Monthly View Cap On YouTube Channel | Got Stuck At 70-72k Views / Month

Hello,

I would like to know if any of you guys have experienced having views on your YT channel limited/capped at a specific viewcount per month. And how long it took you to get free from it.

To add some context to this really quickly: I run a middlesized, search-based software tutorial channel as part of my YT Automation business. I've been uploading long form tutorials consistently 2x/day for 5 months now. Without any breaks in my upload schedule. Sadly enough, I just can't break through the 70-72k views / 2600h watchtime mark per month - as seen in the graphs below.




No matter what I do and how many of my videos get temporary pushes from search/browse/suggested, somehow the views get spread across the month, so that I always end up with 70-72k views/2600h watchtime per month.If newer videos get pushed, older ones drop in views simultaneously. And vice versa. And once the push is over, the older videos recover almost instantaneously.



New content, that gets temporarily pushed by "browse features", replaces temporarily my top performing search-based videos (and vice versa). It's like my videos are replacing each other, instead of adding additional traffic. I've uploaded more than 300 videos since the day I started uploading daily. And the more videos get published, the more the overall viewcount per 48h gets spread across more videos. Now, instead of having a couple of videos with ~100 views per 48h, I have hundreds of videos ranging from 10 to 60 views per 48h. It may sound like a conspiracy theory, but it looks like the algorithm is trying hard to somehow spread these 70k views per month across more and more videos. Just to keep me stuck in this 70-72k views cap per month. It sounds crazy, but it's also really happening. And it's super frustrating & demotivating.



And that has been going on from the moment I reached that 70-72k/views per month mark. Before that, up until that point everything had been going smoothly and views from YT Search had been growing steadily week after week and month after month. The moment my channel had reached 70-72k views / month though, it literally hit an unvisible ceiling.




CTR & AVD are high (not worse than my competitors' videos), I didn't change anything in terms of topic, SEO or content quality. My audience loves my content and I barely receive any negative feedback. My channel has no penalties in work (according to YT Support "everything working as intended") and I have never done anything shady (reused content, spam, CPA, copyright strikes, controversial topics). Everything had been working just perfectly till I had reached that damn view cap. I've seen videos with top CTR (25-40%) & AVD (30-40%, which is above average for tutorials in my niche) and a high rank on YT Search literally DYING in terms of search & suggested impression out of a sudden - whenever I was about to breach that monthly view cap, for example when I was close to 70k views a few days before the end of the month. Impressions from YT Search for these videos dropped almost to zero with no explanation for the remaining days of the month, just to recover "miraculously" on 1st of the next month. Strange, isn't it? And cl0wns on r/partneredyutube keep telling me, "there is no such thing as a view cap, bruh", "make better content, bruh", "improve CTR & AVD, bruh". It's infuriating.

Bcuz it's not a quality issue. Up until reaching that monthly view limit, views had been growing steadily. So, SEO, quality, CTR, AVD, etc. were good enough to grow constantly, obviously. Also, I'm not a beginner in running YouTube channels & video making. I'm not looking for cheap excuses. I have put A LOT OF EFFORT into my tutorials, have adapted everything I could from my competition and usually aim for constant improvement. My niche competitors make exact the same type of videos (same quality, SEO, etc.), but have 4x/5x higher view caps per month and get 10x more views with the same videos I make. IT IS SO UNFAIR. I've been analyzing their history on Socialblade and all of them broke free from their view cap much sooner than me. After 2-4 months of consistent daily uploading their channels blew up out of a sudden - all of that with search based content. It's like the algorithm pulling a switch. For them. But not for me.

Long story short: I am becoming more and more worried about setting a new record on YT: getting stuck forever in this damn view cap. I have read YouTubeScientist's replies on BHW and know that he recommends creating new channels to bypass the view cap problem, but that can't be a solution for me, since all my competitors got free from that view cap without restarting their channels/focusing on other channels. Plus, search based tutorial channels need consistent daily uploads over a long period of time to grow, so I can't just take a break for weeks to "reset the algo", unfortunately. Also, there are no real "viral" topics either in this niche. Search based tutorial channels thrive on evergreen topics, anyway.

