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With all the drama going on in the world of YouTube, I thought now was a good time to talk about why I REALLY quit making YouTube videos. Do you agree? Let me know your thoughts. If you are a small channel and are struggling to get views or subscribers, let me know! My favorite thing about YouTube since the beginning was meeting other people and being involved in the community. I'd love to check out your channel. Follow me on social! Twitter (@Cliftonmcdnl) http://www.Twitter.com/Cliftonmcdnl Instagram (@Cliftonmcdnl) http://www.instagram.com/Cliftonmcdnl Facebook http://www.Facebook.com/CliftonMcDaniel #RyeWhiskey
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0:00
I'm quitting YouTube again question mark exclamation point totally using that as a title just kidding
0:07
Hey guys, so I've been trying so hard to come up with the video concept for this week
0:11
And I'm kind of bummed out about it And it's got me thinking about why I quit YouTube in the first place a few years ago and how I'm sort of thinking about doing it again
0:19
But hear me out first so for those of you that don't know I started making videos a long long time ago
0:25
So I actually started making videos in late 2007, but I deleted all those and started fresh in 2008
0:31
And I was making videos pretty consistently from about 2008 to 2011, and I managed to get a pretty big audience for the time
0:37
And I had a lot of fun making them. Whether it was a stupid song parody or a comedy skit filmed at home alone, it was just fun to do, and I think people liked them
0:47
And I think that's partly because the standards weren't really very high on YouTube
0:50
Big YouTubers weren't popular because they had high production value or anything
0:54
People liked their personality and they were real people that they could relate to
0:58
And I think the game really started to change around 2011 when I kind of stopped making videos as frequently
1:02
And I don't think it was just one specific thing that made YouTube change. I think it was just a natural progression with sponsorships and multi-partner networks
1:11
And the big YouTubers were getting really profitable brand deals and had big production companies behind them
1:16
Which is great for them, I'm not complaining. I would have totally jumped on that if I was big enough
1:20
But I noticed that the growth of smaller YouTube channels around the time kind of stopped
1:24
And I think that's because YouTube put a focus on brands with money behind them versus independent YouTubers who just kind of made money here or there on AdSense
1:32
So around late 2010, early 2011, I noticed my viewership was slowly dropping, even though I'm still being really consistent with my uploads
1:39
And that kind of discouraged me. So I was like, you know what, I'm going to go to making videos infrequently
1:44
I don't need to post as often because I'm putting a lot of work into this. And that was my biggest mistake
1:48
So I would go a few weeks or months without making a video and then upload and hope to get views and it would barely reach a couple hundred So at that point I was just kind of like you know what It not worth my efforts And you have to remember I wasn just making vlogs like this at the time
2:01
If so, you know, it wouldn't have been that much of a big deal. But I was putting, you know, days and days into these song parodies and sketches and
2:08
things like that. And of course, the production value was not great, as you've seen in some of my videos where I'm reacting to my old videos
2:12
But still, for like a 17-year-old guy at home, it was a lot of work
2:16
But going from tens and hundreds of thousands of views per video down to, you know, less than a thousand
2:21
it just kind of was like, whoa, this doesn't seem right. And I think around 2015, the game changed again
2:27
It started to seem like people realized that it wasn't all about the big production value
2:30
and people could just sit in front of their camera and talk and people would love them. But one thing hasn't changed since the last shift
2:36
I think it's incredibly difficult to build an audience if you aren't starting from some level of popularity already
2:42
And I think that's a mix of algorithms, money, and really good looks
2:47
Back in the day, a lot of people to get views would put boobs in their thumbnails. Now that doesn't work
2:52
You have to be a young guy with abs and probably not even in high school yet to get popular
2:57
So I'm not sure where I fit in on either of those two extremes. So I don't know. I definitely feel like I'm growing with this channel
3:02
And I don't take this as me, you know, not being appreciative of your support. I totally do
3:06
I'm amazed that I'm almost at a thousand subscribers already. But I feel like YouTube doesn't really provide the opportunity for growth like it used to
3:12
So my question to any of you creators out there, do you feel the same way? Were you on YouTube several years ago and you feel like it's completely different now
3:18
Or are you just starting out and you're noticing, hey, I'm not really growing that much of an audience on YouTube
3:22
yet I'm doing really well on Instagram or Twitter or things like that
3:26
I really want to know your thoughts, so please leave me a comment below. If you like this video, leave me a thumbs up
3:31
Even if you disagree with me, I would love to just still have the discussion. So let me know what you think. If you're not subscribed, please subscribe
3:36
And I'll see you guys next video. Bye
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