How to Get 10M Views on YouTube Shorts in 90 Days

Hitting 10 million views on YouTube Shorts within 90 days sounds like a far-fetched dream, but it's a very achievable goal built on strategy, not just luck. This isn't about one viral video that changes everything overnight, it's about building a system that consistently produces high-performing content. This guide will walk you through the exact content framework, psychological triggers, and day-by-day plan to get there.

Section 1: Reverse-Engineering a High-Performing Short

Before creating anything, you have to understand why people watch and, more importantly, rewatch Shorts. The YouTube Shorts algorithm prioritizes a few key signals from viewers that directly influence how widely your content is distributed.

The Three Signals That Matter Most:

• Viewer Satisfaction: Did the viewer watch the entire video? Even better, did they let it loop and watch it again? High retention and multiple loops are the strongest positive signals you can send. This is why many viral Shorts are under 15 seconds - they're incredibly easy to rewatch.
• Swipe-Away Rate: How quickly are people swiping away from your Short? The first two seconds are your entire battlefield. If you can’t grab attention immediately, the algorithm notes that people are actively skipping your content, and it will stop showing it.
• Engagement: Likes, comments, and shares are valuable, but they often come after a viewer is satisfied. Think of them as secondary signals that confirm a video is resonating. High engagement on a video with good retention is a powerful combination.

Your job isn't to "hack the algorithm" but to create videos that consistently trigger these positive viewer signals. Every strategy from here on out is designed to do just that.

Section 2: Finding Your Winning Content Formula

You can't be everything to everyone. The fastest path to 10 million views is by becoming the go-to source for one specific thing. The goal is to make content so specific and satisfying that when someone sees your video on their For You Page, their immediate thought is, "Oh, nice, it's the [Your Topic] 'person' again."

Step 1: Niche Down… Then Niche Down Again

Saying your niche is "comedy" or "lifestyle" is too broad. You need to get hyper-specific, especially in the beginning. Broad categories have too much competition and no clear, loyal audience.

Broad Niche Examples (Not Good):

• Cooking
• Gaming
• Fitness

Hyper-Niche Examples (Much Better):

• "Dumps of the Week" (One-pot meals that look messy but taste amazing)
• "Worst Player to 'Prestige' in Call of Duty" (Documenting a terribly unskilled journey)
• "Trying weird protein snacks so you don't have to" (Product reviews with a twist)

This specificity attracts a dedicated following. Once you establish your audience, you can slowly broaden your topics, but you must first own your tiny corner of the internet.

Step 2: Master the Art of the Hook (The First 3 Seconds)

A good hook is a promise of value. It tells the viewer exactly why they should stop scrolling and invest the next 10 seconds with you. If you can't hook them, nothing else matters.

Hooks that work every time:

• Ask a Question: "Did you know the plastic tip on your shoelace has a name?" This creates an open loop in the viewer's mind that they want to see closed.
• Start with the Punchline: Show the amazing final result first. A beautifully decorated cake, a sparkling clean sink, a perfectly executed trick shot. Then, quickly cut to show how you did it.
• Contradict common wisdom: "You've been cracking eggs wrong your entire life." This kind of statement is bold and challenges the viewer, making them curious to see if you can back it up.
• Use a "Point-of-View" (POV) visual hook: Start with an intriguing visual that makes the viewer ask "what is happening here?" Imagine opening a video on a close-up of something fuzzy and orange moving, then revealing it's a cat playing with a piece of cantaloupe. The initial confusion generates enough curiosity to keep them watching.
• Use on-screen text as a static hook: Simple text on the screen like "This one hack changed how I work forever" makes your promise crystal clear, even if the user has their sound off.

Your first three seconds should always present a question, a promise, or a visual puzzle that the rest of the video solves.

Step 3: Tell a Story in 15 Seconds or Less

Even a simple cleaning video has a story structure: a problem (dirty stove), a setup (the cleaning product), and a payoff (the satisfying clean result). People stick around for payoffs. Keep your Shorts lean and focused on a quick, clear transformation.

Two reliable storytelling frameworks:

• Problem -> Solution -> Result: This is the foundation of tutorials, hacks, and advice content. Show the problem, introduce your unique solution, and show the amazing result.
• Setup -> Punchline: This is the core of most comedy and skit content. Create an expectation (the setup) and then subvert it (the punchline).

The key to making these work in a short format is speed. Cut out all the "fluff." Don't waste a second. Get to the point, deliver the value, and end the video. A clean ending encourages an immediate loop, boosting your retention metric.

