- I spent the entirety of 2021
learning everything I could
about starting a new gaming channel.
But Dan, you're already so smart
and so good-looking.
What more is there possibly to know?
Well, it turns out a lot has changed.
For example, shorts content took over last year,
and gaming creators have been taking full advantage
of the shorts shelf.
Also, more massive personalities
have started exclusively streaming content
here on YouTube,
and that's prompted YouTube to announce
some major changes coming to livestreaming
here in 2022.
And as if all of that wasn't enough,
YouTube themselves have actually come in
and started educating creators more and more,
teaching creators just like you and me
how we can get our content discovered faster
by the right people.
So taking everything I learned from 2021,
we're gonna focus specifically on new gaming channels.
But of course, if you've already started
your gaming channel, that's all right,
all of this will be 100% relevant to you as well.
Let's start with the first thing
that any new channel needs to do on YouTube,
and that's make decisions.
For gaming channels, those decisions might include
the types of content you're gonna make,
be it walkthroughs, reviews,
tips and tricks, montages.
You may choose whether or not to use a face cam,
or you might choose whether livestreaming
or YouTube Shorts are gonna be incorporated
into your content strategy.
And of course, one of those choices may include
the game or type of game
you're going to play on your channel consistently.
And let's focus on that last one for a second,
because picking the right game,
or type of game, to play on your channel
will really be the foundation
of everything you do on YouTube going forward.
Dozens of times now, I've sat here and told creators
that if you wanna grow on YouTube,
the number one quickest way to success
is at least starting with one game.
Now obviously that's not the only thing you need to do
to get thousands of views and subscribers,
but we'll go more in depth
on getting the most out of your game in a little bit.
When it comes to focusing on just one game on YouTube,
there's a pretty big problem
that we should probably address.
What happens when the trend
that you were covering on YouTube
starts to come to an end?
Because that's what every game is.
Each game that's popular right now
is a trending topic on its own.
How can you build long-term success on YouTube
if you don't plan for a future
that doesn't include the game
that your entire channel is based on?
So here's how I want you to look at this.
When you're choosing a game to play on your channel,
you should also know that you're also choosing an audience
that regularly looks for content about that game.
As the trend that is your game
slowly begins to die down,
your audience will naturally look for the next thing
to play and/or watch on YouTube.
Your goal as the creator
is to bring that audience together
and get them to love you and your content
as much as they love the game you're using
to make that content.
That way, when that trend finally does die down,
pivoting to something new is a lot easier.
But hang on.
It might take a long time to build that audience,
and, in turn, build that trust with them
to get them to follow you
to whatever new game you decide to play.
And that's why you cannot take this choice lightly,
because you can't build trust with an audience
if you don't inherently love what you're doing on YouTube.
You can't pick a topic on YouTube
simply because you think it's gonna get a bunch of views.
At the same time, though,
if the game you love isn't currently trending,
then it's gonna be really hard
to get discovered in the first place.
And so we research.
I want you to make a list
of every single game you love,
and use it to determine, of those games,
which one would make for the best YouTube content.
Of those games, which ones are currently trending?
And of those trending games,
which one makes you the most excited?
Which one can you think of 10 video title ideas
right now off the top of your head?
Once you have this list,
it's time to determine if your game
falls into one of two categories.
Because the way I see it,
there are two different types of games on YouTube.
You have your long lifespan games.
These games include things we've all heard of, right?
"Minecraft", "Fortnite", "Call of Duty",
maybe any of the Pokemon games,
a popular MMO like "Final Fantasy XIV".
These games have a proven reliability,
because all the time,
they're getting free or paid content updates,
or just sequels.
You can always count on these games trending,
because as soon as the trend starts to die down,
developers swoop in with new content
to keep the audience engaged.
The other category is a bit more tricky,
because that's your shorter lifespan games.
And when you get a new shorter lifespan game,
you may not even realize that you're holding
a shorter lifespan game.
Some recent examples include "Cyberpunk 2077,"
or "Among Us" or maybe the "Spider-Man" games.
Of that list, all of those games
have an unproven reliability.
Take, for example, Google Trends,
which shows "Among Us" actually peaking
around October 2020.
Even today, "Among Us" itself
still has a presence, it still has an audience.
However, when you compare it to a game like "Fortnite,"
you start to discover why it is
"Fortnite" content seems to dominate on YouTube,
especially around certain times of the year.
Or take major hit games like "Spider-Man,"
which we know is getting a sequel,
but not until September of 2023.
In my opinion, that's a really long time
to keep your "Spider-Man" gaming channel afloat
while you wait for content to come out
around the new update.
So depending on the type of game you pick,
you'll need a different strategy to grow.
With long lifespan games, it's really tough,
because these are the games people think of first
when they think about starting a new gaming channel, right?