Any ideas/suggestions what to do? I have no other choice than to keep uploading, but how likely is it, that I am going to be stuck FOREVER in this view cap? Has anyone of you experienced a view cap like that? How long did it last for you and how did you get free from it? Do you know of any content creator, who has been affected by this longer than 5-6 months? I've been publishing daily and consistently for 5 months now - with exact the same, stagnating viewcount per month. So, I'm worried, frustrated and tbh also exhausted. But I can't afford to give up.

Sorry for the long post & thanks for reading.

This is my personal experience based on 1000s of videos I've uploaded on multiple channels, I have no inside info. They do put artificial cap/limit to how many impressions/views you can get. This applies to both shorts and long form content. If you manage to get one of your videos to go viral and get a decent amount of watch time/subs that artificial ceiling goes up allowing your future uploads to get more views.

I'll give you an example: you're getting 20-30 views per video and one of your videos goes viral and eventually dies out, but now your'e getting at least 200-300 views per video, the same thing happens again and now you're getting 2-3k views per video.

When I started I was getting 0 browse/suggested impressions and very little traffic coming from search. Now every single of my videos are getting at least 20k impressions. 2-3k views per video seems to be the new normal and 100k-2kk views if one of my videos goes viral.

I think you can look at it as tiers and if you want to move from one tier to the next one you need some of your videos to go viral, and in order to do that you need exceptionally high CTR, AVD and high engagement.

yes, youtube does that on purpose, i dont know why, but it does that, i have a 500k+ channel and my views are cap at 15k views, im getting good ctr, retention, likes and coments, some videos are getting like 65% retention and still are cap, pretty fuck up this, im almost giving up my channel and go drive uber... not a joke, i use to make 4m views per month, now im making like 500k views per month, so...

i have a theory that youtube flop channels and promove others they choose, i can cleary see this on Mr beast channel, youtube is promoting him after pewdiepie AD thing started...so he need a new youtube boy and he was choosen. any way, youtube sucks.

I'm curious about the estimated revenue lol

kukuruziuz said:

This is my personal experience based on 1000s of videos I've uploaded on multiple channels, I have no inside info. They do put artificial cap/limit to how many impressions/views you can get. This applies to both shorts and long form content. If you manage to get one of your videos to go viral and get a decent amount of watch time/subs that artificial ceiling goes up allowing your future uploads to get more views.

I'll give you an example: you're getting 20-30 views per video and one of your videos goes viral and eventually dies out, but now your'e getting at least 200-300 views per video, the same thing happens again and now you're getting 2-3k views per video.

When I started I was getting 0 browse/suggested impressions and very little traffic coming from search. Now every single of my videos are getting at least 20k impressions. 2-3k views per video seems to be the new normal and 100k-2kk views if one of my videos goes viral.

I think you can look at it as tiers and if you want to move from one tier to the next one you need some of your videos to go viral, and in order to do that you need exceptionally high CTR, AVD and high engagement.

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First, thank you for your reply & insight. I really appreciate your help!

And secondly, I don't think the lack of viralilty is the main cause in my case, because my competitors broke free from their view caps without going viral with their videos. Again, since they run search based channels, too, one day their entire channels just blew up from one day / week to another - with multiple of their videos getting masses of traffic from YT search out of a sudden. And they kept growing up to the next higher threshold.
Why did that happen? Because the algorithm had removed the cap from their channel. And their videos eventually started receiving the traffic from YT Search they could have been receiving all the time, if the artificial cap would have let them. I saw the analytics of one of my key competitors. One of his "viral" top 5 videos had an AVD of 27% (which is the average in our niche). Yet, that video managed to get tens of thousands of views within a few months. Which can be considered "viral" in our niche.
I just checked the AVD for my videos. And you know what? I counted 15 out of 50 videos alone, that have a similar / or higher AVD (>27%) than my competitors' top performing video. And I have more than 700 videos on my channel. So, the algorithm had more than enough opportunities to let at least a handful of my videos go similarly "viral" as the top performing videos of my competitors. I do exact the same SEO, the content quality is not worse. And AVD & CTR are in the same range as my competitors.

