Speaker A
a lot of people are going to quit or not start because of this information.
MrBeast's views have dropped over 50%, reflecting broader YouTube trends including platform changes and shifting audience behavior.
Key Takeaways
- MrBeast's view decline is part of a broader platform-wide trend affecting many creators.
- YouTube's increased promotion of Shorts is reducing long-form video visibility and discovery.
- Audience preferences and engagement habits are evolving, impacting creator performance.
- More creators on the platform means views are spread thinner, increasing competition.
- Despite challenges, there are new opportunities for smaller creators to grow on YouTube.
Summary
- MrBeast's views declined from over 200 million per video to around 56 million, a drop of over 50%.
- YouTube is reducing long-form video recommendations on the homepage, favoring Shorts, which cannibalizes long-form content views.
- The platform's home feed layout now shows fewer long-form videos and more Shorts, reducing long-form discovery by up to 80%.
- Audience behavior and interests are changing, possibly contributing to view declines for major creators like MrBeast.
- Platform-wide data shows channels with over 50,000 followers experienced a 12% year-over-year view decline in 2024.
- Views are being redistributed across more creators as YouTube's creator base grows, increasing competition for views.
- Engagement metrics like comments have dropped significantly for top creators, indicating possible viewer disengagement.
- Despite declines for some, YouTube remains the number one platform in American living rooms, showing strong overall usage.
- The video discusses five theories behind the decline and highlights opportunities for new and smaller creators.
- Creators are encouraged to consider changes in content strategy, audience behavior, and platform algorithms.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker B
MrBeast's views are down.
Speaker A
119 million down to 78 million, 78 million down to 67 million, and all the way down to 56 million.
Speaker A
When you've been getting 200 million views, that's over a 50% decline.
Speaker A
YouTube is quietly killing long form discovery on the homepage.
Speaker A
It's like they're pushing shorts so hard, but the problem is, shorts is cannibalizing long form.
Speaker A
Do you believe that to be true?
Speaker B
I go back and forth on this one.
Speaker A
So what does that mean for every creator listening to this?
Speaker B
Today, we're going to be unpacking five big theories behind this YouTube views decline and the two big takeaways of why this is good news for new and small channels.
Speaker B
Sean, can you break down this MrBeast story?
Speaker A
Yeah, this is an interesting story because it seems to be an illustration of something that's happening platform-wide.
Speaker A
I'd love to ask our listeners, are your views down or are your views up right now?
Speaker A
If your views are down, the question is, are we seeing those in proportion to the percentages experienced even by somebody like MrBeast?
Speaker A
And to be clear, there's some funny tweets that are like, if MrBeast, you know, gets 80 million views on a video.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
People are saying he fell off.
Speaker B
It's so bad.
Speaker A
Like he's dead.
Speaker B
It's so bad.
Speaker A
MrBeast is done.
Speaker B
It's a wrap.
Speaker A
You know, I heard Drake say in a song once, you know, your best day is my worst day.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
And I feel like that's kind of true about MrBeast.
Speaker B
That's good.
Speaker A
Like a lot of us just to get a million views on a video, let alone 80.
Speaker A
But the truth is, there is a whole run where he's getting 200 million views a video commonly.
Speaker A
Over 200 million views.
Speaker A
And so Fast Company actually tracked MrBeast's four-day view count across five consecutive uploads.
Speaker A
And it went from 119 million down to 78 million, 78 million down to 67 million.
Speaker A
And all the way down to 56 million.
Speaker A
So, you know, when you've been getting 200 million views and you're getting 67 million.
Speaker A
That's over a 50% decline.
Speaker A
So I think for some individuals that are thinking, man, my views are down, you are sort of seeing a broader platform trend here.
Speaker A
What do you think?
Speaker B
Yeah, I mean, I go a couple different places.
Speaker B
One, it's fascinating to think about, okay, biggest YouTuber has a drop like this.
Speaker B
And if he's the biggest YouTuber and he has this sort of a drop, it does make me think about like what's changing with his viewership.
Speaker B
Is probably the first place I go.
Speaker B
Like what's changing, is his content changing?
Speaker B
Is his format changing?
Speaker B
Or the interest, this is what's interesting, or the interest of the people that have been consuming MrBeast, are their behaviors and interests changing too?
Speaker B
So that's kind of where I go first, and of course, if it's happening at this big level, number one YouTuber.
Speaker B
Then you think about someone who is still experiencing a drop like this.
Speaker B
I think it's the same conversations that start to come up from a like a coaching perspective.
Speaker B
I think about like, okay, two things.
Speaker B
What's the creator doing differently?
Speaker B
Are we doing anything differently?
Speaker B
And then what's going on with the audience, how is consumption changing, what could be pulling it over here?
Speaker B
Or what could be getting their attention versus a viewer hanging out with me as long as they used to.
Speaker A
Yeah, and those are two important aspects you're mentioning, but I think there's a third.
Speaker A
It's what's the creator doing, is the audience change, but also as the platform itself changed.
Speaker A
And people want the extremes.
Speaker A
We'd love to blame the algorithm.
Speaker A
However, I think there's a mix of truth.
Speaker A
When we get into the five big thesis of why there's a great views decline, we'll cover those in a second.
