There used to be a time when YouTube users could see the exact number of subscribers to a channel. Viewers and creators alike would log onto YouTube, see one definitive number, and instantly know where a creator was heading numerically.

And for a while, everyone was on the same page during this golden era. Live celebrations for reaching a massive subscriber count were the norm, and fans would tune in to watch the count go up and down in real-time: 999,982...999,999… then, bam! 1,000,000 subscribers.

This YouTube feature is now a thing of the past. Instead of displaying a number that constantly updates, channel pages get an abbreviated subscriber count, like this one:

YouTube made the change to only show abbreviated subscriber numbers 

in 2019 and originally, it caused some confusion. On the public side of YouTube, a channel’s subscriber count appeared as an abbreviated number. But in the YouTube dashboard, a totally different number would show up. 

We created a video around the topic so click below if you want to learn more:

So, which one is correct? Is it the public-facing number or the private one? Let’s take a deeper dive to find out.

Public Subscriber Counts vs. Private Subscriber Counts

 recently hit 40 million subscribers on his channel? He tweeted the good news on August 5, and around that time, we here at vidIQ were watching and waiting. We had no idea, however, that the process would give us such a headache. 

You see, we were screen recording just to capture that special, 40-million moment. Unfortunately, it wasn't until several hours later that MrBeast, according to the public YouTube subscriber count, actually hit that landmark.

We recorded the screen below for 18 hours before his 39 million subscribers became 40 million. True story.

Originally, we had a theory on why the update took so long. Here’s what we imagined:

1. On the public side of YouTube, viewers saw an abbreviated subscriber count for MrBeast, perhaps 39,000,000.
2. When the actual, unabbreviated subscriber count reached a significant number, such as 39,953,786, YouTube rounded up to the next abbreviated count: 40,000,000.

We don't have access to MrBeast's private dashboard so we can neither confirm nor deny this, but we do have the next best thing: our YouTube channel.

 displays 656,747 subscribers. That should be enough to round up to 657,000 subscribers, right?

Apparently not. We went to the channel homepage and discovered that YouTube doesn't round up public, abbreviated counts to match private YouTube Studio counts. So we disregarded that theory altogether.

Our next hypothesis sparked a different experiment. While logged into YouTube with the vidIQ account, our YouTuber-in-residence Rob Wilson set up a test channel with no content, three subscribers, and a lovely channel banner. Using the vidIQ account, he subscribed to the test channel and then updated this page:

In this instance, the subscriber count updated instantly to reflect the new sub and display a total of four subscribers:

But why did this happen? Why are we suddenly seeing an exact count instead of an abbreviation?

 abbreviate the count when a channel has under 1,000 subscribers. Take a look at this handy graph from the YouTube Help Center to learn more:

With this in mind, we returned to the test account to check the channel analytics dashboard. And still, it displayed three subscribers.

However, the vidIQ realtime stats bar at the top of the screen showed four subscribers. And if we tried to switch accounts, the figure in that menu option also reported four subscribers.

Why There’s a Difference In YouTube Subscriber Counts

To sum everything up, on the one hand, multiple sources showed the same subscriber number - even if abbreviated - for all users to see. On the other hand, the analytics dashboard shows a specific number only the creator can see.

To clarify things, we decided to ask YouTube why that is. Here’s what they said:

"The number of subscribers that you see in YouTube analytics is delayed by approximately 48 hours. Before we post the stats in analytics, we want to make sure they're 100% accurate, so we perform additional verification and spam reviews. That's why it takes a little longer."

Public subscriber counts will always be ahead of your channel analytics count, which is delayed

. I know that's really annoying, but it's nothing to worry about. It's just how YouTube works.

The funny thing is, this subscriber count setup has always been the standard. We just didn’t realize it because no one used to pay attention to the channel analytics count. Before the 2019 update, channel homepages showed the exact subscriber count, which was all anyone needed to know.

Nevertheless, YouTube’s delay in analytics reporting is a good thing. Most creators don’t want spam accounts, fake subscribers, and bots to sully their analytics, and YouTube is making sure of that.

