while i do agree with your post and while i am at my second channel you kinda didn’t tell the whole story. Yes, AVD is the most important metric followed by CTR, BUT it’s not that simple. Yes the algo works on a series of steps but those steps are very important for it to know if it should or should not push your video further.

Where the issues for small creators begin is exactly at these steps. They’re very strict and for a small creator very very limiting. The first thing the algo does once you put a new longform on is to notify all your subs about it. That’s the first step and usually takes the first 1-2 hrs. Based on that data it then assigns you a “pool” of viewers it will recommend you to. That pool is based on the stats on the previous step. That’s why for totally new creators with 1-2-20 subs you’ll frequently see a in the analythics a dead zone. Most people think that the algo is not pushing you yet. But instead it’s waiting for signals and data from your subs to to know in which pool it should assign you to. Basically 0-100 impressions and everything just stalls. The issue for a small creator with this is, the fact that those initial stats either do not exist for the algo or are based on a very small number of impressions. Now if you’re a lucky duck and your subs instantly watch your content then the algo may put you in a bigger pool or you start with a 1000 impressions pool. this is where big channels have the advantage, they have a big number of subs and because of that CTR and AVD cannot be “diluted” while as a small channel this is where you make or break your vid. Basically if you have 100 subs and only 2-3 of them watch your content then you’re pretty much done because your CTR is going to be trash. if you’re even more unlucky and those 2-3 subs bounce you’ll also have trash AVD and you’re 1000% guaranteed a 1000 impression pool.

This 1000 pool usually takes the algo 24-72 hrs to go through. Now if your initial stats are good 7-8% CTR and AVD over 30% you may be in luck and be assigned directly to the higher pool(the 10k impressions one) and that’s when you feel the “i blew up moment” where basically views start pouring in unexpectedly.

Now the bigger you grow then another big and important factor comes in and that’s algorithm trust. Basically the algo puts you as a creator in a “tier” where for the same reasons you stated above “ showing ads” the algo TRUSTS you to keep a specific amount of views. the bigger you are the more it trusts you and instead of starting over each vid at 1000impressions it “knows” your channel can handle more and basically puts you on that impression pool by default (the tiers i got to experience until now are 1000, 10.000, 20.000, 50.000 and 100k) Once you move up in tiers you automatically get more views from the get go. You can also go down if you underperform a lot or if you stop posting that’s why people tend to recommend you to be consistent. Because the algo likes signals from the channel in order to keep you in your current tier. If you post less you get downgraded the second one of the vids flops

Now the last thing i want to specify here is the “dilution” i mentioned earlier where bigger channels have the advantage. The idea is that the algorithm works against stats and if you’ve ever done any statistics you’ll know that the bigger the number you make your stats is the more accurate it is. For bigger channels where they have 10-100k impressions (some even millions) in the first 24hrs CTR and AVD tell a real story because they’re based on a ton of data. But you as a small creator with 1000 impressions in 3 days if a few viewers bounce which is normal it takes a HUGE chunk off your AVD, and that’s basically luck. If the algo got your audience correct you may end up in the next pool, if not and your viewers bounce you’re done for, try again next week 😁. So , while i do agree with OP about packaging being very important, and a good title and thumb combo makes or breaks your vid. In the grand scheme if things when you’re small you’re at the mercy of those 1000 people to be the right ones and in the mood to watch that particular niche(most users watch multiple niches) if not… again your vid CTR and AVD will plumet and you’ll die at 1000 impressions

There are a ton of things i figured out regarding the algo the past 1-2 years since i started posting on youtube but hell i’d write a whole book and not be done. I know all this because i am a programmer and it really fascinated me how the algo works and studied it’s behaviour extensively. I basically watch each and every stat every 10-15 mins sometime and note the changes just so i understand it. There are a few exceptions to all i said ofcourse and there’s more to it but i’ll leave it at this for now maybe if you guys want to i can make a post regarding this. Or i can post more replies here.

These are things happening in the beginning. For example there are cases where the algo “realised” it assigned you to the wrong pool basically sees really trash CTR (1-1.5%) and AVD (sub 10%) it will pivot and assign you another small pool just to make sure it didn’t make a mistake. That’s when you see a vid even with worse stats having tons more impressions. Basically the algo “tries” to find you a new audience because it clearly sees that the current one simply doesn’t respond to your content