I've had similar experiences since Medium started the horrible mistake known as the relational model, and I don't want to jinx it, but I think Med might be slowly coming back!

Tony's gone public to say that he'll be re-working the algorithm to priorities publications (he'll even pay publications!) and reader interaction. Ever since he did that I've been seeing a very slight increase in views.

So, crossing my fingers, I think that quality writing just might be back on the menu, baby!