This is the End.

Summary

In his latest video, YouTuber NFKRZ, aka Roman, addresses the dramatic decline in his channel's viewership and the struggles he's facing as a content creator. Broadcasting from Lisbon, Portugal, Roman discusses his journey from Russia and his attempts to shed light on the country's culture and issues. Despite his dedication, YouTube's algorithm changes have decreased his visibility, affecting his livelihood. Roman candidly examines the challenges faced by many YouTubers, sharing his fears about financial security and the future of his channel while questioning the platform's content preferences.

Highlights

• Roman addresses his audience from Lisbon, Portugal, discussing the struggles his YouTube channel is facing due to algorithm changes. 🌐
• He shares his background as a Russian YouTuber who exposes issues within Russia while living as an immigrant in Europe. 🇷🇺
• Despite keeping his content relevant and informative, YouTube's algorithm favors more sensationalist content, frustrating his efforts. 🔄

Key Takeaways

• NFKRZ, or Roman, shares insights on his declining YouTube channel views and contemplates the platform's algorithm changes. 📉
• Having moved from Russia, Roman uses his unique perspective to highlight issues within his home country through his content. 🌍
• Despite his earnest efforts, YouTube's focus on rage-bait content seems to be sidelining his in-depth discussions on significant issues. 🚧

Overview

Roman, known online as NFKRZ, vulnerably opens up about his declining YouTube analytics, claiming they're not due to dwindling interest but rather abrupt algorithmic changes. He explains these shifts as detrimental not only to his channel's health but also his life as an immigrant supported financially by his YouTube income.

As someone who transitioned from creating fun parodies to serious content about Russian society and censorship, Roman believes his informative videos deserve more visibility. Yet, he notes a preference for more sensationalist, rage-baiting content within the platform, which undermines creators tackling pressing global issues.

