---
title: 'I Tried to Game the YouTube Algorithm and Failed'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=qVwIEKTON0I'
video_id: 'qVwIEKTON0I'
date: 2026-07-12
duration_sec: 617
---

# I Tried to Game the YouTube Algorithm and Failed

> Source: [I Tried to Game the YouTube Algorithm and Failed](https://youtube.com/watch?v=qVwIEKTON0I)

## Summary

The creator shares a failed experiment to game the YouTube algorithm by privatizing over 2,400 old videos, hoping to boost channel performance. Despite removing 1.4 million views, there was no positive impact on subscriber growth or channel metrics. The video concludes that old content may not necessarily hurt a channel, and the strategy didn't work as expected.

### Key Points

- **Experiment Overview** [00:00] — The creator attempted to game the YouTube algorithm by privatizing old, unrelated content to boost channel performance, but the experiment failed.
- **Inspiration from Jon Prosser** [01:39] — Jon Prosser of Front Page Tech experimented by cutting live streams and saw subscriber growth from 75k to 100k. Another channel, Painfully Honest Tech, privatized all live stream VODs and tripled daily sub growth.
- **Creator's Action** [03:14] — The creator privatized 2,400 videos from 2012-2018, including gaming content, live streams, and unlisted videos, removing 1.4 million views from the channel.
- **No Positive Impact** [04:45] — After privatization, daily sub growth remained unchanged. The only effect was a negative 560k views month on Social Blade, but no channel boost.
- **Lesson Learned** [06:04] — The experiment showed that removing old content doesn't necessarily help; the theory that old videos hurt performance may not hold true for all channels.
- **Nuance on Live Stream VODs** [08:00] — While removing live stream VODs helped some channels, the creator's lack of regular live streaming meant no similar benefit. Live streaming itself can boost watch time, but leaving VODs public may be detrimental.

### Conclusion

The creator's attempt to game the algorithm by privatizing old content failed, demonstrating that old videos don't necessarily hurt channel performance. The experiment underscores the importance of testing strategies and sharing data, even when outcomes are negative.

