YouTube Promotion: Lessons from Reddit
Reddit has years of threads from creators who paid to promote a YouTube video, in r/NewTubers, r/PartneredYoutube, r/SmallYTChannel and r/musicmarketing. We read them. These are the lessons that keep coming up.
The short answer
Paid promotion is real advertising, and it works best when the video is strong and the audience is right. It does not hurt your channel. Ad views do not count toward monetization, but the viewers who come back do.
1. Promotion is marketing, not buying views
Reddit draws one clear line. Buying views from a bot service breaks YouTube's rules. Running your video as an ad through Google Ads is YouTube's own tool, and brands and creators use it every day.
I never heard of this, but that’s not cheating, that’s marketing. Marketing cost money
2. The video matters more than the budget
Creators who were happy with their results say the same thing: promote your best video. A clear title, a strong thumbnail and a first minute that delivers turn ad viewers into subscribers.
You didn’t ruin your channel, it doesn’t work like that. … But the most important thing is the quality of your videos. If the content isn’t interesting, no amount of promotion will help. …
…I think it depends on how good your thumbnail is and how good your video is
3. The audience decides who subscribes
Who sees the ad matters as much as the video. Creators who chose their audience with care, by interest, keyword and the channels people already watch, kept more of their new subscribers.
It works. But you’ve really got to understand what you’re doing with it in regards to target audience. What countries to push in etc etc. it’s good to funnel people into your channel
4. Promotion does not hurt your channel
This is the fear in many threads. YouTube's own help page says promotions don't impact your channel's or a specific video's organic performance, and YouTube reports ad views as their own traffic source.
…People think the lower AVD is going to ruin the performance, but YouTube is smart enough to know that the low AVD is specifically for the Ads traffic source. …
5. Ad views don't count toward monetization, but the viewers they bring do
YouTube does not count watch hours or subscribers from ads toward the Partner Program. That is true of every ad on YouTube. People who find you through the ad and come back to watch count like any other viewer.
So it will shop your channel around. It definitely helped throw me over 1000 subs HOWEVER all "engaged views" ftom promotion do not count towards monetization, if that is your goal.
6. Odd subscriber numbers have plain causes
More subscribers than views, or subscribers you can't see, make many creators think of bots. YouTube keeps subscriptions private by default, and private subscribers don't show in your recent subscribers list.
Views increased from 500 to 3K. Likes 20 to 120. Subs 260 to 520, though only a few were visible out of hundreds as a public sub in notifications. …
7. For music, keep fans on YouTube
Musicians found ads work best when they send people to the music video itself, where they already are. The fans who subscribe come back for the next release.
…yotube ads work best for music when you want to send them to a video on YouTube. …
More from Reddit
YouTube promotion questions from Reddit
Is paying to promote a YouTube video worth it, according to Reddit?
Reddit users who were happy promoted a strong video to the right audience and judged it by the viewers who came back. Those who were not mostly promoted a video that wasn't ready or showed it to the wrong people.
Is YouTube promotion the same as buying views?
No. Buying views from a bot service breaks YouTube's rules. A promotion runs your video as an ad through Google Ads, and real people choose to watch it.
Does YouTube promotion hurt your channel?
No. YouTube's help page says promotions don't impact your channel's or a specific video's organic performance. What Reddit found.
See your video as a YouTube ad first.
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