Question 1

What is a good views-to-subscriber ratio on YouTube?

Accepted Answer

It depends heavily on channel size, which is why a single figure misleads. The ratio falls as a channel grows, because a subscriber from six years ago is not a viewer today and a large back catalogue of subscribers contains more dormant ones. A channel under 100,000 subscribers seeing around a tenth of them per upload is healthy; above a million, a fiftieth is normal. Compare yourself to channels your own size or the number tells you nothing.

Question 2

How can I tell if YouTube views are bought?

Accepted Answer

By the shape rather than the total. Bought traffic arrives in volume without the cheap signals real attention leaves behind, so the giveaway is a high view count sitting on a very low like rate — under 1% where a healthy music channel sits nearer 4%. Views alone cannot tell you; views measured against likes and comments can.

Question 3

Do Shorts count towards my channel's performance?

Accepted Answer

They behave as a separate product with entirely different view economics, so averaging them with your uploads produces a number that describes neither. This audit measures anything under sixty seconds apart from long-form. A large gap between the two is normal, and it only pays if the Shorts point at a release — reach that leads nowhere is rented for a day.

Question 4

Is the YouTube audit free, and does it need channel access?

Accepted Answer

It is free and reads public data only through the YouTube Data API. It never asks to connect your channel, cannot post or comment as you, and works on any public channel including one that is not yours. Paste the @handle or any video link.

Do your subscribers actually watch?