You should never compared your views/engagement to big channels because the algorithm treats different size channels differently

As a small channel of 1570something subs when I talk to other people from my field, which is more down to earth, slower paced videos focused on mostly retro gaming and such they all seem to have roughly the same stats, retention and so on.

We've come to the conclusion that big channels, by default, get different treatment from the algorithm due to the sheer amount of exposure their videos get initially because they have a wide reach and huge subscriber counts.

So whether someone blew up with their first video or not is irrelevant because once they're up there, they have more exposure than you.

With that said, I don't think the algorithm is fair or good by any means I could write volumes on why it's broken, unfair and the whole youtube ecosystem is unhealthy and degrading, but that's stuff I've talked about before many times.

What I want to explain to people this time is that it is important to focus on channel with similar subscriber and viewcounts as you if you're going to compare to somebody, don't depress yourself over what big channels accomplish you are not there yet, you may never get there yet due to the algorithm and that's that, but hitting your head against a wall trying to accomplish what they do is pointless when it's out of your hands, it's a machine, it's how it operates. If you luck out you will get there or get close to that, if not well tough.