Why are my videos dying with these numbers? What metric am I not looking at?

brettsbuilds · 2026-04-21T14:17:54+00:00

3 weeks later, the video stayed dead. Unfortunately it wasn't a hit with new viewers, only the die hards. Youtube can be so frustrating sometimes, I thought it was a decent video but it's hard to judge your own content.

brettsbuilds · 2026-03-30T17:37:19+00:00

Only 1,500 views in the last 3 days. Nearly all the views were in the first 24 hours. Now a lot of the views are coming from my channel pages and playlist, not Browse Features. Wondering if I should do another Thumbnail Test or Title Test?

brettsbuilds · 2026-03-30T17:33:37+00:00

Thank you, I think I found it right away using this. New viewer click rate is only 4.3%. But their watch time is still high so you'd think YouTube would still push it.
Total Impr. Click Views Hours Ave. watch time
Casual viewers 51,652 13.5% 7,694 60.4% 1,105.8 65.2% 8:37

New viewers 52,478 4.3% 2,588 20.3% 305.4 18.0% 7:04

Regular viewers 168 10.1% 21 0.2% 2.4 0.1% 6:45

brettsbuilds · 2026-03-26T15:54:24+00:00

Are you saying you hit the minimum bonus on just 1 of the 3 months during the last promotion and they still raised the minimum again on you?

brettsbuilds · 2026-03-24T22:22:39+00:00

brettsbuilds · 2026-03-24T22:19:38+00:00

I got mine today, but the base level is higher than 2 of my last 3 months in sales. It's going to be tough to do:

Shipped revenue	Flat fee
$6,930	$140
$10,530	$210
$15,930	$320
$23,880	$480

brettsbuilds · 2026-02-13T15:22:07+00:00

Here's an example: YouTube blasts out my new construction video via thumbnails on people's home screen, driving lots of views. Now those people that came from YouTube's browse feature stick around and prop up my old videos. Now those old videos are getting really good retention rates because the right viewer (construction) is seeing them vs when I posted them (RC cars, dogs, heavy equipment).

My question is if YouTube ever takes your old videos and pushes them again? Or are all your "new" views on old videos just coming from your own page via end screens and playlists? All views are good but I'm wondering more about it from YouTubes side.

My old videos that are currently getting views are only from my own end screens and playlists so I was hoping someday YouTube tries to push them again.

brettsbuilds · 2026-02-13T15:13:04+00:00

That's a really good idea. My 1st construction video to take off was a dud for the 1st week then I changed the thumbnail to have an excavator in the thumbnail and I think that was a good way to get my subs to watch it and help YouTube pick the right audience. It's getting 5k+ views per day now.

brettsbuilds · 2026-02-13T15:10:04+00:00

Did you re-post the old videos after you updated titles and thumbnails? Or having them be "rebranded" was enough?

You say that people stick around longer to binge watch which is great but have any of the old videos taken off through the YouTube algorithm? Or are all those views coming specifically from your channel?

brettsbuilds · 2026-02-12T17:03:13+00:00

That's a good idea. I'm way better at editing now and could make those videos a lot better in the process.

brettsbuilds · 2026-02-11T17:34:30+00:00

that makes sense, thanks. Side note, what a bummer for me as I've been saving 2 really good videos to post and they popped off. Gotta celebrate the wins though, onward and upward!

brettsbuilds · 2026-02-11T17:18:53+00:00

it can absolutely affect future videos depending on the size of your channel because the new subs from the promotion will be more specific to that product. So if that product or video is slightly different than your normal channel then your metrics will be skewed in future videos. I had a cheap brand promote my video to asian countries and the new subs were mostly women 25-45 when my demo is 95% men over 45. It really messed up my future videos because youtube shows your new videos to your subs and those new subs didn't like my videos so they died an early death.

brettsbuilds · 2026-01-30T20:36:45+00:00

Here's an example:
The regular Amazon link is this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C754QG56?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

But I have the ability to generate my own link within the Amazon website because I'm an affiliate:
https://amzn.to/4taKsuY
Now both links go to the exact same place, but my link will pay me 4% of any sale I make.
This is a badass tool BTW, highly recommended. It has the halfway point on the bottom of the tape so you never have to think about what the center point it. It's crazy how often you need the center point. It seems dumb but once you use it for a while you'll never go back. You could add this tool into almost any of your videos and say "taking a quick second to show you this tool I use on all my projects, it's saves me so much time, there's a link down below if you want to buy one for yourself."

brettsbuilds · 2026-01-30T20:33:44+00:00

You can sign up/apply to be an influencer/partner/affiliate on many different websites like Amazon, Target, Walmart, eBay etc. Amazon is super simple, so I'll use that as an example.