Speaker A
But let's cover one of the platform accusations, which is YouTube is quietly killing long form discovery on the homepage.
Speaker A
So, there's actually a study done by Mario, who's a retention director that works on YouTube channels exceeding 100 million subscribers, including MrBeast.
Speaker A
So at the end of 2025, he analyzed 1,000 channels.
Speaker A
And he documented a dramatic shift in YouTube's home feed layout.
Speaker A
So previously, when we would log into YouTube, we would see six long form recommendations across two rows on desktop.
Speaker A
And currently, he's now seeing at the time of the study, only two long form recommendations with the remaining slots allocated to shorts.
Speaker A
So that is a choice reduction reduction of up to 80% in long form recommendations compared to previous home feeds.
Speaker A
That's massive.
Speaker B
Yeah, that's huge.
Speaker B
I I'm wondering too, you know, and again, this for me goes to, okay, device type.
Speaker B
What are you consuming on?
Speaker B
It's interesting that he noted all of this different, these different changes.
Speaker B
And I would confirm it, like even in, even if I'm searching for something now, Sean.
Speaker B
The number of shorts that even pop up now compared to long form options is pretty fascinating.
Speaker A
Yeah, so, um, I would love to also for those who can comment on the YouTube version of the podcast.
Speaker A
Are you noticing these different layout changes?
Speaker A
When I log into mobile, you know, when shorts are on mobile.
Speaker A
They usually are like two by two.
Speaker A
And they're tall.
Speaker B
They're big.
Speaker A
Yeah, so, so like you're, you're home feed might have two shorts, another two shorts, and then a long form video.
Speaker A
And then some community tab, you can like swipe through different community tabs.
Speaker A
The whole point is, yes, the platform is also changing.
Speaker A
So is your content changing, is it, I mean, it's funny to say that MrBeast videos could like be a reduced in quality.
Speaker A
But there is a point where do people get tired of a template?
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
And how often do you reinvent yourself?
Speaker A
The content strategy.
Speaker A
Is the audience changing, the audience growing up?
Speaker A
Audience is getting bored or tired of your content.
Speaker A
But then is the platform changing?
Speaker A
Another study, kind of across a software like Metricool, was saying that channels with over 50,000 followers saw a views decrease of 12% year over year.
Speaker A
This was back in 2024.
Speaker A
But the bottom line is that they saw that platform-wide evidence points to structural redistribution.
Speaker A
Sean, what does that mean in layman's terms?
Speaker A
It means that views are being more distributed across multiple creators.
Speaker A
There's more people on YouTube.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
Like views are up overall, people are watching more content.
Speaker B
Yes.
Speaker A
People are enjoying YouTube, but there's more creators to watch.
Speaker A
There's more different people to watch.
Speaker A
So views are being more distributed.
Speaker A
A specific story that came out was actually that MKBHD's earnings showed a downward trend between 2024 and 2026.
Speaker A
According to Hype Auditor data.
Speaker A
And we're talking about top creators that are seeing decline.
Speaker A
Yes.
Speaker A
And his comment engagement dropped 29% over the past eight years.
Speaker A
For, um, an effigy and analysis that, uh, that analyzed 7.6 million comments.
Speaker A
It's crazy. So what's interesting is again, we're seeing maybe a general increase in disengagement.
Speaker A
Maybe people watching less videos.
Speaker A
Or commenting less.
Speaker A
And that does not mean that there's not an opportunity on YouTube and these big creators.
Speaker A
When you see these shifts in percentage.
Speaker A
Let's bring it down to the everyday creator.
Speaker A
Maybe you normally were getting 1,000 views.
Speaker A
And so it's a gut punch if now you've been like, man, I can't crack 400.
Speaker A
Maybe you normally get 400 views and you're like, man, I've been down at 40.
Speaker A
What's happening?
Speaker A
You know, stick around until the end of the video because we'll go through the theories and some opportunities.
Speaker A
But I think the whole thing is an interesting landscape.
Speaker A
And we are going to get into those theories, but the other big thing is TV.
Speaker A
The whole thing about how how common YouTube is in living rooms.
Speaker A
Yes.
Speaker A
Is a shift.
Speaker A
Of course there's mobile.
Speaker A
But the the data is saying that YouTube is the number one platform watched in American living rooms.
Speaker A
YouTube's bigger than all these other platforms.
Speaker A
You want to lean in on that a little bit.
Speaker B
100%.
Speaker B
I can actually personally confirm.
Speaker B
This viewing behavior is happening all over the place.
Speaker B
Because the number of times that even if we've had people over for dinner or something and we want to check out something.
Speaker B
Like we watch something.
Speaker B
It's not a TV show we're turning on.
Speaker B
We're like jumping onto YouTube because one of us found this video or found this creator.
Speaker B
And then even it's funny like this TV show viewing behavior is now happening on YouTube.
Speaker B
And it's even at this like silly level.
Speaker B
Like we have this creator, his name's Preston Goes.
Speaker B
Shout out.
Speaker B
Dude's awesome.
Speaker B
He's grown so quick.
Speaker B
And he's so awesome.
Speaker B
And he does these these really cool adventures that are totally family-friendly.
Speaker B
And so our whole family watches them.
Speaker B
And we're always looking out for a Preston Goes video, our little three-year-old is like, Preston Goes.
