Index

YouTube Brain

A source-cited operating layer for everything YouTube: creator growth and strategy, the developer API, and paid advertising. Every claim traces to an official or primary source with a date.

Unofficial community project. Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by YouTube or Google.

The three pillars

• Creator growth and strategy — the Recommendation System, subscriptions, retention, Packaging, Shorts, and monetization. Start at YouTube Brain Home.
• Developer API — build tools on the Data, Analytics, Reporting, and Live Streaming APIs. Start at API Overview and Auth and respect the API Quota System.
• Advertising — run paid campaigns through Google Ads. Start at Ad Campaign Types and Ad Formats.

What it produces

• A channel health scorecard from a Channel Health Audit on a Studio export.
• A Monthly Optimization Roadmap of prioritized experiments.
• Packaging, monetization, and risk audits, each tied to a current source.

Set it up in five minutes

Open this folder as an Obsidian vault and start at YouTube Brain Home, or install the agent layer:

python -m pip install -e .
youtube-brain demo
youtube-brain report --vault examples/sample-vault --html-only

Then audit a real channel from a Studio export and get the next action:

youtube-brain new acme --client-name "Acme Co" --owner "You"
youtube-brain report --vault ~/youtube-brain-vaults/acme --html-only
youtube-brain next --vault ~/youtube-brain-vaults/acme

Keep every claim current with Source Intake and Refresh.

Full catalog

Read overview for scope and YouTube Brain Home for a guided tour. Every claim traces to research-pack-2026-06-23 and references/source-ledger.json.

Concepts: Discovery

• Recommendation System: automated word of mouth, satisfaction over raw watch time, eight signals.
• Discovery Surfaces: Home, Suggested, Search, and the Shorts feed as separate models.
• Hype: discovery boost weighted toward channels under 500,000 subscribers.
• Subscriptions and Subscribers: the bell, notification delivery, and why the count is not reach.

Concepts: Retention

• Watch Time and AVD: watch time, average view duration, and average percentage viewed.
• Audience Retention: the retention graph, key moments, and the first 60 seconds.

Concepts: Packaging and SEO

• Click-Through Rate: the 2 to 10 percent band and why falling CTR can be success.
• Packaging: the title and thumbnail unit at the top of the funnel.
• Thumbnails: the strongest CTR driver and how to design one.
• Titles: front loading, curiosity versus clarity, and search matching.
• Video SEO and Metadata: descriptions, chapters, tags, and hashtags.

Concepts: Formats

• Shorts: the short form feed, the 3 minute length, and the 2025 view count change.
• Shorts Monetization: the 45 percent pooled model and the RPM gap.
• Live Streaming and Premieres: real-time formats, Super Chat, and Premiere mechanics.
• Podcasts on YouTube: podcasts as playlists, RSS ingestion, and YouTube Music distribution.
• Courses and Playables: structured learning products and in-app games.

Concepts: Monetization

• YouTube Partner Program: the two tiers and their thresholds.
• RPM and CPM: the two revenue metrics and RPM by niche.
• Revenue Streams: ads, fan funding, Shopping, and Premium.
• Mid-Roll Ads: the 8 minute threshold and the 2025 hybrid update.
• Advertiser-Friendly Guidelines: the green, yellow, and red icons and self-certification.
• Channel Memberships: recurring monthly support, tiers, perks, and the 70 percent split.
• Supers and Gifted Memberships: Super Thanks, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and gifting.
• YouTube Shopping and Product Tagging: affiliate versus own store and product tagging.

Concepts: Policy and risk

• Copyright Content ID and Strikes: claims versus strikes, and channel-ending risk.
• Community Guidelines Strikes: the graduated penalty model.
• Made for Kids and COPPA: the audience setting and disabled features.

Concepts: Operations and analytics

• Studio Analytics: the tabs, traffic sources, and the funnel as a diagnostic.
• Audience Overlap: what else your viewers watch, and how to use it.
• Publishing Cadence: consistency, sustainability, and the frequency data.
• Community and Engagement: posts, Communities, live, and memberships.
• End Screens and Cards: the on-video tools for session continuation.
• Playlists and Series: a traffic source and a session-time engine.
• Channel Page and Branding: the conversion surface, trailer, and specs.
• Captions Localization and Dubbing: accessibility, translated metadata, auto-dubbing.
• Niche Selection and Positioning: the highest-leverage growth and revenue decision.
• Ideation and Inspiration: the Studio Inspiration tab and demand validation.
• Brand Account and Channel Permissions: ownership, roles, and safely sharing a channel.
• Handles and Channel Identity: the @handle, channel URLs, and mentions.

Patterns

• Packaging-First Workflow: design the title and thumbnail before filming.
• Hook in the First 30 Seconds: win the opening or lose the video.
• Title-Thumbnail A-B Test Loop: let Test and Compare decide on watch time share.
• Shorts-to-Long-Form Funnel: Shorts for reach, long form for revenue.
• Diversify Revenue Streams: do not depend on ads alone.
• Collaborations and Cross-Promotion: borrow a compatible audience to grow.

Antipatterns

• Misleading Clickbait: a promise the video does not keep.
• Bought Engagement and Sub4Sub: hollow numbers the system discounts.
• Chasing Views Over Satisfaction: optimizing the vanity number, not the viewer.
• Inauthentic Mass-Produced Content: templated low value output that risks monetization.

Flows

• Channel Health Audit: read the funnel, localize the weakest link.
• Monthly Optimization Roadmap: turn the audit into a small set of experiments.
• Source Intake and Refresh: keep every claim dated and current.

Developer API

• API Overview and Auth: Data API v3, API key vs OAuth, scopes, the token flow.
• API Resources and Methods: search, videos, channels, playlists, comments, captions.
• API Quota System: the 10,000 units/day model and per-call costs.
• Analytics and Reporting API: targeted queries vs bulk daily reports.
• Subscriptions and Members API: the subscriptions resource and the creator-only members surface.
• Push Notifications and WebSub: real-time upload pushes instead of polling.
• API Policies and Limits: Terms of Service, data-handling rules, the compliance audit.

Advertising

• Ad Formats: in-stream, bumper, in-feed, Shorts, Masthead.
• Ad Campaign Types: Demand Gen, video reach, video views, and the VAC migration.
• Ad Bidding and Budget: CPV vs CPM vs conversion bidding.
• Ad Targeting: audience segments, restricted categories, EU consent.
• Ad Measurement: paid vs earned vs view-through, Brand Lift.
• Connected TV and Shorts Ads: CTV as the growth surface, shoppable carousels.
• Brand Suitability and Inventory Controls: inventory modes and content and placement exclusions.
• Masthead and Reservation Buying: the premium Home-feed reach format and reservation buys.

Sources

• research-pack-2026-06-23: dated citations across all pillars.
• references/source-ledger.json: structured, dated sources.
• .raw/research/: raw research captures.