Many Channels?

Symph

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So I do a bit of everything, I make music, I vlog about religion and spirituality, I want to document my vegan journey to health, I make comedy sketches, and I just vlog about every day life..... I know how much people stress having a "niche", but surely it's not the greatest idea to have like 5 channels either right? I had been planning on trying to do it all on one channel and was thinking that if they were all just really really good and there was humor in everything I did it'd somehow work itself out, but honestly I'm changing my mind on that. The more I remember what youtube is like, the more I realize that when you find a great music channel, you're gonna get thrown off if then that channel uploads a vlog about veganism and you have no interest in veganism. I also already have 3 different channels that I've basically abandoned, and a few channel names I just secured so no one else could take lol I have videos up on "Symphplays" "SymphControversy" "Symphonious7" "SymphMusic" and "ImSymph". And that's already just... so freaking confusing especially when you consider I've abandoned ALL these channels.

I'm not prepared to upload any music videos yet, nor is my confidence back to a level where I want to discuss controversial topics or make any comedy videos just yet either. I feel like I COULD just do daily vlogs of my health journey cause that seems easy and safe. Should I go ahead and start a new channel? "SymphHealth" or "SymphGoesToHealth" or something, should I just continue on one of the channels I've already put out? Is having 5 channels as ridiculous as it sounds or is it necessary to make sure each channel delivers the content the niche requires? Suggestions? I'd like to figure it out so I can go ahead and start putting out content SOMEWHERE. Oh! And also, if I DO create a new channel or upload only one kind of vlog for a while, should I shut down my older channels to not cause confusion? I feel like when you search me now it's sooo confusing cause you look up symph and all these different channels come up, plus I'm embarrassed by a lot of my older content anyway, even though I like people being able to see me evolve. Thoughts would be appreciated.
 

videoeditgr

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I know how much people stress having a "niche
really?

I got friends with different hobbies and interests than me.
But when we meet we talk whatever we have in common
(plus some gossiping! hahahahaha!!!! :) :p )

I mean why don't you start making those videos and see how it goes.
You can make playlists for example I follow in Youtube a photographer (Ted Forbes).
I never saw any of his "artistic" or "photo assignments" or gear promo videos.
Just don't care. But I love the motivational ones ;)

(eh... how on earth would a "cooking" playlist indicate a vegan??? :p )
 
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Symph

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y
really?

I got friends with different hobbies and interests than me.
But when we meet we talk whatever we have in common
(plus some gossiping! hahahahaha!!!! :) :p )

I mean why don't you start making those videos and see how it goes.
You can make playlists for example I follow in Youtube a photographer (Ted Forbes).
I never saw any of his "artistic" or "photo assignments" or gear promo videos.
Just don't care. But I love the motivational ones ;)

(eh... how on earth would a "cooking" playlist indicate a vegan??? :p )
Yeah? Pretty much every "how to get big on youtube" video I've ever seen always says "Find your niche" and basically states that you need to be consistent with the type of content you put out. I guess logically I can see the reason for it too, but then again you may have a point. After posting this thread I had the thought of perhaps just having 2 channels, on one I'd just do longer talking vlogs about veganism, spirituality, advice, my life etc, and on another doing the music and comedy. Not that music and comedy is related but I'd think of it as an entertainment channel with shorter, punchier, more edited type vlogs. But hell maybe I should just do it all on one channel, I just actually wanna try this time. Last time I did youtube I did no promotion, no SEO, no schedule, just whatever I wanted and it was very slow going and I didn't grow very fast. But yeah maybe playlists are all I need! I kinda forgot about those hehe. I'll see if any others weigh in, thanks for your perspective :)
 
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TheSwedishTraveler

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I do have 2 channels, one for traveling and vlogging and one for me doing music.
 
