How Accurate Is Social Blade?
I spent over 50 hours comparing real data from real channels against Social Blade’s revenue data.
I looked at several channels from different niches to make sure this article is helpful and relevant for you, regardless of the niche you’re in.
It’s fair to say I discovered some VERY interesting facts about Social Blade’s data accuracy.
That said, let’s dive right into it.
Also Read: How Many Videos Before You Start Getting Views On YouTube? [Analysis]
How Accurate Are Social Blade’s Estimated Earnings?
I started this article by making a list of channels I wanted to check on Social Blade.
It turns out, not every channel has a video where they disclose their earnings.
And so, I had to adapt.
Meaning that I looked at over 25 videos where people were disclosing their channel’s earnings.
This was SUPER important as I needed that information to compare those numbers against Social Blade’s numbers.
And to make this even more helpful, I also looked at different-sized channels: 1,000 to 5,000 subscribers, 5,000 to 10,000 subscribers, 10,000 to 100,000 subscribers, etc.
Data Collection Process.
I’m going to use this chapter to show you EXACTLY how I went about conducting this case study.
It is SUPER important to understand this BEFORE we look at the actual numbers.
For this part of the study, I searched on YouTube for videos where creators disclosed their channel’s revenue, along with the channel name that has generated the revenue.
I spent around 20 hours looking at over 100 videos from 95 unique channels that showed how much revenue their channels have generated during a specific period of time.
I looked at small channels [1,000 to 2,500 subscribers], medium-sized channels [5,000 to 10,000 subscribers], and HUGE channels [over 100,000 subscribers].
For EVERY SINGLE video I watched, I took notes on: how much money the channel has generated, the exact period the revenue was generated on the channel, the number of views the channel had during that period, the niche of the channel, and much more.
Two days later, I ended up with an Excel file, and I was finally ready to compare the real data I gathered against Social Blade’s data.
Social Blade: Real Revenue vs. Estimated Earnings.
Next, I opened my newly created Excel file and started to go through each channel one by one.
The first channel I looked at was William Lee’s channel.
He had a video published 8 months ago that showed exactly how much money he was able to earn from his YouTube channel. Same as all the other channel’s on my list.
After watching William’s channel, I found out that his channel earned him exactly $7,273.77 from January 1st, 2023, to June 30th, 2023.
That equates to an average income of approximately $1,212 per month.
Next, I went to Social Blade an copied William’s channel URL to see what numbers will the tool show us for this particular example.
Social Blade showed that William’s channel is most likely to earn an average of anywhere from $51 to $824 per month.
No matter how you look at those numbers, it is quite obvious that Social Blade’s accuracy is WAY off.
The minimum Social Blade says this specific channel earns on YouTube is $51. We know for a fact that the channel is actually earning $1,212 on average per month.
It’s true that YouTube revenue can vary widely, and it is influenced by many factors, such as, but not limited to, niche, length of video, average watch time, and so on.
But despite all this, let’s now look at the actual differences between what this tool shows us in terms of revenue and the actual revenue that William’s channel has earned.
If we look at the lower average value provided by Social Blade [$51], we conclude that William’s channel is actually earning, on average, a whopping 2,276.05% more than what Social Blade tells us it earns.
Conversely, if we look at the higher average value provided by Social Blade [$824], we conclude that William’s channel is actually making, on average, 47.13% more than what Social Blade tells us it earns.
But I didn’t want to give up just yet.
And…things started to get even more interesting as I continued analyzing each channel from the list that I’ve put together.
Trends and Patterns Observed In Data Accuracy
I continued doing the same exercise for each and every channel I had added to my Excel spreadsheet.
After I compared the data between real earnings and Social Blade estimations, I was ready to analyze the data at a ‘macro’ level and finally provide you with some data-driven answers.
Here’s what I have found:
- Social Blade wasn’t 100% accurate for any of the 95 channels I looked at.
- The discrepancies in assumptions when it comes to revenue generated by a channel between the lower end of the spectrum and the higher end of the spectrum are ridiculously big.
Also, I noticed that the tool doesn’t really care too much about the channel’s niche, and more often than not, data is generated based on the number of views alone.
I learned this after comparing two different channels [gaming niche vs. finance niche] where the number of views was similar and the period was exactly the same [last month].
On average, if you want to get an estimation that’s closer to what a channel is actually earning by looking at Social Blade data, I suggest you multiply the higher value shown by Social Blade by 1.55.
In this case, that’d translate into something like this: $824 multiplied by 1,55 = $1,277.2
On average, Social Blade revenue estimations are 55% lower than the actual amount of money generated by a YouTube channel.
Does That Mean Social Blade Is NOT Worth?
This is not what I’m saying.
I’m actually using Social Blade and I’m fairly happy with it.
But I do NOT use it to try to find out how much a YouTube account, Instagram account, or TikTok account is earning on average per month.
In fact, I actually recommend Social Blade to look at metrics like:
- how many subscribers does a specific channel gain on average [Instagram followers, TikTok followers, etc.].
- how many views a specific channel gets per day on average.
- how many weekly subscribers a channel gets per week on average.
- plus much more.
Final Thoughts
Remember that Social Blade is VERY accurate when it comes to tracking the number of video views a channel has gained.
However, the subscriber gains are less accurate, as they do not feature exact statistics.
Plus, getting 100% accurate data is something no tool will EVER be able to provide you with. Those are statistics available to the creator alone.
Needless to say, revenue earnings vary widely and are influenced by many factors.
That said, Social Blade does a good enough job at estimating revenue earned by a channel, but don’t expect it to be 100% accurate, as that is not possible.
Hey, if you found today’s article helpful and you’re considering buying the premium version of Social Blade, I’d really appreciate it if you used the link below.
I’ll receive a commission if you sign up using my link, at no additional cost to you.
That’s it for today.
If you have any questions for me, feel free to leave them in the comments below.