User Power
Value/Post Ratio
312%
- Mar 20, 2023
- 17
- 53
Much like many members on this forum this year I decided to start a channel for a few reasons. Being born in '99 I've used editing programs my entire life and felt like I wasn't taking advantage of my skillset outside of freelance work. Additionally, I have a genuine passion for creating videos and wanted to establish my own brand and audience on the platform.
I was also introduced to Unscripted and by extension this forum through James Jani, a YouTuber I'm sure most of you are familiar with.
My Approach:
YouTube is a very versatile platform but the videos that stick out the most to me are usually video essay/mini documentaries on business stories or art. In this Mr Beast Spectacle era, high quality well researched videos are trending upwards. Channels that traditionally focus on business/finance stories like Jani or MagnatesMedia produce high quality, well edited stories with great storytelling that could rival any of the dime a dozen Netflix documentaries that seem to plague that platform constantly. Their approach to writing and editing was influential to how I wanted to produce my videos. On the flipside, channels that focus on Film/Music documentaries very rarely have this level of writing and editing but bring value to the fans and present interesting stories related to those artists.
My aim is to bridge these two niches by creating well-edited stories that revolve around artists, businesses, and overarching ideas that connect the two worlds.
Another issue I want to avoid is the abundance of trending topics that result in many creators essentially just reproducing videos that are already available on the platform, most of the time without adding anything of value to the discussion. Because of this I've built my channel on stories/ideas that haven't been talked about before or not to the length I talk about them to. Whether that be a deep dive on how Rap Genius destroyed their own company or how a Martin Scorsese film influenced Kendrick Lamar's last album- You cannot find videos on these topics anywhere else on the platform.
How it's going:
So far I have released 8 videos, opting for a bi-weekly release schedule. With 8 videos I have totaled 26,243 views and 650 Subscribers. This gives me an average of 40 views to 1 Sub and 81 Subscribers per video. For a new creator this is very high. By most estimates the average is around 100 viewers to 1 Subscriber.
The reason I have a great view to sub ratio I believe is because of the quality output of the videos. As I said before, I do have a background in editing that has undoubtedly helped me opposed to the average YouTuber that has released the same amount of videos.
With that being said there are two big downsides to this approach, firstly the amount of time it takes to produce a video of mine is also very high comparatively. I spend anywhere from 40~100 hours producing a video, when others can do that in a tenth of the time. Secondly my approach to not really locking down a certain niche and talking about a vast array of topics that interest me has helped build an audience that also has a wide array of interests-
but this can hinder growth as many viewers that subscribed for one style of video may be turned off by another. They may be interested in film, but not so much in business etc.
As you can see in my long term analytics, a video on an album did very well because it actually started getting recommended on music videos released for that album. Secondly a big way I was promoting my content (reddit) has kind of gone downhill with the blackout related to the api change etc so I'm kind of just letting YouTube recommend the video the best it can.
Future plans:
My goal is to hit 5k subscribers by 2024. I think this is doable if I keep consistently uploading videos on a bi-weekly schedule. As most of you probably know you can't actually directly monetize until you hit 1k subscribers and the platform itself goes against CENTS but building an audience through any social media platform nowadays has the same risks.
I've built my channel talking about unique topics in a high quality way that will (hopefully) promote catalog viewings. So if somebody likes one video they will be inclined to go through my channel and view other videos that interest them. Another big pro to not doing 'trending topic' videos is these videos will not age. Almost everything I talk about will be as accurate/interesting 5 years from now as it is today. This wouldn't be the case if I were making videos on news and drama. This approach promotes what people refer to as 'evergreen' content.
I want to use this thread as a way to document how the channel grows and hopefully share with other creators tips and tricks I find along the way.
Here's my latest video if you are interested in the style/approach I am going for.
I was also introduced to Unscripted and by extension this forum through James Jani, a YouTuber I'm sure most of you are familiar with.
My Approach:
YouTube is a very versatile platform but the videos that stick out the most to me are usually video essay/mini documentaries on business stories or art. In this Mr Beast Spectacle era, high quality well researched videos are trending upwards. Channels that traditionally focus on business/finance stories like Jani or MagnatesMedia produce high quality, well edited stories with great storytelling that could rival any of the dime a dozen Netflix documentaries that seem to plague that platform constantly. Their approach to writing and editing was influential to how I wanted to produce my videos. On the flipside, channels that focus on Film/Music documentaries very rarely have this level of writing and editing but bring value to the fans and present interesting stories related to those artists.
My aim is to bridge these two niches by creating well-edited stories that revolve around artists, businesses, and overarching ideas that connect the two worlds.
Another issue I want to avoid is the abundance of trending topics that result in many creators essentially just reproducing videos that are already available on the platform, most of the time without adding anything of value to the discussion. Because of this I've built my channel on stories/ideas that haven't been talked about before or not to the length I talk about them to. Whether that be a deep dive on how Rap Genius destroyed their own company or how a Martin Scorsese film influenced Kendrick Lamar's last album- You cannot find videos on these topics anywhere else on the platform.
How it's going:
So far I have released 8 videos, opting for a bi-weekly release schedule. With 8 videos I have totaled 26,243 views and 650 Subscribers. This gives me an average of 40 views to 1 Sub and 81 Subscribers per video. For a new creator this is very high. By most estimates the average is around 100 viewers to 1 Subscriber.
The reason I have a great view to sub ratio I believe is because of the quality output of the videos. As I said before, I do have a background in editing that has undoubtedly helped me opposed to the average YouTuber that has released the same amount of videos.
With that being said there are two big downsides to this approach, firstly the amount of time it takes to produce a video of mine is also very high comparatively. I spend anywhere from 40~100 hours producing a video, when others can do that in a tenth of the time. Secondly my approach to not really locking down a certain niche and talking about a vast array of topics that interest me has helped build an audience that also has a wide array of interests-
but this can hinder growth as many viewers that subscribed for one style of video may be turned off by another. They may be interested in film, but not so much in business etc.
As you can see in my long term analytics, a video on an album did very well because it actually started getting recommended on music videos released for that album. Secondly a big way I was promoting my content (reddit) has kind of gone downhill with the blackout related to the api change etc so I'm kind of just letting YouTube recommend the video the best it can.
Future plans:
My goal is to hit 5k subscribers by 2024. I think this is doable if I keep consistently uploading videos on a bi-weekly schedule. As most of you probably know you can't actually directly monetize until you hit 1k subscribers and the platform itself goes against CENTS but building an audience through any social media platform nowadays has the same risks.
I've built my channel talking about unique topics in a high quality way that will (hopefully) promote catalog viewings. So if somebody likes one video they will be inclined to go through my channel and view other videos that interest them. Another big pro to not doing 'trending topic' videos is these videos will not age. Almost everything I talk about will be as accurate/interesting 5 years from now as it is today. This wouldn't be the case if I were making videos on news and drama. This approach promotes what people refer to as 'evergreen' content.
I want to use this thread as a way to document how the channel grows and hopefully share with other creators tips and tricks I find along the way.
Here's my latest video if you are interested in the style/approach I am going for.
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