But we do have one loose end to tie up. These two numbers - the channel page subscriber count and the YouTube API real-time subscriber count - come from the same source. So how did MrBeast tweet his 40-million subscriber milestone before it actually happened? Our theory is that, well... maybe he cheated and tweeted the news early.

Hey - he was going to reach 40 million subscribers anyway, right?

If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level and get more views on YouTube then make sure to download vidIQ. Join over 1 million other users and use vidIQ to help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps to succeed. 

And if you’re really serious about growing your YouTube views and subscribers, sign up for exclusive access to the 

 and learn how to launch a successful YouTube Channel.

YouTube public analytics shows 975 subscribers, channel analytics shows 946 subscribers.

Is your YouTube channel homepage reporting one subscriber count while your analytics page reports another? Here’s why.



Why Your YouTube Subscriber Count Sometimes Looks Wrong

If you’re new to YouTube but want to monetize your content you’ll need to generate 

, and you’ll also need 1,000 subscribers to qualify. Here are 10 tips to help you attract those first 1000 subscribers to your YouTube channel

#1 Apply Directly to Your Audience to Subscribe

There is a school of thought that suggests asking for subscribers, may sound a little desperate, even cheesy, but it's simply a part of the YouTube fabric. People ask you to smash that like button to improve the YouTube algorithm and engagement rates. I've never had a single comment on one of my videos complaining about asking for subscribers and if you never ask, you may never get.

#2 Use Resources to Encourage Subscriber Sign Ups

A way you could encourage your viewers and subscribe is to use animations on your videos to make the subscribe button pop. You can get all sorts of resources from all over the internet. Simply try what fits for you and you may see an upsurge in your subscribers.

#3 Take Advantage of Your Watermark Branding

Our next step is to take advantage of our watermark branding. When viewers click on this icon, it takes them to your channel where they could subscribe after watching more of your content. It's edited and created via the branding page on the Creator Studio. Make sure the word ‘Subscribe’ is included in your icon, and don’t introduce it right at the beginning or at the very end of your video. You want it to act as a visual distraction, maybe 30 to 45 seconds into the video.

#4 Add a Call to Subscribe on Your Endscreen

While you can’t add subscription links in YouTube Cards during your video, you can add a subscribe button to your Endscreen. Have a play around with graphics and animations for a really strong call to action (CTA).

Next up is a neat little trick. Whenever you share your YouTube channel add a command to the end of your link, like this: 

. When users click on it they are prompted to automatically subscribed to your channel before actually visiting your YouTube channel page.

#6 Use a Pinned Comment to Ask for Subscribers

Another way to directly appeal to your audience for a subscription is to write a comment and then pin it to your videos. When you do this, that pinned comment appears at the top of the comments list. Now again, I feel as if honesty is the best policy. Be open and transparent. Tell your audience why you're pinning these comments, why you're asking for subscriptions. Maybe it's because you want to invest the money you earn back into the channel with new equipment or products.

#7 Add a Subscribe CTA to Your Video Description

You could also add a similar message to the video description of all of your videos.

#8 Be an Active Part of the YouTube Community

Another thing you can do is reach out to an entirely new audience by adding value to other channels. That might be watching their content and posting awesome comments that either get pinned or liked by the channel creator and create a conversation. When people get involved in those conversations, they might think, "this video creator perhaps has value on their own channel." So, try and attract a new audience who may really enjoy your content and subscribe.

As an example, we get all sorts of awesome comments from you on our videos. I'm sure many other video creators are reading those comments, agreeing or disagreeing, generating a conversation, perhaps visiting your channels and subscribing. In a recent example, we had a video creator who got an audit on one of our live streams, and that drew in a significant number of new subscribers to his channel. He increased his subscriber base by 5% just by contributing to our 

#9 Post Content on a Regular and Consistent Basis

Our next tip may sound obvious, but it does need reinforcing. Post new content on a regular basis. For some viewers, it may only take one video to convince them to subscribe to your channel. But for others, they may watch a video, enjoy it, but they don't subscribe. Then in their YouTube homepage, they see a never new video from you, they watch it, enjoy it and say, "Yep, I've seen a couple of videos from this person now. I enjoy their content. I'm going to subscribe."

