As a YouTube content creator, you’re probably already familiar with the term “subscribers.” You might also have a fair idea of how the number of subscribers often correlates with the amount of influence a channel has. But what are YouTube subscribers exactly? Are the numbers in your YouTube Analytics really accurate? How does it all work? This post will answer all of these questions in detail to give you insights into YouTube subscribers and how it all works.
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What are YouTube Subs and How Does It Work?
What are YouTube Subscribers Anyway?
Simply put, YouTube subscribers refer to the people or accounts that are subscribed to your channel. So whenever you upload a new video, your subscribers will be able to see it in their feeds. This makes your subscribers more likely to watch the videos you upload. So, in theory, you may get as many views as your subscriber count, (or more).
But this isn’t always how it works in reality. There are many reasons why you may not get as many views as your YouTube subscriber count, and other factors that affect the accuracy of these numbers.
Inaccuracies and Imperfections with YouTube Sub Count
The YouTube subscriber count that you can see on your channel has several imperfections. There are also changes and issues that affect the relationship between subscriber count and your channel’s performance. We will be discussing those factors in detail in the following points.
#1: YouTube Usability Improvements and Their Impact on Performance
YouTube has a ton of users every day – more than 2.7 billion monthly active users, to be precise. And these users watch a total of about 5 billion videos per day. On top of this, content creators on the platform upload about 500 hours of video every minute. So it’s easy for YouTube users to have cluttered subscription feeds.
To address this issue and improve usability, YouTube decided to make some tweaks. A user’s Home page now has a mix of videos from their subscribed channels and videos recommended based on their watch history. This is to improve the accuracy of a user’s feed and drive more views on the platform. And when it comes to displaying videos from subscribed channels, YouTube has decided to make things even more accurate by prioritising channels you interact with the most.
So let’s say there’s a channel you subscribed to a year ago. And you regularly watched their videos in the first 2-3 months of subscribing. But now you have now changed your viewing habits and directed your attention toward other channels that you recently discovered.
In this case, YouTube is going to display video suggestions from the channels you’ve interacted with more recently. And it will likely recommend videos from the first channel towards the bottom of your feed. But if you start interacting with the first channel again, it will move recommendations from the channel toward the top of your feed.
This means that YouTube content creators have a harder time delivering their content to people who have subscribed to their channels. So you can no longer rely on your YouTube subscriber count to measure your performance, as it is not an accurate way to predict or determine your views.
#2: Limitations with Private Accounts and Real-Time Updates
You might notice that the YouTube subscriber count that’s visible on your channel does not match the subscriber count you see in Analytics. This is because YouTube does not instantly update your channel stats in real time. It takes 24 hours for the platform to update the data on your Analytics dashboard so they can make sure that your new subscribers are legitimate.
Besides, the Subscribers List in Creator Studio will only display the number of subscribers who have made their subscriptions public. For new YouTube users, their list of subscriptions has a default private setting. Users can choose to make this subscription list visible to the public. So your Analytics can only keep track of these subscribers with a publicly-visible subscription list, making the report slightly inaccurate.
At Influencer Marketing Hub, we’ve decided to address this issue by creating a Live Subscriber Count tool. This tool lets you track the subscriber growth of your channel in real time, without having to wait 24 hours for the updated data to show up in Analytics.
Plus, it lets you keep an eye on the subscriber count of top YouTube channels in real time. So if you’re ever curious about how quickly your favourite channels are growing, you can keep this page bookmarked.
#3: YouTube Clean-Ups and Their Impact on Subscriber Count
Just as fake accounts are rampant on other social media channels, YouTube also sees its fair share of fake users. Some sites offer their services to provide bot subscribers in exchange for a fee. Since these subscribers aren’t real, they bring no actual value to your channel. They just increase the number of subscribers with no real impact on revenue and viewership.
In other words, they just give you the appearance of being more popular than you actually are. Some YouTubers actually resort to the sneaky technique of buying bot subscribers to seem more influential. This is mainly because you need to have at least 1,000 subscribers to monetise your channel.
But their fake influence doesn't last long, since YouTube routinely gets rid of spam and bot accounts. That means channels that bought subscribers will see a drastic drop in their subscriber count. In fact, during the last quarter of 2022, YouTube purged 6 million channels (users) from the platform.
Not all of these accounts were bot accounts; some were removed for violating YouTube's rules. However, the platform had conducted another massive clean-up of fake accounts back in 2018. As a result of that sweep, YouTuber PewDiePie lost 80,000 subscribers. What's even more shocking is that the T-Series channel, which had shortly surpassed PewDiePie in subscriber count, lost 300,000 subscribers in 2018.
