- Today, we're taking a look at a gaming channel
that got it start back in December of 2020,
and has already managed
to join the YouTube partnership program.
(upbeat music)
I'm going to start today's video
by asking you a very simple question.
How close are you
to getting into the YouTube partnership program?
That is to say, how close are you
to a thousand subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time?
Let me know in the comments.
Whether you're already in the YouTube partnership program
or not, this video is going to be for anybody
who has a gaming channel, is looking to grow,
and especially is trying to do so
in a very competitive gaming niche,
because the channel we're looking at today
has done just that.
They've broken a thousand subscribers,
they've broken 4,000 hours of watch time,
and they've done so playing a very popular game,
which is Call of Duty War Zone.
So we're going to dive deep into this channel,
and see what we can learn from it
to help you get monetized in 2021.
Let's start at the beginning of this creator's journey,
which was about three or four months ago.
Ash started out like many gaming channels we see.
They picked a popular game, and just started playing it
and making an episodic series on their channel.
After a little bit of time, though,
Ash decides maybe we should try something new.
And then that's when we noticed
the first viral moment for the channel.
Okay, obviously not viral viral,
but considering the channel size this time,
this is a big moment.
Stepping back for a second though,
there's one really big change that Ash makes,
other than switching games.
Can you see it?
You might be saying the thumbnails, which yes,
they did improve significantly.
What's more important though, is that this creator
began offering something else, and that's value.
How to, top five,
best load out, top 30.
Right now, you're sitting down and watching this video,
because you yourself are likely a YouTube creator
who's doing their own research
on how to become a better YouTube creator.
And Ash understands that just like you,
the YouTube creator trying to improve,
there are a number of players of War Zone
who would like to get better at War Zone.
It's very likely Ash plays War Zone a lot.
By taking time to simply sit down and enjoy the game,
this creator is effectively doing their research.
They're testing different weapons, different load outs,
reading into community events,
and basically doing the same things
that a fan of any game would do.
But it's not just about sitting down
to play the game itself,
Ash also loads a lot of videos
with well-researched facts and figures,
and then presents those to their audience
time and time again.
All of these things have contributed to the growth
of this channel in such a short span of time.
There's one more thing that can contribute
to even more growth on Ash's channel.
I will say it will be nice to see even more content.
So that's Ash's channel.
Let's talk about how you can use these same strategies
on your own channels.
First things first,
you need to answer the age-old YouTube question,
who is this content for?
Who is your audience?
For Ash, as we said, it's players of War Zone
who would like to learn more about it
and get better at the game.
If you're having a difficult time answering that question
for your channel, then I'm afraid the next step
is going to be kind of a challenge for you.
But you need to make content
that is then targeted to your audience.
Ash does this in every single video they make,
but you certainly don't have to do that.
What I mean is,
if you want to make the casual Let's Play
where it's just you simply playing your game
in front of your audience, your core audience,
that's totally fine to do.
However, taking the time to make this highly researched,
very valuable content is going to help you cast a wider net.
This content is going to rank well in search,
and thus bring in new people to your channel
who hopefully become part of that core audience.
Also, having a channel focus is really important here.
Ash has done a great job sticking to Call of Duty War Zone,
which means if I subscribed for Call of Duty War Zone,
I know the next video is likely going to be a video
about Call of Duty War Zone.
But if that video was about say Minecraft,
and I'm not interested in that game, well,
YouTube is going to take that as a signal
if I don't click on that next Minecraft video,
they may decide, well,
you subscribed to Ash, but you're not exactly interested.
So let's stop recommending this channel to you,
since that's the case.
So creating your well-researched content
that ranks well in search, creating content consistently,
and creating content around a focus niche
are all things you can do to help get monetized this year.
But there's one last big tip.
I just want to warn you not to get discouraged
if this doesn't happen overnight, because it may not.
It's simply not guaranteed,
no matter how hard you try sometimes.
You'll need to make some videos,
you'll need to try some new things, but eventually,
you will get that viral moment where everything
sort of clicks into place, and you're off to the races.
So try new things, adapt your titles and your thumbnails,
and upload with some consistency.
I'm Dan, this has been IQ,
and we will see you in the next one.