Speaker B
You know, just asking for the next upload.
Speaker B
And it's become this family event where it's like, when there's a new video, we're going to make time for it.
Speaker B
We're going to sit down and we're going to all watch it together.
Speaker B
And that sort of behavior, I think is why this the TV domination thing has become such a thing.
Speaker B
Right, YouTube has surpassed any streaming platform now.
Speaker B
Beating Disney, beating Netflix.
Speaker B
And it makes sense because YouTube in a way on the television, right, just become the new Hollywood.
Speaker B
You can take your pick.
Speaker B
There's different creators.
Speaker B
And so I think that's that's a really big piece of this.
Speaker B
But I also wanted to talk about, um, that words you said of redistribution.
Speaker B
And I think that's actually important word to hang on for a second.
Speaker B
Because as we get into these, uh, you know, big theories and then as we talk about like, okay, what's beneficial for small channels.
Speaker B
The the silver lining is views are being redistributed.
Speaker B
From these crazy big channels to up and comers.
Speaker B
And that's the encouraging part for me.
Speaker B
Is thinking through, okay, because here's the stats, right, like YouTube now hosts 115 million channels.
Speaker B
With 69 million active creators.
Speaker B
Uploading over 500 hours of video every minute, which is roughly 720,000 hours of new content.
Speaker B
Per day.
Speaker B
Like, you know, it's spreading all of this out is part of why it's never been a better time to be a smaller new creator because YouTube has been investing.
Speaker B
I actually think in trying to help the platform not just be dominated by the big dogs.
Speaker B
These different features that they've rolled out, right, like having a specialized team that actually is on the lookout for new channels, small creators.
Speaker B
This hype feature that's available for you if you're under or if you're over 500 subscribers.
Speaker B
Under half a million subscribers, like I think these are strong signals that it it is an encouraging time for the new creator.
Speaker A
Yeah, and we do got to talk about those opportunities in just a second.
Speaker A
Um, but first, we need to hit the five competing theories of why views are declining.
Speaker A
So, we've talked about MrBeast, we've seen other creators that are out there.
Speaker A
Um, there are some theories.
Speaker A
We want to name them and synthesize them.
Speaker A
It's probably a combination of all the above.
Speaker A
And this is an interactive episode.
Speaker A
We're curious your theories.
Speaker A
Or maybe what your experience is.
Speaker A
If you can give us feedback.
Speaker A
And I also, before we get into these five theories, do want to mention though, I agree with you.
Speaker A
As crazy as this all sounds, it could lead us to a place of like, man, was there no hope?
Speaker A
Is it just going to be a decline?
Speaker A
But if you're making the right videos and you're doing it in the right way and you're starting even a brand new channel, you can get results.
Speaker A
In fact, we are actually hosting a free event, it's four days, you can go to YT Sprint.com.
Speaker A
If you're listening to this right now, it may have just started, but there's still time to jump in.
Speaker A
So you can hit the link in the description to register for free.
Speaker A
Recently, someone named Sherry recently went through this event.
Speaker A
We did it a couple months ago.
Speaker A
And she implemented what we taught in this event.
Speaker A
She had never posted a video.
Speaker A
Um, she's in her 70s.
Speaker A
She posted her first video ever on her channel.
Speaker A
But she didn't just throw it out there.
Speaker A
She just followed the system that we teach.
Speaker A
She got 37,000 views on her first upload.
Speaker B
That's good.
Speaker A
I love it.
Speaker A
Yes.
Speaker A
As a brand new channel.
Speaker A
I love it.
Speaker A
Yes.
Speaker A
So it's it's like we're not trying to over promise that like it's just easy to get views.
Speaker A
Sure.
Speaker A
But there is a methodology to it and if you're reverse engineering your video ideas.
Speaker A
The bottom line is if you want help with how to stand out in today's YouTube landscape.
Speaker A
We have a free event.
Speaker A
It's called YouTube Growth Sprint.
Speaker A
YT Sprint.com.
Speaker A
But here's some competing theories as to why views are declining.
Speaker A
Number one, the shorts cannibalization thesis.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
So we kind of mentioned this.
Speaker A
The whole thing is, okay, why are MrBeast's views down?
Speaker A
Well, is he and everybody else getting as much distribution on homepages to get those clicks?
Speaker A
And what YouTube has revealed is that with 200 billion daily shorts views, which is up from 70 billion in 2024, which is massive.
Speaker A
Beating TikTok.
Speaker A
Beating everything else everywhere else.
Speaker A
It's like they're pushing shorts so hard, but the problem is, shorts is cannibalizing long form.
Speaker A
Do you believe that to be true?
Speaker B
Man, I go back and forth on this one.
Speaker B
I I would say overall, no, I don't believe this to be true.
Speaker B
I don't I don't think this is true for one second.
Speaker B
Unless your entire video strategy is based, like if you is based in one content medium.
Speaker B
So I think the idea of diversifying the kinds of content you create on YouTube, when appropriate for your stage of YouTube.
Speaker B
Then I think they can all they can all work together.
Speaker B
Like I I don't know that I believe this, especially if you're someone that is that is trying to do both.
Speaker B
Are multiple styles of content.
