Growing an MMA news channel on YouTube

[Cameraman]

I already did as soon as it came out. Video tanked.

That would suggest your usual audience didn't click on the video when they were notified at launch. YouTube won't begin showing your video to lots of new people unless it determines your existing audience likes it first.

 

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[Timmy C]

That would suggest your usual audience didn't click on the video when they were notified at launch. YouTube won't begin showing your video to lots of new people unless it determines your existing audience likes it first.

Yeh that's right. if the current subscriber base is interested then it gets pushed out.

Sometimes the CTR and watch time is terrible, and objectively the quality is more or less the same. Some of my videos that tank are even better quality than more popular videos, but if they aren't interested, then it won't do well!

I got unlucky with my last video, released a breakdown of a fight the night before going to bed, and woke up to it being cancelled haha.

 

[Timmy C]

That would suggest your usual audience didn't click on the video when they were notified at launch. YouTube won't begin showing your video to lots of new people unless it determines your existing audience likes it first.

I have filtered all of my videos that have 3000 + views on my channel and will try make similar or ''on the nose'' content to this moving forward and just assess what happens.

I kind of want to get a feel for a different style of video aswell, so i will try that out also and see how people respond.

 

[Cameraman]

I have filtered all of my videos that have 3000 + views on my channel and will try make similar or ''on the nose'' content to this moving forward and just assess what happens.

I kind of want to get a feel for a different style of video aswell, so i will try that out also and see how people respond.

That's a popular strategy - do more of what works. It helps YouTube push your channel more. The downside is you can become pigeon-holed in a niche you don't like making videos in a style you don't want.

My channel suffers from low numbers because it covers a broad niche and I switch subjects a lot within that niche. If you look at my competitors they tend to cover a small part of what I do and grow faster. While growing my channel is difficult, that's not my strategy (I tried it and found it too stressful). I want to create "evergreen" content that ranks well in search and allows people to discover and buy my products. This leads to a steady but not dramatic growth of new customers.

Coming up with a strategy to achieve your end goal is important. Picking the right end goal is equally important.

 

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[Spenny]

This is a cool thread Timmy, well done for putting in the consistent work! Will be following.

 

[Timmy C]

This is a cool thread Timmy, well done for putting in the consistent work! Will be following.

Thanks for that @Spenny

I hope you get value from it!

 

[Timmy C]

In this video I tried to recreate the same success in my prior ''path to victory'' video that got over 5000 views.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxJiLgtGS9w


If I would change anything it would probably be the promotion towards the end of the video. I feel it's a bit too much, so I will change it up next time.

 

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[Andy Black]

If I would change anything it would probably be the promotion towards the end of the video. I feel it's a bit too much, so I will change it up next time.

Sometimes the market will tell you different so it's cool to leave it in there and see how it performs.

If the CTA doesn't perform well at the end of the video would you redo it and repost it?

 

[Timmy C]

Sometimes the market will tell you different so it's cool to leave it in there and see how it performs.

If the CTA doesn't perform well at the end of the video would you redo it and repost it?

It really depends on the amount of views on the video as I can't gather enough information from a small sample of views to say if it is a good CTA or not.

If I get plenty of views and hardly any or no sign ups for my ebook, I would redo the marketing for the next video.

 

[Cameraman]

In this video I tried to recreate the same success in my prior ''path to victory'' video that got over 5000 views.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxJiLgtGS9w


If I would change anything it would probably be the promotion towards the end of the video. I feel it's a bit too much, so I will change it up next time.

The video production and quality of the video are good.

I'm interested in your approach to titles. Is this similar to your previous video that performed well?
It's not really grabbing my attention and making me want to click.

Have you considered trying to create titles that generate more curiosity to see if that improves performance?

 

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[Timmy C]

The video production and quality of the video are good.

I'm interested in your approach to titles. Is this similar to your previous video that performed well?
It's not really grabbing my attention and making me want to click.

Have you considered trying to create titles that generate more curiosity to see if that improves performance?

Yeh it's almost an exact replica of the last title. Just with a different fighter covered.

Have considered creating different titles yes, but atm not much I do is making a difference at all to be honest.
It is a bit all over the place to be honest mate. Most titles I make tend to not be that attention grabbing and do fairly well, other's not so much. not really much consistency in the data for me to figure out what's what.

