Popular video-sharing platform YouTube is experiencing a significant drop in Visibility on Google News. This report was confirmed recently by an editor of Wall Street Journal, Will Flannigan.
He published an entire chart that displayed the significant decline in visibility seen by the app on Google News. And that meant videos on the platform and corresponding aren’t as visible or frequent as they once were.
Chart: Will Flannigan /X
The major fall in visibility reportedly began during the start of December as shown by the chart published across the X app. He mentioned how it was puzzling to see these figures on Google News as it’s a huge drop worth consideration that has been taking place over the past several weeks.
Google is the owner of the platform and it’s known for doing great on Search but this is a definite eye-opener. Fans aren’t going to love the news either because, at the end of the day, YouTube is a very prominent and popular platform on Google.
The decline is said to have begun during the second week of December 2023 and with the app being a powerhouse in the world of online videos, it’s striking for analysts to report this. To be more specific, the figures fell from 9.7% to 1.5% in just a span of a few weeks.
Now the question is what the reason could be or what kind of justification might explain the findings. Each day, the app is flooded with millions of subscribers who mostly use YouTube for entertainment and knowledge basis.
Google News combines news content with videos taken from different sources and it provides users with a complex view of events taking place in real time. So when you combine YouTube with Google News, you get video content aligned against traditional news stories.
For now, the exact reason behind this is unclear but a few factors might contribute to the findings seen. For instance, the Android maker’s algorithm may have gone through some changes that impacted YouTube’s visibility. In case you didn’t know, Google does tend to update to enhance results seen and also to optimize user experience. But the impact can be severe. This includes a change in viewership.
Meanwhile, another factor worth mentioning for such findings could be related to a decline in the quality and relevance of the display information. The aim is to give users more reliable and updated data. Therefore, if YouTube’s content is less relevant or of poor quality when compared to other sources in use, they’re given less significance and hence won’t be displayed as frequently on the app. Overall, this impacts viewership for the app on Google News.
With limited visibility on Google News, the changes might not only impact the app but also affect its users. Some possible consequences of the act could be related to decreased reach and fewer chances to explore and discover relevant content that users might be in search of. Therefore, creators wouldn’t reach target audiences and hence that could impact their chances of growth and revenue, especially when they’re new and trying to aspire to become something big.
Let’s not forget how the app is also a major source for getting news. So many media outlets are making use of YouTube to share content and raise awareness of events taking place as we speak. Therefore, if visibility keeps on dropping, it might affect access to news and prevent people’s voices from being heard.
Some experts have also laid down steps that YouTube might take next to enhance visibility or at least build it back up to what it was before. For instance, it can optimize Metadata, and focus on factors like producing relevant quality content. Also, it could create partnerships with other media outlets for online video promotions on Google News.
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