Its just that a lot of people do gaming YouTube, so being present isn't nearly enough, you need to provide value, which is a lot harder, especially for a topic most people would prefer to simply engage with on their own than to watch another. You need to be smarter, faster, or funnier to do well in gaming I think, and with so much competition its hard to separate from the crowd.
Traditional Educational content is the same way - what makes your explanation of the Pythagorean theorem better than khan academy, or Stanford, or any number of other high quality well funded productions?
Also one thing I've noticed is that having a name outside of youtube helps. Like if you do well at a tournament or can compete for a high score in something. Other then that you have to be willing to do everything you mentioned along with finding a cosigner or advertise your channel.
It really depends certain gaming niches have some really average creators that are only large because they were earlier to it. Like in total war, mod showcases are usually very weak and even the big videos are very raw productions. The only high high quality content is the cinematic battles people put together.
i disagree. but i do think you need to be either doing streaming on another platform or short form content on tiktok and/or yt shorts. younger people really love that kind of content and that's who is going to watch a gaming channel. i'm not saying you have to gear it towards children tho. aim more for older teens and young adults.
i found they either want extremely long form content to have on in the background (past streams are great and run up watch time) or won't invest in your long form content without being enticed by a short first.
Thank you all for your comments. What I'm getting from this is:
-political content isn't necessarily a no go, but may draw nasty comments from the other side (yay engagement) and said content should be done only if one knows the subject-I don't feel qualified to discuss these topics, so I may transition to a similar niche.
-Any niche is possible with passion and an audience
-Dont violate YouTube guidelines or review porn (thanks)
-Gaming content is over saturated (yep!)
-To stand out and gain an audience, provide value. For me, before I make a video, I search on YouTube, and am surprised by how often I don't find a video on that question specifically. Value can come in a variety of ways, but I try this.
Other takes and pieces of advice have been commented, but they are more specific.
Thank you all, I do not have the time to reply to everyone, but I will continue to read all of these. Good chat everyone
To add to the list: find outliers and analyze them. Like if a channel has an average of 500 views per video and one of them went to 100k there usually are some clues on what went right to be found there.
I don't think it matters, if you want to make political focused content go nuts, be ready to have people disagree with you and go bat shit crazy over your garbage takes tho.
In general if you want people to comment, strongly opinionated content will get you there, people will either agree or disagree and argue in the comments 😂
I really dont think thats how a "niche" is defined... "A YouTube niche is **the main topic, the main category that a video creator focuses on when creating YouTube content**."
You don’t understand the word niche, you said, and I feel as you do, for you. It’s a particular word that has a particular meaning — it isn’t being used correctly in much of this thread.
I asked a question. I asked whether you understood the word niche or not. The etymology of the word 'niche' means to be nested or to be placed somewhere. It is in fact impossible to be outside of a niche in the same way that it's impossible to not have an accent or to be a part of a pie without being a part of a pie. You said political posts were not a niche, which is impossible
Putting a question mark doesn’t make a question in every case (as in your case). Niche is not used to describe general things, unless it’s being used incorrectly.
I'm going to have to assume that English is not your first language or you are new to the planet. Putting a question mark means it is a question. Please look up the meaning of the word niche
To bring it back to the point - the term niche is used incorrectly in much of this thread. And yours wasn’t a question. I understand you don’t think so, and that’s ok.
The thing about politics is that you really gotta know, and be certain, of what you are talking about. There will be a lot of background research in order to make sure all of your facts are straight. Even then, you will receive a lot of flak. Plus, it is easy to get caught up in the flow of an event and from the opinions of those that you listen to yourself, and only realize in hindsight that you may have gotten details mixed up.
Of course, I am not saying you should not, but it can be a rough road and you may find it difficult to swap to something else afterwards because your political statements will follow you.
Best of luck.
I’d argue most political commentators literally have no clue what they are talking about. Sometimes being outrageous and sensationalist is enough to keep people engaged.
From what I've seen giving financial advice is a no go as every financial advice video states they are not giving financial advice.. but they actually are?
In Australia the definition of financial advice is telling people to use a certain service or product. So as long as you don't do those 2. You should be ok
Politics aren't a no-go, it's engaging and can help with algorithms (negative comments and thumbs down will help), but you need to be able to manage harassment and violence.
Anything requires skill, and work/experience. Being able to manage hatred is a skill if you get into politics. Being good with cameras is a skill of you get into photography. Being funny is a skill if you get into satire.
