Jake ticks all the boxes for enviable YouTube success. In less than three months, the former 3D motion designer has achieved impressive goals, including:

 only had 41K total views. But somewhere along the way, he decided to post his first YouTube Short, which are vertical videos of less than 60 seconds. 

After watching the first Short go viral, he decided to post dozens more. 

In each of the videos, Jake's 3D characters re-enact scenarios from the wildly popular game, 

 The goal of the game is to fix a spaceship while avoiding the crew's deadly, knife-wielding imposter.  

Jake's most popular video has 88M views and shows players voting an imposter off the 

Jake’s meteoric rise to success is what every creator wants. But more than that, creators want the perfect opportunity to get there - a tool for content discovery they can pour their efforts into.

 are providing that opportunity. They worked for Jake, and if you take the right approach, they can work for you too.

To understand how Jake snagged millions of views, we asked him to share some analytics from his YouTube channel. If you want to grow your channel fast, here’s the inspiring blueprint behind his success.

1. Make Content Viewers Can’t Find Anywhere Else

YouTube is a competitive platform. To stand out from the crowd, you need to give your audience something fresh and exciting. It has to be content they can’t find anywhere else, and that’s why Jake’s 3D renditions of 

 gameplay worked. No one was expecting his videos, but at the same time, millions of people are consuming 

 content right now. So whenever possible, capitalize on a trend in unexpected ways to get more views.

Jake did this by identifying a unique opportunity in posting YouTube Shorts. He realized he could dominate the platform with 30-second videos because everyone else was posting minutes of 

To help you understand why this works so well, we filmed a deep-dive video about Jake’s channel growth. Watch it below to gain more insight:

 YouTubers are also animators. But obviously, their

 videos are several minutes long. So Jake isn’t the first person to explore the idea, but he 

 one of the first to do it in a fresh way, abbreviated way.

2. When You See Early Signs of Success, Double Down On What You Got You There

Jake’s channel didn’t always have a billion views. In fact, his early content on YouTube attracted about 500 views per video.

Back then, Jake was doing what we recommend to new creators: Post useful, educational content to quickly stand out on YouTube. When you browse Jake’s channel, you’ll find dozens of early how-to videos about a 3D animation program called Maya.

However, everything changed when he posted a YouTube Short. From the moment he saw the first one go viral, Jake got to work creating 50 more. Viewers keep returning to watch his Shorts, but that wouldn’t be possible if Jake didn’t create more of what people liked.

Actually, the fact that viewers “liked” his content may be an understatement. They probably loved it. In the screenshot below, you can see that on average, viewers watch 85% of every video he posts (which is pretty high):

And now, take a look at the average number of videos each viewer watched on Jake's channel:

Amazingly, the average viewer on Jake’s channel watches 6.5 videos. To understand how phenomenal that is, compare it to the vidIQ channel. Our average viewer only watches 1.7 videos!

When you see positive growth on your channel, investigate it. Try to understand what happened and how you can turn random success into consistent victories. Then double down on what works!

3. Make Content Anyone In The World Can Enjoy

If your content doesn’t rely on any specific language, it can capture a global audience. That’s part of the reason Jake’s YouTube Shorts are so successful. They can be enjoyed anywhere by anyone, which makes his 

Jake’s videos are popular in Indonesia, the U.S., Brazil, India, and Vietnam. In the screenshot below, you can see what percentage of his audience is watching in these regions:

As great as this tip is, we have to add a disclaimer. Not every creator will find it easy or even possible to create global content. In Jake’s case, animation lends itself to global consumption because the visuals are more important than any language or location. 

However, if your content has the ability to go global, give it a try!

4. Develop an Unrelenting Drive to Succeed On YouTube

YouTube Shorts may be full of opportunity, but that doesn't mean they’re easy videos to make. Creators like Jake put a lot of time, energy, patience, and skill into these less-than-a-minute videos.

When we asked Jake about his video-making process, he said it takes between five and eight hours to make less than 30 seconds of animation. He earned millions of views in exchange, but how many creators have the perseverance to do the same?

