In May, YouTube let creators know that in the near future, all of them with more than 1000 subscribers would see their follower counts rounded down. The time has come, and the video-sharing service is rolling out this change throughout September.
YouTube announced the update late this week, which will happen “gradually” across YouTube and the public YouTube Data API Service.
Creators will still be able to see their exact counts on YouTube Studio and YouTube Analytics, but for those hung up on showing off their milestones per each morsel of engagement, the days of deprived validation are ahead.
So for creators with more than 1000 subscribers, their counts will be what YouTube is characterising as “abbreviated”. If someone has 123,456,789 subscribers, for instance, it’ll show up as 12.3M. The number won’t go up until follower counts hit or pass a threshold.
“Beyond creating more consistency, this addresses creator concerns about stress and wellbeing, specifically around tracking public subscriber counts in real-time,” YouTube wrote in the update this week. “We hope this helps all creators focus on telling their story, and experience less pressure about the numbers.”
While shifting public pressure away from minute improvements in popularity should seemingly help creators obsess less over each new follower, it’s just one less way to establish their public recognition. And for someone whose currency hinges on popularity, rounding down (“abbreviating”) might not have the calming effect YouTube evangelised.