If you have been making long videos on YouTube for some time now and suddenly feel like your views have gone down without any obvious reason, you are not alone. And no, it is not your content quality. It is not your thumbnails either. The problem is something much bigger and many creators across India and the world are facing the exact same situation right now.
Data from multiple analysts shows that long-form YouTube creators are experiencing significant drops in traffic in some cases up to 50% while the platform increasingly pushes Shorts to viewers. This is not just a rumour or one creator’s bad month. It is a structural shift in how YouTube is distributing content, and understanding it is now essential for anyone serious about growing on the platform.
Let’s break down what is happening, why it is happening, and most importantly what you can actually do about it.
What the Data Actually Shows
YouTube consultant Marcus Jones analysed performance data from more than 500 channels across different creator sizes. His findings were quite alarming.
Creators who previously averaged around 1.5 lakh (150,000) views per long-form upload are now seeing only around 60,000 views that is roughly a 60% decline even when their posting frequency has not changed at all.
Separate data from analytics firm Velio found that the top 100 YouTubers collectively experienced a roughly 50% decline in views over a single week during the same period Jones identified these distribution changes.
These are not small channels or new creators. These are established channels with large subscriber bases seeing significant and sudden drops in their long-form video traffic.
What Changed on YouTube’s Homepage?
Here is the part that really explains why this is happening.
Back in 2024, YouTube’s homepage typically showed two rows of five long-form videos. That meant roughly ten positions where a creator’s video could appear prominently and get discovered by viewers.
By early 2025, that layout shifted to two rows of three long-form videos. And by 2026, multiple regions are seeing just one row of two to three long-form videos with Shorts taking up most of the remaining screen space.
The implication is direct: instead of competing for one out of ten available homepage slots, long-form creators are now fighting for one out of two or three visible spots. The competition for that limited homepage real estate has become dramatically more intense.
On mobile which is how most Indian viewers use YouTube this is even more pronounced. The first screen you see when you open the YouTube app now has Shorts blocks dominating everything. Long-form videos are pushed further down, requiring users to scroll past more short-form content before they reach regular video recommendations.
How the YouTube Algorithm Changed in 2025-2026
Jones’s analysis of traffic source data shows that Shorts visibility from homepage and search placements roughly doubled compared to 2024 levels. This increase became very visible from April and May 2025 before stabilising at levels well above what was seen before.
And it gets more complex. Mario Joos, a retention director who has worked with some of the biggest YouTube channels including MrBeast, identified a separate pattern affecting older Shorts as well. After reviewing data across channels generating between 10 crore (100 million) and 1 billion views per month, he found a consistent drop in performance for Shorts published more than 30 days ago.
“After digging through data across multiple channels, including ones that pull 100 million to 1 billion views per month, we finally found the pattern,” he wrote. “The issue wasn’t with new content. The issue was with older content specifically Shorts that were published more than one month ago.”
According to Joos, this shift appears to have started around mid-September 2025. The YouTube algorithm started prioritising Shorts published within the last 28 to 30 days and reducing distribution for older videos, even ones that were previously strong evergreen performers.
“Older Shorts, even strong evergreen ones, are suddenly getting flattened,” he wrote.
So what we are seeing is a double pressure: long-form videos losing homepage real estate to Shorts, and even older Shorts losing distribution to newer Shorts. The platform is increasingly rewarding freshness and short-form content, and everything else is paying the price.
The AI Content Problem Making Things Worse
As if this was not complicated enough, there is another factor adding pressure inside YouTube’s recommendation system: AI-generated content.
Research from video-editing company Kapwing examined 15,000 channels and found 278 channels made entirely of AI-generated videos. These channels together have accumulated more than 63 billion views and 22 crore (221 million) subscribers.
Kapwing also created a new YouTube account and reviewed its first 500 recommended videos, finding that 104 more than 20% were AI-generated. These channels are estimated to generate approximately $117 million in annual revenue.
And here is something interesting for Indian creators specifically: the most-viewed channel in Kapwing’s study was an Indian channel called “Bandar Apna Dost,” which has accumulated 2.4 billion views. This shows that AI content is already very visible in India too.
YouTube has taken some action terminating one AI channel identified in the study and removing others from monetisation programmes. But the broader presence of AI-generated content competing for recommendation space is a reality that genuine creators now have to navigate.
