After achieving YouTube monetization, I thought things
would finally become easier. I expected views to increase, revenue to grow, and my channel to keep expanding automatically. But instead, the opposite happened. My channel slowly began to decline, growth stalled, and my long videos stopped getting views entirely.
When I returned to uploading, I fell into the trap of relying only on YouTube Shorts because they were easier and brought quick views. The problem? Those views were not valuable, and the audience I attracted didn’t care about long videos—the main source of revenue.
This article shares my real experience and explains why my channel stopped growing after monetization, what caused the decline, and how creators can avoid repeating the same mistake.
1. Monetization is the beginning, not the finish line
Many creators believe that once monetization is activated, YouTube will start promoting their channel automatically. But monetization actually triggers a stricter layer of algorithmic evaluation. YouTube begins focusing on:
- Viewer retention
- Content type
- Watch time quality
- Audience consistency
This is where Shorts failed me.
Shorts gave me views, but not quality watch time, and not a loyal audience.
Because of this:
- My channel’s overall performance dropped
- The algorithm deprioritized my long videos
- My recommendations and impressions declined
This is why many creators think their channels “die” after monetization—it’s not monetization. It’s the quality of the audience they built before and after it.
2. Ignoring long-form viewers was my biggest mistake )
When I returned to uploading, I completely ignored my long-form audience and focused only on Shorts.
Shorts brought an audience, yes—but not the audience I needed:
- People who watch 10 seconds only
- People who scroll fast
- People who never click long videos
So when I uploaded long videos again:
- Views dropped to nearly zero
- Videos didn’t appear in recommendations
- Even subscribers didn’t see the uploads
This happened because YouTube’s algorithm connected my channel with fast-scrolling short-form viewers.
A great explanation of this can be found here:
https://backlinko.com/youtube-algorithm
3. Why revenue dropped despite good Shorts views
Shorts views do not generate meaningful revenue. The Shorts fund and ads on short content are very limited. The real money comes from:
- Long watch time
- Mid-roll ads
- Returning viewers
Since I ignored long videos, I lost all of these benefits.
This is why creators who rely only on Shorts see:
- High views
- Low revenue
- Weak channel stability
Shorts alone cannot sustain a monetized channel.
4. How I rebuilt my channel after this mistake
After I realized the problem, I created a clear recovery plan:
✔ 1. Balanced posting
I shifted to:
- 3 long videos weekly
- 1–2 Shorts only as support
✔ 2. Connecting Shorts to long videos
Every short teased or linked to a long-form video.
✔ 3. SEO optimization
I rebuilt my titles, descriptions, and thumbnails with a long-form strategy.
✔ 4. Training the algorithm again
Consistency helped YouTube understand that my channel produces valuable long videos.
✔ 5. Using Analytics properly
YouTube Analytics helped me track what type of viewers were coming and what content they preferred.
Useful reference:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9002587
Conclusion )
The decline of my channel after monetization was not bad luck—it was a result of relying too heavily on Shorts and ignoring the audience that actually supports long-form content.
Once I rebuilt my strategy, balanced my uploads, and retrained the algorithm, things began to improve again. Revenue slowly increased, long-form videos regained visibility, and the channel became stable once more.
If you’ve reached monetization or are close to it, learn from my mistake:
Shorts bring quick numbers, but long videos build real success.
