MIKE MUNROW'S RETRO

THE ALGORITHM: What I have learned from Reddit and from AI.

1) The algo ignores your video views, including videos that have acquired thousands or even a few million views. It also ignores videos that have accrued many watch time hours.

2) Instead, it focuses on how many likes and comments are on your videos.

3) It focuses on audience retention. If you can keep an audience engaged from start to finish without losing hardly any viewers somewhere in between, the video may be listed on the YT search engine, recommended and suggested.

PROBLEM: The average video drops in viewers somewhere along the line, early, middle, or just before the end. This is NORMAL activity. Videos with almost perfect audience retention are far and few. For every 100 videos you do, maybe 1 or 2 will end up with that kind of retention, no matter how talented you are. The other videos will not receive many views and just sit, collecting dust.

4) The algo now examines how long a viewer stays on the YouTube platform AFTER watching your video. If a viewer leaves the YouTube platform a minute or two after watching your video, your video will be penalized and likely not appear on YouTube search or be recommended or suggested.

PROBLEM: Your video most likely will have NOTHING TO DO with why a viewer leaves the YouTube platform. Maybe their lunch break is over, or it is time to go to work, or they have to get up early for an appointment the next day. Any one of thousands of reasons that have nothing to do with the performance of a video.

5) Algo and YouTube now depend on surveys and ratings. It is like the old Nielson Rating system used on major television networks in the 50s, 60s, and 70s on CBS and NBC. In most of these surveys, only very large channels, over 100K subscribers to millions of subscribers, are focused on. Small and medium channels are ignored.

6) Music videos done in an MTV or VH1 style, or live performance videos, are preferred. Experimental, documentary, synchronized dancing or singing, narrative dramatization, including those that also feature the recording artist or band in the video in places ... the kinds of videos I contributed to making popular on YouTube in the 2010s ... these are no longer popular with the young audience that makes up a slim majority of the general audience. This is the audience YouTube is catering to, not the over 40 crowd.

7) Despite the fact that AI is logically the next wave, especially as real footage is becoming sparer to find, AI videos are penalized and not visible on search results or are suggested or promoted in any way. Thus, if you are ahead of the curve, and I am ahead of the curve, believe me, your videos will not be seen.

8) The channel concept is essentially dead. Algo ignores playlists, videos and comments embedded on the Community Page, other channels you are featuring (many people have disabled featuring other channels on the channel homepage), subscriber sections (most people no longer have them by default or else have removed them). Algo can elect not to notify subscribers if you upload a video and even elect not to include it in the subscriber feed. Whatever you put on your feature player will be ignored. Most viewers do not even bother to visit the channel homepage at all. Discovery is search-based or via suggested/recommended videos.

9) Ignore channels that promise to tell you how to "beat the algorithm." You can't. If you are a small or medium channel, there is nothing you can do. Channels that tell you how to navigate the algo are almost always LARGE and POPULAR channels. They want your clicks and watch time views. They monetize off the misery of others.

10) You, and I, are not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of channels affected by the new algo, now dying or dead channels.

11) Only large, popular, or established channels are benefiting from the algo. Even some of them are suffering.

12) If I can remember anything else, I'll let you know.

In any event, WELCOME TO THE YOUTUBE GRAVEYARD! IT IS A HUGE SPRAWLING CEMETERY AND THERE IS PLENTY OF ROOM FOR MORE COFFINS.

1 day ago | [YT] | 8

MIKE MUNROW'S RETRO

Still Standing, Still Spinning -- and Reopening the Doors

Hey friends! Mike here from Mike Munrow’s Retro. Whether you’ve been with me since the beginning or just joined recently, I want to thank you for being part of this journey. The past few years have been rough: health issues, creative burnout, and a platform that hasn’t always played fair. I’ve shared some of that here, maybe too much at times, but always with honesty.

I closed the Community page because the negativity got loud. Some comments made on my videos or about my videos weren’t just critical: they were cruel. Mocking people in the videos, attacking thoughtful viewers, and turning this space into something it was never meant to be. That’s not what this channel stands for. This channel is about the music, the memories, and the magic that shaped us. It’s not about chasing algorithms or fighting culture wars. It’s about celebrating the art and the people who made it: and the people who still care.

So, I’m reopening the Community page. Not because everything’s fixed, but because I believe in this space. If you’re here for the nostalgia, the stories, and the soul of retro: welcome back. Let’s keep it kind, keep it curious, and keep it real.

Still standing. Still spinning.

Mike

1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 30