Finding a Channel's Hidden Gems (Worked on Kurzgesagt and Tom Scott)

By TubeScope Editorial Team · 2026-09-08 · 8 min read

Hidden Gems answers a question most creators never ask: which of my videos are quietly gaining views right now? Here it is run on two real channels on September 8, 2026 — one with a rich answer, one with a trap in it — so you can read your own results correctly.

What the tool actually computes

Two filters. First, quiet: lifetime views below half the channel's median. Second, waking up: current views per day (lifetime views divided by days since upload) above the channel's average. A video must pass both. It is deliberately simple, and the simplicity has consequences you need to read around, which is what the two examples show.

Kurzgesagt: sixteen gems, two kinds

Kurzgesagt has 345 uploads in our fetch and a median of 11.0M views per long-form video — so "quiet" here means under 5.5M, which would be a career-best for most channels. The tool found 16 gems, and they split cleanly.

The young ones — 4 videos under six months old — top the list because they are still in their launch tail: How Are Memories Stored Inside Your Brain? at 2.8M views and 46,052 a day two months in, GERMANY IS OVER at 4.8M and 39,473 a day. These are not hidden; they are simply new, and their views-per-day is high because the denominator is small. Wait a few months before reading anything into them.

The old ones are the real find — 12 videos more than six months old that are still pulling well above the channel's 11,388-views-a-day average: Astronomy Is In Crisis...And It's Incredibly Exciting (5.2M views, 9 months ago, 19,005 a day) and Why Are There No Holes Around Trees? (4.6M, 8 months ago, 18,914 a day). Those are evergreen: search and suggested traffic keep finding them long after the subscriber wave passed. For Kurzgesagt they are the videos to link from new uploads, to sequel, and to keep the titles sharp on. For a competitor, they map the topics with lasting demand.

Tom Scott: five gems and a reading trap

Tom Scott's channel has 756 uploads in our fetch, a median of 1.5M views, and an average of just 1,695 views a day — low, because hundreds of older videos have long since gone quiet and drag the average down. The tool returned 5 gems, every one of them under five months old, led by If I get this wrong, 50,000 people will hear it. at 20,065 a day.

Here is the trap: when a channel's average views-per-day is that low, "above average" is a very easy bar, so any recent upload clears it. The honest reading is that the catalogue is launch-driven — no old video is resurfacing — and the recent uploads are simply doing what recent uploads do. The fix is to compare recent videos against recent norms rather than the whole-catalogue average, which is what the audit's momentum signal does.

How to read your own results

• Split by age. Under six months is a launch tail. Over six months is a genuine gem.
• Check the bar. If your channel average views-per-day is tiny because of a long dead catalogue, treat "above average" with suspicion.
• Zero is information. No gems means every video peaks at launch — your growth has no search tail. Add evergreen, searchable topics.
• Act on the old ones. Refresh the title and thumbnail (they are earning clicks on old packaging), pin a comment linking your best related video, add an end screen, and make the sequel — the demand is already proven.
• Ages are coarse. YouTube publishes "8 months ago", not a date, so views-per-day is an estimate. Rankings are reliable; exact figures are not.

Run it on your channel, then on the two channels you compete with. The overlap between their old gems and your topic list is a content calendar.

Frequently asked questions

What is a hidden gem on YouTube?

A video with fewer than half the channel's median lifetime views that is currently earning more views per day than the channel's average. It is quiet overall but unusually active right now — usually because search or suggested traffic is finding it.

Why do new videos show up as hidden gems?

Because views per day is lifetime views divided by age, and a video a few weeks old has a small denominator. Treat anything under about six months old as a launch tail, not a gem. The genuine gems are the older videos still pulling above the channel's average.

What should I do with a hidden gem on my own channel?

Refresh its title and thumbnail, since it is earning clicks on old packaging; pin a comment linking your best related video; add an end screen; and make a sequel. The demand is already proven, which makes it the cheapest growth available.

What does it mean if the tool finds no gems?

Every video on the channel peaks at launch and then goes quiet — the catalogue has no search tail. For your own channel, that means adding evergreen, searchable topics; for a competitor's, it reveals a lane they have left open.

How accurate is the views-per-day figure?

It is an estimate: YouTube publishes ages like '8 months ago' rather than exact dates, and views per day is a lifetime average rather than a live velocity. The ranking of gems is reliable; the exact daily figures are approximate.

Try it yourself: Hidden Gems · Channel Audit · Title Rewriter