Can't make sense of why the last 2 weeks have sucked so much. it's like a bomb has hit the channel haha. But it's not a big deal, a slow 2 weeks is just 2 weeks. Not much happening in MMA at the moment that is exciting to alot of fans, I don't know if the lack of quality fights and news taking place has anything to do with it or it's a ME issue.

I will change the title and thumbnail now, see how it goes.

Just keep going.

 

[Andy Black]

Yeh it's almost an exact replica of the last title. Just with a different fighter covered.

Have considered creating different titles yes, but atm not much I do is making a difference at all to be honest.
It is a bit all over the place to be honest mate. Most titles I make tend to not be that attention grabbing and do fairly well, other's not so much. not really much consistency in the data for me to figure out what's what.

Can't make sense of why the last 2 weeks have sucked so much. it's like a bomb has hit the channel haha. But it's not a big deal, a slow 2 weeks is just 2 weeks. Not much happening in MMA at the moment that is exciting to alot of fans, I don't know if the lack of quality fights and news taking place has anything to do with it or it's a ME issue.

I will change the title and thumbnail now, see how it goes.

Just keep going.

Are there MMA/fight videos on YouTube pulling lots of views at the moment? (How can you tell even?) Can you do topics similar to them so your video is recommended? (I know, I know... everyone else is trying to do the same thing.)

 

[Timmy C]

Are there MMA/fight videos on YouTube pulling lots of views at the moment? (How can you tell even?) Can you do topics similar to them so your video is recommended? (I know, I know... everyone else is trying to do the same thing.)

Many of the channels have seen a drop in views, most not as much as me, they seem to have kept a level of consistency in views relative to me. But they have crap thumbnails, and bad titles, it's not that they are bad but INCREDIBLY basic.

They aren't even thumbnails with effort, just a standard photo pulled from google and writing on them.

So I am not convinced that all this effort on thumbnails and titles is making that much of a difference.

It's easy to create a good thumbnail that makes people want to click, but I won't make a clickable thumbnail just for the sake of it if it doesn't match the video. Then people will just click and leave, so it's not just about making the best thumbnails really. The challenge is making a clickable thumbnail that matches the expectations of the viewer when they click on the video.

I try to find a balance between clickable yes, but more so making the thumbnail match what people expect to see in the video.

 

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[Andy Black]

Many of the channels have seen a drop in views, most not as much as me, they seem to have kept a level of consistency in views relative to me. But they have crap thumbnails, and bad titles, it's not that they are bad but INCREDIBLY basic.

They aren't even thumbnails with effort, just a standard photo pulled from google and writing on them.

So I am not convinced that all this effort on thumbnails and titles is making that much of a difference.

It's easy to create a good thumbnail that makes people want to click, but I won't make a clickable thumbnail just for the sake of it if it doesn't match the video. Then people will just click and leave, so it's not just about making the best thumbnails really.

I try to find a balance between clickable yes, but more so making the thumbnail match what people expect to see in the video.

What topics/videos are getting lots of views this week? Can you piggyback off that somehow?

 

[Timmy C]

What topics/videos are getting lots of views this week? Can you piggyback off that somehow?

Across the board there isn't many I have seen that have really taken off on MMA news channels. But I will have a look around and see if i can cover something.

 

[Cameraman]

Yeh it's almost an exact replica of the last title. Just with a different fighter covered.

Have considered creating different titles yes, but atm not much I do is making a difference at all to be honest.
It is a bit all over the place to be honest mate. Most titles I make tend to not be that attention grabbing and do fairly well, other's not so much. not really much consistency in the data for me to figure out what's what.

Can't make sense of why the last 2 weeks have sucked so much. it's like a bomb has hit the channel haha. But it's not a big deal, a slow 2 weeks is just 2 weeks. Not much happening in MMA at the moment that is exciting to alot of fans, I don't know if the lack of quality fights and news taking place has anything to do with it or it's a ME issue.

I will change the title and thumbnail now, see how it goes.

Just keep going.

