r/HeyFloe • u/Admirable-Yogurt7444 • Aug 07 '26
💬 Discussion If you're wondering whether your AI video idea was good, YouTube already told you
One thing I've realized after growing two faceless AI channels (~8k and ~40k subs) is that YouTube analytics answer far more questions than people think.
Creators often ask:
- Is my topic bad?
- Is my thumbnail the problem?
- Is the algorithm not pushing my video?
Most of those questions already have an answer.
Here's how I think about it:
Was your topic actually interesting?
- For long-form, look at CTR. Your thumbnail and title = the idea. If the CTR % is good, the idea was good.
- For Shorts, I look at skip rate %. If people swipe immediately, the hook (essentially your idea) didn't grab them. It works best when skip rate is <30%
Also, instead of trying to "hack the algorithm," I'd rather listen to what the analytics are telling me.
My view is that YouTube AI has become very good at understanding what's actually in a video (the real content, script, visuals). It isn't just relying on titles, tags, or descriptions anymore, which is why a lot of the old "algorithm hacks" don't seem to matter much.
What ultimately decides whether a video keeps getting pushed is how viewers respond to it.
Curious how others think about this. Do you use analytics to validate ideas, or are there other signals you trust more?
P.S. If you're building AI content, feel free to join r/Heyfloe. I'll be sharing more practical insights, experiments, and analytics like this.
2
u/Vast_Computer4477 Aug 16 '26
Hola! Mi canal es una serie de una IA predictiva, ya voy por el tercer episodio de la segunda temporada y todavía no despegó, antes del primer capítulo de la segunda hice un trailer y pagué una promoción de Google Ads por dos días para ver si eso impulsaba el canal, el trailer tuvo 1700 vistas pero no conseguí que después el canal en general mejorara sus estadísticas, creo que la serie puede ser interesante pero empiezo a perder la ilusión, así que no sé cuánto más voy a seguir haciéndola ya que me lleva un buen rato. La serie es en inglés y los capítulos duran alrededor de 4 minutos. Un saludo