Today, it’s pretty clear that getting millions of views on YouTube takes more than just practical skills. You need to have the mindset of a creator, one who follows trends and is dedicated to studying their audience.

Perhaps another factor is shameless self-belief. Over a year ago, Jake told his LinkedIn followers that one day, he’d get 1M TikTok followers making video content. Today, 

This is the kind of determination every creator needs to have. If you can believe in yourself enough to keep creating, you’ll eventually succeed.

Jake’s inspiring story is one to study in 2021. Explore his blueprint for YouTube success, then tweak it to create a plan that earns you millions of views.

Getting billions of views on YouTube usually takes longer than 80 days. But for Jake Fellman, anything is possible with irresistible 3D animation.

How This YouTube Creator Got 1.5 Billion Views In Just 80 Days

Since the roll-out, many creators have earned massive views and subscribers from YouTube Shorts. But of course, there’s a catch. For the millions of views and hundreds of subscribers earned, revenue for YouTube Shorts, in most cases, seems to hover around just a few dollars. Zero dollars, even.

, for example. In nearly 60 days of posting YouTube Shorts, this channel with 25K subscribers told us they'd gained:

Super London Cars achieved this feat by posting Shorts of expensive supercars, such as this 

Ferrari LaFerrari parking too close to a Porsche GT2 RS. The 32-second video has more than a million views.

Despite this success, Super London Cars haven't reached the 4,000 Watch Time hours needed to monetize their channel. Instead, their YouTube analytics show a mere 918 public Watch hours - and those are the only hours that count toward monetization. That’s about 0.54% of the total Watch Time hours (170K) Super London Cars has earned.

Does that signal the end for this creator? More specifically, will this channel 

 (YPP) and monetize its content? We can’t say for sure, but we can definitely help you avoid this monetization pitfall.

Regular Watch Time on YouTube vs. Shorts Watch Time

Before we dig into the data, we’d like to applaud Super London Cars for seizing the growth opportunities YouTube Shorts can bring. This creator exponentially grew their channel in a short amount of time, which isn’t easy.

In the old days of YouTube, that would be enough to qualify for channel monetization. But here’s the modern-day catch: 

Videos played from the Stories and Short videos shelf don't count toward YouTube’s monetization requirements.

For a visual explanation of what this means, watch our latest video, "How to Fail at YouTube Monetization."

, where you watch a video determines how its Watch Time is calculated. For example, if you watch a video through the standard YouTube player in the mobile app, that video earns 1 

 YouTube view. The Watch Time you earn there will count toward monetization. 

However, if you watch that same video through the Stories and Short video shelf, the video earns 1 

 view. When content is viewed this way, its Watch Time doesn't count toward channel monetization.

How to Check Your Analytics For YouTube Shorts Watch Time

 you’re earning with both YouTube Shorts and regular content? Log in to your account on desktop and follow these steps:

You should automatically end up on the Overview tab, where a large graph of your views, Watch Time, subscribers, and estimated revenue are displayed. Navigate directly below this graph and click 

Next, you’ll see some advanced analytics. At the top of the page, click 

This will show you, at the channel level, how many YouTube Shorts views you’re getting. The Watch Time is also displayed for each traffic source.

Here’s what our graph looks like for the 

Immediately, you can disregard the Watch Time from Shorts because we know those don't count toward monetization. 

You will, however, count the Watch Time from every other traffic source that counts toward monetization. Change the date range on your graph to capture your entire video history, then add up the number of Watch Time hours from the sources pictured below. 

The number you get should almost match YouTube’s number of public Watch hours for your channel.

When we expand our graph, the vidIQ Shorts channel has 241 public Watch hours and those count toward monetization. It’ll take a while, but we should eventually reach the 4,000 hours of Watch Time needed to apply to the YPP.

The Strange Watch Time Analytics of Super London Cars

Now that you’ve seen our Shorts analytics, it's time to compare these numbers to the Super London Cars channel. It has way more subscribers, millions of more views, and a massive amount of Watch Time. But somehow, Super London Car is only 700 hours closer to monetization than we are. Clearly, the numbers don't add up.

