vidIQ Research, July 2026

YouTube First 10 Videos Study: Shorts vs Long-Form

This study looks at YouTube channels created between January and June 2025 that posted at least ten public videos of the same format, Shorts or long-form, within their first 90 days. Every channel in this cohort has a real first, fifth, and tenth upload to point to, so we tracked how each of those did, plus the best-performing upload among the first ten, 30 days after publishing. Two cohorts were built separately: 367,243 channels qualified on Shorts, 137,355 qualified on long-form (excluding live streams). 56,185 channels qualified for both, and 448,413 distinct channels qualified for at least one.

vidIQ Research/Updated July 30, 2026

367,243
Channels in the Shorts cohort
137,355
Channels in the long-form cohort, excluding live streams
56,185
Channels that qualified for both format cohorts

The finding

More Uploads = More Luck

For long-form, we see incremental growth as more content is posted: views go from 180 on the first upload to 211 on the fifth to 272 on the tenth, up 51% overall. But the bigger opportunity is that more uploads mean more chances at an outlier of over 1,000 views. The typical best long-form video hit 1,948 views, 10.8 times the first upload. Shorts work differently. There's no incremental growth, in fact a slight decline over time: 1,362 views on the first upload, 1,275 on the fifth, 1,344 on the tenth. But the same logic applies: more uploads mean more chances at an outlier of thousands of views. The typical best Short hit 8,832 views, 6.5 times the first upload. The takeaway is that volume buys you more tries at the one that breaks out.

Two-panel bar chart, each format on its own scale, comparing approximate median 30-day views by upload position. For Shorts, the first upload was about 1,362 views, the fifth was 1,275, the tenth was 1,344, and the best of the first 10 was 8,832, about 6.5 times the first upload. For long-form, excluding live streams, the figures were 180, 211, 272, and 1,948, about 10.8 times the first upload.
Approximate median views after 30 days, among channels that posted at least 10 same-format uploads in their first 90 days. Shorts and long-form are shown on separate scales and are not directly compared to each other. Long-form excludes live streams.
Upload positionShortsLong-form
First upload1,362180
Fifth upload1,275211
Tenth upload1,344272
Best among first 108,8321,948

Shorts channels reached 1,000 views far more often

Among channels that posted at least ten Shorts in their first 90 days, 86.5% had at least one of their first ten Shorts reach 1,000 views within 30 days. Among channels posting at least ten long-form videos, excluding live streams, 57.8% did. At the 10,000-view mark it was 48.0% for Shorts against 30.8% for long-form. Those figures describe a channel's single best video out of ten attempts, not a typical video. Looked at per video instead of per channel, only 56.6% of individual Shorts in this cohort reached 1,000 views, and just 20.9% reached 10,000. For long-form, 30.2% of individual videos reached 1,000 views and 10.0% reached 10,000. The gap between the best-of-10 rate and the per-video rate is the story: most of a channel's early uploads fall well short of its best one.

Grouped bar chart comparing the share of channels whose best upload among their first 10 same-format uploads reached 30-day view thresholds. For Shorts, 86.5% reached 1,000 views and 48.0% reached 10,000. For long-form, excluding live streams, 57.8% reached 1,000 views and 30.8% reached 10,000.
Share of each format cohort whose best result among the first 10 same-format uploads reached each threshold within 30 days. Long-form excludes live streams.
30-day view thresholdShortsLong-form
At least 1,000 views86.5%57.8%
At least 10,000 views48.0%30.8%

Related resources

Start a YouTube channel

Use the beginner guide for channel setup and practical next steps.

Plan your first 10 video ideas

Turn the study into a practical set of early video ideas to test.

Check a YouTube channel

Look up current public statistics for a specific YouTube channel.

What this does not prove

  • This is an observational study of a selected group of channels, not an experiment.
  • It does not show that choosing a format, or posting more videos, causes better results.
  • Channels chose their own format and their own schedule, so any difference between the two groups also reflects whatever else differs between the people who made those choices.
  • Channels that gave up before publishing ten same-format videos in their first 90 days are excluded entirely, which removes exactly the channels that stopped.
  • The long-form cohort excludes live streams.
  • Deleted, private, and unindexed videos are absent, so some early uploads are invisible to this analysis.
  • Channels can appear in both cohorts, so the two cohort sizes overlap and must not be added together.
  • Views are not subscribers, and none of this guarantees a result for any individual channel.

Methodology

  • Creation window: channels were created from January 1 through June 30, 2025.
  • Format cohorts: Shorts and long-form were analyzed separately, and the long-form cohort excludes live streams. A channel needed at least ten observed public uploads of that format within its first 90 days to enter the format's cohort.
  • Cohort sizes: 367,243 channels qualified for Shorts and 137,355 qualified for long-form, excluding live streams. The cohorts overlap: 56,185 channels qualified for both, and 448,413 distinct channels qualified for at least one. Cohort sizes must not be added together.
  • Upload ranking: each format's uploads were ordered separately by publish time. First, fifth, and tenth refer to those same-format positions. Best is the maximum 30-day view result among the first 10 same-format uploads.
  • View measure: results use observed views 30 days after publication. Views are not subscriber counts.
  • Selection limits: this is an observational, selected sample, not a random sample or a census. Channels with fewer than ten same-format uploads are excluded, which removes channels that stopped posting early. Deleted, private, and unindexed videos are absent.
  • Interpretation: medians are approximate percentile estimates that reduce the influence of unusually large results. Threshold rates describe each channel's best observed same-format upload among ten, not a typical upload; per-video rates are reported separately to show the gap between the two. Neither establishes cause or guarantees an individual result.

FAQs

There is no universal target. In this study, the typical first Short reached 1,362 views after 30 days, while the typical first long-form upload, excluding live streams, reached 180. Every channel here posted at least ten videos of that format in 90 days, so these figures describe channels that kept going, not a benchmark every new channel should expect to hit.
Among channels that posted at least ten Shorts in their first 90 days, 86.5% had their best result among the first ten Shorts reach 1,000 views within 30 days. Among channels posting at least ten long-form videos, excluding live streams, 57.8% did. Those numbers describe a channel's single best video out of ten attempts. Looked at per video instead, only 56.6% of individual Shorts and 30.2% of individual long-form videos reached 1,000 views.
Not consistently. For Shorts, the typical fifth upload was slightly lower than the first, 1,275 views against 1,362, about 6% lower. For long-form, excluding live streams, the fifth was slightly higher, 211 against 180, about 17% higher. The two move in opposite directions and both gaps are small, which is why this reads as no trend rather than improvement or decline.
Yes. A channel could qualify separately by publishing at least ten Shorts and at least ten long-form videos in its first 90 days. There were 56,185 channels that did both, which is why the two cohort sizes overlap and should not be added. In total, 448,413 distinct channels qualified for at least one.
Because early channel growth tends to be driven by one video catching on, not by steady average performance. The trade-off is that a best-of-10 figure describes a channel's luckiest early result, not what to expect from any single upload. That is also why the best-of-10 rates in this study look much higher than the per-video rates reported alongside them.
The study examined channels created from January through June 2025 in separate Shorts and long-form cohorts, with long-form excluding live streams. Each channel needed at least ten observed public uploads of the relevant format within 90 days. Uploads were ranked within format, then first, fifth, tenth, and best 30-day view results among the first ten were summarized, alongside per-video threshold rates. The study is observational and selected, not random, and does not guarantee individual outcomes.