Speaker B
And the reason I say that too is because someone who watches.
Speaker B
Yeah, I think a big argument, I'm actually curious your thoughts on this.
Speaker B
A big argument in YouTube strategy space is like, well, people who watch shorts only watch shorts.
Speaker B
And people who watch watch long form only watch long form.
Speaker B
And I actually kind of used to believe that and kind of coach that.
Speaker B
Like it's different head spaces.
Speaker B
Which is true.
Speaker B
But I think we also don't account for the multiple touch points that someone could have with YouTube through their everyday or every week.
Speaker B
And so personally, like there's a time when I'm watching short form content and then there's a time when I'm totally binging long form content.
Speaker B
Like I'm dipping into both pots.
Speaker B
And so what do you think about that, like the the idea that are these things separate?
Speaker B
You know, is like your shorts exist over here.
Speaker B
Live streams exist over here.
Speaker B
Long forms exist over here.
Speaker B
Or do you think that there's actually multiple touch points people can have?
Speaker A
I mean, I honestly would almost say like.
Speaker A
No comment.
Speaker A
Like I'm here for the.
Speaker A
I'm here for the debate.
Speaker A
Like I just I hear I we listen to our community.
Speaker A
And our community are like shorts ruin my channel.
Speaker A
Or ever since shorts.
Speaker A
And somebody else are like my views is not down.
Speaker A
The stuff is such on a spectrum.
Speaker A
So maybe I'll have some synthesizing thoughts as we go through the rest.
Speaker A
So why are views down?
Speaker A
One theory is the shorts cannibalization thesis.
Speaker A
There we go.
Speaker A
Now, okay, this argues that with 69 million active creators.
Speaker A
Uploading 500 hours per minute.
Speaker A
Now again, the YouTube says 20 million uploads per day.
Speaker A
It's crazy.
Speaker A
Means attention is inevitably distributed more thinly.
Speaker A
And that's what we just said.
Speaker A
Inevitably, there's maybe more total views on the platform, but more more distributed across creators.
Speaker A
So everybody's getting less views.
Speaker A
And the claim is that YouTube has economic incentive to spread views across more creators to maximize ad inventory.
Speaker A
I would challenge that claim to say.
Speaker A
Yes, okay, more creators gives them more ad inventory, but they also could just run more ads on an individual creator that's getting more views.
Speaker A
In my opinion, I still think they have an incentive to spread views across more creators.
Speaker A
Because they do want some sort of dopamine feedback loop.
Speaker A
That if I'm a creator on YouTube and I don't get any views at all.
Speaker A
Why would I keep creating?
Speaker B
So true.
Speaker A
So it's like algorithms do want creators, you know, of course people are going to quit if they're just absolutely frustrated.
Speaker A
But if they're doing no best practices, no effort at all.
Speaker A
And they fail.
Speaker A
Well, then that's kind of on them.
Speaker A
But but if someone's like really giving it a a strong effort and like listening to a channel like this.
Speaker A
And like I'm doing the best practices.
Speaker A
And they really are writing good time.
Speaker A
You know, if they're doing at least some level of best practices.
Speaker A
And YouTube's going to bet their future on creators, then creators need to have some level of a positive experience.
Speaker A
Not everyone's going to be a YouTube millionaire.
Speaker A
But if the dream that somebody could earn a few hundred or a few thousand extra dollars a month in the creator economy.
Speaker A
That actually has to be real.
Speaker A
So I think that's their incentive.
Speaker A
I think it's ad library.
Speaker A
But I think also they they want to tweak the algorithm to create success for creators.
Speaker A
Or else they don't have a future for the platform.
Speaker B
Totally agree.
Speaker B
The third thesis here is the satisfaction algorithm thesis.
Speaker B
And this is interesting because this is suggesting that there's a shift that's happened that's happened on YouTube.
Speaker B
Uh, that we're moving away from watch time optimization into satisfaction-based ranking.
Speaker B
I don't know about you, Sean, I've totally seen things popping up even over the last 18 months or so.
Speaker B
Of these surveys that happen after videos, these little faces with emotions that you can click.
Speaker B
YouTube actually asking, how did this video make you feel?
Speaker B
Or scrolling in my mobile app and seeing a video that I'd previously watched show up in my feed.
Speaker B
And YouTube's asking, how did you like this video?
Speaker B
And so it's this whole idea, um, that the algorithm is now prioritizing how viewers feel over how long they watch.
Speaker B
Um, and hyper hyper-optimized clickbait is performing worse relative to genuinely satisfying content.
Speaker B
What are your what are your thoughts on this one?
Speaker B
I know we just kind of walked through this a little bit.
Speaker A
Yeah, this one actually ties us back into the MrBeast conversation.
Speaker A
Because there was a whole through line in that story of even him mentioning that the hyper YouTube edited.
Speaker A
The retention editing.
Speaker A
That maybe grips your attention, but just fries your nervous system.
Speaker A
Because you're just pummeling you with like you're being yelled at.
Speaker A
And things you just can't look away.
Speaker A
But by the end of it, how do you feel?
Speaker A
MrBeast himself mentioned, we're going to be slowing down the edit.
Speaker A
And then you zoom out into this whole authenticity trend, which feels like a word that's kind of starting to get played out.
