YouTube cleans out zombie accounts, expect your subscriber counts to dip slightly

YouTube is sweeping out the cobwebs, removing older inactive accounts and channels. This could result in a dip in subscriber counts, especially if you have an older channel, reports Digital Inspiration.

The cleanup is a result of accounts that have been closed or remain inactive that have been being counted as active subscribers of channels. New subscriptions will also be vetted more thoroughly to prevent artificial boosting of subscriber counts. The loss of these ‘zombie’ accounts shouldn’t affect your subscriber base too much, but if you monitor it closely you should see a dip.

An owner of an average aged channel should experience a drop of 4% or less, but those with older channels might see a bigger drop due to the greater amount of legacy accounts following them. This isn’t a huge tweak, but should help to explain a sudden loss of ‘subscribers’ over the next few days.

You can check your subscriber stats and by checking the YouTube Analytics page while logged in under your account.