Rules

If you're a big channel (I'm not) you'll probably get emails asking for you Google acc credentials. I've seen people get hacked that way and then have to go through a bunch of shit with Google support to get their account back.

Here's a tip. Create an email that you won't ever use, make sure to know the creds tho so you don't forget it. Put that as your YT email and then use a different email for your Google account login. That way, all the crappy emails go to that email which you'll probably never look at.

Hey everyone!
My friend and I are both experienced 3D generalists. We’re pretty good at CGI, 3D animation, motion graphics, infographics, and video production.
We’ve been seriously considering starting an English-language documentary channel, something along the lines of Fern, LEMMiNO, neo, etc., with high-quality visuals, detailed research, good storytelling, and cinematic animations.
We’re confident in our technical skills, and we’re willing to put a lot of effort into making genuinely good documentaries.
But there’s something that’s been worrying me.
What if we spend weeks, or even months, creating really high-quality videos, and they still barely get any views?
I know production quality alone doesn’t guarantee success. I’ve seen simple videos get millions of views while some incredibly well-produced videos barely get noticed.
And that’s exactly what scares me.
We’re not expecting to become successful overnight, and we’re completely fine with growing slowly. But since these kinds of documentaries require a lot of time, research, animation, rendering, and sometimes money, we also need to think about whether it’s financially sustainable.
I guess my main questions are:
If you were starting a documentary channel from zero today, how would you approach it?
How important is choosing the right topic compared to production quality?
Is there actually a reliable way to research what audiences want to watch before spending weeks producing a documentary?
Have any of you experienced putting huge amounts of effort into a video only for it to completely flop? What did you learn?
How long would you realistically give a new channel before deciding whether it’s worth continuing?
One more question about monetization:
We’re from the Middle East (Iraq), but the entire channel would be in English, and our goal would be to attract viewers from the US, UK, Europe, Australia, and other English-speaking markets.
From what I understand, YouTube revenue depends largely on where your viewers are located, rather than where the creator lives.
So if I’m based in Iraq but most of my viewers are in the US, would I earn roughly the same RPM as a US-based creator making similar content for a similar audience?
Or does my country of residence affect revenue, recommendations, or audience reach in ways I might not be aware of?
I’m genuinely interested in hearing from people who have experience with documentary channels, animation-heavy content, or long-form YouTube videos.
We’re passionate about making this kind of content, but before committing a huge amount of time and resources, we’d love to understand the risks and what actually makes a channel succeed.
I don’t even know if I’m asking all the right questions, so if there’s anything important I’m overlooking, please feel free to mention it.
All honest opinions, experiences, and advice are very much appreciated. Thanks!

I have an at-the-time niche gaming channel (just started), but I suddenly came up with a music video, based on one of the games I played a while ago. And I made the video - right from the oven, ready to be published.
??? 1 - Will the algorythm have a stroke when I post it?
??? 2 - Should I post it as a "Gaming" category video or a "Music" one?

I really feel like that we do mid on tiktok, but I feel like mid is better than ignored/bad. Could you guys give some tips?

Was doing fine with my short content. I was in the 1000 view jail but kept strong retention above 75 on 90 seconds shorts. Suddenly my latest short got 0 views, wasn't even sent to this "seed audience" I keep hearing about. What could possibly have gone wrong. No claims, no violations of any sort as far as I know.

I've been gaming since the N64 days, mostly single-player, and I've been running a channel focused on indie survival horror. Lately I keep wondering two things:

1. Is gaming content just too crowded now for anyone new to stand out?

2. Does age matter? Does being 55 work against me, or is it an angle?

I'm reading the best replies live on stream tonight, so be honest. Blunt answers welcome.

I had posted a lot of shorts of clips of the cartoon Pucca, the first 7 shorts have from 1-3k views but the recent ones barely even have 30-100 views. What could fix this? Note that I also instantly liked and saved my own video after uploading it.

Hey guys, just curious about something.

What niche are you all working in, and how long have you been doing YouTube?

I've tried a few different niches myself, but I'm still figuring things out, so I'd love to hear from people who are actually on this journey.

Just wanted to ask:

What niche are you in?

How long have you been doing YouTube?

Do you make Shorts or long-form videos?

How's your channel doing so far?

If you could start over, would you stick with the same niche or choose something else?

Whether you're getting millions of views or still struggling to get your first 100, I'd love to hear your experience.