When you look at the traffic sources for Super London Cars, things get even more confusing. The channel is earning almost all of its Watch Time from YouTube Shorts, but there are still thousands of hours coming from suggested videos and browse features. 

These hours alone should be more than enough to take Super London Cars over YouTube’s monetization threshold. So what’s happening here?

Well, we have three possible explanations, none of them good ones:

There’s a glitch in the YouTube analytics, and the Super London Cars creator needs to contact YouTube to get it fixed and apply for monetization.

YouTube changed its policies so that Watch Time from 

 video under 60 seconds won’t count toward monetization. But there are no public updates to support that.

Traffic source analytics aren't accurate enough to tell us when views are coming from YouTube Shorts or the regular YouTube player.

YouTube Shorts are new and probably weren’t created for widespread monetization. If you want to make more money on YouTube, creating short videos under 60 seconds isn’t the answer - at least not today.

Instead, put that energy into the long-form content on your main channel. Make sure you’ve fully optimized your channel to include featured playlists, a channel banner, banner links, a profile icon, and irresistible thumbnails. You’ll earn more Watch Time when people watch videos through the regular YouTube player, so cover your bases there first.

Once you’ve done that, invest in a separate YouTube Shorts channel. Make sure there’s cross-promotion between your main channel and the channel you use for short, punchy videos. When you create a Short that gets featured on the Stories and Short videos shelf, there’s a chance viewers will visit your Shorts channel. If you've set up a featured channels section beforehand, your main channel will be advertised there.

For now, that’s all you can do. Use your main channel for primary monetization, then harness the exposure from YouTube Shorts to grow both channels organically.


Not all content on YouTube will help you quickly monetize your channel, YouTube Shorts especially. To win at monetization, here's what you need to know about Watch Time hours and how they're recorded.

How To Win at YouTube Monetization

Dan, our executive producer at vidIQ, has achieved something every creator dreams of. After posting a video to YouTube’s platform of 2 billion monthly viewers, he's gained 852,000 views in just a few weeks.

That magical video is titled, “How to Make a Map in Minecraft 1.16.3," and it’s one of his shortest videos at only 58 brief seconds:

Dan’s video - and any vertical video less than 60 seconds - is what YouTube is now calling YouTube Shorts. The platform has been testing this content in the 

, a new display area for discovering short-form content. In it, viewers can cycle through random videos - kind of like TikTok’s never-ending loop of content.

We’ve talked about YouTube Shorts a lot on 

 to help creators understand what Shorts are and how they behave. If you need more information about short-form content on YouTube, use those two resources to get caught up!

As for Dan’s 852,000 YouTube Shorts views, just keep reading. There’s a strategy behind his success, and it’s repeatable for both newer and established creators.

How Long Does It Take For a YouTube Short to Get Views?

When Dan isn’t filming YouTube growth tutorials for vidIQ, he posts gaming videos on his own channel, 

. But as a gamer, he wasn’t sure how YouTube Shorts would complement his channel's strategy. Gaming videos are usually much longer than 60 seconds, so he decided to post a couple of Shorts and wait for the results.

Within 48 hours of posting his first Short, Dan's video was featured on the YouTube Shorts shelf. It quickly gained tons of views, and then suddenly, people stopped watching the video.

Meanwhile, his second Short was stagnant with minimal views, no discovery placement, and no circulation on YouTube. To his credit, there were 337 views, but those came from people finding his video through YouTube’s browse features or loyal subscribers watching his content. He welcomed those views, but Dan was aiming for the YouTube Shorts shelf specifically.

About four weeks went by, and then it finally happened - the views on Dan’s second YouTube Short began to skyrocket. The process was fascinating to watch because the ascent wasn’t steady. On some days, the video earned anywhere between 50 and 100,000 views in just 24 hours. And right now, it's the most-watched video on his gaming channel.

