Recent YouTube Channel Observations

While I post content relatively on a regular basis, I honestly do not pay much attention to my YouTube channel analytics. I was looking at my the statistics the other evening and I noticed that the most viewed videos over the past month include those from years back.

I looked into the second video on the list, Range VLOG episode 48 from 2017, and it has nearly 68K views as I write this which outperforms most of my Range VLOG episodes. Looking into the fourth video (Range VLOG episode 156) and that one from last month is performing better than most of my Range VLOG episodes after being out for less than a month. The Vortex Optics Razor HD Gen II Turrets video has over 60K views for a short demonstration of the Vortex L-Tec turrets.

Looking at the Range VLOG episodes above, specifically videos 2 and 4 on the list, it appears that the specific reason those are higher than expected view count volume is because they feature budget scopes: Vortex Optics Viper PST Gen 2 5-25x50mm FFP EBR-2C MRAD and Vortex Diamondback Tactical 6-24x50mm FFP EBR-2C MRAD.

This segment is highly populated in terms of interest as this sub-$1K budget range tends to get the most consumers.

A person that is very focused on increasing viewer count would take this information and spend more time making videos that include sub-$1K Vortex Optics scopes and other scopes (e.g., Athlon) in the same budget range.

But that is not the way I operate my channel. While I will find a practical reason to buy a budget scope such as the Vortex Optics Diamondback Tactical and will do so, YouTube views are not in the equation. If a product is somehow included in my Range VLOGs or another video on my channel, it is because there was a legitimate reason that product came into my hands.

Anyway, while it is nice to see people organically coming across my Range VLOGs and other videos while seeking information, it is somewhat sad to see how the views on videos covering higher end optics (e.g., Kahles, ZCO) show how niche the top tier optic segment can be in the shooting community.