Heads up, Creators:
On Dec 13-14 you may see a noticeable decrease in your sub count as we remove spam subscriptions. If spam is removed, you'll see a YouTube Studio alert: https://t.co/3KWMixSXRl
This should help give you confidence that the subs you do have are real fans!
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) December 13, 2018
But it’s not just the popular channels and the channels that knowingly bought fake subscribers that get affected by these YouTube clean-ups. Some bot accounts auto-sub to random channels so that they can appear more real. This means even you could be at risk of gaining subscribers that aren’t real. It also means that you will end up seeing a drop in your subscriber count after a routine purge.
These YouTube clean-ups also remove inactive accounts. These are accounts that may have existed long before Google acquired the platform. Even if they are no longer in use, they still get counted as subscribers. YouTube tries to improve the accuracy of your subscriber count by removing these inactive accounts.
The good news is that you’ll have the assurance that your remaining subscribers are real and bringing you real value. Plus, your subscriber count isn’t the only metric you can use to measure your performance. If you see a sudden drop in your subscriber count but your watch time and views remain the same, you should have nothing to worry about.
How to Check Your YouTube Subscriber Count
Now that you have a better understanding of your YouTube subscriber count let’s take a look at the steps to check how many subscribers you have.
- First, click on your profile icon at the right corner. And then select “YouTube Studio.”
- This will bring you to the new Studio dashboard. Click on “Analytics” from the left-hand side.
- From here, you can access detailed data about your channel’s performance – from watch time and views to subscriber count.
You can also sort your subscribers by “Most Recent” and “Most Popular.” That way, you can track whether prominent YouTube content creators have followed you. If they have, it might be a good idea to follow back and try to build relationships for future partnerships.
Forming valuable partnerships can be a great way to grow your channel. From creating content together to having them feature you on their channel and vice versa, it’s a great way to attract their audience, subsequently helping you gain more subscribers.
You could co-create content with them, have them feature you, or even feature them in your videos. This will attract their audience to your channel, helping you gain more subscribers.
Final Thoughts
You now have a thorough understanding of what YouTube subscribers are and the factors that can affect your subscriber count. You also know how to check your YouTube subscriber count through the Analytics dashboard. But remember that these numbers are not always updated and accurate. You can use our Live Subscriber Count tool to monitor your subscriber count in real-time.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are YouTube subscribers?
As we stated in this article, YouTube subscribers refer to the people or accounts who subscribe to your channel. Whenever you upload a new video, your subscribers will see it in their feeds. This makes your subscribers more likely to watch the videos you upload. You theoretically could get as many views as your subscriber count, or even more. Your subscribers should be your greatest supporters, as they have recognized the excellent features of your videos and your channel.
Why are YouTube subscribers important?
YouTube subscribers are important because they have already given a positive signal towards your videos. They have watched some of your videos, and by subscribing, they have opted to view your future uploads. You can look at them as being your most loyal viewing audience. YouTube includes new videos from the channels that somebody subscribes to in their main feed every time they open the app, so this pushes your videos to your subscriber audience without you having to promote them.
How do you find out who is subscribed to you on YouTube?
You can only view a complete list of your subscribers on the web version of YouTube. To do this, go to youtube.com/subscribers. You can do this from either a desktop or mobile device, but you won't find it in your YouTube app. You can see your most recent 100 subscribers in YouTube's Studio. Click the YouTube Studio button at the top of your channel. On its dashboard, look for the card titled Recent Subscribers and click See More.
Is it OK to buy YouTube subscribers?
Although you will find places where you can buy YouTube subscribers, it is never a good idea. The practice violates YouTube's Terms of Service, and they will happily suspend or terminate your account. Even if you are willing to gamble on YouTube not finding out, fake subscribers will never be good for your channel. Even if these subscribers are real people and not bots, they will have no interest in your content and never watch or engage with your videos.
Do YouTubers get paid for likes or views?
We have written in more detail about this in How Do YouTubers Get Paid? The most common money-earner, by far, is through AdSense earnings. You can opt to have either CPM ads (cost per 1000 views) or CPC ads (cost per click). With CPM ads, there is a clear connection between your views and the money that ads earn. There is a minimum payout threshold of $100, so if you do not make enough money, then Google never pays out.
How do you get your first 100 YouTube subscribers?
In most cases, your first 100 subscribers will be the most difficult to earn. Too many YouTubers give up well before they reach their 100th subscriber. Begin by deciding a distinct niche for your channel – you want most of your videos to be on one specific topic. Then create an attractive profile that reflects the niche of your videos. Make a trailer for your channel that autoplays to non-subscribers. Make sure each video has an enticing thumbnail and a title easily found in searches.