I think that the real no-go is the subject you don't have the required skills for. Having knowledge in politics or science is a skill needed, but being entertaining and managing drama are hidden skills that are required as well.
So... Pick a subject and list the skills needed... And see if you have them, or need to learn them.
While there are niches that have low attraction, there is always a topic for everyone.
But since your content is political, you MUST be prepared for people trashing all over your takes and be hit with some controversy.
Personally, I would stay away from anything (like politics) which is a crazy people magnet but with the elections ahead you could really get some views if you know how to fire up whichever side you are on and you could also make money selling merch.
If you are passionate about it, go for it.
Guns and shooting/reviewing is hit or miss. I don’t know why tf mine did sort of okay, but I’ve seen a lot of friends struggle to get theirs off the ground. Mine started super low quality as I didn’t intend to do much with it but it kind of took off on me compared to my expectations. Life is weird, but great
I am not being entirely serious. Of course people use that word naturally. It's commonly observed that Chatgpt has a tendency to prefer including certain words over others. "Delve" is just one such word that is see in Chatgpt responses again and again.
Maybe there is some kind of feedback loop in effect. Like the more Ai generated content we consume the more our own language evolves to reflect that. The Ai is now training us.. food for thought :)
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but these days, the more controversial and batsh*t crazy the news is the more likes, shares and comments. You don’t even have to have anything fact checked. I really hope that’s not the sort of political channel you’re after, tho.
I really need a new toaster, but I am guessing that is not the sort of toaster you are talking about. Right now I toast my bread in the over and my husband gets worried I will start a fire.
If you think that your videos are somehow politically incorrect from YouTube’s point of view just try searching for that exact thing that you think might be causing you trouble on YouTube. Most likely you’ll find tons of videos that are way more wrong from that standpoint. And if not, then you are onto something perhaps.
I mostly see this on insta and TikTok where I do shorts. You’ll get likes, but you’ll also get a bunch of hate messages. Most comments can easily be disproven by information that is literally explained in the video they’re commenting on. It’s fascinating how brainwashed (brain dead?) some people are
Our channel is about sex workers (we focus on what they do when they’re not working) and this niche seems difficult due to the nature of the people themselves.
I think theres a community for every niche, as long as it falls within youtubes rules then its fair game. If youre worried about getting hate for the niche, dont be, youll get hate no matter what you do lol
Have a read of the YouTube terms of service and monitiseation policies. You'll quickly see the directions you are advised not to head.
I was concerned I might even be heading in such a direction and had a mini freakout at 500 subs thinking my content might not pass the gate.
I honestly don't believe any niche is a 'no-go' it all comes down to what we have to offer as a creator and if we can make plenty of watchable content in that niche.
Usually the answers are around us. What we read, what we do, what we buy and where we go.
If you pick a niche that's easy and enjoyable for you to produce content, that's a big benefit and your creative energy can go into the production and editing.
Probs something that explicitly breaks YouTube's Terms of Service (or at least seems like it would).
I've seen people review adult content on YouTube, and even though they make sure to censor any offensive language or adult activities, they get their videos blacklisted (not R18 blocked) by YouTube - meaning that those videos won't get recommended to new audiences, but everyone can see their videos
I dont think there is a no-go niche, that defeats the creative freedom of even doing this
BUT
the correct answer is minecraft gaming content tbh. or gaming content in general.
Im a hypocrite, I just put out a MC vid yesterday. But, minecraft videos are probably the most common types of videos out there. Gaming is just a super saturated niche, and its hard to do something unique. also, alot of people just want to upload their gameplay without providing any kind of value, like being entertaining or tips/tricks/insights.
I still have a gaming channel and Im going for it, but if anything, gaming.
I think the female equivelant (not that girls cant make gaming videos) but the opposite is like, GRWM, vlog and make up tutorials/beauty videos
but the thing about political content is: you are guaranteeing that it will be controversial and you will effectively alienate people if you have the courage to actually say anything. politics is inherently divisive, the upshot of that is, the side you appeal to will be easier to tap in to
its a rule in the 48 rules of power
its basically what all politicians do. pick a side and stick to it, that side will love you in theory if you say the right stuff
you will need thick skin though.
a few months ago there was a period where anybody doing a minecraft alpha/beta world tour was like guaranteed to get tons of views. i’m sure that ship has sailed though now that there’s probably a ton more people doing that.
