[winternett]

Just an opinion, but I think YouTube doesn't leverage their CDN for content that gets low views, and they also move that content to less responsive (less expensive) storage space... It makes accessing content with low views buffer a lot more than popular content, and increases the effect of lower viewership. If you look regularly at videos under 100 views, it becomes really apparent. This is why they also only feature low videos manually, and in small batches so they can move them to "higher priority" hosting. That may well explain your issues... I am not exactly sure where the high value host threshold for views is likely set though.

They are really not concerned with discovery of new (non sponsored) creators and talent on the platform, some of the best content I've found is really underviewed. I post my rare finds too - http://www.ruffandtuffrecordings.com/SELECTIONS

It hinders others when they embed YT video links into their own apps as well by making them slow to load. That way there's also little motivation for viewers to want to watch YT anywhere else but on the main platform.