Even though YouTube is still the largest online video-sharing site by a massive margin, a new report has uncovered that almost 90% of video uploaded to the service generates fewer than 1,000 views.

For a website that sees over 5 billion video views across its entire platform every single day, it’s quite shocking to hear that such a high proportion will never reach a baseline 1,000 views. This data was uncovered by Pex, in their analysis of 2019 on the video-sharing platform.

While YouTube is still the de facto content platform for widespread visibility, clearing the hurdle from obscurity to fame is no easy feat. The overwhelming majority of YouTube videos (88.4%) still generate fewer than 1,000 views.

Adding to this shocking statistic is another quite puzzling one. A microcosm of YouTube channels are actually reaching 100,000 views per video on average. Only 0.77% of all content on YouTube is reaching such a milestone, but they account for 82.83% of the actual total viewer figure.

That might not be a shock to some people, but it actually showcases some of the problems with the systems that are suggesting content to viewers, especially when over 80% of views on the YouTube platform are coming from such a small pool of content and creators.

Despite the explosive growth in Gaming uploads, it’s not the best performing category on YouTube. Music continues to dominate the platform with more views per video than any other category. When normalizing for the duration of each upload, Music’s lead is even more pronounced. Music’s 2,944 views per minute is more than double that of Entertainment and roughly 22 times greater than Gaming.

Music is unsurprisingly the most dominant video category on YouTube. Music videos were the most viewed category in 2019. Gaming is the most uploaded category but fares poorly when compared to other common videos on YouTube. This is likely due to the space being especially crowded.

If this report has highlighted one thing, it’s just how difficult it is for creators to make a breakthrough on the service. As the platform is constantly lambasted by fans and creators alike, some reforms may need to be made to help make YouTube a more even playing field for all.

On top of that, if you were thinking of starting a YouTube channel in 2020, don’t go in expecting views to explode overnight.

More on YouTube:

• Google Assistant can now play your ‘personal’ YouTube Music playlists, still in limited testing
• YouTube will stop emailing subscribers about new videos next week
• YouTube Music’s new ‘Artists’ view only lists songs saved to your library

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