The New YouTube Design Is Working: YouTube Subscriptions Up 50%

Last week, when YouTube officially switched everyone’s channel to the new look and feel, whether the users were ready for it or not, they also gave us a bit of an explanation as to why. Turns out, the new YouTube design has channel subscriptions surging—up 50%.

Quick quiz: YouTube cares about what?

Answer: Money, obviously. But to get to that money, they need more viewers, and viewers that are more engaged for longer periods of time. Hence, the new YouTube.

The new YouTube, which a great number of users still hate with a fiery passion, is here to stay. I’m only the messenger, and I hope you won’t shoot me for saying it, but it’s not going away. Petitions, forum comments, and flaming blog posts are not going to convince YouTube to bring back the old layout.

Why? Because the new one’s working. Users tend to subscribe to channels when they’re interested in seeing more content from that creator—it’s the ultimate compliment for a piece of video content to see a surge in subscribers as a result. If subscriptions are up, then that means more viewers are finding content they love more often and more easily.

In short: it’s making YouTube money.

In addition to subscriptions being on the rise, daily unique visits are up by 60% since 2011. Think about that. Daily unique visits are up a TON in the few short months since the redesign was rolled out. I would have guessed YouTube was so large an entity that a 60% jump in daily uniques would be darn-near impossible. Apparently I was wrong.

With YouTube’s key metrics skyrocketing since the redesign, it’s time for creators and marketers to get over it, get used to it, and start taking advantage of it. Those subscriptions that are on the rise have to go to a channel somewhere… and if you pay attention to what successful creators are doing and what audiences are watching… it could be yours.