The story
How did this channel get here?
Every milestone, every traffic-source shift, every quiet week — in order. Conventional advice tested at each stage. The chart on the right is cumulative views.
First external
Found from outside YouTube, day 3
Video 3 — first External views — 2026-04-11, day 3.
1 view from External links
Discovery shift
Video 3 overtook Video 1 for lifetime views, day 3
Video 3 overtook Video 1 for lifetime views — 2026-04-11, day 3.
41 vs 11
Discovery shift
Subscribers crossed video count: 4 subs, 4 videos, day 4
Subscribers crossed video count: 4 subs, 4 videos — 2026-04-12, day 4.
First milestone
Video 1 crossed 10 views, day 3
Video 1 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-11 (day 3).
Reached in 3 days
First milestone
Video 2 crossed 10 views, day 3
Video 2 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-11 (day 3).
Reached in 2 days
First milestone
Video 2 crossed 25 views, day 3
Video 2 crossed 25 views on 2026-04-11 (day 3).
Reached in 2 days
First milestone
Video 3 crossed 10 views, day 3
Video 3 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-11 (day 3).
Reached on day 1
First milestone
Video 3 crossed 25 views, day 3
Video 3 crossed 25 views on 2026-04-11 (day 3).
Reached on day 1
First milestone
Video 3 crossed 50 views, day 4
Video 3 crossed 50 views on 2026-04-12 (day 4).
Reached in 2 days
First milestone
100 subscribers, day 4
Channel crossed 100 total views on 2026-04-12 (day 4).
First milestone
Video 2 crossed 50 views, day 6
Video 2 crossed 50 views on 2026-04-14 (day 6).
Reached in 5 days
First milestone
Video 6 crossed 10 views, day 7
Video 6 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-15 (day 7).
Reached in 2 days
Beginnings
The first thirty days
First video published. Traffic typically arrives in batches over the following weeks.
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
The first video published on 2026-04-09.
20 videos went up in the channel's first thirty days; the catalog was small enough that one video could carry most of the views.
Lifetime views across that early cohort now sit at 804.
Video 3 carried 51% of views in the first thirty days.
Reach
First viewer from Other, day 2
On day 2, the first view from Other landed on the catalog. Country reach typically grows incrementally as the recommendation graph spreads.
First milestone
100 subscribers, day 11
Video 3 crossed 100 views on 2026-04-19 (day 11).
Reached in 9 days
First milestone
Video 4 crossed 10 views, day 11
Video 4 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-19 (day 11).
Reached in 8 days
First milestone
Video 8 crossed 10 views, day 11
Video 8 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-19 (day 11).
Reached in 4 days
First milestone
Video 8 crossed 25 views, day 11
Video 8 crossed 25 views on 2026-04-19 (day 11).
Reached in 4 days
First milestone
Video 4 crossed 25 views, day 12
Video 4 crossed 25 views on 2026-04-20 (day 12).
Reached in 9 days
First milestone
Video 8 crossed 50 views, day 12
Video 8 crossed 50 views on 2026-04-20 (day 12).
Reached in 5 days
First milestone
Video 4 crossed 50 views, day 14
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
Video 4 crossed 50 views on 2026-04-22 (day 14).
Reached in 11 days
First milestone
Video 15 crossed 10 views, day 15
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
Video 15 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-23 (day 15).
Reached on day 1
First milestone
Channel crossed 500 total views, day 15
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
Channel crossed 500 total views on 2026-04-23 (day 15).
First milestone
Video 5 crossed 10 views, day 16
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
Video 5 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-24 (day 16).
Reached in 12 days
First milestone
Video 14 crossed 10 views, day 16
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
Video 14 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-24 (day 16).
Reached in 3 days
Convergence
Three videos at once, 2026-04-19
On 2026-04-19, multiple videos in the catalog jumped together. Convergence days like this are uncommon; the channel-level signal is often more interesting than any one video's day.
First milestone
Video 10 crossed 10 views, day 18
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
Video 10 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-26 (day 18).
Reached in 9 days
First milestone
Video 3 crossed 250 views, day 19
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
Video 3 crossed 250 views on 2026-04-27 (day 19).
Reached in 17 days
First milestone
Video 6 crossed 25 views, day 20
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
Video 6 crossed 25 views on 2026-04-28 (day 20).
Reached in 15 days
First milestone
Video 12 crossed 10 views, day 20
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
Video 12 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-28 (day 20).
Reached in 9 days
First milestone
Video 18 crossed 10 views, day 20
What we tested · disagrees
“High click-through-rate drives video success more than high retention.”
What we tested · agrees
“Publishing video N consumes impressions that would otherwise have gone to video N−1, slowing N−1's…”
What we tested · disagrees
“Videos 8–10 minutes long perform best for ad revenue and watch time.”
Video 18 crossed 10 views on 2026-04-28 (day 20).
Reached in 3 days
Reach
First viewer from Senegal, day 17
Day 17 marked the channel's first Senegal viewer. Geographic spread often follows linguistic and topical proximity; a new country usually means a new audience cluster found the catalog.
Recent batch
Videos from week 2026-W17 are climbing
Videos published in week 2026-W17 are climbing while older videos sit flat. Three weeks ago this cohort hit median 3; today's median is 9. The channel-wide average is roughly unchanged.
Today
As of 2026-04-28
Through 2026-04-28, 804 lifetime views from 20 videos. 9 subscribers.
The catalog keeps accruing days; the chart above keeps painting.