>>73284908Real answer: algo manipulation
Gura became too big too fast. The result is that her algorithm metrics were (and are) very, very good but her actual day-to-day stream numbers were just normal
Streaming therefore would drag her metrics down, because the algorithm averages them and weighs recent engagements higher than past engagements. Thus the safest way to preserve her metrics is to simply not stream
>but won't the algorithm penalize her channel for being inactiveOnly marginally. There is a penalty for low activity, but it's a flat weighting rather than a proration of all future content, and it caps out at a point that's basically trivial for a large channel. You only need to upload content often enough to prevent youtube from considering your channel inactive or abandoned, which is only every year or so. Activity and consistency is critical for a small channel trying to grow a following, but for a large channel trying to hold onto existing growth, it doesn't matter at all unless you're able to consistently shit out daily videos that get multimillion views and engagements and keep your average impossibly high.
Cover doesn't have the means to do that, in fact the only companies that can sustain a channel that big are multibillion dollar talent agencies backed by megacorps like disney or the bot channels exploiting kids youtube. Vtuber megachannels were a flash in the pan, and youtube long ago implemented content filters that help mitigate the exposure vtubers get to avoid sudden massive channel explosions like what most of myth got (case and point, low engagement clips from small channels will frequently appear over the actual stream they are clipped from in search results and recommendations)
So the best way to preserve Gura's metrics, maintain her highly marketable status as one of the world's most followed vtubers and ensure content that is uploaded to her channel has maximum possible algorithm exposure, she needs to avoid putting new content on that channel as much as possible. Is this extremely counterintuitive? Yes. But it absolutely works. This is the reason that every time Gura returns, she dominates the platform, only to immediately fall off in engagement and disappear again. Timing returns to coincide with high-engagement occasions (ie christmas, valentines) on top of making returns pre-advertised events unto themselves allows them to direct exceptionally high engagement to a single stream to maintain the average.
Big channels can't just 'stream' honestly like a hobbyist or youtube will crush them. They need to play and exploit the algorithm, and cover has a vested interest in doing so because Gura's image is so profitable for them outside of streaming.