#10 Make Your YouTube Channel Homepage Welcoming

Following on the theme of encouraging viewers to become subscribers, make sure that your channel homepage is very welcoming. Use a channel trailer, give a good description about what your channel does including a good channel banner, and of course, plenty of playlists that tell the viewer exactly what your channel's about. In fact, when you're sharing videos, share the playlist video link. That means that when a viewer is watching your video, they're within your playlist environment. There may see it more videos that they like from your channel and eventually subscribe.

If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level then make sure to download vidIQ. It will help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps 

Man thinking with text on how to get 1000 YouTube subscribers and vidIQ logo

Want to monetize your YouTube content? We show you how to get your first 1000 subscribers so you can hit that goal.

Top 10 Tips to Get Your First 1000 YouTube Subscribers NOW

Sure, you have a big YouTube channel now, but can you remember who your first ever subscriber was? Yes, it may have been your mum or your boyfriend, but it’s still fun to go back in time and confirm.

Here’s a fun little fact for you - the 

 went live on February 22nd, 2013. After 30 million views and 500K subscribers, we decided to find out who our very first subscriber was. You can do the same by following these steps:

Click on your profile image in the top right-hand corner and go to the YouTube Studio

On the dashboard screen, scroll down to see "Recent Subscribers"

Click on “See All” to open a new dashboard

In the top right of this screen, click on the "date range" and select "Lifetime"

Now click on the "Date Subscribed" column twice, to show you the first or oldest subscriber

The one person who can stake their claim as "first" on vidIQ for any of our videos is 

. Unless she decides to unsubscribe. Don’t do that Ali.

Without the viewers who watch your videos, the people who subscribe to your channel, the community that engages you and supports you, you as a creator might as well present to an empty room.

These are the people who first placed faith, trust, and value in the message you have to share.

As a creator community, especially during these very challenging times for everybody, give something back to those who first supported you and gave you the courage to start your YouTube channel. Take a look back to who your first subscribers were and watch one of their videos, give it a like, and post a nice comment. It may mean the world to them right now.

If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level and 

 then make sure to download vidIQ. Join over 1 million other users and use vidIQ to help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps 

 and learn how to launch a successful YouTube Channel in just 30 days.

Silhouette with question mark, green arrow, and red subscribed button with text "First?"

Who was the first person to ever subscribe to your YouTube channel? We show you how to find out.

How to Find Your Very FIRST YouTube Subscriber!

Although TikTok doesn't share specific stats about its users, it's been estimated that over 500M people are active on the platform, with the most growth across India and other parts of Asia. Did you know that the app has been downloaded by 1 in 7 people in Thailand alone!

Available in 75 languages, TikTok has proved to be fertile ground for would-be influencers and creators looking to build an audience and a community around their content. The app has been downloaded over 1.2 billion times, with 

41% of TikTok users aged between 16 and 24

. That’s an audience actively primed for even more social media consumption, and a massive opportunity for creators to build upon.

But while TikTok-famous teens are basking in the views and followers their videos generate, outside of third-party brand deals, there’s still no way to monetize content on the app. While there is advertising on the platform, no ads are run directly against videos uploaded by creators, so there's no way to benefit from a percentage of that revenue, as is the case with YouTube.

Of course, generating revenue on YouTube via AdSense isn’t a walk in the park these days, but creators still have that financial opportunity open to them. But even the most popular TikTok accounts don’t have anything like the amount of subscribers the top channels on YouTube attract, and for many TikTok uploaders, they are starting from scratch when it comes to building a following on YouTube. But it can be done, and here are three quick tips to kick you off:

3 Ways to Migrate Your TikTok Audience to YouTube

#1 Build Upon the Content That Made You Popular on TikTok

While lip-synching, or dancing around to the latest Arianne Grande release may have generated a healthy following on TikTok, it isn't going to get you far on YouTube. At all. Apart from the issue of using copyrighted content (which is absolutely an issue on TikTok and will lead to a takedown if you’re caught), tuning in to see you do the same old thing but on a different platform is going to get very old, very fast.

