# Retention Research Notes

_Last checked: 2026-05-22_

## Sources checked

- TikTok Creator Academy / Creator Rewards material.
- TikTok Creator Rewards Program Terms.
- YouTube Help: YouTube Partner Program and performance/discovery FAQs.

## Findings that affect AutoShortsBot

### TikTok

- Creator Rewards content must be original, high quality, and longer than 1 minute.
- Reward-eligible videos need at least 1,000 qualified views.
- Qualified views require at least 5 seconds of watch time; search views require longer watch time.
- TikTok explicitly pushes: creativity, meaningful conversation, niche expertise, unique perspective, 1080p+ quality.
- TikTok flags low-quality patterns: copied/minimally changed content, split screens, meaningless reactions, blurry visuals, pure slideshow videos, clickbait with no value.
- TikTok recommends analytics-driven iteration and repurposing longer videos into 1min+ clips.

### YouTube

- YouTube's recommendation system optimizes for viewer satisfaction over time, not just uploads or tags.
- Shorts can be vertical/square and up to 3 minutes.
- YPP Shorts route: 1,000 subscribers plus 10M valid public Shorts views in 90 days.
- For new channels, strong early retention and viewer satisfaction matter more than broad generic topics.

## Practical retention hypotheses

People are more likely to stop scrolling when a short has:

1. **Immediate self-relevance** — “If your brain has 47 tabs open...”
2. **Open loop** — “do this before...”, “why...”, “stop...”, “not...”
3. **Specificity** — numbers, concrete situations, named platforms/tools.
4. **Tension/contrarian angle** — challenges a common belief without cheap outrage.
5. **Concrete payoff** — template, exact step, before/after, visible transformation.
6. **Visual pattern interrupt** — movement/change in first 1–2 seconds, not static AI art.
7. **Conversation trigger** — a specific question or comment keyword.
8. **Niche authority** — a recognisable point of view, not generic advice.

## Operating rules

- Pause FaithTok/religious topics for now; mixing religion and AI is sensitive and brand-risky.
- Test Life Optimization + AI Life Systems first.
- Replace generic “4 tips” scripts with myth-busting, before/after, exact workflow, and confession formats.
- For growth: prefer 25–45s.
- For TikTok monetization experiments: make selected 61–75s versions only after the hook is strong.
- Reject slow intros such as “In this video...” automatically.
- Reject static slideshow / abstract AI backgrounds unless a human-readable hook and motion are added.