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Symph

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I do have 2 channels, one for traveling and vlogging and one for me doing music.
Yeah I'm thinking I can probably get by with two, my vlogging topics may vary a lot, but I think the same types of people will enjoy hearing them. And while my comedy is really different than my music..... I usually put my music in the background of it or end the vlog with a song, I think that's what I'm gonna do. 5 different channels is just... PFFFFT lol
 

TheDutchTexan

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I have 2 channels at the moment. My main, the automotive one and then my recently rebooted gaming channel. I wanted to do a gaming channel for a while, because I love gaming. Now I finally went for it and I am having a blast.

I think you shouldn't overextend yourself though. Creating gaming content is relatively easy on the edit part (a few hours vs 20+ per video for automotive content). But if you overextend yourself you might start forcing out content and that is something you don't want to do.
 
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Symph

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I have 2 channels at the moment. My main, the automotive one and then my recently rebooted gaming channel. I wanted to do a gaming channel for a while, because I love gaming. Now I finally went for it and I am having a blast.

I think you shouldn't overextend yourself though. Creating gaming content is relatively easy on the edit part (a few hours vs 20+ per video for automotive content). But if you overextend yourself you might start forcing out content and that is something you don't want to do.
Yeah, I guess I just wonder how important it really is to offer what the subscriber expects and feels they subbed to, and how flexible viewers really are. I also wonder if I should delete old videos under dead channel names cause it might confuse people as to where I'm uploading and what I'm doing.
 

KatyAdelson

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I used to think it'd be good to put the videos under separate channels, but YouTube is making the "subscribe" button mean less and less each time they update something. Honestly, within the next year, it wouldn't surprise me if the subscribe and bell buttons mean absolutely nothing more than a "channel like," and YouTube's AI decides what it wants people to see.

This is a good and bad thing. On the one hand, niche channels might take a hit since their content is only about one topic and YouTube decides if and when to send a notification out. On the other hand, perhaps channels could open up to different content ideas on the same channel and Google's AI promotes whichever videos to whoever they think will watch them.

I see this somewhat happening with my tutorial videos. I used to think I should put them on a completely different channel, but then I realized that the only people who get notified of my tutorials seem to be folks Google thinks play the violin. Although it's annoying that all my subscribers aren't notified about the video, it's also kind of nice since it's probably irrelevant for a lot of them. :eek:

So...although I still think defining a target audience and following a niche is super important, I suspect that the direction YouTube is heading may actually give content creators more flexibility experimenting with different content genres if they embrace the changes regarding when Google decides to send a notification out about a new video.
 

Symph

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I used to think it'd be good to put the videos under separate channels, but YouTube is making the "subscribe" button mean less and less each time they update something. Honestly, within the next year, it wouldn't surprise me if the subscribe and bell buttons mean absolutely nothing more than a "channel like," and YouTube's AI decides what it wants people to see.

This is a good and bad thing. On the one hand, niche channels might take a hit. On the other hand, perhaps channels could open up to different content ideas on the same channel and Google's AI promotes whichever videos to whoever they think will watch them.

I see this somewhat happening with my tutorial videos. I used to think I should put them on a completely different channel, but then I realized that the only people who get notified of my tutorials seem to be folks Google thinks play the violin. Although it's annoying that all my subscribers aren't notified about the video, it's also kind of nice since it's probably irrelevant for a lot of them. :eek:

So...although I still think defining a target audience and following a niche is super important, I suspect that the direction YouTube is heading may actually give content creators more flexibility experimenting with different content genres if they embrace the changes regarding when Google decides to send a notification out about a new video.
Very good to know! Thank you! That's the thing that always bugged the crap out of me about youtube in the past, once you think you have it figured out? It changes on you, what worked 3 years ago may not work today..... I have a lot to think about, I hope to be posting within a week so I'll just have to pray and have some faith. Thanks Katy!
 
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Spaced Out Anomaly

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I ended up deleting a channel of 1,200 subscribers and several others because I wasn't happy with what I was doing. I don't regret it either because I wasn't being myself and I'd rather have 6 subscribers being myself, than 1000+ being fake. I do have more channels I plan on making, but this time more organised and I won't start them until I have actual quality content and not a bunch of filler like I used to do.
 
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