Speaker A
But is also so important.
Speaker A
Where people are feeling burnt out or overwhelmed.
Speaker A
So creators that that are slowing down, connecting.
Speaker A
Creating a different experience.
Speaker A
The point is optimizing for satisfaction.
Speaker A
Optimizing to just like get attention and get a click and you kept the viewer watching.
Speaker A
And they a bunch of information filled their brains.
Speaker A
But what kind of experience did they leave with?
Speaker A
So when the algorithm prioritizes how viewers feel over how long they watch, hyper-optimized clickbait performs worse relative to genuinely satisfying content.
Speaker A
So I I I could see what this means.
Speaker A
Again, these are five different thesis.
Speaker A
Theories as to why there's a views decline.
Speaker A
So creators who are maybe shifting their tonality.
Speaker A
Creating different content at different pacing.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
Uh, this one doesn't stand at the top of the list.
Speaker A
But I I could see part of it.
Speaker A
And again, I think this is on a spectrum.
Speaker A
And it really the whole thing is expanded around the MrBeast story.
Speaker A
MKBHD platform changes overall.
Speaker A
I think it's part of it.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
I it's interesting too, I'm just thinking now as as you were talking, it was like, oh, is this the satis the satisfaction algorithm thesis?
Speaker B
Is that really more of of a YouTube thing?
Speaker B
Or is that really more of just a shift in viewer behavior?
Speaker A
Audience behaviors.
Speaker A
You know what I mean?
Speaker A
What they're clicking on, what they're not clicking on.
Speaker B
Yeah, because I feel like either these algorithm trends, like something like that.
Speaker B
Well, that it always follows how we're viewing things.
Speaker B
And how our behavior change.
Speaker B
And so I actually I totally I totally think this is.
Speaker B
Um, this has legs for sure.
Speaker B
In this in this whole conversation.
Speaker B
So the fourth theory for why views are declining.
Speaker B
Is this connected TV context shift thesis.
Speaker B
Which is posing that as YouTube becomes a living room platform as we were talking about, competing with Netflix, Disney Plus.
Speaker B
The algorithm on YouTube is going to increasingly favor lean back content.
Speaker B
So like video podcasts, conversations, even some sort of show format that's happening.
Speaker B
And over and there and that YouTube's going to prioritize this content actually over the fast-paced mobile native style.
Speaker B
That has kind of defined things previously.
Speaker B
So what do you what do you make of this?
Speaker B
I kind of shared a little bit of how like I'm living this out in real time in my living room.
Speaker B
But what do you think?
Speaker A
Well, so since MrBeast is kind of the through line of this episode.
Speaker A
One of the things that I think is fascinating is personally, I like to avoid extremes.
Speaker A
Like some people they people want to make the extreme.
Speaker A
That let's call the over-optimized retention edited MrBeast style video.
Speaker A
Is dead.
Speaker A
That would be an extreme statement.
Speaker A
For sure.
Speaker A
Because my observation is MrBeast content feels the exact same to me.
Speaker A
Like he might have slowed down and like he's stopped yelling.
Speaker A
But his episodes are still like.
Speaker A
I'm standing on the man, I feel like it's still yelling.
Speaker A
It's still yelling.
Speaker A
It's still yelling.
Speaker A
It's like still the same format.
Speaker A
I guess here's the point too, is like.
Speaker A
The extreme of saying, so we must all slow down and it's all chill hop ambient.
Speaker A
It's all.
Speaker A
No, like YouTube's still a place for every different type of content.
Speaker A
A mashup of monster truck destruction.
Speaker A
Come on.
Speaker A
Meets a channel I was looking at recently is called Study With Me.
Speaker A
And this channel's crushing it, a million subscribers, and they set up a camera at these really cool spots and stream and or upload a video that's one, three, seven hours.
Speaker A
No way.
Speaker A
Of just studying with rain noise in a real environment.
Speaker A
YouTube is such a multi-opportunity, multi-niche, multi-topic.
Speaker A
Multi-tone type of a platform.
Speaker A
So, yes, the connected TV context shift thesis is 100% true.
Speaker A
TV is definitely dividing views.
Speaker A
The experience on TV lean back.
Speaker A
My point is people can lean back on their couch and play a very fast-paced MrBeast video.
Speaker A
And still enjoy it.
Speaker A
When I've checked out Beast Games, it's the pace of that too.
Speaker A
I'm not actually super into it.
Speaker A
I'm like, there's like.
Speaker A
It's too.
Speaker A
I get people like game shows.
Speaker A
They want lots of movement, things happening.
Speaker A
New things introduced, etc.
Speaker A
That's actually just not even my content preference.
Speaker A
But I think the mistake is to over and the whole platform's changed.
Speaker A
I don't know.
Speaker A
You know, so yes, I think it's a part of the conversation.
Speaker A
I think the bigger thing.
Speaker A
Is people are looking for long form experiences, TV show lengths.
Speaker A
That could be as short as 25 minutes, 28 minutes.
Speaker A
And certainly 44 or video podcasts and other things as well.
Speaker A
So when it so when we think about like just a a fast-paced mobile native style.
Speaker A
Is, you know, the study that we're kind of referencing here.
Speaker A
Is like.
Speaker A
Yeah, I don't know, I don't think MrBeast is mobile native only.
