"YouTube seems unstoppable. But on the platform itself, the story isn't so simple. Plenty of creators, new and old, are thriving and growing. In recent months, though, some longtime YouTubers have been getting anxious. They spent years building audiences, tracking platform trends, and internalizing official advice and YouTube folk wisdom, building brands and hiring staff. But sustaining viewership, some have said, seems to have gotten harder, growth has become less predictable, and occasionally the stats just go haywire, sending them into existential panic."
"YouTube has been growing for decades now, with pockets of YouTubers speculating about its decline - or at least puzzling about why things feel worse for them - all along. In August, a cluster of established tech and science YouTubers noticed their viewership falling off a cliff. "After being on the platform since 2006," wrote YouTuber Jeff Geerling, "I'm used to seasonal dips, adjustments after new tweaks to the algorithm or layout/design changes. But this was substantial.""
YouTube reaches billions of monthly users, generates more than $10 billion in quarterly advertising revenue, and sees fast growth in YouTube Premium subscriptions. The platform won long-form web video and spawned a large creator economy and numerous stars while competing with streaming services on TVs. Many creators continue to grow, but a notable group of established channels experienced sudden, substantial viewership declines and increased unpredictability. Creators invested in audiences, brands, and staff now face harder-to-sustain viewership and analytics volatility. Contributing factors cited include seasonal shifts, algorithm and layout tweaks, and broader changes in viewer behavior.
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