## Transcript

it's story time again we're gonna have a conversation about how I tried to game the YouTube algorithm in a non malicious way based on genuine strategy ideas and lost or failed it didn't it didn't work we're gonna talk about that right after
this to buddy is the best tool you can get to manage your YouTube channel you can update videos in bulk optimize your SEO syndicate to social media backup your metadata and more all with a simple browser extension head to a post vox.com
slash to buddy to learn more and download it for free i'm yubel's box i run a tech education channel as well as a lot of other things on the side I've been on YouTube since I was 12 years old which has been for 12 or 13 years now
I've worked for networks with networks I've helped coach other channels to two years rather I'm very involved in the YouTube space but the algorithm the
way that YouTube actually prefers videos or channels is something that's always sometimes my head is just too far into the dirt focusing on doing my day to day
work instead of strategizing in the big picture that's a big flaw of mine but when there are opportunities to potentially implement good strategies or things that could help boost my channel I always want to experiment with them I
the like most active day-to-day you know as soon as I upload a video audience actually act on I aim to so Jon Prosser the host of front page tech had been
experimenting with his live streams because he felt that every time he live streamed over the weekend they had a Weakland based live stream show it would hurt the views of their next week so they did an experiment where they cut
out live streams and went seven days a week for their show and they have since basically gone like within a couple months just straight from 75k 100k subscribers their views have been way boosted they've been doing amazing part
other strategies they've been implementing but they did see some vod's the video that was recorded from the livestream posted to their Channel
he didn't hand another channel painfully honest tech Jason over there private 'add or unlisted I believe he private at all of his livestream vods all of his livestream vods and while doing nothing else not even posting another video
his daily sub count his daily sub growth tripled he was getting like 100 to 200 subscribers a day private did all those videos he lost a bunch of total video views' and then his daily subscriber count' shot up to like 600 something it
the theory was either the longer videos were hurting the channels performance or you know it needs more direct information to kind of position yourself
as Authority in the algorithm I was looking at my channel I was like wow I could have a really interesting use case here I playlisted up so that I could back up and download first 2,400 ish videos from 2012 to 2018 this included
all of my old gaming content cuz my channel started as a gaming channel and I had clearly a metric crapload of videos that were gaming related co-op with my fiancè commentaries Let's Plays tutorials of video games things like
that all of those kinds of videos live streams and live stream vods but our multi hour long videos and some general just random like posts and things like could download them to archive for myself because I don't have all of my
older content necessarily and then I and anything anything also included in that anything that was unlisted that I did not still need people to have access to added all of those the playlists downloaded them and then made them
process that change it took YouTube a really long time I took him like four days I believe actually I have the document in front of me so I private at
the videos on August 5th 2018 is when I private at them I believe yes I private adem on August 5th 2018 kind of midday and the changes didn't take place until
August 7th it took him two full days to process that I private at all of those videos and it's directed 1.4 million views from my channel because some of those were really popular videos I had a poky MMO
Pokemon online game co-op let's play with my fiancee that would did really streams and things like that took away 1.4 million views from my channel after
that in terms of day to day sub growth in terms of any of the effects I was looking to see nothing happened in fact I'm pulling up socialblade again my daily sub growth is a little bit higher at the moment due to some videos
I have that are going you know are doing really well my Linux gaming series is doing really well right now but otherwise there seems to have been zero impact on my channel I figured this would be the most extreme example surely
a privatization a change in content that's made public that the algorithm should process of this magnitude should be what would affect something right as far as I can tell it did nothing to my channel and instead my social Blake
graph has four monthly views for the month of July or actually I guess August 20 18 negative 560 K views which will screw up my social social blade graph in I still have certain pieces of content that does well on its own that are you
necessarily growing any accelerated growth at the moment which is fine doesn't always do that but I was expecting something I figured if I had evidence of other channels who gamed the algorithm in this way that me trying to
do so would have some sort of impact and I was wrong I tried to game the algorithm and I got jack squat out of it I got absolutely nothing out of it sometimes you try to play the game in you don't always win and there's not a
whole lot you can do about that unfortunately I mean I can't even necessarily make those I knew the risk going into it I knew that you know this was a permanent change to my channel and it was one I kinda had wanted to make
already it was one where I had already gone back through on my old gaming channel that I launched before the channel led him on now and unlisted and that I thought was using language I wouldn't use anymore or just things I
didn't want people to see anymore but I still left some of it up I'm all about that growth legacy going back and viewing the older videos one of my one videos from 2008 and 2009 to get those kind of in 2010 to get those thoughts
perving and to feel what I felt back then and so not having that live that's going into it and now I can't undo it I can't make those videos public again growth and it might spam sub boxes like so many things could go wrong there so
it was a permanent change to my channel and I saw nothing positive out of it the lesson to you really isn't much I wanted to make sure that I'm all about data and having this information made available I have I have the data I wanted to make
the experiment public so that I could showcase what it was how it was because I'm all about experimenting with YouTube as a platform sharing that data so that everyone can succeed and the theory that removing excess bloat especially your
even in mass of unrelated content live stream vods and stuff all together doesn't necessarily benefit your channel your old content isn't necessarily hurting your channel now a lot of those videos probably had lower audience
sooner potentially especially the older tutorials where they realized that they theoretically that might boost my channels overall audience retention
numbers which might tell you to pay I'm better but overall older videos don't necessarily hurt your channel so much unless there's specific things like I that being said there are still the counter examples of specifically
removing your livestream pods from your channel actually helping and that might I don't do a whole lot of live streaming anymore and I don't post a whole lot of those vods so there's not regular data to show that that it was hurting my
considering and you can certainly still like the act of live streaming itself free mass amounts of watch time and audience retention and views in because
it's live because any amount of watch kind of counts as 100% watch time like it can seriously boost your channel it's the act of leaving that vaad that final multi hour video up public on your channel so if you want to use live
not keep them public you can do that but I don't know I wanted to make the data available here for you I wanted to showcase what I had learned I thought I
wrong with my channel but I've thought I found a secret to kind of give me a stim boost a buff for my channel based on cutting out a bunch of old crap and that didn't work so thought I'd share it with you just interesting story about what
social blade I don't understand why you're looking at that but hey aha and it on our discord server things like that wanted to share with you if you
stuff for what's going on chat with me yada yada over at E Plus voxcom slash enjoyed share this with someone if you're interested in discussing YouTube
meta stuff and subscribe for more awesome tech content and tech education and I'll see you next time