Yet, none of my videos have gone "viral" as my competitors' videos have. Not a single one of them. They could have, if the algorithm wouldn't be surpessing their growth artificially with that damn cap. As I said, I have more than enough content, that qualifies for going "viral" in my niche.

Or to give you an example: I GUARANTEE you, if I uploaded my best videos on your channel or on any other channel, that has a higher view cap per month than mine, they would go "viral" in no time. At least some of them. And get significantly more views than on my channel.

mecawi said:

yes, youtube does that on purpose, i dont know why, but it does that, i have a 500k+ channel and my views are cap at 15k views, im getting good ctr, retention, likes and coments, some videos are getting like 65% retention and still are cap, pretty fuck up this, im almost giving up my channel and go drive uber... not a joke, i use to make 4m views per month, now im making like 500k views per month, so...

i have a theory that youtube flop channels and promove others they choose, i can cleary see this on Mr beast channel, youtube is promoting him after pewdiepie AD thing started...so he need a new youtube boy and he was choosen. any way, youtube sucks.

Click to expand...

I know, bro. It suxx big time. I know there are spammers and scammers out there, but I am an honest, hard working content creator, who's being treated extremely unfair by the algorithm. And I also know that sounds as if I were whining, but believe me when I say this: I'm not looking for cheap excuses here. I genuinely wished it really was a cheap excuse and it was a content quality issue after all. But it's not. That's the tragedy. If you had seen the content my competitors pump out and get 10x more views with than mine and compared that to the content quality and performance of my videos, you would know what I mean. It's a nightmare.

That's why I get really angry when I read somewhat ignorant comments on r/partneredyoutube like "make better content" or "there is no shadowban/view cap". These guys over there have NO CLUE what they're talking about. Yet they downvote you when you're looking for an advice and are trying to explain things rationally based on your observations, experience and collected data. They spam-downvote you. Make fun of you. Call you a tinfoil. Most of them publish content on YT occasionally maybe 1x a week or month, need 2 years to get their channels monetized, have no idea whatsoever how the algorithm works, but they think of themselves high, as if they were God given YouTube experts, who know absolutely everything.

Greenstream said:

I'm curious about the estimated revenue lol

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Well, that channel of mine is in the software tutorial/tech/ecommerce niche, so you can imagine the CPM there is pretty high.
But that view cap thing is holding my channel back, unfortunately.

Another month passed by and...surprise surprise...ANOTHER month with exact the same view count (72k) and watchtime (2.6k). Sixth month in the row by the way. After another month of consistent daily uploading.



YT Support claims "everything is working as intended". It's absurd how the algorithm is trying hard and doing everything imaginable to spread these 72k views somwhow across hundreds over hundreds of videos, just because it doesn't allow me to pass through this damn view cap. Even videos with top CTR & retention lose impressions by force with no reason, just to keep me stuck/capped at these 72k views / month.
Ppl, who believe "there's no such thing as a view cap", should see & experience this. It's absolutelly absurd.

Anyone an idea how to break through artificially set view caps? Anyone?

EDIT: I started outsourcing another channel. I'm just waiting for the algorithm to start view throttling both channels - due to running two (!!!) channels on the same IP/device. I have no doubt this is going to happen to my channels, too. It's insane.

RandomRamenGuy said:

Another month passed by and...surprise surprise...ANOTHER month with exact the same view count (72k) and watchtime (2.6k). Sixth month in the row by the way. After another month of consistent daily uploading.

View attachment 341611

YT Support claims "everything is working as intended". It's absurd how the algorithm is trying hard and doing everything imaginable to spread these 72k views somwhow across hundreds over hundreds of videos, just because it doesn't allow me to pass through this damn view cap. Even videos with top CTR & retention lose impressions by force with no reason, just to keep me stuck/capped at these 72k views / month.
Ppl, who believe "there's no such thing as a view cap", should see & experience this. It's absolutelly absurd.

