[OC] YouTube Creator Lifespan: tracking ~100K channels over 7 years (2019–2026) Visualization

What This Visualization Shows

This data visualization displays "[OC] YouTube Creator Lifespan: tracking ~100K channels over 7 years (2019–2026)" and provides a clear visual representation of the underlying data patterns and trends. The visualization focuses on **Methodology**

I started with a dataset of \~100K (97,601) independent YouTube channels from 2019, then pulled refreshed data on each one via the YouTube Data API in 2026 to measure what had changed. Channels were grouped by their 2019 subscriber count into four size tiers: Nano (10K–50K), Micro (50K–200K), Mid (200K–1M), and Macro+ (1M+).

Each channel was then classified into one of six outcomes:

* **Breakout:** still actively posting, subscribers at least doubled since 2019 (≥2×) * **Growing**: still actively posting, subscribers up 20–100% since 2019 * **Stalling**: still actively posting, subscribers less than 20% higher than 2019 * **Fading**: still posting, but averaging fewer than 2,500 views per video across their last 5 uploads, the algorithm has effectively stopped recommending them * **Dormant**: no upload in 180+ days * **Gone**: channel deleted, no videos present, or inaccessible via the API

**Data source:** YouTube Data API v3. Only independent creator channels were included: brand accounts, news outlets, and channels with fewer than 10K subscribers in 2019 were excluded.

The nature of Subscriptions on youtube means that its rare that there is significant decline in subscriptions, it's usually viewership which will decline and then that leads to a channel going dormant. I did not have average views data for 2019, so I did the best I could with the subscription data.

*Personal note: my own channel falls squarely in the Stalling category and is probably headed Dormant soon. Sometimes you build the study and then realise you're one of the data points. This was done as part of CreatorMap.*, which allows us to understand complex relationships and insights within the data through visual storytelling.

Deep Dive into the Topic

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