In a nutshell

  • The most disliked video is YouTube’s 2018 Rewind
  • Dislikes can help creators determine what content their audiences dislikes
  • Creators should pay attention to dislike as closely as they do to likes

It’s common knowledge to YouTubers that the like button is better than the dislike button. However, the dislike button isn’t as bad of a thing as one might think. Though uploading a video that gets a lot of dislikes is usually seen as a bad thing, it doesn’t necessarily have to be. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the YouTube dislike button. We will discuss what it does, what the most disliked YouTube video currently is and why the dislike button isn’t as bad a thing as you might think it is.

What does disliking a YouTube video do?

Most YouTubers focus more on subscriptions, shares, views and comments — for good reason, too. However, dislikes also matter. When a video receives a dislike, it hurts its standing with YouTube’s algorithm. A dislike flags the video as content that isn’t worth viewers’ time or content that’s misleading or contains incorrect information. Regardless of the reason, videos that are disliked typically are buried in search results by the algorithm; YouTube wants to dish out liked videos to users watching.

However, one dislike isn’t likely going to bury it. It all depends on your like-to-dislike ratio. For instance, Markipler’s video “we found a message… | Raft” has 346 dislikes. While that might seem like a lot a first, when we see that the video has 77K likes on it, the video’s like-to-dislike ratio tells the algorithm that an overwhelming majority — about 99 percent — of the viewers liked this video. Note, though, the like-to-dislike ratio isn’t the only factor the YouTube algorithm looks at when determining if it should push the video up in search results. It is possible for a massively disliked video to still be at the top of search results. We see this with YouTube’s top creators and businesses. However, for smaller creators, it has a big impact on their performance in the algorithm.

Unfortunately, YouTube took away the ability to see other people’s videos’ like-to-dislike ratios earlier this year. Though, you can still see yours in your Creator Studio.

Is the disklike button important?

The dislike button serves two purposes. First, it gives YouTube an idea of whether or not the video is worth pushing into search results. Second, it gives creators important information about what their audience thinks about the content of the video. Say you’re primarily a gaming channel on YouTube, but you want to break out into baking content. You upload a few baking videos and notice that your baking videos have more dislikes than your gaming content. It’s a sign that your current audience isn’t a fan of your content. It’s a data point that can help you understand your audience and make a more informed decision about the future of your channel and what content you should post.

What is the most disliked YouTube video, and why?

If you’re curious about what the most disliked YouTube video is, look no further than YouTube. Yes, YouTube. YouTube ironically uploaded the most disliked YouTube video ever back in 2018 when it published “YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind | #YouTubeRewind.” It currently holds 3.1 million likes and 20 million dislikes, which suggests about 87 percent of viewers disliked this video. Both content creators and fans faulted the video for being too corporate, commercial and highlighting celebrities instead of the platform’s actual community. Its long running time of 8 minutes also played a hand in its contempt, as well.

Should you encourage dislikes?

Some YouTubers will argue that any publicity is good publicity. There are videos that will blow up on YouTube due to the sheer number of dislikes it has. We won’t beat around the bush; sometimes, this strategy works. Drama and controversy can sometimes help creators grow bigger. However, they’re gambling on their channel’s future. They hope that if just one of their videos gains traction due to the number of dislikes it gets, that will naturally result in more eyes on their content and brand. It sometimes works, sure, but it’s rare, especially for smaller creators. Plus, it’s potentially damaging to your brand and will have the opposite effect of what you initially intended the strategy to do. While YouTube didn’t plan to make the most disliked video, it took a hit to its image when it uploaded 2018’s Rewind.

What can you really learn from disliked videos?

Having a few disliked videos on YouTube doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a bad content creator. Likes and dislikes on your video indicate your current audience’s feedback on the video’s contents. Sure, that video won’t perform as well in the algorithm, but you can use that information to help your future content perform better. Dislikes indicate what you shouldn’t do if you want to grow more.

So, moving forward, be mindful of dislikes, but they aren’t the end-all and bell-all. In fact, some creators find dislikes more helpful than likes simply because it helps them decide what’s working and what isn’t. So, keep a level head if one of your videos gets a few dislikes and take a close look as to why it was disliked so much.