YouTube has reported an alleged "glitch" in its operating system's subscriber algorithm that is causing content producers to lose hundreds of thousands of subscribers with no apparent way to get them back. For many of YouTube's biggest stars, like PewDiePie, that means losing some serious revenue. In many alarming cases, channels ended up being in the negative subscriber range. No one can really figure out how a YouTube channel can have -15,563 subscribers but that is what comes up upon investigation.
The glitch was originally discovered by the YouTube channel BlackStreamTV and they have kept a running counter of subscribers, and revenues, lost by many including the largest content producers on the platform. The malfunction was first reported on February 8 and it remains uncertain if YouTube has corrected the situation even though the company tweeted that they were on it. There have been scattered reports that the "glitch" has been, indeed, fixed.
Needless to say, many content producers are furious especially some of YouTube's biggest guns like PewDewPie. YouTube originally reported that the malfunction was causing producers to lose one, or perhaps two, subscribers for each one that was unsubscribing. Late on Wednesday, PewDiePie, who has been streaming a rant at YouTube for years about its practices announced on Twitter that he discovered that the "glitch" was erasing 100 subscribers for every one. PewDiePie is YouTube's largest star with over 50 million subscribers on which he generates about $12 million a year in revenue. In just a couple of hours he lost over half a million subscribers.
YouTube, owned by Google, released a brief statement on Thursday stating, "No actual subs are/were lost, it’s just the count that is incorrect. We’re working on fixing it, so it shows the correct number."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI8-ralsTDU
BlackStreamTV had, before the algorithm malfunction, nearly 30,000 subscribers. Suddenly, however, their subscriber base went to -1,500. When someone unsubscribes to the producer's channel, the algorithm counts it as two leaving, or in PewDiePie's assertion, 100. Users were being unsubscribed to channels they thought they were subscribed to and content producers found that every time they logged on, their subscriber count was substantially lower than it had been.
Many suspect that this algorithm "glitch" as been going on for some time. Subscribers are at the heart of every content producer's revenue stream and YouTube's practices have continually come under fire from many quarters including the platform's biggest stars.STREAMING & IP2 min read
YouTube "Glitch" Causes Content Producers To Lose Hundreds Of Thousands Of Subscribers
Broadcast Beat
Contributor
YouTube has reported an alleged "glitch" in its operating system's subscriber algorithm that is causing content producers to lose hundreds of thousands of subscribers with no apparent way to get them back. For many of YouTube's biggest stars, like PewDiePie, that means losing some serious revenue. In many alarming cases, channels ended up being in the negative subscriber range. No one can really figure out how a YouTube channel can have -15,563 subscribers but that is what comes up upon investigation.
The glitch was originally discovered by the YouTube channel BlackStreamTV and they have kept a running counter of subscribers, and revenues, lost by many including the largest content producers on the platform. The malfunction was first reported on February 8 and it remains uncertain if YouTube has corrected the situation even though the company tweeted that they were on it. There have been scattered reports that the "glitch" has been, indeed, fixed.
Needless to say, many content producers are furious especially some of YouTube's biggest guns like PewDewPie. YouTube originally reported that the malfunction was causing producers to lose one, or perhaps two, subscribers for each one that was unsubscribing. Late on Wednesday, PewDiePie, who has been streaming a rant at YouTube for years about its practices announced on Twitter that he discovered that the "glitch" was erasing 100 subscribers for every one. PewDiePie is YouTube's largest star with over 50 million subscribers on which he generates about $12 million a year in revenue. In just a couple of hours he lost over half a million subscribers.
YouTube, owned by Google, released a brief statement on Thursday stating, "No actual subs are/were lost, it’s just the count that is incorrect. We’re working on fixing it, so it shows the correct number."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI8-ralsTDU
BlackStreamTV had, before the algorithm malfunction, nearly 30,000 subscribers. Suddenly, however, their subscriber base went to -1,500. When someone unsubscribes to the producer's channel, the algorithm counts it as two leaving, or in PewDiePie's assertion, 100. Users were being unsubscribed to channels they thought they were subscribed to and content producers found that every time they logged on, their subscriber count was substantially lower than it had been.
Many suspect that this algorithm "glitch" as been going on for some time. Subscribers are at the heart of every content producer's revenue stream and YouTube's practices have continually come under fire from many quarters including the platform's biggest stars.Found this article useful?