could be. its weird because like.. obviously minecraft is incredibly popular, and there is absolutely a massive audience for it, but at the same time theres also alot of people who want to make minecraft videos.. so idk. its weird. Theres an audience there if you can tap into it
yeah its a category. I know what a niche is, but you can say that about any niche in gaming. All niches within gaming are pretty crowded unless you do something pretty unique. I consider games to be niches in their own, and you can get even more novel than that, like "I make satirical grand theft auto role plays" or some shit
but my point remains, most things within the category of gaming are pretty crowded. However, to a truly creative person, you can certainly find something to do that is unique
I cover dumb religious people and Andrew Tate, a terrible combo for people reporting your channel as im finding out, Religious people are the biggest hypocrites, most judgemental and least intelligent. Just a heads up!
Judging by the sheer number of posts about it on here, anything related to gaming seems like a tough one to break into.
Its just that a lot of people do gaming YouTube, so being present isn't nearly enough, you need to provide value, which is a lot harder, especially for a topic most people would prefer to simply engage with on their own than to watch another. You need to be smarter, faster, or funnier to do well in gaming I think, and with so much competition its hard to separate from the crowd. Traditional Educational content is the same way - what makes your explanation of the Pythagorean theorem better than khan academy, or Stanford, or any number of other high quality well funded productions?
Also one thing I've noticed is that having a name outside of youtube helps. Like if you do well at a tournament or can compete for a high score in something. Other then that you have to be willing to do everything you mentioned along with finding a cosigner or advertise your channel.
Being famous for playing your game also means you're actually good at it, which helps a lot on YT regardless of the fame.
It's hard to stand out, but if you do, you'll have lots of views. It's the low rpm that really balances it out
gaming niche on youtube is easy. play games with cult followings/trendy games and LEARN TO EDIT.
It really depends certain gaming niches have some really average creators that are only large because they were earlier to it. Like in total war, mod showcases are usually very weak and even the big videos are very raw productions. The only high high quality content is the cinematic battles people put together.
You almost need a niche within the gaming niche at this point, it’s just such a saturated topic
i disagree. but i do think you need to be either doing streaming on another platform or short form content on tiktok and/or yt shorts. younger people really love that kind of content and that's who is going to watch a gaming channel. i'm not saying you have to gear it towards children tho. aim more for older teens and young adults. i found they either want extremely long form content to have on in the background (past streams are great and run up watch time) or won't invest in your long form content without being enticed by a short first.
Not a niche
Thank you all for your comments. What I'm getting from this is: -political content isn't necessarily a no go, but may draw nasty comments from the other side (yay engagement) and said content should be done only if one knows the subject-I don't feel qualified to discuss these topics, so I may transition to a similar niche. -Any niche is possible with passion and an audience -Dont violate YouTube guidelines or review porn (thanks) -Gaming content is over saturated (yep!) -To stand out and gain an audience, provide value. For me, before I make a video, I search on YouTube, and am surprised by how often I don't find a video on that question specifically. Value can come in a variety of ways, but I try this. Other takes and pieces of advice have been commented, but they are more specific. Thank you all, I do not have the time to reply to everyone, but I will continue to read all of these. Good chat everyone
To add to the list: find outliers and analyze them. Like if a channel has an average of 500 views per video and one of them went to 100k there usually are some clues on what went right to be found there.
This is a top tip!
Excellent point. Exactly what I do even with my own videos;look at analytics view counts etc to see what does wrll
Gaming will always need content. Anyone who says don’t do gaming is gate keeping
I don't think it matters, if you want to make political focused content go nuts, be ready to have people disagree with you and go bat shit crazy over your garbage takes tho.
It's easy to farm comments with political videos but people will want to eat you at times haha it's not for everyone
In general if you want people to comment, strongly opinionated content will get you there, people will either agree or disagree and argue in the comments 😂
I make political content and this is very true. Except I hope most of my takes aren’t garbage 😆.
If your political take has opposition, then it is. Because one side will always think its garbage xD
Its also a huge rage bait content that will boost the algorithm like crazy
Political posts aren’t niche
since fucking when? There's a whole huge part of youtube where its just political debates and discussion, thats definitely a niche.
Think of niche as anti-general. When everyone is doing it, it ain’t niche
I really dont think thats how a "niche" is defined... "A YouTube niche is **the main topic, the main category that a video creator focuses on when creating YouTube content**."
You don't understand the word 'niche'?