I think both thumbnails look good but your title is more of a description. Compare your current title with an alternative of "Is This A Challenge Too Far For Max Holloway?". I don't know if this would perform any better but it will probably create more interest and curiosity in people skimming through a list of videos to watch.

Do you have a photo of this fighter after a fight? Put that on the thumbnail in the centre and then cover the other fighter's face with a red question mark. It might even be better to just have Max Holloway on the thumbnail looking beaten up. Now the thumbnail and title work together to raise more curiosity.

The only difficulty you then face is that you may need to change your intro. Use the first 30 seconds to explain why this fight could be his biggest challenge and why this other fighter is so good. Perhaps show his record or how impressive the challenger has been in the past. This is just to hold the viewer's interest for the magical 30 seconds after which they are more likely to watch the rest of the video.

As for things being slow these past 2 weeks, it does happen. I see an annual pattern with my niche. Things begin to slow from around May and then pick up again around October time. In the slow months, my traffic seems to be around 50% of the good months. I also see this repeated in visitors to my website and sales (although it's most obvious on YouTube). You may find there is a natural "off-season" in MMA each year. Don't let it put you off.

 

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[Timmy C]

I think both thumbnails look good but your title is more of a description. Compare your current title with an alternative of "Is This A Challenge Too Far For Max Holloway?". I don't know if this would perform any better but it will probably create more interest and curiosity in people skimming through a list of videos to watch.

Yeh I think a little more clickbaity like you mentioned probably suits my niche more as it isn't exactly designed for search most of the time.

The only difficulty you then face is that you may need to change your intro. Use the first 30 seconds to explain why this fight could be his biggest challenge and why this other fighter is so good. Perhaps show his record or how impressive the challenger has been in the past. This is just to hold the viewer's interest for the magical 30 seconds after which they are more likely to watch the rest of the video.

I did notice once i had more than 55% of my viewers watching for the first 30 seconds it is more likely to do well. With the current intro i achieve regularly betweek 50% (being quite low these days for me) and 75% being on the higher end for me. Is this good?

As for things being slow these past 2 weeks, it does happen. I see an annual pattern with my niche. Things begin to slow from around May and then pick up again around October time. In the slow months, my traffic seems to be around 50% of the good months. I also see this repeated in visitors to my website and sales (although it's most obvious on YouTube). You may find there is a natural "off-season" in MMA each year. Don't let it put you off.

Yeh it is a bit slower. I was saying to a friend even I'm not excited about the current match ups etc. But things look to be getting a bit better in a few weeks time I would say. I am not put off that's for sure, I am having fun with it

You always bring a fresh perspective when we have a chat.
Thanks for your ideas mate.

 

[Cameraman]

I did notice once i had more than 55% of my viewers watching for the first 30 seconds it is more likely to do well. With the current intro i achieve regularly betweek 50% (being quite low these days for me) and 75% being on the higher end for me. Is this good?

Each person is likely to have a different level and it probably changes between viewer groups. I can imagine younger audiences have shorter attention spans as do people looking for entertainment. With older audiences or people looking for how to do something it's likely to be higher. My 30 second retention is usually about 75% with 80% being good.

Video duration is also a factor in this as people are likely to keep watching a shorter video. But with longer videos, it needs to grab them or they will click off and watch something else.

If you go to the analytics for a video and scroll to the bottom of the "Overview" you can see a graph of your video retention. Click the "See more" link and then in the dropdown you can select to compare your retention with similar videos. That will give you a little more insight. Here's an example where the retention compared to similar videos is high throughout a lot of the video.



Now look at the regular retention graph for the same video.


The crazy lump in the middle is caused by Google highlighting a section of the video in search results.

Analytics are great but you need to spend time understanding what they are telling you.

You always bring a fresh perspective when we have a chat.
Thanks for your ideas mate.

You're very welcome. I like to try to help others when I can.

 

[Timmy C]

I am in the process of writing the script for my channel trailer and wondered what you guys think of it:

''Do you want to be kept in the loop on all of the latest MMA action?

I'm Tim, the founder of the camp Combat youtube channel.

I share your passion for this incredible sport and my goal is to provide you with unparalleled combat sport coverage on YouTube.

Expect comprehensive breakdowns of the latest MMA news, insightful fight predictions, and post-fight analysis to keep you fully immersed in the world of MMA.

