Linus Tech Tips says recent video performance has dropped, with Linus Sebastian calling the channel “on the struggle bus lately” during the latest WAN Show.
Linus said some uploads are now seeing around 350,000 views in the first day to day and a half, a result he described as far below the channel’s usual benchmarks. He added that the live WAN Show itself was at “about three-quarters of what it would normally be.”
Sebastian said he reached out to YouTube about a “very dramatic shift” and noted that momentum in the first minutes after upload “basically makes or breaks a video.” He contrasted the last few weeks with performance “one month” ago, when uploads were regularly clearing 1.2 to 2 million views.
Alongside the slump, the team is reconsidering several channel practices, including YouTube memberships.
LTT says YouTube memberships clutter the channel and may be removed
Sebastian said YouTube memberships could be “killed” because members-only posts clutter the channel and may cost “valuable impressions” on public videos.
“There’s a lot of members-only content,” he said, adding that with a reduced upload schedule, it “is kind of annoying” and “like spam cluttering it up.”
If memberships are canceled, he said active payments would be refunded “prorated or in full,” and viewers would be directed to Floatplane for behind-the-scenes and early access content. “We’ll put up an announcement” before any change, he said.
He also questioned heavy use of YouTube’s title and thumbnail A/B testing, suggesting it could waste “precious early hours” on weaker variants if the team already has a likely “best hitter.” Co-host Luke agreed, saying a missed click early can be “so much higher of a blow” given how the platform prioritizes activity over subscriptions.
Short’s strategy was another focus. Sebastian said LTT had tested teaser, concurrent, and retrospective Shorts but found they “did not move the needle at all” for long-form.
Sebastian reiterated that audience response drives outcomes more than “the algorithm,” and said the team will keep reviewing packaging and content to better “delight” viewers. He floated teasing upcoming projects to boost immediate click-through, calling early engagement a “huge boost.”
