What Is Sub4Sub?

Sub4Sub, or ‘sub for sub’, is the practice of subscribing to somebody else’s channel in exchange for them subscribing to yours. Whether Sub4Sub works is very debatable as people say it’s good, and others say it’s bad, however, it is fairly popular. At the end of the day, it’s really one of the worst things you can do for your YouTube Channel. Here’s why.

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Creators send messages to fellow creators asking if they would like to sub for sub, and there are even off-YouTube sites devoted to connecting YouTubers so they can subscribe to each other.

How is Sub4Sub bad?

Yes. Sub4Sub WILL help you get subscribers,

BUT

Sub4sub is one of the worst things you can do to a new channel because you will not get any real subscribers, and it will only boost the number of subscribers you have, not the number of viewers you have. You want your videos to be what people subscribe to your channel for, not because of some sub4sub network

In nearly all cases, those subscribers (who do sub4sub) will never watch any of your videos. They will also never share them or tell their friends to watch them, the way subscribers gained organically will. So while your subscriber count goes up, your view count stays low. This is because they are only doing the sub4sub, to gain a subscription for them, then they’ll most likely unsubscribe later.

IS IT LEGAL?

Technically yes.. You’re not going to get arrested or anything like that. But they do violate YouTube’s terms of service so if you’re caught at it you’ll be penalized at best and might have your entire channel terminated.

I have spoke with many creators over the years, i have spoken and researched “sub4sub” many of times. “Sub4Sub” also hurts you in the future. Even after you’ve realised that sub4sub is bad, the YouTube algorithm will detect that none of your “subscribers” are watching your videos, so once you get actual subscribers, YouTube won’t send your videos to them. This is also the same as buying subscribers, don’t do that. We can get into this later…

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What if I’ve already started Sub4Sub. Just stop

Now, if you have already tried sub4sub, and you want to steer away from it, here are some suggestions I recommend. First off, stop all sub4sub services or message boards. This may seem obvious, but I just want to emphasize it. If you just tried it a couple times, this shouldn’t be too hard, but if you have gotten more than 50 subscribers from sub4sub, you are in some deep trouble.

If you just did it a couple of times, just stop and try to build a real subscriber base from cross promotion or social media. These are great ways to start out a channel, and they give you real subscribers instead of fake numbers. If you have gained a lot of subscribers from sub4sub, you might consider making a new channel because it will take a long time to create a true subscriber base after a lot of sub4sub. I only recommend starting a new channel for people who have gained over 100 subscribers from sub4sub because when people see all those subscribers with only around 40 views on your best video, people aren’t going to take a second look at your channel.

For those of you who are not getting anywhere and are considering sub4sub to get started, I just want to say DON’T DO IT! Sub4sub is one of the worst thing you can do to a new channel because you will not get any real subscribers, and it will only boost the number of subscribers you have, not the number of viewers you have. You want your videos to be what people subscribe to your channel for, not because of some sub4sub network. If you are not getting noticed, try posting on sites like Facebook and Twitter to get your friends to watch them, and if your videos are truly good they will share them with their friends. If you have already tried this method, I would recommend Search Engine Optimization. This is key to getting your videos noticed by people who aren’t your friends. don’t use sub4sub.

Final Takeaway:

NEVER EVER do Sub4Sub. This would do more bad then good. Use good titles, thumbnails, descriptions etc to grow, and not sub4sub. Trust me. Don’t do it. I myself have never done it, but i know others who have, and it has not went well.

Look at this blog post to learn how to get started, and how to grow on YouTube, you will benefit from reading that.