Of course, that’s the same video we’re so intrigued by right now: “How to Make a Map in Minecraft 1.16.3.” It has more than three-quarters of a million views and has earned Dan more than 5,000 new subscribers.

To hear the details of this feat, watch our latest video about how Dan got featured on the YouTube Shorts shelf:

Now that we’ve witnessed the power of YouTube Shorts, only two questions remain: How did Dan’s short video attract hundreds of thousands of views, and what can creators learn from his experience?

How to Get More Views on Your Next YouTube Short

If you know anything about Minecraft, you know that creating a map is a beginner-level task in the game. But to get on the YouTube Shorts shelf, that’s exactly the kind of topic Dan was looking for - a teachable moment.

Prior to creating his first Short, Dan did some keyword research on YouTube and learned that new players were curious about how Minecraft maps work. With such powerful intel, he decided to make a video answering that one, specific question.

Whether you're trying to rank on YouTube’s search pages or get featured on the Shorts shelf, doing these two things will help you succeed faster:

 Shorts still appear on the regular side of YouTube, so Dan took the time to create a proper thumbnail, write a video description, and plug in some tags - all for the benefit of anyone watching his video outside of the Shorts shelf.

Don’t overlook a video's ‘weaker’ traffic sources.

 Even with Dan getting 750,000 views on a Short, percentages from ‘lesser’ traffic sources represented thousands of quality views.

So what does this mean for you and your channel? Well, for one thing, it tells us YouTube Shorts aren't just for people who dance in front of their phones. Gaming channels can benefit too.

Our Best Tips For Creating YouTube Shorts

Out of everything Dan learned from his viral moment, here are his best tips for creating popular, attention-grabbing Shorts.

To create a Short, simply record a video as you normally would, in a widescreen format. When you’re editing the video, you can adjust the aspect ratio and chop off the left and right sides of the frame.

Shorts should quickly add value to a viewer’s day. Try to teach people something new, and have a strong hook from the beginning. If you can make viewers laugh, that’s even better. Humor should boost your video’s retention rate, and that lets YouTube know your content is worth sharing.

Finally, have some patience. Shorts can take 24 hours or even a month to start getting thousands of views on YouTube.

Dan’s latest Shorts are doing OK, but who knows how they’ll perform in the next 20-30 days? 

No matter what kind of YouTube channel you have, add some Shorts to your strategy so you can potentially, 

Since YouTube Shorts were announced, we've wondered whether creators could get nearly 1 million views from a 60-second video. Now that we've seen it happen, here's what you should do to reach that milestone.


How This Creator Got 852K Views in 58 Seconds From YouTube Shorts

If you’ve been following our blogs and videos about 

, you may have noticed they have some distinct benefits and limitations. For weeks now, we’ve marveled at the extra views any creator can get from simply posting a YouTube Short. And at the same time, we’ve bemoaned the lack of analytics for this feature because that’s what helps creators excel on YouTube.

Now that YouTube is going all-in with short-form content, more information is being shared with creators. Now, you can go to the YouTube Studio and access the one thing we’ve wanted to see all along, which are analytics for YouTube Shorts. 

We were so excited to see this, we filmed a brief tutorial on how to get there in the YouTube Studio:

Without these analytics, we can't answer important questions. 

For instance, Shorts are vertical videos of less than 60 seconds, and we’ve always wondered how such a short viewing duration affects a channel’s 

, and if so, what that process looks like. These questions had no conclusive answers for a long time, but now we have some information to share.

To learn everything we know, such as where to access YouTube Shorts analytics, and how monetization works for the new content type, read our guide below.

On YouTube, there are three ways to view Shorts analytics. Two of those methods are for desktop viewing and one is for viewing on mobile. To see analytics on either device, here’s what you need to do.

Method 1: Viewing Individual Video Stats on Desktop

While on desktop, go to the YouTube Studio.

Hover your mouse over any video, and some menu options will appear. You’ll want to click the analytics button, which looks like a tiny bar graph.

