A bit OT but for those of us tracking stats this video about what's been going on with Youtube this year was really interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyHaMVRgBV0
TLDW:
- Youtube is promoting new videos more heavily at the expense of back catalogues. Some of those new 24h records may not mean quite as much as fans want to think (shhh!), but videos that maintain well after the first 2-3 days are more impressive than ever. Major gaming vloggers are seeing massive cuts in old video views, perhaps along the lines of 30, 40%.
- Youtube has been rewarding 10 min+ videos for years, and is now favoring longer and longer videos. Total watch time is what matters for promotion by the algorithm and not view counts, likes/dislikes, comments, or finishing the video (bad for music promotion)
- As of the last few months Youtube is now focused on daily active users on each channel, because they want Youtube to be a daily habit like television, and rewards channels that publish every single day (bad for music promotion)
- Youtube's trending tab seems to be curated and focused on helping users discover channels that match the above criteria, and building a base for brand channels that buy ads. So don't take the trending numbers seriously at all.