YouTube Doesn't Push Videos. It Pulls Them. Here's the Difference.
- Madison Kuhlman
- Jul 16
- 6 min read
You spend hours recording your podcast. You edit it, pick a title, design a thumbnail, hit publish — and it lands at 20 views. The instinct is to assume the algorithm is against you.
It isn't. And understanding why changes how you should think about every video you make from here on out.
We just got back from our fifth session listening to the person responsible for the YouTube algorithm speak at an industry conference. His message hasn't changed in five appearances, and it directly explains why so many podcasters — including us, on this brand-new channel — struggle to get traction early on.
Key Takeaways
YouTube doesn't have one algorithm handing your video to bigger and bigger audiences. It runs billions of individual recommendations, one per viewer, per moment.
The question YouTube asks isn't "is this video good?" It's "what is this specific person most likely to want right now?"
When a video underperforms, the more useful question isn't "why did the algorithm bury me?" It's "why didn't the audience choose me?"
Subscriber counts are not the guaranteed advantage most creators assume. YouTube says any video can win at any time.
YouTube pulls videos toward viewers based on fit — it doesn't push videos out to an audience regardless of fit. If your views are low, the platform hasn't decided you're the enemy. It's decided your content isn't yet the best match for the audience it's testing you against.
How Recommendations Actually Work
Most creators picture YouTube like a relay race: you upload a video, YouTube hands it to 100 people, and if they respond well, it gets passed to 100 more, and so on until you're in the millions. It's a tidy mental model. It's also wrong.
Every time a viewer opens the app, YouTube isn't asking whether your video is objectively good. It's asking a much narrower question: what is this exact person most likely to enjoy at this exact moment? That means there isn't one algorithm deciding your fate — there are billions of micro-decisions happening in parallel, each one specific to a single viewer's context.
Think about your own habits. A quick six-minute video over lunch. An hour-long documentary in bed at night. A three-hour conversational podcast on the living room TV. Same person, three completely different appetites depending on the moment. YouTube can't serve you the same way every time — because you don't want the same thing every time.
Replace "Algorithm" With "Audience"
If YouTube isn't punishing creators, why do videos still flop? Because it's rarely the platform — it's the execution. Maybe the title didn't create curiosity. Maybe the thumbnail didn't stop the scroll. Maybe people clicked and the video didn't deliver what it promised.
That's a harder thing to accept than "the algorithm is broken," because it means the outcome sits on you, not on a faceless system picking winners and losers.
Here's the reframe worth keeping: any time you're tempted to ask "why did the algorithm do this to me," replace the word "algorithm" with "audience." Instead of "why didn't the algorithm recommend me," ask "why didn't the audience choose me?" That question actually leads somewhere useful.
We're living this in real time with this very channel. We know the podcasting business inside and out — but knowing the subject and connecting with a new audience are two different skills. When you're the expert, it's easy to forget what used to be hard for you, and that gap is exactly where audience connection breaks down. Every new podcaster reading this is likely making the same mistake with their own show: blaming the algorithm for something that's actually a content-audience mismatch.
Do Subscribers Really Matter?
The claim that surprised us most: subscriber count doesn't matter to recommendations. Managing a large volume of channel accounts, this is hard to fully square — we've watched low-subscriber videos take off out of nowhere, but it's tough to believe YouTube ignores prior performance entirely. YouTube's whole business model depends on keeping people on the platform, so it would be surprising if past viewing behavior played zero role in what gets served next.
The Netflix comparison is useful here: if you've been on an Arnold Schwarzenegger streak, Netflix probably won't gamble a rom-com in front of you next. It's more likely to serve another action movie in that same lane.
That said, the official position from YouTube is that at any given moment, any video can be the "winner" — meaning no video is disqualified from being recommended just because the channel is small or new.
YouTube Pulls Videos to Viewers
This is the core distinction worth building your strategy around: YouTube doesn't push your video out to people. It pulls videos toward the viewer it thinks is the best match at that moment.
If you're stuck in low-view-count territory, the likely explanation isn't a hostile algorithm — it's that your content is a "risky" pull for the audience YouTube is testing it against, or it isn't yet built around what that audience actually wants. That's true for us right now, building this channel from scratch, and it's true for most new podcasters trying to break through.
A Practical Checklist for Underperforming Videos
Next time a video underperforms, don't ask "how do I beat the algorithm." Ask "how do I build something the audience actually wants." Run it through these questions:
Did the title create real curiosity?
Did the thumbnail stop the scroll?
Did the title and thumbnail together communicate a clear promise?
Did the first 30 seconds deliver on that promise and hook the viewer in?
Did the video solve a real problem for the person watching?
Would you click this video if it weren't your own?
If you're in "low-click jail," it doesn't mean YouTube has it out for you. It means you're still learning your audience — and that's especially common for subject-matter experts, who tend to operate at "shoulder level" when their audience is standing at "heel level," still new to the topic and needing the basics explained first.
Have a Podcast Growth Question?
Drop it in the comments. We're building this show around exactly these kinds of questions — the same content strategy conversations we have with clients recording at AZ Pod Studio and Backlot Studios in Phoenix.
Q&A
Does the YouTube algorithm punish new or small channels? No. According to YouTube's own team, any video can be the "winner" at any given moment, regardless of channel size or subscriber count. Low views usually point to a content-audience mismatch, not a platform penalty.
How does the YouTube algorithm actually decide what to recommend? It doesn't run one algorithm for everyone. Every time a viewer opens the app, YouTube runs an individual recommendation asking what that specific person is most likely to want to watch at that specific moment — not whether a given video is objectively "good."
Do subscribers matter for YouTube recommendations? YouTube's official stance is that subscribers don't determine recommendations. In practice, many creators find this hard to square with cases where past-performing content seems to influence what gets served next, similar to how Netflix leans into your recent viewing patterns. The safest takeaway: subscribers help, but they aren't a guarantee, and a low subscriber count doesn't lock you out of being recommended.
Why does YouTube "pull" videos instead of "push" them? Pushing implies YouTube forces your video onto viewers regardless of fit. Pulling means YouTube matches viewers to the video it believes best fits their current mood, context, and viewing history. If your video isn't being pulled toward viewers, the fix is usually in the content and packaging, not in fighting the platform.
What should I check first if my podcast episode gets low views? Start with the title and thumbnail — do they create curiosity and stop the scroll? Then check the first 30 seconds of the video itself: does it deliver on what the title and thumbnail promised? Finally, ask honestly whether the video solves a real problem for your target viewer.
Is it my fault if a video underperforms, or is it really the algorithm? Reframe the question. Instead of "why didn't the algorithm recommend me," ask "why didn't the audience choose me?" That shift points you toward fixable things — title, thumbnail, hook, and content-audience fit — rather than a system you can't control.
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