Channel-Level Distribution Issue: 0 Impressions Despite Full Feature Eligibility

[wakeupneo]

Hi everyone, I’ve had 5 different channels, and on all of them the first uploads were tested normally. They got impressions and even a few thousand views, sometimes more, without any problem.

But on some other channels, the opposite happens. You upload a video and it almost doesn’t get pushed at all. It’s not just low CTR or bad retention, because the video doesn’t even seem to enter the first impression test.

Changing the title, thumbnail, description, tags, category, etc. doesn’t really make a difference.

The strange thing is that this can happen on both new and older channels. Feature Eligibility is fully enabled in YouTube Studio too, including Standard features, Intermediate features and Advanced features.

I’ve also seen cases where normal account activity was done before uploading, like building watch history, watching videos, liking, commenting and subscribing, but the uploads still got almost no impressions.

So I’m wondering if this is some kind of channel-level trust or distribution issue. Not saying it’s definitely a shadowban, but it feels like some channels simply don’t get the initial test.

Has anyone else dealt with this?

Did the channel eventually start getting impressions, or did you have to do something specific to fix it?

 

[oliviarhodes]

This is a common issue on YouTube; you just need to switch accounts.

 

[TopOneYouTube]

Welcome to the club. Honestly, it feels like YouTube has a hidden trust score for the hardware or IP you're using. If you've burnt a few channels before on the same setup, the new ones often get ghosted from day one. Advanced features being green means nothing if your fingerprint is flagged. Try a clean VPS or a completely different device/network and see if the impressions kick in.

 

[LUMA_PROMO]

Hi everyone, I’ve had 5 different channels, and on all of them the first uploads were tested normally. They got impressions and even a few thousand views, sometimes more, without any problem.

But on some other channels, the opposite happens. You upload a video and it almost doesn’t get pushed at all. It’s not just low CTR or bad retention, because the video doesn’t even seem to enter the first impression test.

Changing the title, thumbnail, description, tags, category, etc. doesn’t really make a difference.

The strange thing is that this can happen on both new and older channels. Feature Eligibility is fully enabled in YouTube Studio too, including Standard features, Intermediate features and Advanced features.

I’ve also seen cases where normal account activity was done before uploading, like building watch history, watching videos, liking, commenting and subscribing, but the uploads still got almost no impressions.

So I’m wondering if this is some kind of channel-level trust or distribution issue. Not saying it’s definitely a shadowban, but it feels like some channels simply don’t get the initial test.

Has anyone else dealt with this?

Did the channel eventually start getting impressions, or did you have to do something specific to fix it?

Yeah, this actually happens, you’re not the only one. Sometimes YouTube just doesn’t “trust” a channel yet and doesn’t even bother testing the video. That’s why changing title, thumbnail, tags doesn’t help- the video never even enters the test phase. It’s pretty common with new channels or oversaturated niches. Some channels start getting pushed after a few consistent uploads, others just stay dead and it’s easier to start a new one.
What can help a bit is bringing some real traffic from outside (Shorts, TikTok, Reddit) so there’s at least some activity.

Short answer: it’s not a bug, it’s just how YouTube works.

 

[cybersexuals]

sometimes i dont get YT anymore, it has some channel-level trust or quality scoring beyond just CTR and retention, especially on newer or inconsistent channels