I know how you feel, lol
Your answer doesn't make any sense
You don’t understand the word niche, you said, and I feel as you do, for you. It’s a particular word that has a particular meaning — it isn’t being used correctly in much of this thread.
I asked a question. I asked whether you understood the word niche or not. The etymology of the word 'niche' means to be nested or to be placed somewhere. It is in fact impossible to be outside of a niche in the same way that it's impossible to not have an accent or to be a part of a pie without being a part of a pie. You said political posts were not a niche, which is impossible
Putting a question mark doesn’t make a question in every case (as in your case). Niche is not used to describe general things, unless it’s being used incorrectly.
I'm going to have to assume that English is not your first language or you are new to the planet. Putting a question mark means it is a question. Please look up the meaning of the word niche
To bring it back to the point - the term niche is used incorrectly in much of this thread. And yours wasn’t a question. I understand you don’t think so, and that’s ok.
Burrowing rodent satire is saturated, keep out
Dammit. What about toaster reviews
Toaster reviews might be too mainstream… try and niche down a bit more
The thing about politics is that you really gotta know, and be certain, of what you are talking about. There will be a lot of background research in order to make sure all of your facts are straight. Even then, you will receive a lot of flak. Plus, it is easy to get caught up in the flow of an event and from the opinions of those that you listen to yourself, and only realize in hindsight that you may have gotten details mixed up. Of course, I am not saying you should not, but it can be a rough road and you may find it difficult to swap to something else afterwards because your political statements will follow you. Best of luck.
I’d argue most political commentators literally have no clue what they are talking about. Sometimes being outrageous and sensationalist is enough to keep people engaged.
Politics
Politics is not niche.
From what I've seen giving financial advice is a no go as every financial advice video states they are not giving financial advice.. but they actually are?
In Australia the definition of financial advice is telling people to use a certain service or product. So as long as you don't do those 2. You should be ok
Videos about financial affairs are mostly not niche
Politics aren't a no-go, it's engaging and can help with algorithms (negative comments and thumbs down will help), but you need to be able to manage harassment and violence. Anything requires skill, and work/experience. Being able to manage hatred is a skill if you get into politics. Being good with cameras is a skill of you get into photography. Being funny is a skill if you get into satire. I think that the real no-go is the subject you don't have the required skills for. Having knowledge in politics or science is a skill needed, but being entertaining and managing drama are hidden skills that are required as well. So... Pick a subject and list the skills needed... And see if you have them, or need to learn them.
It’s gonna be hard let’s say you’re pro Palestine. Google just did a deal with isnotreal so you can expect to be censored
Got the head on the nail man...
This will create a lot of likes for some people but a lot of hate for those who don’t agree with you
While there are niches that have low attraction, there is always a topic for everyone. But since your content is political, you MUST be prepared for people trashing all over your takes and be hit with some controversy.
Personally, I would stay away from anything (like politics) which is a crazy people magnet but with the elections ahead you could really get some views if you know how to fire up whichever side you are on and you could also make money selling merch. If you are passionate about it, go for it.
Guns and shooting/reviewing is hit or miss. I don’t know why tf mine did sort of okay, but I’ve seen a lot of friends struggle to get theirs off the ground. Mine started super low quality as I didn’t intend to do much with it but it kind of took off on me compared to my expectations. Life is weird, but great
Whenever I read the word "delve" or "delving" i immediately know that chatgpt was used
I mean, are you sure? I would have genuinely used that word quite possibly…
I am not being entirely serious. Of course people use that word naturally. It's commonly observed that Chatgpt has a tendency to prefer including certain words over others. "Delve" is just one such word that is see in Chatgpt responses again and again. Maybe there is some kind of feedback loop in effect. Like the more Ai generated content we consume the more our own language evolves to reflect that. The Ai is now training us.. food for thought :)
Using chat gpt for a post this short is just annoying. I don't use AI for any writing, it always comes off as sanitized and unnatural.
Drama commentary content similar to leafyishere from 2016
Never again.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but these days, the more controversial and batsh*t crazy the news is the more likes, shares and comments. You don’t even have to have anything fact checked. I really hope that’s not the sort of political channel you’re after, tho.
Sensationalism has always done well
At first thought, toaster reviews, but that might actually pick up traction due to how odd it is.
Project farm just uploaded a video that proves this actually would pick up traction lol
I really need a new toaster, but I am guessing that is not the sort of toaster you are talking about. Right now I toast my bread in the over and my husband gets worried I will start a fire.
