One of the biggest misconceptions on YouTube is that creators are paid by the number of subscribers that they have, when in fact you’re actually paid for the views specifically per thousand views.
So what’s the point of subscribers then? Well, obviously your subscriber represents a real person who is interested in what you have to say and what you’re doing. So from a personal perspective there, the only thing that matters,
I would much rather exchange comments with one longtime subscriber than a hundred new viewers from a popular blog or magazine. And that’s because the subscriber will know your goals, your ambitions, your personality, where youe’re going, where you’ve been. We really value their opinion. As an outsider looking in
From an analytics perspective, subscribers are important because of their engagement with the video immediately after its release,
When a video gets a lot of likes, comments and views in its first seven days, YouTube recommends it to other people, which then creates more views, likes and comments, which means more recommendations. And this is the snowball that we talked about earlier in this course. Your subscribers are very important because they provide that seed of initial success. That’s a signal to YouTube to keep recommending your video.
Of course, you also have to create entertaining and valuable content. Otherwise YouTube wouldn’t recommend it. It would get views but no engagement and then they would just stop recommending it. Something to keep in mind is that all those subscribers are important for getting those initial views. They’re the least likely group of people to earn you revenue from advertisements and that’s because they’re there to watch you no matter what you’re talking about and they’re less likely to click on.
The ads usually come from search. On the other hand are extremely valuable because it’s someone looking for a solution. Let’s say for instance, you have a video reviewing a flashlight. If someone is searching for that and they find your video, they’re more likely to see an ad from that flashlight manufacturer and click on it before your video.
Subscribers are less likely to click on your ads. They are more likely to buy merchandise or digital products that you create and sell on your channel, and those are much more profitable in the long run. Anyway. That’s why it’s extremely important that you focus both on search and converting new viewers into subscribers.