YouTube overflows with content. Creators upload more than 500 hours of video every minute.

While some upload casually for fun, many (if not most) content creators on the platform strive to make money for their efforts—whether through monetization, selling products and services off-site, or both.

With 122 million daily active users, it’s easy to see YouTube’s appeal. The potential to connect with customers you may not reach otherwise is high. But it’s also a hard-won race where the risk of getting lost in a crowded digital pool is real.

Unsure if your YouTube channel is working hard enough for you? Here are a few reasons to review your strategy, hide, or even delete your YouTube channel.

Why you might want to delete your YouTube channel

You’re in the market for a completely ad-free player

YouTube makes money from displaying ads in videos its algorithm deems advertiser-friendly, whether or not a channel is monetized.

If your channel receives hundreds of thousands of views—and you’re monetized—this can translate into healthy Adsense payouts. If it doesn’t pull those numbers, your subscribers are subject to a less-than-ideal viewing experience.

While YouTube does allow creators to choose ad placements to minimize disruption, even well-placed ads prevent viewers from enjoying the seamless content experience they’d prefer, especially with long-form videos.

If you want your content to be the star of the show, deleting your YouTube channel in favor of an ad-free hosted video player is your best bet.

You want to monetize your content without YouTube

There are plenty of excellent reasons to monetize your content without YouTube.

First, getting monetized isn’t an overnight process. Before you can begin earning money on YouTube by joining its Partner Program, you’ll need to meet the following requirements:

  • Comply with YouTube’s monetization policies
  • Live in a participating country or region
  • Have 1,000 subscribers and at least 4,000 watch hours
  • Have an Adsense account linked to your YouTube channel(s)

Second, the details around how monetization works remain murky. No one knows exactly how YouTube’s algorithms determine who earns what—and given that Google takes 45 percent of users’ Adsense revenue, you’ll only keep around half of the money your videos generate.

Lastly, AdSense payouts depend largely on views, subscribers, and the advertiser-friendliness of the content itself. If you’re not earning a consistently high number of views in an advertiser-friendly niche, your earnings will be limited.

You’re not getting the engagement you crave

When your channel engagement suffers, it’s usually time to review your content strategy. Ask yourself these questions: 

  • Are you targeting a well-defined audience that spends time on YouTube? 
  • Can you clearly communicate who your content serves and the value it provides?
  • Is that value consistently modeled in the videos you publish? 
  • Can someone visit your channel and understand within seconds what it’s about and whether it’s worth their time?
  • …Or is your channel’s content all over the place? 😵‍💫

Working through these ambiguities to create a cohesive brand experience is an effective way to get more of the right eyeballs on your channel. If your content meets or exceeds their expectations, a steady trickle of like-minded subscribers will likely follow.

All that said, some marketing channels are more effective with certain audiences than others. If you’re a small B2B brand trying to stand out on YouTube, for example, it may be harder to get views because your audience looks for relevant content elsewhere, like LinkedIn. 

Instead, share video content on channels where your ideal customers are most likely to appreciate it. 

You want higher quality embeds 

Just as the “look and feel” of your channel matters when viewers find it on YouTube, how your content appears when embedded on landing pages or other sites also matters. A lot.

You only have a few seconds to capture most people’s attention, and blurry thumbnails or footage can easily foil your mission. If your content doesn’t immediately look polished and professional, or viewers have issues with buffering and playing your vid, they’ll bounce.

When you’re considering video hosting platforms, look for one that is capable of high-speed, high quality transcoding, offers high dynamic range (HDR), and can support video qualities in 4k or better. 

How to delete your YouTube channel in 7 steps

If you’ve weighed the pros and cons of deleting your channel and believe it’s the best decision for your business, you can get the job done quickly from your desktop.

Here’s how to delete your YouTube channel in 7 steps:

  1. From the YouTube web app, go to YouTube Studio.
  2. From the sidebar menu, click Settings.
  3. From the Settings modal, click Channel followed by the Advanced Settings tab.
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings tab and click Remove YouTube Content.
  5. Re-enter your password if prompted and click “I want to permanently delete my content.”
  6. Check the two boxes to confirm the deletion and click “Delete my content.”
  7. Enter your channel name or email address and click “Delete my content.”

A few things to consider:

  • Deleting your YouTube channel is permanent. Make sure to back up any content you’d like to keep or repurpose—once you delete your YouTube channel, your videos are gone for good.
  • You can’t delete your channel on mobile. This is probably a good thing, but it does mean you’ll have to delete your YouTube channel from the desktop site.
  • Your Google account will remain. Deleting your YouTube channel doesn’t impact your Google account. If you’d like to delete your entire Google account, make sure you fully understand what you’ll lose access to first.

How to hide your YouTube channel 

If you’d like the option to revisit things in the future, hiding your YouTube channel is a less permanent way to put your content on ice. 

Here’s how to hide your YouTube channel:

  1. From the YouTube web app, go to YouTube Studio.
  2. From the sidebar menu, click Settings.
  3. From the Settings modal, click Channel followed by the Advanced Settings tab.
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings tab and click Remove YouTube Content.
  5. Re-enter your password if prompted and click “I want to hide my channel.”
  6. Check the three boxes to confirm and click “Hide my channel.”
  7. Read the disclaimer modal and click “Hide my content.”

A few things to consider:

  • Your presence will completely disappear. Until you re-enable it, your channel name, videos, likes, subscriptions, and subscribers will remain private.
  • You can’t re-enable everything. Hiding your YouTube channel means any comments you’ve made on videos (including replies) will be permanently deleted. 

Other strategies for YouTube 

Deleting your channel is a big decision for any creative, so don’t rush in. There may be other ways to make your YouTube channel work harder for your business. 

Here are a few strategic methods to make the most of your content on YouTube:

  • Make your content more discoverable with YouTube SEO. Whether you use YouTube’s predictive search, leverage a third-party keyword tool, or analyze which keywords your competitors are targeting (we’d recommend trying all three), some level of SEO is necessary to ensure your videos reach the right people.
  • Explore different ways to make money on YouTube. The algorithm is complex, the rules change often, and YouTube will always take a sizable cut of whatever revenue your videos generate. For these reasons, we recommend offsetting your reliance on Adsense by using YouTube to indirectly promote the products and services you already sell.
  • Make better, bingeable Youtube playlists. Playlists make it easier for viewers and subscribers to consume more content. This works well whenever you have sequence or topic-based content that logically belongs together (e.g., a playlist of tutorials, a multi-episode arc about your brand or company, etc.).
  • Get inspired with tips and tricks for new vloggers. It may sound counterintuitive, but experimenting with different best practices can stoke your creativity in ways that ultimately help your channel.
  • Become YouTube verified. It may not be as coveted as Twitter’s blue checkmark, but YouTube’s gray checkmark—a symbol of verification next to your channel name—carries the same benefits: it distinguishes your channel from imposter accounts and adds a layer of legitimacy to your brand. The catch? You need at least 100K subscribers.
  • Enhance usability by adding chapters to videos. Chapters are “markers” within a video that provide viewers with more context and enable them to easily watch (or rewatch) select portions of your video. Leverage chapters to give viewers the flexibility to jump around based on what interests them.

Final thoughts

YouTube isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so whether you should delete your channel comes down to business priorities and preferences. Managing a presence on YouTube might not be the top driver for your team, especially if you’re seeing better engagement and results on other channels for less lift.

With short form video at its peak, investing in a killer TikTok strategy or doubling down on Instagram Reels may drive a bigger impact. 

There’s no doubt YouTube helps content creators earn. But the road to revenue is a slow grind for most—and ultimately, you’re not really in the driver’s seat.  

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