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YouTube Says This Video Has 683,183 Views, It Actually Has 312,584

2026-09-15 · letter vlog · John · 5:39 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Books & writing) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, self promotion, community lore, civic or action cta

In a three-part video, John says Hollywood, Ending is out in a week, argues that YouTube's new view counting has killed the old like-to-view ratio and inflated views without revenue or engagement, worries that algorithms make YouTube a lean-back medium rather than a co-creation, and says books too are co-created by readers.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Part one: Hollywood, Ending is out in a week; tour and signed pre-orders

  • ★★ John says that in one week Hollywood, Ending, his first novel in nine years, will be out and he will be touring the country. — 00:00:00 · Hollywood, Ending
  • ★★ John says the book's reviews so far have been exceptionally generous, which has slightly dulled his constant gnawing anxiety. — 00:00:00 · Hollywood, Ending
  • ★★ John points viewers who want to see him on tour or pre-order a signed copy of the book to the link in the doobly-doo. — 00:00:00 · Hollywood, Ending, doobly-doo

00:00:29 — Part two: the like-to-view ratio is dead, YouTube's new view counting, and the worry that algorithms turn YouTube from lean-forward co-creation into lean-back watching

  • ★★★ John says that on their channel, consistently over 20 years, one person liked a video for every 10 who watched it: the ratio he once made a video about. — 00:00:29 · YouTube, Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John says the ratio holds only if you don't ask people to like your video, which the brothers don't, because there are more interesting calls to action. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John says he could estimate a video's earnings by multiplying its likes by 30: ten viewers per like, and about $3 per thousand views. — 00:00:58 · YouTube
  • ★★ John says that over the last year or so the ratio started to change because fewer people like the videos they watch. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John gives reasons for fewer likes: watching on TVs or phones, perhaps feeling less like a participant than in the old days, and never being told to smash the like button. (hedged) — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ John says that in the last month YouTube, borrowing from Instagram and TikTok, began counting a view when anyone watches any frame, instead of after an unknown number of seconds. — 00:01:27 · YouTube, Instagram, TikTok
  • ★★ John says view counts across YouTube have skyrocketed in the last month; his most recent video received 1.2 million-ish views. — 00:01:56 · YouTube
  • ★★★ John says the analytics' engaged-views tab shows that video received about 380,000 views the old way, so about two-thirds of its views would not have counted a month ago. — 00:02:26 · YouTube
  • ★★ John says the extra views bring no more revenue or deep community engagement: most are 'trash views', as on Instagram and TikTok. — 00:02:26 · Instagram, TikTok
  • ★★ John says 1,000 views no longer means $3 in revenue; these days it means about 90 cents. — 00:02:26 · YouTube
  • ★ John admits it still feels good to be told over a million people watched your video, though fewer than 400,000 engaged with it meaningfully. (playful) — 00:02:55
  • ★★ John suspects that over time high view inflation, like high regular inflation, will not be particularly useful. (hedged) — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ John says he doesn't much care how YouTube calculates views, but cares very much whether YouTube is just something you watch or something you are also part of. — 00:02:55 · YouTube
  • ★★★ John worries that as YouTube, like other platforms, centres on personalized algorithms, watching becomes lean-back and people participate less, through likes, comments or art made in response. — 00:03:24 · YouTube, recommender system
  • ★★★ John says the brothers got into YouTube 20 years ago because, unlike television's lean-back watching, it was lean-forward, and he worries that is less and less the case. — 00:03:24 · YouTube
  • ★★★ John worries about what recommendation algorithms value: if only capturing attention, they feed viewers whatever they will watch, not what they will help co-create. — 00:03:53 · YouTube, recommender system, attention economy
  • ★★★ John says YouTube's interest has always been co-creation between creators and audience: Nerdfighteria would be far less interesting without Sneezing Isn't Normal, Pizzamas and TB Fighters, which came more from the community. — 00:03:53 · YouTube, Nerdfighteria, Pizzamas

00:04:22 — Part three: books as co-creation between text and reader; Kimmy's Discord for Hollywood, Ending readers; sign-off

  • ★★ John owns an artwork rendering the Hollywood sign as a YouTube sign; he once read it as the YouTubification of Hollywood, now worries it is the Hollywoodification of YouTube. — 00:04:22 · YouTube

    “now I worry it's about the Hollywoodification of YouTube”

  • ★★ John raises a toast to online video projects that still make you lean forward. — 00:04:22

  • ★★★ John says books are a co-creation of text and reader: writer and reader both bring their deepest selves, so the same book read at different times is different; the text doesn't change, you do. — 00:04:22
  • ★★ John says that over the last eight years he really tried to bring his deepest self to Hollywood, Ending, and is grateful to readers about to do the same. — 00:04:52 · Hollywood, Ending
  • ★★ John says he loves art enjoyed in community, and a nerdfighter named Kimmy has created a Discord server so readers of Hollywood, Ending can read it together on September 22. — 00:04:52 · Hollywood, Ending, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John points viewers to the link to the readers' Discord in the doobly-doo; the description says to join the Discord. — 00:05:21 · doobly-doo
  • ★ John thanks Hank for riding the algorithmic waves with him all these years, regardless of how many views they get. — 00:05:21 · Hank Green

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Hollywood, Ending · participatory culture · YouTube

Also: Projects: Pizzamas · TBFighters

Organizations: Discord · Instagram · TikTok

Terms: doobly-doo

Concepts: attention economy · inflation · reader-response criticism · recommender system · television

Places: Hollywood (“Hollywoodification of YouTube”) · Hollywood Sign

Only in the description or credits: Kimmy (nerdfighter, mentioned from 2026)

Also centred on participatory culture: Rocky Horror + Glee = ? · You Are Here

Replies to

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