through all the points that could cause views to decline, checked them all, and reviewed analytics, but it didn’t get any better, then you can safely say that the problem is in the algorithms.

We hope this complete list of reasons why you may lose views has given you some guidance.

However, it is necessary to add an important thought. Whether we like it or not, the number of views is not the most important metric. We are increasingly paying attention to the quality of this viewing: how long the viewer watched and what the viewer did next on the platform. Viewer satisfaction has become a priority for YouTube. And if you are attentive to the analytics of your content and start studying at what point in a particular video the audience leaves and clicks on the close button, you will begin to understand the tastes of your audience even more and meet their expectations.

Quality will always be more important than quantity. Remember this!