Why This Is a Sustainability Problem for Creators
Marcus Jones put it plainly: “If YouTube becomes a platform where more and more creators have to work three times as hard for 50% of what they’re currently getting, the chances of those creators quitting increases significantly.”
This is a real concern, especially for Indian creators who have built their livelihoods around long-form content educational videos, cooking channels, finance tutorials, tech reviews, travel vlogs. These formats take significant time and effort to produce. A finance tutorial might take two days to research, script, record, and edit. A 20-minute cooking video might require a whole day of shooting and editing.
When those videos get 50% fewer views, the AdSense earnings drop proportionally. Brand deal value decreases because brands calculate their rates based on expected view counts. The entire business model of a long-form YouTube channel takes a hit.
Shorts, on the other hand, typically generate much lower advertising revenue per view. And they require constant output you need to post Shorts very frequently to maintain visibility, because as Joos identified, older Shorts lose distribution quickly. That pushes creators toward quantity over quality, which is a very difficult and exhausting path to sustain.
YouTube Shorts vs Long-Form: Understanding the Key Differences
It is worth understanding what each format actually does before deciding how to adjust your strategy.
Shorts are YouTube’s short-form vertical video format under 60 seconds. They get pushed to a dedicated Shorts feed and can reach a lot of new viewers quickly. However, the audience is often scrolling passively. Shorts are great for discovery, for reaching new people, and for building awareness. Watch time per view is obviously much lower. AdSense earnings from Shorts are currently lower than from long-form videos, even after YouTube improved Shorts monetisation.
Long-form videos (anything over a minute, but typically 8-30 minutes for most creators) are what build real audience relationships. Viewers who watch a 20-minute video develop a stronger connection with the creator. Long-form content has higher AdSense CPMs. It’s better for ranking in YouTube search. And it’s what brands typically prefer for integration deals because it gives more context and watch time.
The challenge is that right now, the platform’s distribution is actively favouring Shorts over long-form content in terms of homepage and search visibility. This doesn’t mean long-form is dying. It means long-form creators need to be smarter about how they use both formats together.
How to Adapt Your Content Strategy Right Now
The creators who are handling this transition well are not choosing between Shorts and long-form. They are using both strategically, with each format serving a different purpose.
Using Shorts as a Discovery Engine for Long-Form Videos
The most effective approach right now is treating Shorts as a funnel that leads viewers into your longer content. Post Shorts consistently ideally three to five per week that tease or complement your long-form videos. A 45-second Short showing the most interesting moment or surprising insight from a 20-minute video can pull in new viewers who then go watch the full thing.
This approach works particularly well for Indian educational channels, cooking channels, and tech reviewers. Take the best 45 seconds from your long video, add captions, post it as a Short with a clear call to action pointing to the full video. Many creators are seeing their Shorts drive significantly more traffic to their long-form content than old-fashioned SEO-only strategies.
Improving Packaging and Technical SEO
When competition for limited homepage slots intensifies, the channels that get those slots are the ones with stronger thumbnails, better titles, and better click-through rates. This is now more important than ever.
Your thumbnail and title together are your video’s first impression. With fewer homepage positions available, weak packaging gets punished more harshly. Invest time in creating thumbnails that stand out visually. Use the YouTube Title A/B Testing feature (now available in YouTube Studio) to test different title variations and see which gets better click-through.
Also make sure your video descriptions, tags, and chapters are properly filled out. When YouTube search is one of the remaining traffic sources that is slightly less affected by the Shorts push, optimising for search becomes more valuable than before.
Analytics and Iteration: Watch These Numbers Closely
Right now, creators need to be watching their analytics more carefully than ever. Open YouTube Studio and regularly check which traffic sources are sending views to your videos. If homepage and suggested video traffic has dropped, that tells you the algorithm is not pushing your content as much as before.
Watch your average view duration and click-through rate on a per-video basis. Videos that hold strong on these two metrics tend to get better distribution even in a more competitive environment. If a video has a high CTR but low view duration, viewers are clicking but not staying which is a signal to improve the opening minute of your videos. If it has high view duration but low CTR, improve the thumbnail and title.
Session contribution is something YouTube is now tracking more deliberately meaning it values videos that start or extend viewing sessions, not just ones that get clicked. Videos that are part of a series, or that recommend other videos effectively, tend to perform better under this metric.
