- Do YouTube Shorts Still Help Small Channels Grow in 2025?
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My Early Shorts “Success” (Kinda Fake Growth)
When I first jumped on the Shorts wave, my channel blew up in numbers… but it was all smoke and mirrors. I’d get 5k–20k views on random clips, but my actual YouTube subscribers didn’t grow much. Some days I’d wake up to 200 new subs, and then… nothing for weeks. And the worst part? Those people never watched my long videos.
That’s why I started wondering: is this even a growth strategy or just vanity views?
Shorts in 2025 – Still Worth It?
I’ll be straight: Shorts are not the growth hack they used to be. The algorithm’s changed. Now it pushes fewer random clips and seems to care more about retention, even in 20 seconds. Like, if folks swipe away after 3 seconds, your Short dies.
But here’s what I’ve noticed still works:
- If your Short is tied to your niche (not random), it actually sends people to your other videos.
- Titles matter more than they used to.
- Hashtags like #Shorts are fine, but keywords in the title/description seem to matter more.
What I Did Wrong
I’ll admit, I spammed Shorts like crazy for a while. One week I posted 10 of them and barely touched my long videos. Huge mistake. My impressions tanked, and my main videos got buried. Shorts were eating up my whole channel.
Also, recycling TikToks was a disaster. The watermark gets punished. Even editing them didn’t help. Lesson learned: YouTube wants original content.
How I Use Shorts Now
These days, I use Shorts as a doorway, not the whole house. Like, I’ll make a Short that’s basically a teaser. Quick 20 seconds where I share one tip, and then I end it with “full guide on my channel.” Then I drop a 10-minute video that expands on it. That way, Shorts act like an ad.
Another thing I do: when I post a Short, I stick around in the comments for the first hour. Engagement shoots it higher.
And one more thing is, don’t post and ghost. Shorts still have life after a day or two. I’ve had one sit dead for a week, then suddenly hit 30k views.
Do Shorts Grow Subscribers in 2025?
My honest answer: not by themselves. A Short can blow up and give you 100k views, but you’ll maybe see 100 subs if you’re lucky. But if your Shorts actually connect to your long-form stuff, that’s when growth happens.
Like, my buddy runs a cooking channel. He made a Short showing “3 quick breakfast hacks” and linked to his full recipe video. That Short hit 80k views and gave him 700 subs in a week because people actually wanted the full content. That’s the key because shorts can’t just be random.
My YouTube Growth Strategy With Shorts
So here’s my current plan for 2025:
- Keep Shorts tied to my niche, no random memes.
- Use titles with YouTube Shorts growth strategy and other keywords people search.
- Always drop a long-form video alongside the Short.
- Check retention—if 70% finish the Short, it usually gets pushed.
- Post 2–3 Shorts per week, not 10 spammy ones.
Final Thoughts
If you’re asking me, yes, Shorts can still help you grow on YouTube in 2025. But only if you treat them as part of your channel growth strategy. They get you in front of new eyes, but you still need long videos to build loyal subs and watch time (AdSense won’t care about 1M Shorts views if no one watches your regular videos).
So yeah, I’d say mix them in, but don’t rely on them. And keep experimenting, because YouTube changes every year anyway.
Question for everyone here: Are Shorts still working for you, or are they just giving empty views now? Drop your numbers or stories, I’m curious how it’s hitting different niches.