On the right side of the page, you’ll find real-time stats for views coming from YouTube Shorts, as shown below:

Method 2: Viewing Channel Stats on Desktop 

Next, you’ll see a section showing views, Watch Time, subscriber count, and estimated revenue for your channel. Scroll directly below this section and click ‘

Go to the filter tabs at the top of the page and click ‘

’. This action divides the views on your channel by all the different ways people can watch your content, which now includes YouTube Shorts. Take a look below:

Open the YouTube Studio app and click ‘

’ tab at the top of the page and you’ll see a list of traffic sources for your views, including those from YouTube Shorts.

YouTube Shorts Views: Can They Be Monetized?

Now that creators can access YouTube Shorts analytics, where these views are coming from is no longer a secret. But having more information leads to more questions, such as, “Is it possible to monetize YouTube Shorts?”

Basically, views that come from the YouTube Shorts traffic source aren’t monetized.

Because of that, these views don't contribute to the 4,000 hours of Watch Time you’d need to 

However, if someone watches a YouTube Short as a regular video on the app - meaning it wasn’t watched on the 

 or another display area - that video can earn some revenue and boost a channel's Watch Time.

For example, let's say you’re watching a video but something interests you on the Stories and Short Videos shelf. If you watch that video, the creator earns one view from the traffic source of ‘YouTube Shorts’. They don't earn any advertising revenue or extra Watch Time.

On the other hand, if you watch that same video on a channel page so it plays like a regular video, the Short earns one view and can 

 get advertising revenue. And any Watch Time it collects goes toward the 4,000 hours a creator needs for monetization.

YouTube Shorts, their analytics, and how everything gets monetized is kind of confusing right now. If you have a channel dedicated to YouTube Shorts, things get even muddier.

 channel to upload and test the performance of our own YouTube Shorts. We're up to 977 subscribers, and each video is vertical and less than 60 seconds long. Although many views on this channel come from the YouTube Shorts traffic source, more than half come from other traffic sources. And as we mentioned before, views from the YouTube Shorts traffic source aren’t monetized.

That means views from the traffic sources below, and the Watch Time they earn, count toward monetizing the vidIQ Shorts channel:

But here’s the weird part. When you look at the total Watch Time for our Shorts channel (158.5) versus the Watch Time hours that have been recorded for monetization (71), something is obviously wonky. Theoretically, if more views are coming from non-YouTube Shorts traffic sources, we should have than 71 hours of Watch Time recorded for monetization.

Two Metrics Are Still Missing From YouTube Shorts Analytics

Speaking of metrics, we’d like to see more of them for YouTube Shorts, especially on desktop. We still have no idea how often YouTube shares our content on discovery shelves, so we need a metric showing that. It would also help to see how often people tap on a Short. Right now, we don’t know if people are going to our channel after watching a Short or skipping the video altogether.

Basically, we’d like to see impressions and click-through rates. That would help us determine which Shorts contain the blueprint for getting more views, at the very least. 

To compete with TikTok, YouTube will probably keep developing Shorts and all the data that come with them. We just hope future metrics help creators do what they desire 

which is getting more views, subscribers, Watch Time, and revenue on YouTube.

If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level and 

 then make sure to download vidIQ for more subscriber insights. Join over 1 million other users and use vidIQ to help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps to success. 

And if you’re really serious about growing your channel, sign up for exclusive access to the 

 and learn how to launch a successful YouTube Channel in just 30 days.

Want to know what percentage of your YouTube traffic comes from YouTube Shorts? Wonder no more. Here's a guide on how to find the analytics you're looking for.

YouTube Shorts Analytics: Why Every Creator Needs This Data

YouTube shorts are the new hot trending topic in the YouTube world. But what are they? 

YouTube has not been totally clear about how they work, so we decided to do our own investigation into YouTube Shorts.

On this episode of TubeTalk, vidIQ's own Rob Wilson, Dan Carson, and Liron Segev answer all your YouTube Shorts questions including:

What are the requirements for creating them?

Do you need to have #shorts in the title and description?

Should you put Shorts on your main channel

Want to Know Even More About YouTube Shorts?