I like giving back to my subscribers. As a token of appreciation for your support.

I've created a free eBook called "Combat Training Essentials" to help fellow martial artists elevate their performance and extend their journey. You can find the download link in the description below.

For the best MMA content on YouTube today, make sure to click that subscribe button.

Join our community and never miss out on the action!

Take care.''

 

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[Cameraman]

I am in the process of writing the script for my channel trailer and wondered what you guys think of it:

''Do you want to be kept in the loop on all of the latest MMA action?

I'm Tim, the founder of the camp Combat youtube channel.

I share your passion for this incredible sport and my goal is to provide you with unparalleled combat sport coverage on YouTube.

Expect comprehensive breakdowns of the latest MMA news, insightful fight predictions, and post-fight analysis to keep you fully immersed in the world of MMA.

I like giving back to my subscribers. As a token of appreciation for your support.

I've created a free eBook called "Combat Training Essentials" to help fellow martial artists elevate their performance and extend their journey. You can find the download link in the description below.

For the best MMA content on YouTube today, make sure to click that subscribe button.

Join our community and never miss out on the action!

Take care.''

Hi @Timmy C I sent you a DM with some specific ideas. It's great to see you creating a channel trailer and it's a good idea to promote your free offer too.

When it comes to getting people to sign up for your free offer, use the tools in your YouTube channel dashboard to add the link to the channel banner (it appears on the right side). It's then always visible which is important. Most of the time people will watch the channel trailer when they land on your page. This means they won't see the video description and any links you put there.

The third to last line in your script is a great call to action but then you follow it with two more lines. Finish with the call to action. It's often best to end with the call to action perhaps adding an animated subscribe sequence to the video.

Having said that, I don't know how well asking someone to subscribe in a channel trailer will work. People often need to see the quality of your videos first. You might want to test this against having a call to action that directs someone to watch a specific video. Make this one that showcases the channel well and then encourage them to subscribe int hat one.

 

[Timmy C]

so i just made money from my youtube channel for the first time just now.
Someone clicked on my affiliate link in my description and bought some BJJ gear with it.



Not much to update other than my views have been all over the place the last few days. Some hits and some misses but it's all part of the game I think.

I now just need to hit the subscriber requirement to be monetized, and it's so close now, but becoming more frustrating due to this.

But how could i stop now? Would be a bit silly to stop at this point.

So much upside and no downside.

 

[Tiago]

HELL YEAH! Congratulations man. That's a huge milestone. Keep going!

 

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[Cybom]

so i just made money from my youtube channel for the first time just now.
Someone clicked on my affiliate link in my description and bought some BJJ gear with it.

View attachment 49974

Not much to update other than my views have been all over the place the last few days. Some hits and some misses but it's all part of the game I think.

I now just need to hit the subscriber requirement to be monetized, and it's so close now, but becoming more frustrating due to this.

But how could i stop now? Would be a bit silly to stop at this point.

So much upside and no downside.

Awesome!
Congrats @Timmy C

 

[Timmy C]

So I hit it pretty hard and released 5 videos within 21 hours.

Update:

Trolling the trolls

These videos aren't doing too bad some have between 1-2.5k views.

With the 5 videos, I made them tie into each other to promote binge watching.

I succeeded somewhat, but I haven't seen a massive explosion.

The video quality wasn't the best on a few as I had to record at night time with no natural light.

i think this definitely hurt their performance.

But if I find time to film and I have to do it at night, that's what will happen.

You have to use the time you have when you have it.

Just got to 700 subscribers.
Almost there.

 

[Cameraman]

So I hit it pretty hard and released 5 videos within 21 hours.

Update:
View attachment 50037
Trolling the trolls

These videos aren't doing too bad some have between 1-2.5k views.

With the 5 videos, I made them tie into each other to promote binge watching.

I succeeded somewhat, but I haven't seen a massive explosion.

The video quality wasn't the best on a few as I had to record at night time with no natural light.

i think this definitely hurt their performance.

But if I find time to film and I have to do it at night, that's what will happen.

You have to use the time you have when you have it.

Just got to 700 subscribers.
Almost there.