However, the chances are that you built your TikTok following based on your personality and quirks, and that is a fantastic head start for any creator. On YouTube, viewers may come for the content, but they will stay for the creator, and if you’ve been successfully publishing video content elsewhere and have an understanding of what your audience likes, that’s a hugely transferable skill. But you need to be willing to learn about what works, which takes us on to our next tip:

There are many similarities between TikTok and YouTube. Both are platforms to watch and engage with content, but like any other video creator, you’re going to need to evolve and significantly up your game if you want to succeed on YouTube. Yes, you’ll bring some of your audience with you, but to grow your subscriber base and generate the kind of views and engagement needed to generate on and off-platform income.

Determine what your YouTube goal is. Just wanting to be famous really won’t get you very far, and certainly isn't the best long-term strategy. It sucks to hear but those superstars you all know on love have put years and years of work into the platform - it didn't happen by accident.

Understanding how the YouTube algorithms works, what content to create, and how to optimize that content while growing your community takes time, patience, and skill but if you make a start now, using the resources provided 

, you’ll be going in the right direction.

#3 Give Your TikTok Fans a Reason to Follow You to YouTube (and Ask Them To!)

This may be the most obvious tip in the world but if you have a YouTube channel, 

! Fans can’t follow you if they don’t know where else you live on the Internet.

OK, now that’s out of the way, think about how you can encourage your TikTok audience over to YouTube. You can always ask them of course, that never harms. But also think strategically about why they should follow you and offer up that incentive. YouTube allows you to upload videos that are 15 minutes long (longer if you are a verified channel) so post teasers on TikTok for that extended content.

Give your followers a taste of what to expect on YouTube and be consistent about it so it becomes part of your publishing strategy. It’s best practice for any creator to “

” so you get the maximum bang for your buck.

Thank you for reading our tips. Now please enjoy the best video that has ever been uploaded to TikTok. You're welcome:

Close-up of smartphone showing TikTok app icon next to white wireless earbuds on table.

Are you building a fanbase on TikTok but want them to follow you to YouTube? Take a look at our tips for migrating your audience.

3 Ways to Turn TikTok Followers into YouTube Subscribers

Are you a new YouTube gaming channel that’s excited to generate your first 1000 subscribers? If you’ve read our post on 

how to get your first 100 subscribers as a YouTube gaming channel

, you’ll know it’s going to take strategy and focus.

In particular, it's the the focus on the games you’re covering, and the way you’re covering them. In this post, I’ll share 5 ways to stay focused as you reach for that 1,000 subscriber goal on your gaming channel.

#1 Understand Channel Success on YouTube: Watch Time & Subscribers

What’s the average length of the gaming content you are uploading to YouTube right now? It’s important to know that because of YouTube Watch Time. The reason 1,000 subscribers is such a coveted goal is because it is one of the requirements you need before YouTube will allow you to monetize your channel. The other is that your channel must have generated 4,000 hours of Watch Time.

If you want to earn money from Adsense on YouTube then you must reach both of these goals. If you want more advice on how to do that, here’s a very handy video we created that takes a deep dive into both metrics:

If you’re uploading hours and hours of gameplay to YouTube you may think that building Watch Time couldn’t be easier. However, this isn’t always the case.

YouTube is measuring your channel based on the amount of time a viewer sticks around and watches your content. The reason I love this metric so much is because it is YouTube's way of sating "Okay, people sat through the majority of your video. This must mean your video is entertaining and because of that, we are going to push it more."

Simply making your gameplay video 10 minutes longer than it probably needs to be doesn't mean you're going to get 10 extra minutes of Watch Time from each person who watches it. And that's the very reason you'll hear me stress 

If you upload daily but you’re only getting two minutes of audience retention on your 20-minute gameplay videos that send a less positive to YouTube. Longer videos don’t always equate longer Watch Time. You have got to put in the work.

#2 Create Quality Long-Form Gaming Content

Not every video is going to be able to be 20 minutes long and have people click on it and watch the entire thing. However, there are plenty of other videos that would make good long-form content.

You could do a listicle of perhaps the top 10 ‘Cities: Skylines’ mods. During that listicle, you could cover each one in detail and that itself could be a pretty long video, but still jam-packed full of valuable information.

