A real live audience breathes: up at the top of the hour, down after the break, a swell when news breaks. A number that refuses to move deserves a look.
Six patterns
- Few likes for the views. Far below comparable channels.
- Views far above the audience size. Several times what comparable channels draw per subscriber.
- A surge that brings no one back. Thousands of views in minutes, almost no new likes.
- A spike that drops straight back. Several times the recent level, gone within minutes.
- A flat line. A long live stream that hardly moves.
- Identical steps. The same growth, sample after sample.
Why we never say “fake”
Public numbers show a pattern, never who watched. A flat line can be a lobby screen. A spike can be a celebrity share. The radar puts the pattern, with its numbers, in front of a person and keeps their decision on file.
A flag is a question, not an answer.
What a reviewer can do
Mark a flag cleared (with a note), watching or confirmed. Cleared stops counting. Confirmed withholds the channel’s creator score and keeps it out of the planner’s budget split. Decision, reviewer and note are kept.
The rule
When a number looks too good, or too still, look. Then write down what you found.