Are Variety Channels Sustainable?

Omeo

Omeo

Well-Known Member
I've got a small range of different topics I like to talk about on my channel. At first, I thought that was okay as long as my personality is the glue that holds it all together, but I saw a video the other day from channel growth guru Tim Schmoyer that said one of the things that can kill you, as a channel, is lack of focus. He even had another guy in the video saying that's what screwed him. He said viewers will love you for one or two topics, but won't be interested enough in the other stuff to subscribe or increase their watch time on your channel. Are they right?

I don't want to par the channel down to just one or two topics; partly because I'm not sure I can come up with enough ideas to sustain any one topic. I usually talk about politics, technology, or philosophy, but I also try to do more casual, fun stuff to break up the monotony and help people to get to know me. I might be willing to break that stuff off into a separate channel, but that stuff takes more time to make; too much to maintain a regular, weekly release schedule.

So, what do you think? Can a person grow their channel to a good size talking about such a variety of topics? Is that sustainable?

Thanks, guys.
 
At the start of my channel it was full of mixed material. I wasnt getting anywhere as any potential subs were confused.
I read/watched reviews that all pointed at finding my channels niche. So I looked back at what I enjoyed most / had most views and rebranded accordingly!
 
EVO said:
At the start of my channel it was full of mixed material. I wasnt getting anywhere as any potential subs were confused.
I read/watched reviews that all pointed at finding my channels niche. So I looked back at what I enjoyed most / had most views and rebranded accordingly!
Click to expand...

And I see it has worked for you. Well done. Thank you for your feedback.
 
For eight years, Race Grooves was 'toy cars'. Since adults collect them and kids play with them, I keep them all under one channel. My philosophy was that I wanted kids to 'grow up with Race Grooves' meaning they would enjoy the fun stuff as kids but as they get older, they would get interested in 'collecting'.

I started breaking off some of my shows/segments into their own channels now. I agree with what you quoted above. A channel that is a mixed bag of tricks faces an uphill battle against YouTube's algorithms.
 
When I created my YouTube channel I wanted it to be for entertainment: gameplay, VLOGs, and whatever else I could think of, but I've been questioning whether I should narrow my focus to gamplay only and create a second YouTube channel for the VLOGS. Although, I have everything organized into playlists, each game has it's own playlist and my VLOGs have their own playlist as well, based on what I'm reading here this may not be optimal since I may be confusing my viewers and YouTube in general. Can't have that noise, because I totally want to grow. :).

Thanks for asking this question Omeo because I've really wanted to know the answer to this myself.
 
markkaz said:
For eight years, Race Grooves was 'toy cars'. Since adults collect them and kids play with them, I keep them all under one channel. My philosophy was that I wanted kids to 'grow up with Race Grooves' meaning they would enjoy the fun stuff as kids but as they get older, they would get interested in 'collecting'.

I started breaking off some of my shows/segments into their own channels now. I agree with what you quoted above. A channel that is a mixed bag of tricks faces an uphill battle against YouTube's algorithms.
Click to expand...

Really? Do the algorithms work against you if you don't have a clear focus? Or does it just confuse them, which is almost as bad?
 
What a great question. I am in the same boat as you Omeo. I was hoping my personality would keep everyone interested. I have a variety as well. I have everything from Funny Friday to a rants to travel. All over the place. Would it be better to have 2 or 3 channels? Not sure.

Omeo, your link on here is not working. (Just thought you might like to know)

Cheers,
Scott
 
Omeo said:
Really? Do the algorithms work against you if you don't have a clear focus? Or does it just confuse them, which is almost as bad?
Click to expand...

Nobody can tell you what the algorithm is or does. We can only speculate based on experience. On that note, they are constantly adjusting the algorithm so what you know right now, just changed in a second =P
 
We are in the process of moving a lot of the variety to a second channel. It's hard for every type of video to appeal to every subscriber. So when something really takes off, much of the variety content doesn't do as well as the big hits.
 
OldNotDead said:
What a great question. I am in the same boat as you Omeo. I was hoping my personality would keep everyone interested. I have a variety as well. I have everything from Funny Friday to a rants to travel. All over the place. Would it be better to have 2 or 3 channels? Not sure.

Omeo, your link on here is not working. (Just thought you might like to know)

Cheers,
Scott
Click to expand...

I know the link isn't working. I've tried several times to get help with that, to no avail. The channel is called Serious Issues, if you wanna look it up.

Good luck figuring out what to do. If you come up with a good solution, let ME know.
 
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