In "Cities: Skylines" you could also cover the best strategies for setting up your road network so you don't cause a bunch of traffic jams. Videos like this that go into detail, or offer up multiple strategies offer the viewer enough that they might just watch the whole thing:

Always consider your audience when you're making the content that you make. Consider what you would like to watch and what amount of time you'd be willing to sit through a video.

#3 Create the Highest Quality Content You Can

If the actual quality of your videos has been a problem for a while, it's going to be a bit tougher to increase that Watch Time and reach 1,000 subscribers without first investing in your equipment.

And the first upgrade that any YouTuber should be looking at is, of course, a microphone. Invest in a good sound setup because people like to hear nice crisp audio. I use an AT2020 Condenser mic, which I really love. I also recommend the Blue mics such as Blue Snowball, and Blue Yeti. Microphones are not as expensive as you would think so it’s worth splashing out on them.

Other than microphones, if you're still recording using software that comes with a watermark, it's probably time to upgrade that too. Luckily for you, programs like OBS and Streamlabs OBS are free screen-capturing tools that record at a very high quality and just about anyone can learn how to use them.

Another software recommendation I have when it comes to recording would be Nvidia Shadowplay. If you have an Nvidia graphics card, check and see if it's compatible with Nvidia Shadowplay. It'll record your screen for you off the video card. The recordings are high-quality and the software is very customizable.

#4 Start Building Your Community as Soon as Possible

On your way to 1,000 subscribers, you should be looking to build your community as soon as you can. You've probably already started doing this by answering comments that you're getting on your videos, and if you're not doing that, I would really recommend you start today.

Comments are a fantastic way to engage with your audience and get feedback on how your videos are doing, and how your viewers enjoying them - or not.

Before you reach 1,000 subscribers, you should really be focusing on growth within your YouTube channel itself. You could worry about Discord or social media later on, but at the start don't get too wrapped up in managing a lot of different community platforms. This is going to take time away from making high-quality content and engaging with the audience already engaging with you in the comment section of your YouTube videos.

This engagement is important because people are subscribing to your channel because of you. You are the star of your channel. They may have clicked on one of your videos for the first time ever because you addressed a need that they had in a game they were playing, but they subscribe because they had a connection with you.

And after they hit subscribe, I would recommend keeping them coming back by setting up a content schedule. You don't necessarily even have to make a public announcement that you've set up a schedule. Just upload consistently. If people know where to find your videos, they're going to come back on a regular basis and watch.

I would also recommend looking at what types of videos you post. Perhaps you just do ‘let's plays’ on a Monday. And then tutorials or reviews on a Wednesday.

These may be strategies you're already experimenting with at this time and you're probably going to keep experimenting even after you reach 1,000 subscribers. I would at least hope so. As you get closer and closer to 1,000 though, I would look to tip the scale a little bit.

When you start YouTube you're probably going to be experimenting 80% of the time, and uploading regular content that people are used to seeing all the time the other 20% of the time.

But as you start to learn more and more the types of videos people enjoy coming back to on your channel and you're doubling down on that content, you want that scale to tip closer to 80% of the time doing those regular videos and 20% of the time experimenting. As YouTubers, no matter who you are, you should always be experimenting and trying to do different things to stay versatile and grow your channel.

#5 Create Gaming Content That You're Passionate About

However, as your audience grows, it's not necessary to experiment so heavily. We are VidIQ, so we do talk a lot about growth, and strategy, and numbers, and that's all very exciting. And I'm not discouraging that at all. But don't forget why people start YouTube channels in the first place.

It's very likely that they have a passion for something and YouTube just happens to be the platform where they feel most comfortable sharing that passion. In my case, that passion happened to be playing video games. Hypothetically speaking, if I start a channel all about city building games like "Cities: Skylines," it's more than likely because I feel I'm pretty good at "Cities: Skylines" and I have a lot to share, and I want to show people new ways to play the game.

The point is the goal of creating the channel wasn't to get rich and famous, it was to share my passion with an audience. So keep track of those numbers and celebrate the milestones every step of the way.