Build Your Audience Off YouTube Too
This is something many Indian creators have been slow to do, but it is becoming more important every year. If your entire audience exists only on YouTube, then every algorithm change can directly hurt your income.
Building a presence on Instagram, posting on YouTube’s own Community tab, starting a WhatsApp newsletter, or even just having an active Telegram group for your most dedicated viewers these create communication channels that don’t depend on YouTube’s distribution algorithm. When you launch a new long-form video, you can reach your core audience directly instead of hoping the algorithm surfaces it.
What This Means for Indian Creators Specifically
India is one of YouTube’s largest markets. Indian creators produce content in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, and dozens of other languages. Educational content, finance, cooking, travel, comedy, technology Indian creators are active across all categories.
But there are some specific challenges for Indian long-form creators in this current environment. AdSense CPMs for Hindi and regional language content are generally lower than English content, which means a 50% drop in views hurts more proportionally when revenue per view was already lower. At the same time, Indian viewers skew heavily toward mobile usage, which is exactly where Shorts now dominates the first screen.
The opportunity, though, is also significant. Indian Shorts creators are growing rapidly, and the reach potential through Shorts is genuinely massive in India. A Shorts strategy combined with strong long-form content can work very well for Indian creators who execute it consistently.
How a YouTube Promotion Service Can Help
Here is the honest reality: when organic distribution decreases, the value of strategic promotion increases. If YouTube is giving your long-form videos fewer impressions from the homepage, then getting your content in front of the right audience through promotion fills that gap.
A proper YouTube promotion service helps get your videos seen by viewers who are genuinely interested in your content category. This is not about inflating numbers it is about connecting your content with real viewers who will watch, engage, and subscribe. And those real engagement signals watch time, click-through rate, comments are exactly what YouTube’s algorithm looks for when deciding whether to distribute a video more widely.
At NexTech Ads India, working from Kolkata, we help Indian creators build genuine YouTube reach that supports long-term channel growth. Whether you are a long-form creator trying to recover traffic or a newer creator building your presence, having the right promotional support alongside your content strategy makes a meaningful difference. Visit nextechads.in to learn more about how we support creators across India.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my YouTube views dropping even though I’m posting regularly?
The most likely reason is that YouTube’s distribution has shifted significantly toward Shorts content on the homepage and in search results. Long-form creators are competing for fewer homepage positions, which means fewer impressions even if their posting schedule is unchanged.
Is long-form content dead on YouTube?
No long-form is not dead, but the distribution environment has become more competitive. Channels that combine strong Shorts output with high-quality long-form videos and good SEO are still growing. The ones struggling most are those who rely entirely on homepage discovery for long-form with no Shorts presence.
Do Shorts help long-form videos get more views?
Yes, when done strategically. Shorts that tease or relate to a long-form video can drive viewers from the Shorts feed into the full video. Many creators are finding this is now one of the most effective ways to grow long-form view counts.
How often should I post Shorts to stay relevant?
Data from Mario Joos suggests that Shorts posted more than 30 days ago see significantly reduced distribution. Posting three to five Shorts per week is a commonly recommended cadence, with fresh Shorts consistently replacing older ones.
Should I switch entirely to Shorts?
Not necessarily. Shorts have lower AdSense revenue per view and require very high output volume. A hybrid strategy consistent Shorts alongside quality long-form content is what most successful creators are using.
Why are my older long-form videos also getting fewer views than before?
YouTube’s algorithm change has reduced distribution for older content in general, with the platform prioritising newer uploads. This is why evergreen content strategies that once relied on older videos continuing to accumulate views are now less reliable than before.
Is AI-generated content really competing with real creators on YouTube?
Yes, based on research from Kapwing, AI-generated channels have accumulated billions of views and millions of subscribers. YouTube is taking action against some of these channels, but the competition for recommendation space is real. Authentic, original, high-quality content from real creators still has significant advantages in audience loyalty and engagement depth.
The YouTube algorithm shift is real, the data is clear, and the impact on long-form creators is significant. But this is not a reason to give up it is a signal to adapt. The creators who understand what is happening and adjust their strategy accordingly are the ones who will come out stronger on the other side.
Use Shorts to bring new viewers in. Use long-form to build deep relationships with them. Improve your packaging. Watch your analytics closely. And when organic distribution tightens, strategic promotion becomes more valuable than ever.
Your content has value. Make sure it reaches the people it deserves to reach.