In the face of these challenges, Roman remains committed to his content while also highlighting the great personal risks and sacrifices he's made. He concludes with a call to action for viewers to engage more deeply with his channel if they find his work meaningful, emphasizing the importance of financial support during such unpredictable times.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Setting Context In this chapter, Roman introduces himself as a Russian vlogger and contemplates whether to make the video he is about to present. He mentions that he is in Lisbon, Portugal, experimenting with new camera features. Roman also hints at a broader topic he and some fellow YouTubers have been discussing, setting the stage for the video's main content.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Concerns about YouTube's Algorithm The chapter discusses the concerns surrounding YouTube's current algorithm and recommendation system. The speaker expresses frustration over a sudden, unexplained decline in his channel's views, despite being a platform user for a decade. He reflects on the changes in YouTube's platform over the years and notes that this is an unprecedented experience in his career as a Russian YouTuber.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Content Focus: Russia and Personal Experiences The chapter focuses on the author's personal journey as a Russian citizen, delving into their understanding from a young age that their country, Russia, is on a troubling path. Initially engaging in unrelated content like MLG montage parodies and YouTube drama, the author eventually shifts the focus of their channel to discuss their experiences in and perspectives on Russia. They explore life growing up in Russia, living within its system, and their identity as a Russian fluent in English.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Challenges as an Immigrant Content Creator This chapter explores the unique position of being an immigrant content creator, particularly from Russia, and the challenges associated with it. The narrator discusses how they use their platform to share insights into Russian society, including issues like propaganda and censorship. The narrator has documented their journey from Russia to Georgia and now to Portugal, highlighting the complexities and experiences of living and creating content as an immigrant.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Issues with YouTube's Recommendation System The chapter discusses the personal sacrifices made by the speaker in order to express their beliefs freely on YouTube. The speaker mentions the significant decision to leave their home country, friends, and family, primarily influenced by the opportunities provided by YouTube to voice opinions without constraint. The move to the West is highlighted as part of the process to maintain the ability to express thoughts candidly, illustrating the broader impact of YouTube's recommendation system and policies on individual content creators.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Financial Dependence on YouTube Revenue The chapter discusses the financial dependency on YouTube revenue, highlighting how the content creator sustains a certain lifestyle through earnings from YouTube videos. However, it mentions a decline in video views starting from 2025, suggesting that despite YouTube analytics indicating the content has become less interesting, the creator feels there are other underlying issues affecting the channel's performance.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Algorithmic Changes and Speculations In this chapter titled 'Algorithmic Changes and Speculations,' the author discusses the sudden decline in views on YouTube channels, including their own and that of a fellow YouTuber, LA86, who creates content focused on China. The author clarifies that they haven't faced any cancellation, and the decrease in views did not occur abruptly overnight. LA86 also observed a similar trend, especially noticeable after the start of the year or post-election, where YouTube seemingly stopped recommending their videos, resulting in significantly reduced viewership by several folds. The discussion highlights possible algorithmic changes on the platform affecting content visibility and reach.
• 06:00 - 07:00: Struggles with Content Visibility and Feedback The chapter titled 'Struggles with Content Visibility and Feedback' sheds light on the creator's feelings about how their content is perceived. They express a desire to steer clear of sensationalism, unlike a peer referred to as 'Laai', who takes a more dramatic approach to similar topics. The creator acknowledges the importance of the message behind their content, highlighting its focus on revealing truths that are often hidden, particularly those concerning China's actions that threaten global freedom. The narrative underscores the dedication and risks taken to bring these truths to the forefront. While the creator refrains from dramatics, they stress the significance of their mission which extends beyond personal recognition, aiming to fight for the freedom of all people, especially in China.
• 07:00 - 08:00: Debunking Conspiracy Theories about Channel Suppression The chapter discusses the concept of content suppression on YouTube, specifically addressing conspiracy theories related to how the algorithm treats certain types of content. The speaker clarifies that while they don't believe their content is saving a nation, they do feel it deserves more visibility due to its importance. They express frustration with YouTube's algorithm and what they perceive as a preference for rage-inducing content. They cite an example of a fellow content creator, Serpent Zed, who experienced success when producing content aligned more closely with what they believe YouTube favors.
• 08:00 - 09:00: Call to Action and Support Request In this chapter, the speaker discusses the rise in views when content is pro-China or anti-US, suggesting that platforms favor controversial or sensational topics to gain views. The speaker expresses a reluctance to create content merely for clickbait purposes, citing examples like changing opinions on Russia or Putin as something they refuse to engage in. The speaker highlights their desire to focus on real issues rather than sensationalist content, despite its popularity.