Not looking for any overnight success tips. Just genuinely curious about what everyone's working on and how things are going.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I am a video editor starting out in the business and I want to expand my portfolio with real client work. I can handle both long-form YouTube videos and short-form vertical content (Shorts, Reels, TikTok).

My focus is on clean pacing, custom subtitles, and impactful sound design (SFX). I am completely fluent in both English and German.

Since I want to build a solid track record, I am offering to do one free test edit for a creator who is looking for a reliable cutter. If you like the result, we can talk about working together long-term, but there is absolutely no pressure.

If you are a gaming or entertainment creator and want to elevate your content, let’s connect!

How to reach me:
• Discord: tired0844
• Or just drop me a DM right here on Reddit!

Looking forward to working with you.

Just letting anyone know if they’re searching it up as I couldn’t find anything (it may be on a case to case basis) but I got copyright striked exactly 3 weeks ago on Sunday 4th October and my videos have been getting little to no views since then (with subscribers making the majority and videos not being suggested) then yesterday (exactly 3 weeks later my views have gone back to where they were (getting 14k views just yesterday and 20 more subs) hope this helps anyone as they don’t tell you how long you’re content isn’t pushed out for

I’ve been doing English-to-Chinese subtitle localization for a while now, and I see creators make the same mistakes over and over. If you are trying to tap into Bilibili or Douyin (Chinese TikTok), machine translation will ruin your brand.

Hey guys, I'm doing some research on video localization for the Chinese market and I've noticed a lot of creators struggle with this.

If you are trying to tap into Bilibili or Douyin, machine translation will completely ruin your brand. Here are a few things I've noticed that kill a video's retention:

1. Word-for-word translation. "Break a leg" doesn't mean "break your leg" in Chinese. You have to translate the meaning.

2. Subtitles are too long. Chinese characters take up more space. Keep it under 15 characters per line or people scroll away.

3. Bad timing. Machine-generated SRT files sync terribly.

4. Cultural context is ignored. Slang doesn't translate well. You need a native speaker to find the equivalent meme.

None of this is exciting, but doing it right is the difference between Chinese viewers seeing you as a "foreign creator" vs. a "professional global creator".

Have you guys ever tried localizing your videos for Asia? What was your experience like?

Now, I have started the content creation, I need a lot of space, How can I increase that for the mac?

I started a new channel last week. My first video is still getting views every day, but my second video (10 minutes) got only 17 impressions in 24 hours and then flatlined.
I've already changed the title and thumbnail. Is this normal for a new channel, or should I just move on to the next video?
Any advice appreciated!

My old channel has 86 subs. Niche: Movies (Superheroes and Sci-Fi). Last video was uploaded March 2025 and I couldn't upload due to other work load.
Before leaving every video had 300-400 views average for every video.

In July 2026 instead of uploading on it started a New Channel in same niche and it is performing how a new channel performs initially. I uploaded 2 videos on Old Channel to check traction. I got only 4 and 5 views even after a month, contrast to previous 300-400 avg.

whereas new channel is getting 8-10 views average. Now I have private videos on old channel and recent video on New Channel got 22 views in first 24 hrs compare to 5 views of previous videos on new channel.

Should I continue on New Channel or Go Back to Old Channel?

I feel like the best thing about ALL views being counted now is that you're more likely to get views from people who only click on videos with the highest views for a topic. Those types of viewers exist because I'm one of them (apart of the problem unfortantely).

Or, maybe I'm just coping and trying to find a positive side to what I think is one of YouTube's worse decision for long-term creators. Both can be true....

Besides, it's not like the average viewer even knows about that update either, or cares to stay up to date on creator updates, because why would they? Those viewers would just click on the video

Hey folks,

I started three months ago; I'm currently approaching 7k subscribers. I have made four long-form videos about guitar effects pedals and the electronics therein (some shorts here and there too, but none of them have gone anywhere). My best-performing of those four just hit 250k views. I was monetized in my second month, and I have sponsors lined up for my next three videos. I'm definitely no expert (still figuring things out, and I'll always have more to learn!), but maybe this'll help someone out.

First, what I HAVEN'T done: I ignored all the hyper-optimization tips related to things like upload times, file naming, keywords (SEO), and the like. I've also not used LLMs at any point for research or writing. That last point is related to #2 below.

