Sudden drop in views on my cooking channel and suggested traffic is now at zero

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MrCoder

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Hi everyone,

I run a cooking and recipe channel. My videos used to be around 3–4 minutes long, but my last two videos were about 15 minutes each. I’ve also changed my thumbnail style and shifted my content niche.

My views suddenly dropped, and traffic from Suggested Videos is now showing zero. My entire channel also has zero views in the last 60 minutes.

Could changing the video length, thumbnail style, and niche around the same time explain such a sharp drop? Has anyone experienced something similar?

What should I check in YouTube Analytics to understand what happened? Would you recommend sticking with the new direction or returning to my previous format?

Thanks for any advice!
 
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Changing three things at once (length, thumbnails, niche) makes it hard to know which one hurt, so I would not revert all three together either - whatever happens next would teach you nothing.

Two things I would separate first: the realtime view and the trend. Zero views across a channel in one 60-minute window can just be a quiet hour for that audience. The sharper signal is Suggested over the last 28 days in Studio's traffic sources. If that has been falling for days, it is a real change, not a lull.

If it is real, flip one thing back per upload instead of everything at once. Next video: old thumbnail style, keep the new length. The one after: change something else. Slower, but each result points at a cause. I don't have a cooking channel to cite - this is test design, not a result.
 
You changed quite a few things at once, so it's hard to know what caused the drop. I'd compare your old videos with the new ones in Analytics, especially impressions and watch time. Maybe try your old style for a couple of uploads and see if things pick up again.
 
Alice9090 said:
You changed quite a few things at once, so it's hard to know what caused the drop. I'd compare your old videos with the new ones in Analytics, especially impressions and watch time. Maybe try your old style for a couple of uploads and see if things pick up again.
Click to expand...
Right. Trying to do too much at once makes it difficult to figure out what the problem is. I would try making only one change at a time, and allow enouugh time for the results to be analyzed.
 
MrCoder said:
Hi everyone,

I run a cooking and recipe channel. My videos used to be around 3–4 minutes long, but my last two videos were about 15 minutes each. I’ve also changed my thumbnail style and shifted my content niche.

My views suddenly dropped, and traffic from Suggested Videos is now showing zero. My entire channel also has zero views in the last 60 minutes.

Could changing the video length, thumbnail style, and niche around the same time explain such a sharp drop? Has anyone experienced something similar?

What should I check in YouTube Analytics to understand what happened? Would you recommend sticking with the new direction or returning to my previous format?

Thanks for any advice!
Click to expand...
alterations to the niche, length of video, and thumbnail may be caussing confusion among ur existing audience. u could compare the click through rates nd retention rates with ur past videos to see what might be contributing to the problem. alternatively, maybe use the old format again for a while.
 
If suggested traffic hit zero, check CTR, retention, and recent video performance and changing the niche, thumbnails and video length together can definitely confuse the audience.
 
Changing the video length, thumbnails, and niche all at the same time makes it difficult to identify the actual problem. Start by comparing your last two videos with your older ones. Look at impressions, CTR, audience retention, and Suggested Videos traffic.
 
changing all three things at once makes it difficult to know what caused the drop. A different niche can affect who YouTube recommends your videos to while longer videos may change audience retention. I’d check impressions and audience retention especially under Suggested Videos. Also compare the new videos with your older ones over the same time period.
 
Changing the niche is probably the biggest one as your existing audience aren't going to be interested in the new content. Longer videos and new thumbnails will also have an impact on retention and CTR.

Check the impressions, CTR, audience retention and traffic sources in Analytics. If impressions have dropped then YouTube may be showing the videos less, if CTR or retention have dropped then the content isn't connecting.

I'd run a few more videos before we go back. Try one variable at a time to work out exactly what's having an impact on performance.
 
MrCoder said:
Hi everyone,

I run a cooking and recipe channel. My videos used to be around 3–4 minutes long, but my last two videos were about 15 minutes each. I’ve also changed my thumbnail style and shifted my content niche.

My views suddenly dropped, and traffic from Suggested Videos is now showing zero. My entire channel also has zero views in the last 60 minutes.

Could changing the video length, thumbnail style, and niche around the same time explain such a sharp drop? Has anyone experienced something similar?

What should I check in YouTube Analytics to understand what happened? Would you recommend sticking with the new direction or returning to my previous format?

Thanks for any advice!
Click to expand...
Since your videos went from 3–4 minutes to around 15 minutes, I would compare average percentage viewed rather than average watch duration alone. A longer video might generate more minutes watched while retaining a smaller share of viewers. Also compare impressions and CTR during the first 48 hours of each upload. That should help distinguish a distribution problem from a thumbnail or audience-retention problem.
 
You should compare the analytics data with older videos or temporarily revert to a familiar style to identify the problem.
 
Changing your video length, thumbnails, and topic all at once can affect views. And check impressions, click through rate, and audience retention first. Maybe try your old style again for a few videos and see how viewers respond.
 
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