Speaker A
He's a very like for the people who like his content, that's a very enjoyable desktop experience.
Speaker A
TV experience.
Speaker A
And you still got to dial in your personal tone.
Speaker A
I think it is to me, it's more of a knowing who your audience is, knowing the vibe you want.
Speaker A
But absolutely being aware that the level of consumption happening on TV's massive.
Speaker A
So what does that mean for every creator listening to this?
Speaker A
If YouTube still feels confusing, slow or stuck, listen up.
Speaker A
Maybe you've been planning to start, maybe you've been kind of posting.
Speaker A
Maybe you've been waiting for the right time.
Speaker A
2026 is going to punish that mindset.
Speaker A
Creators and business owners who move right now are going to own this next year.
Speaker A
The ones who don't will be invisible.
Speaker A
And this isn't theory, this is the exact system we're using right now to help creators get real views.
Speaker A
Build momentum fast.
Speaker A
And monetize their content in multiple ways.
Speaker A
During the sprint, you'll learn how to get traction with a single video.
Speaker A
Build a channel that attracts subscribers.
Speaker A
And follow a proven system that works in 2026, not five years ago.
Speaker A
And listen, I know that life is busy and that's why this event is designed for quick wins and not overwhelm.
Speaker A
It's free, it's live, we're doing a ton of giveaways of tech and prizes.
Speaker A
And it's designed for where YouTube is headed next.
Speaker A
If YouTube is something you know you need to take seriously this year, then now is your time to act.
Speaker A
Just go to YT Sprint.com to register for free or click the link in the show notes.
Speaker A
Let's jump back into the episode.
Speaker A
So what does that mean for every creator listening to this?
Speaker A
What's your what what is it like to experience you on a TV?
Speaker A
Is your content optimized for that?
Speaker A
What is it?
Speaker A
What could happen if you got some viewers spending 22 minutes with you leaning back?
Speaker A
And what content could you create next with that in mind?
Speaker A
I think connected TV's the math is telling us we need to be paying attention.
Speaker A
So that's definitely a big one.
Speaker B
No, that's huge.
Speaker B
And I think it it would be fascinating too if you're listening to this, like hop into your YouTube studio.
Speaker B
Get into those analytics and like actually see the dominant device types.
Speaker B
It's just be curious.
Speaker B
You may not because some people may not even know.
Speaker B
Right, it's like, oh, wow, actually like 23% of my viewership is on TV.
Speaker B
Like what what's going on there?
Speaker B
So I think that's that's a worthwhile little quick homework assignment.
Speaker B
But the fifth thesis here, I I think tags along right off the fourth one.
Speaker B
Is that this audience fatigue thesis.
Speaker B
Which is kind of arguing that after the years of every creator trying to copy the MrBeast playbook.
Speaker B
Hooks in the first five seconds, retention editing, manufactured stakes.
Speaker B
Like all this stuff, right?
Speaker B
That the the audience can sense a formula.
Speaker B
That content can become formulaic.
Speaker B
And we know what we're kind of tuning into.
Speaker B
Tuning in, now they're tuning out.
Speaker B
And that there's actually some data on more authentic content outperforming this polished pace.
Speaker B
I.
Speaker B
Thoughts on this one?
Speaker B
I know we just kind of walked through this a little bit.
Speaker A
Yeah, I mean, I think my thoughts.
Speaker A
I kind of already hit it.
Speaker A
That I I think it could be overrated.
Speaker A
That like, oh, raw and authentic content outperforms fast-paced content.
Speaker A
No, it just depends.
Speaker A
I think it depends on what the audience expectation is.
Speaker A
Um, in my opinion, I think both are winning.
Speaker A
We are just seeing when we see a trend, we see a counter trend.
Speaker A
And is there audience fatigue, is there burnout to certain types of content?
Speaker A
Have lots of creators copied MrBeast?
Speaker A
I think for sure.
Speaker A
So you do see diminishing returns with that.
Speaker A
But then you could also say, have a lot of business creators copied Alex Hormozi?
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
And so it it with anything, I think there is.
Speaker A
There's this book, um, or phrase in marketing.
Speaker A
That says marketers ruin everything.
Speaker A
And at the end of the day, if you're a YouTube creator, you're a marketer.
Speaker A
You're trying to put out a billboard, your thumbnail and a headline, your title to get someone's attention to click on your video.
Speaker A
And then to optimize the whole thing to keep retention.
Speaker A
So things shift.
Speaker A
And so when marketers ruin everything, it just means that maybe there's something on YouTube.
Speaker A
That worked for a while.
Speaker A
But there's going to be a point in time when you need to pivot or reinvent yourself.
Speaker A
So I I don't know so much that it is a full fatigue with MrBeast playbook, let's say.
Speaker A
Or whoever, whatever sub niche is, maybe you think the big creator.
Speaker A
In your niche or related niche and like everyone started doing it their way.
Speaker A
And that playbook gets outdated.
Speaker A
If you're copying somebody else.
Speaker A
I think it could just be audience fatigue in general.
Speaker A
Audiences fatigue, audiences get older.
Speaker A
They they watch you for a while.
Speaker A
Audiences, um, learn the thing.
Speaker A
I mean, as an education creator.