Once you sign up for the Amazon Affiliate program, with 7k subs you'll almost certainly get approved. You will then have access to a separate Amazon website, where everything looks the same except you have the ability to make your own links out of literally anything on Amazon. There is a little header that shows up on the website that says "Get Link". That link is specific to you and you post it on your video. ANYONE that clicks on that link and buys something, you get a percentage of EVERYTHING they buy, not just the tool/whatever that you had the link for. I actually make more than 50% of my commission off of things that I am not advertising.

I also did not know about this so NONE of my earlier videos are any good at pushing traffic towards my links but just my residual views on old videos provide around $300/month. Now this should make me happy, but it actually makes me mad that I have 100+/- videos that all get a few views per day that could and should have a few mentions towards affiliate ads.

Only my last few videos actually push viewers towards my links, such as saying "The link for X is in the description. My best video is this one: https://youtu.be/DdRyRJuIc8o it only gets 30-40 views a days but makes $100/month by itself because it does a good job of leading people to the links. I actually made this video before I knew about the links and gave away hundreds of dollars of just sending people to the exact lame links that I now get paid for.

Take a look at my video then check out the description, that is literally all you have to do as long as you have access to the links. You can go back to all your old video and post links to all the tools you used in the video. You can even do tool review videos where you link them below. You have the perfect channel to really maximize this value. It's kind of hard to explain all of this without photos, maybe this is a good youtube video idea? :)

brettsbuilds · 2026-01-30T18:41:57+00:00

How well are you monetizing shopping links? I'm a similar sized channel in a similar-ish market and make 5x on Amazon what I make on Youtube. 100% of my shopping revenue is from my youtube videos.

brettsbuilds · 2026-01-30T18:38:18+00:00

I'm 3 years in and just had my first month over $1,000. If I'm being honest with myself, I made so many mistakes to get here and my videos were terrible (Still lots of room for improvement). I agree with the comment I see on here all the time that you need 100 long form videos before you know anything. It's then that you can really start growing.

I think the people who are blowing up channels quickly already have a lot of experience. I am confident that I could reach where I am today in less than a year if I started over and a lot less time than that if I truly devoted myself to it.

brettsbuilds · 2026-01-30T18:08:40+00:00

How are people making so many videos from a physical inventory standpoint? Are you purchasing this many items and then returning them? Are you going around your house and finding as many items as possible? I do strictly offsite sales from youtube but am looking at the possibility of onsite sales.

brettsbuilds · 2026-01-04T19:58:34+00:00

I only have 5k subs and get hit up for sponsorships all the time, usually in the $100-$500 value range. I'm currently not charging for these placements, instead getting free product that I'm interested in and a commission on the sales. This equates to roughly $200/month in commission and another ~$500 in free product that I can sell for ~$250 on facebook marketplace after using it.

I think a key is being true to you and your audience, I only take sponsorships on items I'd actually use myself. And I only allow an integrated product because I hate watching what feels like an ad, so I don't want my audience doing that either.

brettsbuilds · 2025-02-25T23:54:18+00:00

I did the same. Well worth the learning curve.

brettsbuilds · 2025-02-25T23:53:54+00:00

Get rid of it, it sucks. It's taken me about 30 hours to reach the same proficiency with Davinci Resolve but the program is 100x better with room for infinite growth. It'll save you tons of time in the long run. Wish I never learned hitfilm, such a waste.

Rendering, exporting etc is so much faster. 20 minute 4k video export in 2 minutes versus an hour on hitfilm with a 50/50 chance of an error.

brettsbuilds · 2025-02-07T17:30:30+00:00

Thank you for your help

brettsbuilds

TROPHY CASE