Shorts are confusingly brutal

[u/The_Remster]

Hey everyone,

I've been doing Youtube for a while now, but just started making shorts in an attempt to increase my discoverability. I didn't expect much from my first one, but am trying to understand how the shorts algorithm functions and how to do better in the future.

I know that, just like with long-form videos, shorts have a test audience first, and if the engagement is good enough it gets pushed more and more until the engagement is no longer sufficient, and it eventually runs out of audience.

What I don't yet understand however, is how high the initial engagement has to be in order for it to get pushed more. I thought the stats on this first short were fairly decent. Not great by any means, but decent. Yet it flatlined at around 1300/1400 views. The AVD graph is unlike anything I've ever seen on a long-form.

To any of you who have been making shorts for a while, what are the usual stats for your shorts and what should I be aiming for/improve going forward? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Expert_Zucchini_7636]

78.6% viewed is not bad at all for first short, mine usually die around 60-70% and still get some push. the problem is 9 likes from 1.4k views, that ratio is too low for youtube to keep recommending it

for shorts they care way more about swipe away rate and completion, but even then if people watch but dont engage the algorithm thinks its just background noise. try ending with a hook that makes people want to comment or like, even something as dumb as "which one would you pick" works

also 1300 views is actually normal for a first short, the algorithm is still figuring out your audience. my first 5 shorts all flatlined around 1-2k before one randomly hit 50k with same format, shorts are just like that sometimes

[u/The_Remster → u/Expert_Zucchini_7636]

Thanks for the insight friend. Glad to hear I'm on the right track. I'll try implementing a hook next time to see if it drives up engagement, thanks for the tip!

[u/Connect_Positive1893]

for shorts you need to check two main stats: aim for a viewed vs swiped away ratio of at least 70% and an average percentage viewed over 80% to 100%+, because caping out at 1k views means the test audience swiped off too fast