Anyone an idea how to break through artificially set view caps? Anyone?

EDIT: I started outsourcing another channel. I'm just waiting for the algorithm to start view throttling both channels - due to running two (!!!) channels on the same IP/device. I have no doubt this is going to happen to my channels, too. It's insane.

Click to expand...

1) Have you tried uploading shorts? I don't think it's actually gone solve the problem for your long form content, but combined view count for long form videos + shorts would be higher than your current.
2) Why do you think that the algorithm throttles views for channels that are run from the same device/IP?

kukuruziuz said:

1) Have you tried uploading shorts? I don't think it's actually gone solve the problem for your long form content, but combined view count for long form videos + shorts would be higher than your current.
2) Why do you think that the algorithm throttles views for channels that are run from the same device/IP?

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Thank you for your reply.

1) Not yet. Could it really help, though? I guess, if Shorts would start gaining some traction on my channel (which I doubt, bcuz Shorts don't work well for Search-based software tutorial channels), the algorithm would simply reduce impressions for my long form content proportionally to "balance out" my monthly viewcount. I've seen a lot of posts of content creators on Reddit, who have experienced that.
2) There's a so called "multiple-channel-throttle", that applies once you start "spamming" in the eyes of the algorithm, by running "too many" channels from one IP/device. Most posts here on BHW claim, it's somewhere between 5 and 10 channels where the algorithm starts to throttle traffic. Usually you should be ok if you run up to 5 channels on one IP/device. Most of my niche competitors run several channels from one device without any issues and I know that they don't use any VPNs, VMs and all of that stuff. Nor haven't joined any MCN. Knowing my bad luck, though, and seeing how absurdly the algorithm is throttling my main channel month after month with no reasonable explanation, I am 100% convinced I will be the only one or one of the few cases, where that multiple channel throttling will apply even with only 2 channels active. I can see it coming already.

Yeah faceless YT automation channel is a big red flag as it is. It's 2024, make a real channel with real people. It's clear you won't go anywhere with this channel anymore.

peterparkermc said:

Yeah faceless YT automation channel is a big red flag as it is. It's 2024, make a real channel with real people. It's clear you won't go anywhere with this channel anymore.

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I don't think that's an issue here. All my niche competitors are doing very well with their faceless tutorial channels & growing big within their niches and subniches. Even those, who started just recently in 2024. With the same type of videos I make btw. Besides: I am a real person and run a real channel with my own or my freelancers voice narration, editing, screen recorded footage. High value and no low-effort stuff with AI. I went through monetization review smoothly without any issues and YT Support has confirmed multiple times, that my channel is in "a good standing".

Also, as you can see in the graphs posted above, the algorithm is heavily pushing my videos via browse features lately, which is a clear indicator, that there's no shadowban in play here. It's just that the overall monthly view count is capped since I had reached 72k views/month.

Where do you have that information from, that faceless channels are a "red flag" in 2024?

RandomRamenGuy said:

I don't think that's an issue here. All my niche competitors are doing very well with their faceless tutorial channels & growing big within their niches and subniches. Even those, who started just recently in 2024. With the same type of videos I make btw. Besides: I am a real person and run a real channel with my own or my freelancers voice narration, editing, screen recorded footage. High value and no low-effort stuff with AI. I went through monetization review smoothly without any issues and YT Support has confirmed multiple times, that my channel is in "a good standing".

Also, as you can see in the graphs posted above, the algorithm is heavily pushing my videos via browse features lately, which is a clear indicator, that there's no shadowban in play here. It's just that the overall monthly view count is capped since I had reached 72k views/month.

Where do you have that information from, that faceless channels are a "red flag" in 2024?

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Maybe you could join a Youtube masterclass like Ali Abdaal's PTYA or pay an expert for his/her channel audit or consultation. Could be the way to go.

peterparkermc said:

Maybe you could join a Youtube masterclass like Ali Abdaal's PTYA or pay an expert for his/her channel audit or consultation. Could be the way to go.

Click to expand...

Yes, that is a good idea, thank you!
I have already contacted some guys from the YT Automation niche like Youri, Hessel, etc, but they rarely reply to emails.

