Published about 8 hours ago • 3 min read • YouTube Updates, Creator Business
Hey Creators,
Today I want to breakdown for you with an infographic the current state of YouTube in 2026 and give you the highlights on YouTube Growth. The Old YouTube is Dead... and it's not coming back.
OG Creators who are famous get to cling to it, but copying them isn't going to grow working class and solo creators in 2026. The harsh truth is you have to optimize for what works today... longer long form videos, multiple shorts uploads per day if you want that extra audience, and live streams that can pull donations and watch time.
WATCH MY INTERVIEW WITH SEAN CANNELL OF THINK MEDIA ON WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS ON YOUTUBE IN 2026
According to CEO of YouTube Neil Mohan, for long-form videos 50% of U.S. watch time is coming from Smart TV's... this is something almost nobody is talking about right now.
If you want views on long-form videos, consider building your video strategy less around individual video ideas, and start building binge-worthy series that also are made to be "watch time traps" that are 16 minutes or longer or closer to a television format of over 22 minutes.
30% of Daily Logged in YouTube Viewers are watching LIVE content on YouTube according the CEO of YouTube. This is a number we never had access to before that they are sharing. And now YouTube lets you combine vertical and horizontal streaming with a combined chat and analytics. Live Stream viewers are loyalty viewers, and one donation from just one viewer is worth 1000 to 10,000 views of Ad Revenue.
YouTube Shorts Get 200B Views Per Day. That's right, 200 Billion Views, Per Day! You don't have to post them, but you are invisible to that audience and an entire traffic source if you don't make short-form content. Short-form has lower RPMs but is 5x to 10x easier to make and can get 10x to 100x of the views per upload, don't judge one Short against one Long. Posting more Shorts can equal or exceed long form earnings for far less effort, especially if you clip your Live Streams with tools like Opus Clip.
Short-form, Live Streams, Podcasts content are the preferred formats for mobile devices.​ Viewers on mobile want PASSIVE experiences or to be able to easily interact with content on their phone when on the go. Long-form is moving more and more away from mobile aside from content viewers can "watch with their ears" such as podcasts, ASMR or live streams. ​ Most viewers are complaining about not having enough videos to watch, not demanding higher and higher quality, where the average creator can't compete with an already established YouTuber with a team behind them. Quality over Quantity is NOT for solo content creators who work a full-time job. For those creators the answer is to make Evergreen content, not chase trends and not make their channel an art project... that can be hard to hear but its the harsh truth. Consistency of something Viewers actually Value, will beat every other approach for the MAJORITY of content creators in modern YouTube. ​ ​What worked for your favorite creators growing up, won't work for you now that its your turn.​ ​ To help you grow in 2026 I actually created my own YouTube Tool. I begged the main tools out there for the features and nobody would build them, so I built the YouTube Tool I've always wanted to solve problems nobody else was tackling. ​https://creatorscorecards.com​ ​
This is the ultimate tool for competitor research and seeing where you channel stands and auditing what actions you need to take to grow your channel, graded across over 10 metrics. ​ USE CODE: EARLYBIRD9 to get 50% off forever of a Pro Account USE CODE: EARLYBIRDELITE to get 50% off forever of an Elite Account
Infographic from Roberto Blake on Reality of YouTube in 2026
​ ​ If You Enjoyed My Newsletter You'll Love This One!
Creator Scale
by Caleb Wojcik
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