Their popularity keeps them relevant
to players and creators alike.
Picking one of these games to start your channel around
means that you need to get extra creative
with ways that you can stand out amongst the crowd.
An example from this year would be Block Facts,
who started uploading "Minecraft" shorts just before 2021,
and currently has well over a million subscribers.
This is all thanks to his unique approach
to "Minecraft" short form content.
So if you choose to play one of these long lifespan games
and base your entire channel on it,
your strategy is going to be focus.
Learn everything you can about that game.
Completely immerse yourself in the community,
and research every niche within the niche.
With these games, understand that you have to bring
something extra to the table.
Even today's biggest "Minecraft" creators
aren't simply playing "Minecraft" anymore.
They're sharing valuable information,
they're showing off awesome, fun mods,
or in the case of Dream SMP,
a popular "Minecraft" server full of content creators,
any of them would tell you
creating role play content like this
takes a lot of time and effort.
As a new channel, your strategy shifts, though,
when you think about the short lifespan games.
They might be red hot today
but you don't know where they're gonna be a month from now.
As such, a shorter lifespan game
can actually be fantastic for launching a new channel,
especially if you're early on the trend.
If you decide to go this route,
you have to be realistic, though.
There will come a point
where that indie game you decided to cover
will slowly trend downward.
Use this time, though, while the game is popular
to build an audience.
You need to be trying new things,
and you need your personality to shine through as well
to make a real connection with your audience.
And that tip honestly applies
to the long lifespan games as well.
Once that trend does start to slow down,
you might consider pivoting
to a more long-term kind of game,
one with a more proven reliability;
or you can even pivot into the next similar indie game.
And that's why it's so important to do your research,
because if you understand your audience,
pivoting to this new game
isn't going to be that big of a deal.
Identify what it is about that game that people love,
and find the next game that has those same characteristics.
But simply swapping to any old game
is going to be really challenging,
unless you've built a strong connection with your audience,
and they love you and maybe your unique approach
to the games that you play.
I say that with a very specific example
of a channel that I have in mind.
This is one of my favorite gaming channels.
It's called Let's Game It Out.
They're about to hit four million subscribers
at the time of recording this,
and they upload about once or twice a month.
When you simply look at their latest videos,
you start to notice that they tend to play
a lotta different games;
and some of the games they play on their channel,
such as "Prison Simulator,"
aren't exactly that well-known.
What makes this channel unique
is their tendency to utterly destroy
any game they touch.
And without even reading the titles,
it's kind of clear that's what you're gonna get
just by looking at some of the thumbnails.
Speaking of their thumbnails,
Let's Game It Out's thumbnails didn't always look like this.
Today, they complement the titles very well
and tell part of a hilarious story.
Prior to that, though,
their pattern was simply using the game's logo
and an episode number
just about for every single video.
Making this change was crucial to their success.
I've already given you a ton of places
to start with research today,
so I'm gonna make the thumbnails easy for you.
At vidIQ, we have a tool that allows you
to preview your video in search results,
and you could use this before you ever even hit Publish.
Throw in the search term you wanna rank for,
and hit Preview.
From there you'll be shown a page
that shows you the top-ranking videos,
and puts your video right in the middle
as if it's also ranking very highly for this term.
Using this tool, we can determine
before we ever hit Publish
if we should be making some tweaks
to our title or our thumbnail.
You can download vidIQ with the link down below
and try this for yourself.
As a fan of this channel,
it doesn't matter what they choose to play.
I'm always going to watch
because of their unique style,
what they bring to every single game that they play.
It took YouTube showing me
about four, five, or six different videos
before I finally started going through
the backlog of content that this channel had.
So for you to build
the most dedicated audience that you can,
it's important to have fun while you're on camera.
Crank your personality to 11,
make it impossible for anybody to click away.
Outside of actually recording your gaming videos, though,
you also need to understand
that there's a lot of work to do,
both before and after you sit down and record your video.
All the creators we discussed today are doing this,
or, if they wanted to, could do this
as a full-time job,
but there is an element of every job
that is inherently work.
No matter what you do on YouTube,
or how well you apply any of the advice
we give on this channel,
you won't be an overnight success.
That's simply not how it works.
Starting a gaming channel,
or any type of channel on YouTube,
is going to take time, effort, and patience.
You need to be willing to try new things
as you make videos.
Then you need to learn from those videos
whether or not they performed
as you had hoped they would.
And then you take everything you've learned,
apply it to your future videos,
and strive to improve even just 1%
with every video you post.
And that's all well and good,
but for any of this to work,
you need to find your audience.
And that's why I want you to watch this video next,
because in it, I break down the steps that you need to take
in order to get your content discovered
by the right people.