google is of course mostly interested in finding ways to show you ads. and, they've consequently erected this ridiculous theoretical idea of subs as the best way to get ads across, under the idea that it ensures a level of regular brainwashing. they've then managed to enforce this theory from the top down through their company, with the expectation that people will just do what they expect.
of course, the reality is rather different. youtube feeds are not like facebook feeds, because videos take time to watch. you can scroll through a feed of pictures. you can't scroll through a feed of videos. the result is that almost nobody really uses their youtube feed, rendering subscribers almost entirely pointless.
i don't expect google to ever understand this. it's too engrained in their corporate culture; it's an article of faith that building subscribers is the way to success. it's a good example of why any entity should base their theories on observations, rather than projected realities. really, it's sort of depressing that it's 2015 and influential organizations are still confused on this point. and it could very well be their unraveling. if some other company is able to use research tools to find out ways that people want to interact - rather than decide how we should interact based on the perceived ideal advertising arrangement - it could very well leave youtube a ghost town.
in the meantime? yeah. people will sub to you without having any interest in your channel, and without watching any of your videos. then they'll miss your uploads because they don't read their feed, and not care because they weren't interested in the first place. it's still a mystery to me why they subscribe, but i think it is generally seen as an act of solidarity.
