YouTube: short videos or longer videos

[GambitTeen]

Hello everyone,

I run a couple of YouTube channels and started posting short clips. They usually get about 4k to 11k views, and I’ve picked up some new subscribers. But when I upload a longer video, it gets almost no views—sometimes 0, or maybe 2 to 9 if I’m lucky.

So now I’m wondering if mixing short clips and long videos is a bad idea, especially if you want your long videos to do well later. Maybe people who follow from short clips only like quick content, so when a long video shows up, they don’t watch it. Then YouTube might think the video isn’t good and stop showing it to others.

Does anyone else feel this way, or could there be a different reason?

 

[SelfDev]

That’s a common problem with short videos and longer ones. The system handles them in very different ways. People who watch short clips don’t usually switch to longer videos.

You could try this: use short videos to grow your channel, but also keep uploading longer videos again and again, even if they don’t do well at the start. YouTube needs time to understand that you make both kinds. Maybe you can also make a few short clips that hint at your longer videos to connect them.

And yes, your idea makes sense—posting both types together can confuse the system at the beginning.

 

[AuthenticCoops]

There are lots of posts and comments about this. I don’t really know the answer, but I feel like sharing both long and short posts all the time might help.


You can also check other chats here on MMO to learn more, since people share different ideas and results.

 

[MrZeether]

I don’t think the issue is only that people who watch Shorts skip longer videos. It might be that the longer videos aren’t getting shown to the right people or pushed enough. If a long video is really good and gives viewers what they want, YouTube will still suggest it to others.

 

[Heraldonet]

Short videos bring in a different kind of viewer. Those people don’t always watch or interact with longer videos. When that happens, your long videos may not do as well, and YouTube might show them less. It can help to keep short clips and longer videos on different channels.

 

[WalkerWunder]

Top creators in 2026 do it like this:
They use Shorts to grab new viewers fast.
Then they send those people to longer videos to build trust and earn money.
Shorts bring people in,
Long videos turn them into real fans and income.

 

[DubyaKentros]

Shorts on YouTube pull in a different crowd, and they don’t always watch or react much. Many of them don’t move over to longer videos. This can make the system unsure about who to show your videos to. So if most of your subs came from Shorts and don’t watch long videos, your longer uploads might get shown less.