Speaker A
That's something you really got to ask yourself.
Speaker A
It's like people might love you, they've followed you for a while.
Speaker A
They've stayed connected with you.
Speaker A
But then they fall off and you're like, man, what did I do for them to fall off?
Speaker A
You didn't do anything wrong.
Speaker A
They learned what you teach.
Speaker A
That's good.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
So they moved on to the next thing they want to learn.
Speaker A
They moved on to the next thing that they're into.
Speaker A
So audience fatigue is is real in general.
Speaker A
So I think what we could see from these five things, you know, we mentioned five different thesis.
Speaker A
As to why are views declining.
Speaker A
I don't know what your take is.
Speaker A
I think it's all of them.
Speaker A
I think it I mean, and it's contextual.
Speaker A
It depends on the situation.
Speaker A
And if we zoom out a little bit, the thing that's fascinating is when you think about MrBeast, you could say, oh yeah, it could be because of the homepage.
Speaker A
And it could be because of shorts.
Speaker A
And it could be because of his audience fatigue a little bit.
Speaker A
But you.
Speaker A
You can't measure something like this, especially at his scale in isolation.
Speaker A
There was some controversies he went through, a ton of controversies with the Beast Games.
Speaker A
Some stuff with former employee, even the culture, some investigations.
Speaker A
And views dropped related to that.
Speaker A
But what people said was that these view trends lasted longer than the quote unquote mini scandal or scandal.
Speaker A
You know, should have lasted.
Speaker A
So it's hard to say.
Speaker A
I think what the listener, we'll cover these two strategies of what you could do next.
Speaker A
But I think the listener should ask.
Speaker A
I think the listener should be aware of these platform trends.
Speaker A
Because knowledge is power.
Speaker A
So there is, it's like, okay, knowledge of what's happening on the platform.
Speaker A
Oh, I have a little piece of mind that shoot.
Speaker A
Even if bigger creators are experiencing some disruption.
Speaker A
That gives me some piece of mind.
Speaker A
But I think that brings us to the next part.
Speaker A
It's like kind of what are we going to do about it?
Speaker A
Or is there still opportunity?
Speaker B
100%.
Speaker B
And and I think the opportunity is really there.
Speaker B
I think there's good news for new and small creators.
Speaker B
And and the first big thing to really take seriously.
Speaker B
Is this idea that because views are being more distributed.
Speaker B
Right.
Speaker B
That there really is an opportunity for new channels to show up.
Speaker B
And like pop off.
Speaker B
I mean, literally.
Speaker B
We just talked about Sherry a little bit ago.
Speaker B
Who's like in her 70s, first video.
Speaker B
Boom.
Speaker B
But and I and I watched that video, Sean.
Speaker B
What's interesting too about that video is I don't even know if Sherry knows it.
Speaker B
I mean, granted, she did go through our, uh, our challenge.
Speaker B
YT Sprint.com for the full framework about creating this kind of content.
Speaker B
But.
Speaker B
She knew what she was doing, man, like the title and thumbnail.
Speaker B
Right.
Speaker B
Like it was dialed in, it was emotional, there was an open loop.
Speaker B
I click in and I I think she's actually she's reading from a script that she put together.
Speaker B
But she is also just recounting a personal story.
Speaker B
So I think whatever you make of these five theories, the good news is, okay.
Speaker B
I like to try to funnel this back down to like a coaching mindset.
Speaker B
Like as if we're leaving this podcast episode.
Speaker B
What's your action step?
Speaker B
I think the action step is to really get clear on, okay, here's these five theories.
Speaker B
Trying to do a little bit of an audit on yourself and your channel and your audience.
Speaker B
And trying to think about just being honest, okay.
Speaker B
Like based on what I'm seeing, based on what I'm noticing, based on even the research I'm doing in my niche, like how can I step in?
Speaker B
I'd almost want to say, you know, kind of like a David and Goliath situation.
Speaker B
Like, man, get out there.
Speaker B
Like go kind of like chest up.
Speaker B
Look at these big channels.
Speaker B
Look at what's going on.
Speaker B
Because I actually believe there's no reason you couldn't, if I can phrase it this way, couldn't take some viewership.
Speaker B
Like you couldn't also be shown up, your videos also can't compete at the same level.
Speaker B
If you understand, right, how YouTube works and how to make a video that can pop through.
Speaker A
Yeah, and I actually, one of the big trends I'm noticing that I think is a massive opportunity.
Speaker A
Is you can always bank on human nature.
Speaker A
And the truth about humans is humans are emotional.
Speaker A
And I'm witnessing and I think we're going to actually continue to see an open gap.
Speaker A
In an opportunity to start YouTube.
Speaker A
Because a lot of people are going to quit or not start.
Speaker A
Because of this information.
Speaker A
And and what I mean is it's really like.
Speaker A
Already people are listening to this that will make excuses.
Speaker A
And they'll sit on the sideline and be like, man, you know, I've been thinking about starting YouTube for three months, six months, nine months, maybe multiple years.
Speaker A
And now I listen to this episode and it just seems like there's so many negative headwinds.
Speaker A
That maybe I'm just not going to start or I'm going to delay starting.
Speaker A
Or also when views go down, I'm going to quit.