First though, I would really like to know, what @YoutubeScientist has to say about that. I would even compensate him for help & an advice, because I believe he knows a lot about how the algorithm on YT works. Unfortunately he's not been seen here lately

RandomRamenGuy said:

Thank you for your reply.

1) Not yet. Could it really help, though? I guess, if Shorts would start gaining some traction on my channel (which I doubt, bcuz Shorts don't work well for Search-based software tutorial channels), the algorithm would simply reduce impressions for my long form content proportionally to "balance out" my monthly viewcount. I've seen a lot of posts of content creators on Reddit, who have experienced that.
2) There's a so called "multiple-channel-throttle", that applies once you start "spamming" in the eyes of the algorithm, by running "too many" channels from one IP/device. Most posts here on BHW claim, it's somewhere between 5 and 10 channels where the algorithm starts to throttle traffic. Usually you should be ok if you run up to 5 channels on one IP/device. Most of my niche competitors run several channels from one device without any issues and I know that they don't use any VPNs, VMs and all of that stuff. Nor haven't joined any MCN. Knowing my bad luck, though, and seeing how absurdly the algorithm is throttling my main channel month after month with no reasonable explanation, I am 100% convinced I will be the only one or one of the few cases, where that multiple channel throttling will apply even with only 2 channels active. I can see it coming already.

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1) I do both long form content and shorts on the same channel. Shorts have no negative impact on my long form content. It would be difficult to make shorts for your niche, but if you would find a way to do so, you could link your shorts to your long form videos forcing extra views on your videos.
2) I have limited knowledge on this, but I think it's safe to asume that if one of your channels gets flagged for spam (due to spammy content/behaviour) and your other channels are thought to be associated to that channel, it might have negative impact on them. However, if your channels are in good standing, you could run as many channels as your want from the same device/IP. It would make no sense for YouTube to throttle the views for the channels that are in good standing.

RandomRamenGuy said:

Yes, that is a good idea, thank you!
I have already contacted some guys from the YT Automation niche like Youri, Hessel, etc, but they rarely reply to emails.

First though, I would really like to know, what @YoutubeScientist has to say about that. I would even compensate him for help & an advice, because I believe he knows a lot about how the algorithm on YT works. Unfortunately he's not been seen here lately

Click to expand...

just got back. was down due to some medical issues. but sure you can get in touch with me

kukuruziuz said:

1) I do both long form content and shorts on the same channel. Shorts have no negative impact on my long form content. It would be difficult to make shorts for your niche, but if you would find a way to do so, you could link your shorts to your long form videos forcing extra views on your videos.
2) I have limited knowledge on this, but I think it's safe to asume that if one of your channels gets flagged for spam (due to spammy content/behaviour) and your other channels are thought to be associated to that channel, it might have negative impact on them. However, if your channels are in good standing, you could run as many channels as your want from the same device/IP. It would make no sense for YouTube to throttle the views for the channels that are in good standing.

Click to expand...

1) Yes, I am considering posting a couple of Shorts, although I don't believe it is going to help me out of this situation. Either way, thanks for the suggestion!

2) I definitely agree to the second part of your statement. It doesn't make sense to throttle channels, that provide value, no matter how many channels you run. It's in YT's interest to have as many channels growing as possible, right?
Nevertheless, it was somewhere here on BHW, I don't recall anymore which thread it was exactly, but someone explained in a very detailed and comprehensible way, why there might be more to it and why YT might be throttling traffic for channels, if too many of them are run from the same IP/device, like 10+, to stop ppl from spamming, which makes sense if you think about it.

Anyways, I started uploading daily on my second, fully outsourced channel a couple of days ago. I'm monitoring the view count on both channels closely and am quite curious, if my main will drop in impressions, once my 2nd starts getting some traction. I haven't uploaded on my 2nd for months, so there may be a temporary penalty for inactivity, too, in work. Hopefully not.
Under normal & fair circumstances there should be nothing to worry about, but I have had so much bad luck in the last two years with my YT channels (Invalid traffic bug on both channels, and now that 6-months-long view cap applied to my main channel), that I have lost faith in YouTube and it's fairness.