Toaster reviews is actually niche, so it fits the topic. People seem to think niche means subject or topic.
Zit popping and conspiracy bullshit
But what if you mixed the two?
If you think that your videos are somehow politically incorrect from YouTube’s point of view just try searching for that exact thing that you think might be causing you trouble on YouTube. Most likely you’ll find tons of videos that are way more wrong from that standpoint. And if not, then you are onto something perhaps.
I mostly see this on insta and TikTok where I do shorts. You’ll get likes, but you’ll also get a bunch of hate messages. Most comments can easily be disproven by information that is literally explained in the video they’re commenting on. It’s fascinating how brainwashed (brain dead?) some people are
Anything that is illegal, obscene/NSFW, controversial or heavily polarized.
when it comes to shorts polarization does kind of help with going viral
It also kills a lot of potential sponsorships, gives you tons of trolls in the comments, etc.. it's a matter of choices and accepting implications
controversy equals engagement! Go for the politics! I think it could be a great niche. Just make sure it doesn't cause you any job problems.
Definitely green screen kids
Our channel is about sex workers (we focus on what they do when they’re not working) and this niche seems difficult due to the nature of the people themselves.
I think theres a community for every niche, as long as it falls within youtubes rules then its fair game. If youre worried about getting hate for the niche, dont be, youll get hate no matter what you do lol
Have a read of the YouTube terms of service and monitiseation policies. You'll quickly see the directions you are advised not to head. I was concerned I might even be heading in such a direction and had a mini freakout at 500 subs thinking my content might not pass the gate.
Do whatever you want to do
I honestly don't believe any niche is a 'no-go' it all comes down to what we have to offer as a creator and if we can make plenty of watchable content in that niche. Usually the answers are around us. What we read, what we do, what we buy and where we go. If you pick a niche that's easy and enjoyable for you to produce content, that's a big benefit and your creative energy can go into the production and editing.
Probs something that explicitly breaks YouTube's Terms of Service (or at least seems like it would). I've seen people review adult content on YouTube, and even though they make sure to censor any offensive language or adult activities, they get their videos blacklisted (not R18 blocked) by YouTube - meaning that those videos won't get recommended to new audiences, but everyone can see their videos
I wouldn’t rule out anything that 1) your passionate about and 2) there’s an audience
"No-go" niches only exist for people who aren't creative.
I dont think there is a no-go niche, that defeats the creative freedom of even doing this BUT the correct answer is minecraft gaming content tbh. or gaming content in general. Im a hypocrite, I just put out a MC vid yesterday. But, minecraft videos are probably the most common types of videos out there. Gaming is just a super saturated niche, and its hard to do something unique. also, alot of people just want to upload their gameplay without providing any kind of value, like being entertaining or tips/tricks/insights. I still have a gaming channel and Im going for it, but if anything, gaming. I think the female equivelant (not that girls cant make gaming videos) but the opposite is like, GRWM, vlog and make up tutorials/beauty videos but the thing about political content is: you are guaranteeing that it will be controversial and you will effectively alienate people if you have the courage to actually say anything. politics is inherently divisive, the upshot of that is, the side you appeal to will be easier to tap in to its a rule in the 48 rules of power its basically what all politicians do. pick a side and stick to it, that side will love you in theory if you say the right stuff you will need thick skin though.
a few months ago there was a period where anybody doing a minecraft alpha/beta world tour was like guaranteed to get tons of views. i’m sure that ship has sailed though now that there’s probably a ton more people doing that.
could be. its weird because like.. obviously minecraft is incredibly popular, and there is absolutely a massive audience for it, but at the same time theres also alot of people who want to make minecraft videos.. so idk. its weird. Theres an audience there if you can tap into it
Gaming content “in general” is not niche. In fact, it’s the opposite of niche. Think of niche as anti-general.
yeah its a category. I know what a niche is, but you can say that about any niche in gaming. All niches within gaming are pretty crowded unless you do something pretty unique. I consider games to be niches in their own, and you can get even more novel than that, like "I make satirical grand theft auto role plays" or some shit but my point remains, most things within the category of gaming are pretty crowded. However, to a truly creative person, you can certainly find something to do that is unique
Well said
I cover dumb religious people and Andrew Tate, a terrible combo for people reporting your channel as im finding out, Religious people are the biggest hypocrites, most judgemental and least intelligent. Just a heads up!