Could it be a combination of less in the reward pool and people delegating their VP for pay? Have you noticed any difference in who is regularly upvoting you?
As a low level account I haven't really noticed a difference, but then if it's a percentage thing then it probably isn't as obvious in small increments. It could also be that SBD seems to be dropping. Down to $2 at the moment.
SBD doesn't affect the potential payouts. They're based on the average price of STEEM. The site always treats SBD as $1.
Good point. SP is at Steem price isn't it? so that shouldn't affect upvote value.
Steem price affects the upvote value and payout.