Section 3: The 90-Day Blueprint to 10 Million Views

This isn't a "get rich quick" scheme, it's a structured, three-month content plan designed to find your formula and then scale it relentlessly. This process values data over feelings and consistency over perfection.

Days 1-30: The Testing Phase (Focus: Volume & Data)

Your goal this month is to collect as much data as possible. You have no idea what will work, so you're going to throw a lot at the wall to see what sticks. Do not aim for perfection, aim for speed and iteration.

• Posting Frequency: 3 to 5 Shorts PER DAY. Yes, every day. These don't have to be cinematic masterpieces. A 10-second Short can be filmed, edited on your phone, and uploaded in 15 minutes.
• What to Test: Post videos using different hooks, sub-topics within your niche, trending audio, and video styles (talking head, raw POV, text overlays).
• The End-of-Month Review: At the end of 30 days, go to your YouTube Studio analytics for Shorts. Sort by views. Ignore the failures and focus entirely on your top 5-10 performing videos. Look for patterns.
  • What hooks did they use?
  • What topics were they about?
  • What was the average view duration? Did it exceed 100%? (That's the sign of looping!)
  • What did people say in the comments?

These top performers are your roadmap for the next month. You have now found the "hot spots" where audience interest and your content overlap.

Days 31-60: The Optimization Phase (Focus: Refine & Double Down)

You have your data. Now, stop doing everything that didn't work and pour all your energy into what did. This month is about refining your winning formula.

• Posting Frequency: Reduce to 1 to 3 Shorts per day. With fewer posts, you can increase the quality and polish on each one.
• Content Strategy: Take your top 5 videos from Phase 1 and treat them as content "pillars." Your job is to create variations, sequels, and new versions of these proven winners.
  • If a "life hack" video performed well, create a Part 2, 3, and 4.
  • If a video on a specific product took off, do another one on a similar product.
  • If a certain joke format landed, use that format with a new punchline.
• Study the Analytics: Continue to monitor your analytics. Are the "Part 2" videos getting higher retention than the "Part 1"s? You’re not just recreating hits, you are improving them based on audience feedback.

Days 61-90: The Scaling Phase (Focus: Consistency & Authority)

By now, you should have a very clear and proven content formula. You know what your audience wants, and you know how to deliver it. This final month is about scaling that success and becoming a recognized authority in your niche.

• Posting Frequency: A steady 1 to 2 high-quality Shorts per day. Every video should feel like a "banger" because it's built on two months of data and testing.
• Hero Content: Now that you have an audience, you can create slightly more ambitious "hero" pieces of content. Maybe you create a definitive "Top 5" list within your niche or tackle a commonly asked question with a more in-depth answer (while still keeping it snappy).
• Establish Your Brand: Use consistent visuals, on-screen text fonts, or a familiar opening phrase. When someone sees your video, they should recognize it's yours before they even see your name.

Section 4: Little Details that Make a Big Difference

Beyond the content itself, a few technical choices can increase your discovery.

• Titles & Hashtags: Keep your titles short and engaging. Often, rewriting the on-screen hook as your title works best. For hashtags, use a simple formula: one broad term (like #shorts), one general term for your category (like #cooking), and two hyper-specific terms for your video (like #airfryerrecipes #mealprep).
• Trending Audio: Using trending sounds and music is like attaching a rocket booster to your video. It signals to YouTube that your content is relevant to a current trend, and the algorithm may push it to viewers who have enjoyed other videos with that same sound.
• Community Engagement: In the first hour after you post, respond to as many comments as you can. Early engagement is another positive signal to the algorithm. Ask a question in your caption or in a pinned comment to further encourage comments.

Final Thoughts

Hitting 10 million views in 90 days isn't magic, it's a disciplined process of high-volume testing, data analysis, and strategic optimization. By focusing on retaining viewers, creating irresistible hooks, and following a structured content plan, you build a powerful feedback loop with the algorithm and your audience, leading to exponential growth.

Manually posting 3 to 5 videos across multiple platforms a day during those first 30 days can become a full-time job in itself. Having built platforms in this space, we designed Postbase to solve this exact problem. Our platform is built around a visual calendar specifically for modern social media like YouTube Shorts, Reels, and TikTok, so you can batch-create your content and then schedule it out in one go. Instead of constantly reacting, you get to plan your strategy and focus your energy on what gets results: making great content.