Likes_to_TotalViews_Ratio (how to determine if a YouTube video worth watching) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Altair8800
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2023, 06:12:07 pm
content: YouTube (YT) disabled the Thumbs Down (Dislike button) so we can no longer see easily the ratio between Likes and Dislikes.I have devised my own rough way to figure out if a YouTube video is Good (worth watching) or Bad (likely not worth watching) by determining the videosLikes_to_TotalViews_Ratio.Likes_to_TotalViews_Ratio= (YT Videos # Likes) / (YT Videos # Total Views)If a YouTube video has aLikes_to_TotalViews_Ratio< ~2% (0.00 to 0.02)A YouTube video is probably Not Well Received and previous viewers didn't like the video and/or the content of the video.>= ~ 2%-ISH (0.02 and higher)A YouTube video is more liked and likely more worthwhile to watch.>= ~ 3% or greater (0.03 and higher)A YouTube video is Pretty Well Liked and received or viewed as worth people’s time to watch (the higher % the more well liked).NOTES:This is my own devised system based on my analysis. I develop databases and thus have decent amount of data analysis experience too and over time you start seeing patterns in the data…I hope this thread is not deemed too Off Topic, but Dave mentioned how much he did not like the removal of the YouTube Dislike button (thus in effect the more accurate Like to Dislike ratio). Dave even poked fun at (and duped) YouTube on his EEVBlog2 100K subscribers Silver Award Plaque saying, “Bring Back The Dislike Count” .With videos with like say >= 500k+ISH views this “might” no longer apply (I think people say oh, that video already has thousands of likes and do not need anymore and people will often no longer bother hitting the like button). So, sometimes you get something like a super popular music video with 0.5 % (0.005), but with millions of views thus you know it is very popular and likely people gave up clicking Like...I know some forum member(s) are going to find an exception or two or more, but give it go and you will find it works “roughly” most of the time…

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2023, 06:19:04 pm
content: Quote from: Altair8800 on March 09, 2023, 06:12:07 pmThe dislike button is still there and working, only the dislike counter is hidden. However, the dislike counter can be displayed too. There are browser plugins that can bring back the youtube "Dislikes counter" and the likes/dislikes ratio bar.Google for "show youtube dislikes plugin" for your preferred browser, and you'll find many. Some might not work, but there are still plenty of them working fine and showing all just as it was before the dumb YT decision.

author: Altair8800
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2023, 07:14:21 pm
content: @RoGeorge, Thanks for the clarification.Should I edit my original post?I kind of meant to say the Dislike Count (not Button)... Doh..Being a data guy kind of got me thinking. Since people no longer can easily see the Dislike Count, I would not be surprised that some people are now no longer pressing the dislike button than before. Kind of like a feeling to some (not all) of it is not worth effort to click dislike now.With browser "Show Dislike Count" plugin I would guestimate only 1-10% take time to install and use such plugin. Even being generous and say 20% use the plugin that still means 4/5 (80%) of the people do not use and cannot see the Like/Dislike ratio visually.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2023, 07:50:53 pm
content: Could be, but I have no statistics data, sorry.

author: shapirus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2023, 08:30:55 pm
content: I almost never press those like or dislike buttons, because I consider them to be nothing more than visual noise. It's because my habits formed when the internet had no likes or dislikes and the overall SNR of the information online was orders of magnitude higher than today.I don't think however that I and people like me affect the likes-to-views ratio in any appreciable way.

author: armandine2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2023, 09:25:58 am
content: "worth" is a keyword here - at least in my experience it is harder to watch again a good video, it seems harder to find the source .YouTube videos can become untraceable.A bit like losing the best thing and not being able to recreate the old masters.

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2023, 08:09:58 pm
content: Doesn't seem that worthwhile a measure to me, plenty of a video's viewers won't be signed in to youtube, hence won't be able to leave a like/dislike. And also assuming "worthwhile" by popularity (view counts, likes or ratios between the aforementioned) doesn't seem the best logic. I think an algorithm of "if the title sounds interesting and it is by a channel which has previously done good quality videos I've seen" is a good one to work to, but that still has the rather serious limitation of not working for good channels you're not yet aware of.