Using a second channel (?)

OldManTenno

I've Got It
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Sep 17, 2018
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Colorado
Website
www.youtube.com
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Youtuber
Bit of background... I originally started doing videos about 1.5 years ago for a game (Warframe). Since the game had already been out for a while, I had an uphill battle since the creator hierarchy had already been established. Also, the game is decently popular, but not massively and it's not competitive. As such, the audience potential is relatively small compared to other games and the room for growth is very limited. Couple that "content drought", and things have gotten worse. My subscriber count got over 4K, but soon leveled off. This past May, I decided to branch out and do something more creative to fuel my need to make something. I started doing silly cooking videos. I can have fun doing them, and the reception has been pretty good.

Meat of the Problem... Because I did this on the same channel, I feel that my growth and exposure was hurt because of it. My video retention and likes for the cooking videos was very good, but getting views and interaction has been tough. The only way to get them has been through advertising. Almost all the views come from non-subs, and I think this tells YouTube something that I've more recently discovered... If subs aren't watching, why promote it? The new content is not about the same game, let alone about gaming in general. In retrospect, I feel it was a poor decision to put them on my channel because my channel was partnered, and a lot of hard work went into getting it that far.

Solution(?)... I know now that going this route did not help, and actually most likely hurt my channel. Should I start a new channel with the new content, and sunset that content on my existing channel? I don't feel it would hurt, but may not actually help. I'm guessing I would still at least be in the same position. I am working on a new idea for even more different content, and feel that starting a new channel based on that is the correct approach. I would like to know people's thoughts on all this that may have gone through a similar situation. Thanks.
 

NimrodIam

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Simply speaking as someone who has watched Youtube for a long time, I think it would be beneficial to start a second channel. I've seen this sort of thing happen many times. Oftentimes, I've seen people test out vlogging or something similar on their main channel and then starting a second channel to host the vlog once interest is expressed. Ultimately, I think it comes down to the viewer base that you have and the people that you want to attract.
Cooking videos reach a much wider audience than specific gaming videos. Additionally, I would imagine that people who play Warframe also have a tendency to cook or eat. So, to include the occasional cooking video on your main channel would not alienate that group of viewers. If your audience grows due to the cooking videos and you then try switching back to Warframe, it does seem to me that that would alienate the people who are there to watch cooking videos.
Overall, I don't see the harm in starting a second channel. If you communicate this on your current channel, I would think that some of your current subscribers would subscribe on the new channel as well. So, it's not as though you would be starting from square one.
Anyways, that's my opinion from the other side of the issue. I'm curious to see how it goes!