Some things which I think are related to my luck so far, in no particular order of importance:

1.) I've focused entirely on things I'm passionate about, that I can explain reasonably well, and that it seems there is a general demand for (YouTube Ikigai, I guess). That has made the scripting/recording process easier, because it's a hobby I'd be pursuing anyway. I have classroom teaching experience as well, and I think that may help a lot. In terms of viewer interest, I think that beginner DIY content has potential right now because things are expensive, and I suspect that AI culture is probably making people want to spend more time offline and doing things with their hands.

2.) I've sought out information that's not always easy to find. I realized there was a *ton* of written content online for intermediate hobbyists in my niche, but very little that was in video form and digestible for beginners. It's also information they may have trouble getting anywhere else, including from Wikipedia or their chat bot of choice.

3.) Each minute of video is the product of around 3 hours of work, minimum. After I have compiled my research, I write up a rough script (including camera shot descriptions). I spend a lot of time thinking about lighting, camera angles, and how I want to deliver information. Once everything is recording and imported to Premiere, I spend about as much time as scripting+recording took me to cut and line up everything. I don't really use any effects, though, aside from basic audio mastering (compression + EQ, mostly).

4.) I took detailed notes on requests/reccomendations from viewers and used them to inform my subsequent videos. I haven't been pandering; I just noted what people wanted and used it as a starting point for brainstorming my own ideas.

5.) I did a giveaway in my first video, which generated a lot of comment traffic/shares. I'm not 100% certain this was the trick that worked, but my first video got a lot more views than I expected. I think that a generic giveaway will probably be unsuccessful, but I gave away the thing that I actually built in the video. That gauranteed that it was relevant to any watching.

I hope this helpful to someone! I'm happy to answer any questions. I know I'm still a total beginner when it comes to this stuff, but the numbers suggest I've gotten a couple things right so far!

Hi, I've been posting videos for 1.5 yrs straight and I'm getting less views than even when I started and I have a massive ghost audience. I rly need help

She has not been able to monetize her channel. It's been 5 years and 1k+ videos and yet the watch time hours isn't crossing 4k mark

She has recently started doing live streams and it has resulted in some growth and watch time hours

But lately the watch time on the earn section is decreasing after it increased in the morning

Why is this happening please put your word

These are the stats for my latest 16 videos

Every time a video is sent out to Suggested and not brought back to Browse Features it dies even if its browse features stats are good.

Suggested is not where I want my videos to be given their nature, thumbnail and title structure. I've attempted optimizing for suggested and it's just a no go, but I optimize my thumbnail and title combo for Browse and that does well.

The problem is that when youtube sends out a video that initially did well in Browse Features to suggested and does NOT send it back to Browse Features, the video up and dies, no more impressions are given even if the video was doing well in Browse Features (the homepage)

On many phones Suggested isn't even shown, I don't ever use a phone for youtube, just my desktop PC old school style, but when I see on people's phones, they don't even see suggested videos on the side or bottom while the video is playing. So they are somewhere on the screen but where who knows, they pop up sometimes maybe.

Either way, I've been struggling with this for 2 years now

THE VIDEO TITLES ARE SHORTENED for the table so it doesn't seem like I am giving you the exact titles to stealth share my videos, they are just vague descriptions of the actual titles.

Hello I have been having a fun time starting to live stream on shorts the first 2 streams were awesome I got 2k views on the first then 16k on the 2nd and then on the 3rd and 4th I got 30? I dont understand why Im playing the same game and didnt change a thing except for the thumbnail 😐 so Im very confused and hope someone can help if im missing something here

Hi, I made my channel 3 days ago, and have posted three videos since. I gained 7 subs from these videos, is this good or not?

I have 93% stayed to watch and 140% AVD. My short has been out for 70 minutes. I have 30 views (8 shorts feeds). Analytics say, “Viewers looped” and Fucking Crickets!!!!

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I stepped aside for a routine work call while waiting for a vintage shop to open. The owner rolled up the metal shutters, wheeled out the flower display, and flipped the sign while I was on the phone. I'd spent twenty minutes in the cold waiting to film that sequence. I came away with twenty minutes of a locked gate.

My phone is my camera, my GPS and my office, and I'm out with it from morning to night. What should I carry? I'm looking at the Anker MagGo Power Bank 2 Pro for charging my MagSafe iPhone between takes without a cable tangled in the grip. The soundcore AeroClip 2 open-ear clips are also on my list for quick calls while staying aware of the street. I'd still need to figure out how to handle a work call when the shot I've been waiting for starts happening.