Great progress - I know you say "Trolling the Trolls" but to me it looks like banter between fans and is a good thing.

I like your approach of tying in the videos to encourage binge-watching. I hope this succeeds.

If you are going to be filming at night in low light, make a feature out of it. Get a backdrop that looks like an empty stadium with a spotlight on the ring. Darken your own room to blend in and get a spotlight on your face. You should be able to make it look like you are in a box in the stadium for your recording.

Don't expect the videos and channel to blow up - I know I keep saying it. It's just that people become disappointed when it doesn't happen and they give up. Yes, there is an algorithm but it's only responding to people's behaviour.

When YouTubers say they want to get the algorithm to love them they have it backwards. It's people who need to love you and your aim should be to encourage word of mouth and sharing. When YouTube sees that it will kick in and promote you more. Give people something to talk about.

Sorry if I sound like I'm preaching, that's not my intention.

 

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[Timmy C]

Great progress - I know you say "Trolling the Trolls" but to me it looks like banter between fans and is a good thing.

I like your approach of tying in the videos to encourage binge-watching. I hope this succeeds.

If you are going to be filming at night in low light, make a feature out of it. Get a backdrop that looks like an empty stadium with a spotlight on the ring. Darken your own room to blend in and get a spotlight on your face. You should be able to make it look like you are in a box in the stadium for your recording.

Don't expect the videos and channel to blow up - I know I keep saying it. It's just that people become disappointed when it doesn't happen and they give up. Yes, there is an algorithm but it's only responding to people's behaviour.

When YouTubers say they want to get the algorithm to love them they have it backwards. It's people who need to love you and your aim should be to encourage word of mouth and sharing. When YouTube sees that it will kick in and promote you more. Give people something to talk about.

Sorry if I sound like I'm preaching, that's not my intention.

Good idea with the low light and backdrop man.
Yeh i more expect a slow trickle but an occasional video to do some heavy lifting.

I think youtube just wants people to click on a video and watch it.
To stay on the platform as long as possible.
I think Mr Beast mentioned this and it makes sense.

Nah man I like the chats on the thread, it's good value!

 

[Timmy C]

Btw I copped ALOT of hate on this video lol.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjSkJJbG-ds

I did not expect it just giving my opinion. I did not think this would be controversial.
The whole thing is amusing to me, and I actually get fun out of it as weird as that sounds.
So far this video bought me in 14 subscribers so I ain't complaining.

 

[Timmy C]

Can I get the thread name changed?

This makes it more obvious what the threads about:

"Growing an MMA news channel on youtube "

@Andy Black

 

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[Andy Black]

Can I get the thread name changed?

This makes it more obvious what the threads about:

"Growing an MMA news channel on youtube "

@Andy Black

Done. Good move. I expect there's a few MMA fans in the forum and their feedback would be great for you.

 

[Timmy C]

It's been a while since I have made an update!

So it had been 11 days since I last posted a video, but I have been working on the website, learning a thing or two about SEO. I have created a spreadsheet of keywords to write articles about. Written a few articles also.

I am targeting evergreen search terms which is the opposite of what my youtube channel is.

I am targeting information seeker search terms with my articles, and I have a few buyer search terms in mind aswell.
Things that I should be able to rank for within a couple of months, so I will see how that plays out for me.

I have updated the website, made some changes to make it more appealing to people, aswell as compressed image files so that it doesn't get really slow. This SEO thing, and page speed stuff is all new to me but I am miles ahead of the knowledge I had just over a week ago.

I also emailed a bjj podcast to see if they wanted to share some backlinks for SEO purposes as an article of theirs and mine tie in together well. I also asked them to come train if they are in my area and we can have a roll.

Due to my content not having much evergreen videos I decided to release my first one here:

View: https://youtu.be/iMwDD2JRqAc


It hasn't done well so far, but I didn't expect it to take off at all anyway due to the nature of what my audience expects from me relating to being a news channel, but i think this should get views for years as it is evergreen. Well.... that's the theory lol.

This recent video is right back to my usual style of content as I didn't want to confuse my viewers on what I am about:

View: https://youtu.be/gG85tBNuaKM


Not many views as yet, but all of the other stats look good so far. This should do alright.

727 subscribers now!