This is the End. Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hey there people it is your boy Roman your favorite neighborhood Russian welcome to a brand new video and um this is a video that I kind of debated to myself whether I should make it for a while but I decided to do it anyway here I am by the way guys yes outside in Lisbon Portugal got this new vlog camera here actually has really cool features like this wow check it out i can show you guys what's going on on these streets and bring it back just like that with one tap incredible this is technology guys this is what it's all about but anyway now what I want to talk about is actually something that me and a couple of other YouTubers that I know personally some of us have been noticing
• 00:30 - 01:00 that something really strange is happening at YouTube right now as far as recommendations and essentially what happened is that it's all absolutely drove over you guys i'm cooked i'm finished i think YouTube decided to just throw my channel down the trash i mean look guys here's the thing i've been on this platform for basically like 10 years now i've been through ups and downs i've seen different eras of YouTube right my channel has gone through different eras or whatever but I've never really seen a decrease in my views that was so sudden and unexplainable you see guys I mean you pretty much probably know my story by this point i'm a Russian YouTuber i'm
• 01:00 - 01:30 originally from Russia i'm a Russian citizen and for the longest time you know ever since I was a teenager pretty much I've understood that something is deeply wrong with my country and that is definitely not going in the right direction right and even though I made different content at one point I made MLG montage parodies right that was the word I started out with on YouTube i made like YouTube drama slob way back in the day but I ended up eventually pivoting my channel to always talking about Russia it's always talking about kind of my experiences growing up in Russia what it was like to live in Russia also to exist in that system and also myself as a Russian you know who can speak English well I realized that
• 01:30 - 02:00 I'm in a bit of a unique position to let the world know about what is actually going on in my country i could cover a lot of the propaganda a lot of the cringe kind of happening in the society on the internet whatever everything that's connected with Russian censorship and so on and that's what I've been doing on this channel for the past few years actually non-stop and I've also been documenting my own journey as an immigrants actually from Russia i originally moved to the country of Georgia which is actually not far from Russia which was one of the countries that would allow me to move basically now I'm living here in Europe in Portugal in Lisbon and you know the thing is guys even though I don't like
• 02:00 - 02:30 to parade myself on this channel I really don't like to like toot my own horn too much in a sense right but I have actually stood on business for years now i have sacrificed a lot for my channel and for like my beliefs and to be able to say the things that I want to say i mean I literally had to leave my home country in order to say the things that I can say to you right now on this channel i had to leave my friends my family behind pretty much everything and I mean it would probably happen either way to be honest even if I wasn't a YouTuber or something but YouTube as a platform has definitely created the opportunity for me to move to the west
• 02:30 - 03:00 in the first place because I'm making these videos and obviously videos make money this is kind of how I'm able to sustain myself and live this you know amazing European life or whatever but the thing is guys is that right now uh things are not looking too good actually if you take a look at my YouTube channel my videos since the start of 2025 my channel has kind of a lot of my videos have basically have like gone down three or four times in the amount of views and even though the YouTube analytics will tell you that it's just because your content has gotten boring nobody has any interest anymore you got to try something new whatever it's not what
• 03:00 - 03:30 it's about exactly at all even if the views decrease it doesn't happen overnight and I didn't get cancelled or anything either i mean look I don't want to throw a pity party or anything but I also don't want to be too serious about it in a sense for example a fellow YouTuber LA86 who makes content about China he's actually been talking about something pretty similar and he's been noticing a similar thing on his channel where right after the start of the year right after the election maybe even YouTube basically stopped recommending his channel to people and his views on his new videos also went down like three four five times in their viewership now
• 03:30 - 04:00 I kind of don't want to over dramatize this whole thing like Laai did in a sense because you know he had a very like serious angle towards this whole thing i get views on my content because you deserve to see what's really happening behind what China is trying to cover up this isn't about me this is about the future of our world this is the future of our freedom this is the future freedom of Chinese people i put in the work and I put everything on the line to tell you the truth i just feel like for me it would be a little bit corny to say stuff like this is not about me this is bigger than me okay this is about the future freedom of the
• 04:00 - 04:30 Russian people or whatever no I'm not under any impression that my content is like helping save Russia or something not at all it's not that serious not that deep but I do believe it's content that deserves to be seen and that actually does bring up important issues and it is very annoying to be treated like this by the YouTube algorithm by the YouTube system and it's just not what YouTube wants on their platform apparently apparently what they want on their platform is rage bait let's look at my buddy Serpent Zed he's been doing really really really well on his channel when he made videos that looked like