YoutubeScientist said:

just got back. was down due to some medical issues. but sure you can get in touch with me

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Glad you're back, Sensei. Hope you're well!

I keep seeing this type of thread, and I'm fully convinced that YouTube does a sandbox for new and medium-term channels.

I think a lot of this has to do with niche calibration.

Also, a lot of people who all of a sudden see declines in views experience that because they're switching niches or switching formats.

So once you're out of that Sandbox and you're in a decent niche with a nice growing audience, things should look up.

blackbeans said:

I keep seeing this type of thread, and I'm fully convinced that YouTube does a sandbox for new and medium-term channels.

I think a lot of this has to do with niche calibration.

Also, a lot of people who all of a sudden see declines in views experience that because they're switching niches or switching formats.

So once you're out of that Sandbox and you're in a decent niche with a nice growing audience, things should look up.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply.

I don't know, if something is about to change, but since last Monday (May 6th) I am experiencing a slight, but visible and constantly growing increase in impressions on all three major traffic sources: YT Search, Suggested and Browse Features. And this time without any major drops.

If the impressions stay on that level or even grow for the rest of this month, I would end up with more than 80k views, which would be the first time I exceed my current limit of 72k views per month significantly. *knock on wood*

What's interesting is that this "trend" started on May 6th, which is exactly 6 month since I started uploading daily (6th Nov.). Might be a coincidence, but I genuinely believe in daily uploads and their positive impact on how channels get treated by the algorithm.

And that's a big "if", because I know what the algorithm is capable of. I don't rule out that it is going to surpress my impressions for the rest of the month, just to somehow "squeeze" me back into these 72k views. And since I run a search based channel with steady and constant views without any major ups and downs, it would need to decrease impressions a lot, in a very absurd, drastic way, taking of impressions from well established videos with top CTR, retention and rank on YT Search, because the month is already half way through and I have already gotten way more views than I had at this point in the previous months.

I'll keep you updated.

At least you aren’t shadowbanned

Work hard on hash tags and content thats ranks.

YoutubeScientist said:

just got back. was down due to some medical issues. but sure you can get in touch with me

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Glad to hear that @YoutubeScientist. I can't PM ppl here on BHW, though, because my account is still "newbie".
Can you send me a PM, so that I can ask you, plz? Or is there any other way how I can contact you?
I really need to ask you 1-2 questions, because I don't understand that entire CMS/MCN stuff and there's very little info online about that. I will even pay you, if needed, bcuz I'm so tired of YT throttling my channel, so I'm looking for a solution and joining a CMS and getting my channel whitelisted seems to be the only solution for me at this point..

So I will just ask here:
Is getting my Channel ID whitelisted by a Music Label CMS (like Bensound, DeepSounds, etc.,) the same as getting my channel whitelisted by a MCN? I mean are there differences between "channel whitelisting"?

I thought about signing up for a paid subscription on DeepSounds, because they offer "channel whitelisting" as a feature for subscribers. You add your Channel ID, submit a request through your account on DeepSounds, and get approved after 5-10 minutes, so they say. And they have access to Content ID, too, so Ive been told. But I understand that the whitelisting refers only to protection against copyright claims, if I use their licensed music/sounds, right? And in this case the whitelisting wouldn't come with the benefits you mention in another post here on BHW about joinng a CMS, like no automatic flagging by the algorithm, no view throttling, human - manual reviews by YT, etc.? Is this correct?

I have been rejected by all MCNs out there (except "Freedom", it's still pending, but I expect them to reject my application, too). And since I need to have my channel added to a YouTube CMS somehow or to be whitelisted to get rid of my view cap + invalid traffic issue, I thought, these Music Label CMS could "whitelist" me with all its benefits, if I sign up for a paid subscription. So that I don't need to sign any deals with MCNs and lose a cut of my revenue.

I know it sounds confusing, but do you understand what I'm getting at? Are there different types of CMS and whitelistings?