Problems with YouTube's suggested and recommended lists affect high-traffic channels.

News rocking the YouTube world this week comes from the most subscribed creator on the platform. PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, released a video lamenting some of the issues he has had with YouTube recently, saying he would delete his YouTube channel once he reaches 50 million subscribers. Kjellberg passed that milestone this week and tweeted out yesterday that he will delete his channel today at 5pm GMT, or 12pm EST.

Kjellberg's main problem with YouTube, which other top creators including Jacksepticeye and Philip DeFranco have complained about as well, is the apparent change in users' recommended and suggested videos (or how YouTube prioritizes what videos get promoted). He explains in an update video that most YouTubers get half of their views from these two sections. As a viewer, your recommended and suggested videos typically populate with videos from creators you watch regularly, showing you their videos that you may not have watched yet, as well as videos from similar creators. In his video, Kjellberg opens his YouTube analytics to reveal that in October 2016, some of his videos received 60 percent of views by being on suggested lists. However, one month later in November, some of his videos only received 0.07 percent of their views from the same list.
Kjellberg speculates that this is because YouTube is now favoring videos with high click-through rates or videos that grab a viewer's attention and make them click immediately. He also claims this would negatively affect those with strict daily or nearly daily upload schedules, which describes many of the top creators on YouTube, and favor videos with bombastic titles or shocking thumbnails.

Ars has reached out to YouTube to see if there have been any changes to its algorithm. Kjellberg contacted YouTube as well, and apparently the company is aware of the issue and told him it is working to fix it. However, YouTube did not tell Kjellberg if the situation is a result of an intentional change or just a glitch.

In addition to the recommended and suggested list changes, there have also been issues with YouTube users being unknowingly unsubscribed from accounts they follow. This prompted top creators, including Philip DeFranco, who hosts "The Philip DeFranco" daily news show on YouTube, to inform his subscribers to check their subscription lists to see if they've been unsubscribed from anyone they follow. Google and YouTube have also released an online survey for anyone who has been unknowingly unsubscribed to fill out to tell the company about their experience so they can hopefully resolve the issue.

DeFranco also weighed in on PewDiePie's threat to delete his channel and suggests that if he does indeed delete his channel, it could be an interesting test of the supposed new algorithm and PieDiePie's reach. Kjellberg has been on YouTube with the PewDiePie channel since 2010, and it has grown to 50 million subscribers over six years' time. If he creates a new channel, he'll likely gains millions of subscribers in a short period of time. Then, YouTube might prioritize his videos on this new channel—viewing them as new and upcoming content that attracts a lot of viewers quickly—bump them on the recommended list or trending list, thereby giving the new channel more exposure.

Update: Kjellberg did kind of fulfill his promise—he uploaded a video to his PewDiePie channel about 45 minutes ago of him deleting his second channel, Jack septiceye2. The PewDiePie channel remains on YouTube with just over 50 million subscribers.

A Google representative also provided Ars this statement about the issues surrounding unknowingly unsubscribed viewers on YouTube.

Some creators have expressed concerns around a drop in their subscriber numbers. We've done an extensive review and found there have been no decreases in creators subscriber numbers beyond what normally happens when viewers either unsubscribe from a creator's channel or when YouTube removes spammed subscribers. We do the latter to ensure that all creator subscriber numbers are accurate.

In reference to YouTube algorithm changes, a Google representative told Ars in an email:

We change our algorithms all the time, but it's always done to ensure that viewers are getting to watch more of the videos they love and that creators are benefiting.