• 04:30 - 05:00 pro-China and anti-US content the views went up five times they want that they don't want somebody discussing actual issues and somebody who's like an immigrant going through problems in life nobody wants to hear about that like bro I get it that rage bait and clickbait is what does well on YouTube but I'm not trying to make videos with titles like I changed my mind about Russia and Putin was actually right or some [ __ ] like that for clicks on YouTube like I really do not want to do that okay the way LA kind of put it and the way he sees it is that in his opinion what has currently
• 05:00 - 05:30 happened on YouTube is that there's been a bit of like a shift specifically like regarding content aimed at like America's enemies or whatever like Russia and China and he's essentially saying that supposedly because Trump is now in office YouTube is now like pro-China pro-Russia they recommend only pro-Chinese content to people and more or less like I don't know at least I don't know if that is going on regarding Russia right there is a lot of like Z pro-Russian content on the internet right now surely that is getting a lot of views but I don't think there's like necessarily like a plan of some sort of great replacement where they're trying to replace you know anti-Russia creators
• 05:30 - 06:00 like myself of course with like Z pro-Russia creators because it's like better for the algorithm or something but you know once again I really don't like making these videos where I just complain about like not getting views basically being [ __ ] irrelevant but like sometimes it just comes to a point where it makes zero sense like where your views and the reach out that your videos get and like the feedback that your videos get make absolutely zero sense like for example just recently I've been actually trying out different things trying to bring myself back in the game right i made a video about history recently about Pushkin i made a
• 06:00 - 06:30 vlog which is something that supposedly a lot of people wanted to see didn't get like any views whatsoever nobody [ __ ] saw it from my subscribers base my vlogs would usually do way better than this so I was like "Okay sure whatever i'm going to make like a video about Russia about what's going on in the culture also did like [ __ ] so then I thought okay maybe it's all about being parasocial going to make a video about something like more personal no once again terrible performance nobody saw it and the thing is guys this stuff is annoying to me not really even for the reason that I want like a lot of views i want to be like I want to be basking in fame or something honestly guys I don't really care at
• 06:30 - 07:00 this point like I've been on this platform for 10 years once again and you know I've already been like YouTube famous for a while i don't really care about that by far the biggest issue about this entire thing is that YouTube is my work right it's a business i need to pay my bills right i need to you know be able to survive out here in Western Europe i have people depending on me i have like family members depending on me and stuff i have people living with me actually so unfortunately there's a direct correlation between how much views you get and how much money you make on YouTube this is just not the greatest thing to experience when you're in a position like me you know once
• 07:00 - 07:30 again I'm like an immigrant that's here on an immigrant visa on a work visa i'm supposed to be like a freelancer who brings in a certain amount of income per month to be like eligible for my visa the digital nomad visa and stuff you know and obviously the cost of life and everything is way higher here than like in Eastern Europe than in Russia for example and to begin with right as a Eastern European person here in Western Europe right now I do have a bit of like Eastern European imposter syndrome where I feel like I'm not supposed to be out here you know I don't belong here essentially and this entire area is like too exquisite too rich too cool for me
• 07:30 - 08:00 and you know what I'm saying and I was like not meant to uh be on these streets out here and I'm really like you know it's basically like the imposter syndrome where you feel like you don't belong here you're not adequate enough but also it's compounded with like this need to have financial security as an immigrants in Europe it's not like I'm out on the street or anything but if things keep going this way honestly like I don't know i do not know what like kind of future is ahead of me here in Western Europe if like my views keep going down and like it's just bad and my income is like zero you know making one
• 08:00 - 08:30 penny and it's obviously even more frustrating when it's it does barely feel like even your fault because YouTube just decides to stop recommending your stuff and stop showing your stuff just one day and you can do basically nothing about it and honestly guys there's a reason why I don't like even talking about this most of the time is because to begin with I do realize that first of all most people think that YouTubers are like entitled brats anyway who do nothing all day who don't deserve the money that they're making right and I know that people are going to say "Roman who gives a [ __ ] we're all also struggling with the same exact thing paying rents or whatever even as