How Creators Can Get More Views With YouTube Shorts

Can You Get 1 Million YouTube Views By Making Short Videos?

YouTube Shorts: What We Know About How They Work

TubeTalk has been informing video creators and marketers since 2014, and is one of the most respected and listened to podcasts in the online video industry. Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to TubeTalk on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode!

You can also find the complete list of all the

In this episode of TubeTalk, vidIQ does its own investigation into YouTube Shorts. You're welcome.

YouTube Shorts: The Ultimate Guide

At vidIQ, we get asked the same question from new creators all the time: 

How can I get more views and grow my channel? YouTube is so competitive!

You probably weren’t expecting this answer, but we’ve got to say it: 

YouTube Shorts may be the key to getting discovered on the platform.

If you’re unfamiliar with the new feature, it’s basically YouTube’s way of entering the short video universe. The platform has created an in-app Shorts camera, where creators can record and upload short, vertical videos.

You can access this feature right now if you live in India, as that’s where YouTube is testing the Shorts camera. For everyone else, posting a general YouTube Short requires three simple steps:

Record a vertical video under 60 seconds.

Add the hashtag #Shorts to your video’s description or title.

Plenty of YouTubers have already published these micro-videos, and we’ve noticed a 

. A common scenario is witnessing a previously stagnant video skyrocket to hundreds of views - a strong sign that YouTube is featuring it on the new 

. If you want to see what such a feat looks like, watch our latest video about YouTube Shorts:

Now that you have some background knowledge, it’s time to dig deeper. More views are what YouTube dreams are made of, so here’s how to get them with YouTube Shorts.

Small Channels Are Getting More Views With YouTube Shorts

As a creator, it’s important to boldly test new strategies on your channel. After all, you never know what positive discoveries you could make - whether that’s a gateway to more views, subscribers, or both.

 is a good example of this. A few weeks ago, this was just another small gaming channel struggling to gain traction with long-form videos. That partially ended when they decided to test YouTube's short video format and earned thousands of views in the process. The screenshot below shows a bunch of successful videos highlighted in red, plus the low-performing ones this channel was previously uploading.

Of course, this isn’t all good news for 

. Unfortunately, they tried posting another short video that didn't perform as well as the others. After that, the channel returned to posting long-form content with equally disappointing results, but hey - that comes with the territory of testing new features.

 was definitely getting more views from YouTube Shorts, if only for a brief moment.

 had a similar experience. This channel reached out to us on Twitter and said that after creating a new YouTube channel and uploading a short video, hundreds of views rolled in, as shown below.

If you've ever started a YouTube channel from scratch, you know how difficult it is to get a mere 100 views on your first video. We checked GamingDestiny’s main channel, and again, there was more evidence of short, vertical videos outperforming other content.

We received another success story from Adrienne Smith, who shared her YouTube Shorts experience in our Facebook group. Apparently, one of her Shorts with little to no traction suddenly gained more views on YouTube. You can read her testimonial below:

This is great news, but seriously: How often does that happen to anyone? Is it just another coincidence?

YouTube Shorts and YouTube Analytics: Is There a Connection?

We’re not prepared to say YouTube Shorts is the next big thing. The examples above only represent a small handful of channels, and they’re only getting hundreds of views - not thousands.

However, these channels have a few things in common:

They earned more views than expected from posting YouTube Shorts.

The surge in views all came from the same traffic source on YouTube: Direct or Unknown.

When you see such a high volume of direct or unknown views as a YouTube traffic source, it can be slightly alarming. But when three channels experience the same surge after testing YouTube Shorts, that's a pattern worth exploring.

We Still Have Questions About YouTube Shorts

YouTube hasn’t shared much information when it comes to Shorts. This lack of access can be frustrating for creators, and because of that, we’ve got lots of questions, such as:

How do you know when your content has appeared on YouTube as a Short?

Are you a smaller YouTuber looking for your first big break? If so, give YouTube Shorts a try. Some creators are getting thousands, of views from testing the feature.

YouTube Shorts