YouTube Shorts Architecture Simulator & Split-App Impact Model

Source Incident: YouTuber Alex O'Connor proposed YouTube "banish" Shorts to a standalone app to protect long-form watch time and creator RPM.

Presets

Ecosystem Parameters

Shorts App Partition 50%

0% = Fully Unified Feed | 100% = 100% Isolated App (Banish)

Crossover Funnel Retention 65%

% of users discovering creators on Shorts who convert to long-form videos

Long-Form RPM Multiplier 1.4x

Higher RPM when long-form intent is freed from short-form distraction

App Separation Churn Rate 8.5%

Estimated audience lost due to app install barrier and friction

Platform Health Score

Scale 0-100 (Equilibrium index)

Annual Revenue Impact

+14.2%

Versus Unified Baseline ($34B base)

Creator Discovery Index

Optimized

High-intent conversion channel

Simulation Status

Simulated Successfully

Dynamic Model Synchronized

Interactive Traffic & Monetization Pipeline Flow

Real-time topology computed with D3.js

Direct comparison between Google/YouTube's Current Unified Feed and the Simulated Standalone App Partition.

System Metric	Unified Feed Baseline	Simulated Partition	Net Variance
Long-form Average Watch Duration	14.2 min / session	18.6 min / session	+31.0%
Creator Estimated RPM (Average)	$3.20 / 1k views	$4.48 / 1k views	+40.0%
Discovery Funnel Conversion	2.8% to subscriptions	3.6% to subscriptions	+28.6%
Total Monthly Active Users (MAU)	2,700M users	2,470M users	-8.5%
Ad Load Tolerance (Fatigue Index)	74 / 100 (Elevated)	58 / 100 (Optimal)	-21.6%