• 08:30 - 09:00 citizens of like the West or whatever." I completely understand that i understand that I'm not unique or special i'm just [ __ ] like it's just a cry for help at this point you guys you know and also the reason why I particularly don't like sharing this stuff with my audience is because when you say that you know your channel is not doing well and nobody's watching your [ __ ] or whatever people a lot of people you know they come from a good place they try to have certain opinions and like advice what you could do but the thing is that I kind of found out through experience that asking your YouTube followers or whatever your followers what to do is probably the worst thing you can do because you will
• 09:00 - 09:30 just go insane everybody out there like has their own perceived version of you everybody out there has like their own ideas of what they want to see from you ideas of what you should be making so like you just get these people saying "Bro we're tired of your [ __ ] make more vlogs or whatever." And then you make a vlog nobody watches it and you're like "Huh what happens?" you know or just your hastes start coming out of the woodwork with like their terminally online takes on why it's what you know what the real reason why you fell off actually is because you complain too much because you're too arrogant now in videos or something sure bro okay
• 09:30 - 10:00 basically nothing good long story short right so yes as much I would actually like to hear you guys' feedback on this video and why you think this is the case um there really isn't like a good explanation and you know a lot of people who don't know YouTube who've never you know had a YouTube channel think they know how I can fix my [ __ ] but they don't even we YouTubers like I'm asking other YouTubers what I can do and nobody has an idea everybody's just like "Yes the algorithm is insane now it's [ __ ] over." Basically and yeah like this is the life when you live in such an industry that is so volatile where you
• 10:00 - 10:30 know your success and where um your financial success also depends on essentially an algorithm choosing whether you know you're a you're a bad or a good boy this is what happens you know what I'm saying it's [ __ ] annoying yeah it is what it is by the way check out this camera you know it can follow me that's insane bro absolutely insane but I would like you guys to follow me instead right i am trying on this channel okay i'm trying to come up with new stuff all the time trying to come up with new topics new videos something that I've not done before and look guys even though I do like to call the Russia content that I make on this channel slop it's more of a
• 10:30 - 11:00 joke right and the issue is that I don't actually really consider it slop it is slop in a sense that maybe it's rather easy for me to make but it is content that like you know brings up real issues that is relevant to what is happening in real world and also it is content that I kind of had to once again I had to sacrifice a lot in my life to be able to make this type of content even the slop even the slop on my channel is something that like you know is scary to talk about and people just don't [ __ ] appreciate it I guess which is fine you know if you do the same thing over and over again people just get bored of it
• 11:00 - 11:30 and I get it but like so does every YouTuber that's popping right now so does every [ __ ] like React Andy or whatever they're all doing the same [ __ ] slop [ __ ] and they're killing it so like I'm honestly really not sure what is going on sorry the wind here is killing my hair i look like ass probably guys that's just pretty much all I wanted to say in this video i think uh again I could probably present this in a more kind of rage basy or engaging or conspiratorial kind of way where I could say that you know the whole reason why my channel is doing like ass is because Vladimir Putin
• 11:30 - 12:00 himself is sitting in his office right now watching my [ __ ] and he's like calling he's calling Sergey Breen because he's Russian right so he has Russian roots he's calling Sergey Bin is like "Bro turn on this motherfucker's recommendations right now he's destroying our entire [ __ ] you know his NIS propaganda is too good you know our country cannot handle it no I don't think that is what is going on i don't think there's some big plot to destroy me or to destroy like anti-Russian content on YouTube but nevertheless the fact that this is what is happening is extremely annoying and um so yes well I could definitely say in this video you know you guys should hit the bell you
• 12:00 - 12:30 know you should subscribe and watch all of my videos and also donate to me because uh because the future of Russia in the world depends on it right and I'm like the the best journalist in existence or something no that's not the case i'm just a guy making videos on YouTube but nevertheless you know existing in this climate is [ __ ] terrifying so yeah guys I mean that is going to be pretty much it for this video i just wanted to have a a bit of a chat walk around and you know talk about some real [ __ ] for once and uh Oh the rain is kicking in just now perfect i just finished couldn't be more perfect but yeah guys uh hopefully enjoy this little down to earth video sometimes I'm
• 12:30 - 13:00 not feeling this [ __ ] man and today is definitely one of the days um if you guys do appreciate what I do on this channel though if you ever you know found anything I ever said on this channel useful or interesting once again maybe click the bell so you can actually see my videos and also if you want to support me additionally and that is financially in these times that's the only thing that matters right then you can go over to link down description and become a YouTube member or donate to me or support me on buy me a coffee which is why you can either do a onetime donation or like a monthly donation or you can also do a super thanks
• 13:00 - 13:30 underneath this video for a onetime donation it will help me out a lot and um yeah people that's going to be pretty much it this is where I'm going to leave you guys rainy Portugal is still beautiful and uh yeah see you guys in the next one peace