But never forget that your YouTube channel is about you and the subject matter that you're covering. The reason it's so important to stress that is because as you make a content schedule, you may get into territory where you start to burn yourself out a little bit. And as a gamer, I've done this too. I was on a good trajectory and things were awesome, and I didn't want to stop uploading, even though I was starting to feel a little 

I was editing a lot and recording a lot, and I was getting tired, but my schedule was Monday, Wednesday, Friday so I had to upload on those days. This isn't a healthy habit to get into because you're worried about the numbers too much at this stage. Just remember quality over quantity every time. Your audience will understand if you need to take a break along the way.

Getting 1,000 subscribers is super exciting, but it doesn't all happen at once, unless you have some kind of a viral success. So to recap, quality over quantity. This can happen by upgrading your setup. Build your community, make that content schedule. Most importantly practice good, healthy habits. Do not burn out making a gaming channel because I can tell you from experience, it's easy to do.

YouTube subscriber growth tips showing milestones from 970 to 1000 subscribers.

Growing your YouTube gaming channel is exciting but very hard work. We share 5 ways to stay focused as you reach for that 1000 subscriber goal.

YouTube Gamers: How to Get Your First 1000 Subscribers

When you tell people you have a YouTube channel, one of the most common questions asked is, "Oh, how many subscribers do you have?" And the answer may be, none of your business!

When you are logged in to YouTube, you should see your channel logo in the top right-hand corner of most YouTube screens. If you click on that, 

you have the option to go to YouTube Studio.

 This is currently in beta, but will become the standard as 2019 progresses. This is your homepage, or dashboard, on the new creator studio, and in order to hide subscriber counts from the public, you click on the settings button in the bottom left-hand corner. Click on Channel >> Advanced where you’ll see a check box that says display the number of people subscribed to my channel.

Why Hide Your YouTube Subscriber Details to the Public?

So, that is how you hide your subscriber count. The burning question now is 

 The common opinion is that having a visible subscriber count can either add or take away value from your channel. A lot of video creators with smaller channels, say, less than a hundred subscribers, are worried that viewers will be immediately switched off from their content because they don't have a perceived audience watching their content already.

That may be a valid point. When you watch a video, and you see a channel with lots of subscribers, does that convince you more to subscribe to their channel than content from another video creator which is just as good, but has a tiny number of subscribers? But as subscriber counts are by default public, what kind of message does that send if a creator makes a conscious decision to hide them?

From a personal point of view, I've never been afraid of hiding my subscriber count, after all, every video creator starts at zero and ends up somewhere. And after a few years of making videos, and when you've built up your channel, you'll realize what a immaterial number that was when you were first starting out your channel. It's all part of a YouTube journey.

Red subscribe button with a green arrow pointing and bold text asking "WHY?" in black.

Want to hide your YouTube subscriber count? We show you how to (but also question why you would want to do that?).

How to Hide Your YouTube Subscriber Count [New Method!]

, one of the biggest and most successful YouTubers of all time just hit the 20 million subscriber mark!. Here are the numbers behind the milestone - with a few fun 'facts' thrown in:

Mr Beast was already a big deal on YouTube this time last year, but in the last 365 days he has pretty much quadrupled the size of his channel.

Mr Beast started his channel on February 19th, 2012, and he hit his latest landmark, 20 million subscribers, on June the 8th, 2019.

For those of you who like their numbers that's 7 years, 3 months, 20 days, or 2,666 days, or 63,984 hours.

Now, if we average that over the lifetime of a channel that's 7,501 subscribers per day, but subscriber growth has accelerated considerably in the last year.

So much so that now, on average, Mr Beast averages 41,096 subscribers every single day.

Despite this unprecedented success however, Mr Beast has still stolen 36 million cookies due to visitors not subscribing and not clicking that notification bell.

Next up we have views, 2.7 billion of them to be almost exact.

And that works out at 135 views per subscriber, or just over 1 million views per day since the channel started, or 3.7 million views per video based on the 728 currently published on the channel.

The remarkable thing about Mr Beast channel is it's consistency. His most popular video has 

, which is no mean feat, but using the vidIQ video 

 we can see that from the last 50 videos he has published they average 12 to 15 million views after 28 days. Not a bad number at all when you compare it to say, oh I don't know, PewDiePie, whose videos average 5 to 6 million views, despite the fact he has 75 million more subscribers.

