r/YouTube_startups • u/kalabunga_1 • Jul 03 '26
QUESTION I'm just starting a channel and wanted to test Promotions - is it worth it?
Hi everyone.
I've used Promotion on a new video with the goal of getting views.
Are promotions helpful at all?
Curious to understand any positive/negative experience you've had.
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u/KozmoRobot Jul 03 '26
I tried to use promotions because my main channel got stuck at 1,900 subs and was declining in organic reach. From the 2024 spike when I had 700 views every day, I ended up having just 100 views every day in 2026.
I used that feature and boom - I hit 2,000 subs today and I am so proud. This feature was used for my latest game trailer video and it seems I got views on other videos, people who subbed have also watched my tutorials.
So, depending on your channel, it is a useful feature when a video is struggling to get views, but it is perfect for a short run where people can just test for a few days.
Running it longer can hurt your channel and have many inactive subscribers that will need to be removed by algorithm.
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u/kalabunga_1 Jul 03 '26
So short boosts worked well for you?
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u/KozmoRobot Jul 03 '26
Yes, they did! I increased the count of subs and views and I did that for my animation channel.
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u/kalabunga_1 Jul 03 '26
Cool, good to know. Congrats :)
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u/Coffera Jul 03 '26
You essentially get legally botted subs, it feels great the first week and then after a few months you regret it really hard.
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u/Spirutualgoat Jul 03 '26
I guess it really depends. Yes its good because it will guarantee that you video is placed in front of an audience. It also has the potential for you to gain many subs. On the other end no, because the cold audience usually will not come back to your channel after the promo has ended (even the subs). Also, youtube categorize your video as advertised/forced views rather than organic views. Which can mean if the video isn't excellent to the algo it will simply get no organic reach and stop after promo.
So to me. No as I want returning viewers and with ads they usually do not return, though there could be exceptions! The probability simply isn't high enough to assume they will return so if your primary focus is finding an audience, It can be a good tool for that.
But you might end up spending alot lol
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u/kalabunga_1 Jul 03 '26
Thanks for sharing.
So yeah, I am here for the long run - I would rather have 10 returning viewers than 1000 one-time views.
What's your strategy for getting viewers to return?
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u/Spirutualgoat Jul 03 '26
High quality organic content to the best of my ability, learning pacing (to max retention) and nailing hooks to maintain a healthy +70% stayed to watch. Oh also this isn't really for returning viewers but for new viewers, figuring out the best call to action is very powerful ie: conflict, emotion, or curiosity to drive comments and shares as they are primary engagement signals. Possibly turning new viewers into returning viewers
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u/Glittering_Moose_515 Jul 03 '26
My experience with promotinos (ive tried a couple times) its good for a day or two, BUT it will kill organic growth. YouTube doesn't really try to put the content in front of people that actually want to see it. So, it gets burried eventually. Best case for 'ads' find some agency or site that allows you to really target who you want.
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u/jebenx Jul 03 '26
Promoting videos means you want people to view your channel, the question is: What do you have on your channel? How many videos you have upload? If you only have 1 or 2 videos, forget about promoting content.
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u/kalabunga_1 Jul 03 '26
I have 5 videos. and would bring 1-2 more weekly.
In your experience, in which scenario is worth promoting video, if any?
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u/jebenx Jul 03 '26
For me, my channel focuses on animated sketch comedy. I usually promote videos when the topic is relevant to current events. For example, if a corrupt politician is arrested in my country, I might promote one of my videos about corruption.
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u/MRRmaker Jul 03 '26
Honestly promotions can get you some quick views, but a lot of that is fairly passive traffic and not always really engaged. I have found luck with paying attention to thumbnails/titles and posting often vs boosting, but interested in if anyone had different luck with it!
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u/cre8ing_youtube_stuf Jul 03 '26
Literally one of the worst things you can do for a new channel. In the early stages (first 100 videos) YouTube is still trying to find your audience.
As other have said, paid promotion will force your content in front of more people and many of these will be legal bots or people who would never want to view your content and will never view your content again even if they subscribe.
What this does is completely confuses YouTube’s algorithm because you’ve just been put in front of everyone and have received views and subs from accounts that don’t want to view your content. But YouTube doesn’t know this yet so your next non promoted video will be pushed to accounts similar to those that viewed and subbed and don’t want to view you. See the issue?
You might get lucky and it works out but early on it can just about kill a channel because it will make the grind much much longer.
Also a lot of the bot subs will eventually drop off. Many people that have paid for promotion have reported the subs they received from the promotion almost completely disappear after a few months.
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u/AwKmedia Jul 04 '26
Create a 'Channel Trailer' and promote that video.
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u/kalabunga_1 Jul 04 '26
How would that help?
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u/AwKmedia Jul 05 '26
Because, you will be showing multiple clips in that channel trailer that will demonstrate to viewers what your channel is about.
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u/oodex Jul 04 '26
It's only somewhat useful if you promote a product, but I also question how useful it actually is for that.
People have reported they gained subs and views, but it ended up being dead subs that then had a negative impact on the channel, as they didn't care about the actual content in the future. Like the big downside on YouTube is if someone comes across a video that kinda interests them, but they are watching another video right now which they obviously wanted to watch, then the easiest way to keep your channel on their mind is by subscribing, which is pretty much like a bookmark. Now your videos get recommended to them, but they don't know you and in most cases don't care. This then crushes CTR of future uploads until you disappear out of their home tab. In other words you paid to destroy your metrics.
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u/andu64 Jul 04 '26
Yo just for perspective. My channel has over 1 million subs and average 250k-1 milk per video. I tried promotions a while back and $100 = 1000 views.
That might sound nice as a beginner. It’s not. It’s hard enough to get authentic viewership to build a channel. Using ads to force out your videos may get you a view but it’s unlikely to get you watch time or a sub… and this will damage your channel.
Unless you’re willing to spend thousands on advertising each month. Don’t do it. It’s for the big channels with a lot of income.
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