Speaker A
Like if if my views have taken a hit.
Speaker A
If things have taken a hit.
Speaker A
Sometimes people are tired, they maybe had a run for a while.
Speaker A
And so banking on human nature is when certain seasonal shifts happen in an industry.
Speaker A
There could be a level of attrition.
Speaker A
People quit, people slow down.
Speaker A
People give up and people don't start.
Speaker A
It because there's legitimate challenges.
Speaker A
But what I want to challenge the person that's listening to this.
Speaker A
You can flip your perspective.
Speaker A
Because you know, Nathan, if we were to go back to 1983, the year I was born.
Speaker A
And you were to turn on the news and listen to politicians talking about the economy.
Speaker A
What kind of stuff will we hear?
Speaker A
Gas prices are surging.
Speaker A
It's all the negative.
Speaker A
Price of oil is higher.
Speaker A
Political conflict.
Speaker A
Somebody might get on there if they were talking about, you should start a business.
Speaker A
There'd be somebody else arguing with them.
Speaker A
No, you shouldn't.
Speaker A
Business is too risky.
Speaker A
Yes.
Speaker A
It's too risky.
Speaker A
You should just go get a secure job.
Speaker A
Like what's actually we we think things are so crazy in 2026.
Speaker A
Like where, okay, you know, the negative headwinds or the challenges out there.
Speaker A
You know, there's how many marketing messages there are.
Speaker A
It would actually have been the same narrative.
Speaker A
And what happened back in 1983, 42 years ago.
Speaker A
Well, people still started businesses.
Speaker A
They still started.
Speaker A
But now you fast forward to today.
Speaker A
And back then, there wasn't AI tools.
Speaker A
There wasn't.
Speaker A
Algorithmic reach for someone like Sherry to start from scratch.
Speaker A
We're not trying to overhype that story.
Speaker A
It's just proof that it's possible.
Speaker A
So, so that's just one.
Speaker A
That's a big takeaway for me.
Speaker A
I we're just going to see people drop out of the game.
Speaker A
And that's an interesting window of opportunity for the listener that can perceive it.
Speaker A
Like that's that's good news.
Speaker A
Actually.
Speaker A
If if people are dropping out of the game.
Speaker A
And some of the old timers are also retiring or moving on.
Speaker A
Who's stepping in for the next generation?
Speaker A
Who's stepping into YouTube right now?
Speaker A
Because the macro numbers are still there.
Speaker A
So good news for small creators, two big ideas.
Speaker A
You mentioned one, views are being more widely distributed.
Speaker A
Which means new channels and small channels.
Speaker A
Can get a piece of those views.
Speaker A
And big idea number two.
Speaker A
If views are down, income can still be up.
Speaker A
So for the ad dependent creator, this is bad news.
Speaker A
100%.
Speaker A
If you were counting on views to pay your bills.
Speaker A
Then an over 50% decline in views.
Speaker A
Is catastrophic.
Speaker A
It's it's less.
Speaker A
It's bad.
Speaker A
It's sad no matter what, but that's really not.
Speaker A
That's that that is a direct hit to your income.
Speaker A
And of course, views going down could be a direct hit to your income.
Speaker A
No matter what.
Speaker A
Because it's less traffic.
Speaker A
However, you can build a moat of security around you by diversifying your income streams.
Speaker A
That's not a new idea probably to most listeners.
Speaker A
I think the challenge for most listeners is what exactly should my business model be?
Speaker A
It's like oversimplified.
Speaker A
It's like, what do you do?
Speaker A
Is you like create channel, create course.
Speaker A
Set up funnel.
Speaker A
And like you've kind of but you have you thought deeply about.
Speaker A
The money plan for your specific channel in a 2026 environment.
Speaker A
That's a topic for another day.
Speaker A
But if views are down, income can still be up.
Speaker A
And by the way, we will be going into that deeply on YouTube Sprint.
Speaker A
YT Sprint.com.
Speaker A
It's called YouTube Growth Sprint.
Speaker A
It is a four-day event where you, Logan, myself.
Speaker A
The rest of our Think Media coaches.
Speaker A
We're doing four sessions over four days.
Speaker A
Talking about what's working now on YouTube.
Speaker A
And talking about how to adapt to all these changes.
Speaker A
Because you can still get views.
Speaker A
And you can still make money on YouTube.
Speaker A
If you do it in the way that's working right now.
Speaker A
So if you want to register for that, we'll put a link in the show notes.
Speaker A
Um, or you can go to YT Sprint.com to be a part of that free four-day YouTube growth event.
Speaker B
Podcast, let us know what you think.
Speaker B
What do you think of these theories?
Speaker B
What are you noticing?
Speaker B
What are you seeing on your channel?
Speaker B
What are you committing to because of this conversation?
Speaker B
We'd love to connect with you down below.
Speaker B
Please let us know what you thought of this episode.
Speaker B
Like, rate, share, review.
Speaker B
Wherever you watch or listen.
Speaker B
This is the Think Media podcast.
Speaker B
I'm Nathan Eswein.
Speaker B
And I can't wait to connect with you in a future episode.
Topics:MrBeastYouTube views declineYouTube algorithmYouTube Shortslong form videocontent strategycreator growthaudience behaviorvideo engagementThink Media Podcast