This time last year Mr Beast sat on, around about, 540 million total views. That means the channel has received over 2.1 billion views in a single year. An increase of 300% year on year, just like his subscriber count, and it doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon.

Mr Beast is, of course, famous for crazy things he does on his videos, and that includes giving away a lot of money. 

 276 hours doing random stuff that range from standing straight in slime, sitting underwater, and trying to survive in the desert.

He's also repeated words, counted numbers, or read from the dictionary for a total of 27,900,000 words, and he has used 132.6 million bits of Orbeez, Lego, magnets, pennies, and more things in his videos.

And so, Mr Beast, on behalf of everybody here at vidIQ, congratulations on 20 million subscribers!!

Blue thunderbolt panther logo above large bold black number 19,999,999 on white background

YouTube superstar just hit 20 million subscribers on his channel. Here are 13 numbers behind that massive achievement.

Mr Beast: 13 Numbers Behind His 20 Million YouTube Subscribers

First off, let’s confirm how you access the ‘Notifications’ feature on YouTube:

When you are logged into YouTube, you should see your channel logo in the top right hand corner of most YouTube screens, if you click on that, you have the option to go to YouTube Studio.

Click on the ‘Videos’ tab, this will show you the video details.

Click on ‘Advanced’. Scroll down to the bottom of this screen, and you'll see the following option: ‘Publish to the Subscription feed and allow notifications to subscribers’. To clarify what that means, your subscribers will see this video in their Subscription feed and will receive notifications if eligible. This is always defaulted on, as you would expect, so if you want to stop this from happening when the video goes public, untick this box, and save the change.

Notifications have already been sent out for public videos, so for a private or unlisted videos.

The Difference Between Unlisted & Public Video YouTube Notifications

I know you've got a burning question you want to ask. What's the difference between a unlisted video and a public video that doesn't send out notifications? Good question.

Unlisted videos are those that are only designed to be found through a shared link, they don't appear in search results, and they don't appear on your channel page either. Public videos, on the other hand, are totally transparent and visible, they can be found through search and appear on your channel.

Some rare reasons why you might need to do this is for your channel trailer. You want it to be discoverable on YouTube, but you don't want to notify your subscribers because it's not required. Or, you might have some sort of Easter egg or secret game you're playing with your audience which they need to find, but obviously you don't want to notify them that the video exists.

And now let's go back to our question, what is the maximum number of notifications a viewer will see from a single channel in 24 hours?

So if you intend to upload multiple videos, maybe five or 10 a day, for whatever reason, and you only want to make sure that the most important videos reach your audience, then you can use that checkbox to untick the ones which you don't think are as valuable.

 then make sure to download vidIQ. It will help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps 

Notification settings banner with YouTube and vidIQ icons on blue tech background

Did you know there is a limit to the number of video uploads and livestream notifications a viewer can receive from a single YouTube channel in a 24-hour period? Find out more.

How to Control YouTube Notifications YOU Send to Subscribers

Trust me, if you've been thinking about buying subscribers to grow your YouTube channel, this is going to save you a lot of pain. Because put simply, you don't want to do it. And this is the main reason why.

. You probably haven't read them, and that wouldn't surprise me because nobody ever reads them. Especially when they are this long. But if you have intentions of buying subscribers, then you may want to read Permissions and Restrictions section 6, which states that you are not allowed to do the following:

Cause or encourage any inaccurate measurements of genuine user engagement with the Service, including by paying people or providing them with incentives to increase a video's views, likes or dislikes, or to increase a channel's subscribers, or otherwise manipulate metrics.

So it doesn't matter where you bought your subscribers from, and it doesn’t matter how much they promise your subscribers are legitimate, and will genuinely watch your content. Ultimately, you have paid somebody to try and artificially grow your channel, and to manipulate YouTube's metrics, and that is against Terms of Service. And the buck stops there. YouTube are the gatekeepers, and if they find out what you've been doing, then your channel will most likely be suspended or terminated.

Why Buying Subscribers is So Bad For Your YouTube Channel

So, you want to know how to buy subscribers to help grow your YouTube channel? Well, it's pretty simple. You don't!!!

How to Get More YouTube Subscribers