When consistency is the key to uniform experience, YouTube is making some changes in how it shows numbers.
Starting September 2, the popular video-streaming platform is phasing out exact counts for public-facing subscriber numbers on channels with more than 1,000 followers. YouTube is gradually rolling out this update across YouTube, and the public YouTube Data API Service.
According a YouTube team member on the site’s Community forum post:
"To create more consistency everywhere that we publicly display subscriber counts, starting in August 2019, we’ll begin showing the abbreviated subscriber number across all public YouTube surfaces. Third parties that use YouTube’s API Services will also access the same public facing counts you see on YouTube. Creators will still be able to see their exact number of subscribers in YouTube Studio."
"We’re gradually rolling out abbreviated public subscriber counts throughout September."
The update only affects channels with more than 1,000 subscribers, as YouTube is abbreviating their public-facing subscriber counts on a sliding scale. For those with less than 1,000 subscribers, nothing is changing as YouTube is still showing the exact (non-abbreviated) subscriber count to the public.
YouTube offered examples of how this update impacts viewers, explaining that channels with 12,345 subscribers would show a subscriber count of 12.3K, channels with 1,234,567 would show 1.23M, and channels with 123,456,789 subscribers would display a subscriber count of 123M.
"This addresses creator concerns about stress and well-being, specifically around tracking public subscriber counts in real-time, wrote YouTube. "We hope this helps all creators focus on telling their story, and experience less pressure about the numbers.”
And as explained, all content creators no matter how small or big can still see their exact subscriber numbers privately in YouTube Studio and YouTube analytics.
YouTube's subscriber count has long been a way for channels to get endorsements and partnership.
For creators, the change would mean that others won't get an accurate sense of their popularity on the platform. This may affect in how they can connect with brands.
Influencers with 123,456,789 subscribers, for example, getting the number abbreviated to just '123M' means that they are missing 456,789 subscribers. Subtracting that many subscribers from a channel’s total subscriber number leaves a lot of people - and progress for the channel - unaccounted for.
As a result, this may impact their credibility.
But for channels with lesser number of followers, this may not affect them by much.
And as for brands, they have to rely on the channel owners for exact subscriber counts. Asking for screenshots of their official numbers from the YouTube Studio or the YouTube Data Analytics can help. But if brands aren't willing to contact the channel owners personally, they may miss potential influencers as their partners.
So here, the change can affect YouTube's economy of its users.
"While we know not everyone will agree with this update, we hope it’s a positive step for the community, both those viewing and creating content," closed YouTube.