CONCEPT: A 100% private channel

[Patrick Harris]

I've been giving this some thought over the last few days, and I've decided to share this concept with you guys in hopes of getting your opinion. How would you feel about a YouTube channel that was marked 100% private?

The way something like that would work is, every video on the page would be marked private. From there, whenever a person subscribes to the channel, their URL/name would be added to the list of people who CAN see the video. Think of it like Facebook; you can't see all the info until the person accepts you as a friend. I suppose you could, in theory, be accepted to watch the videos, but then you could physically show it to someone else who was with you, but they wouldn't be able to go home and show it to anyone else without subscribing to the videos themselves.

I know that this method would seriously take away from one of your primary methods of promotion; word of mouth. People need to have the ability to share a video with their friends, or email it, or embed it, or just click on a link and watch it on Facebook. Without that, you'd be missing out on a chance to promote freely. But, on the same hand, it brings a level of exclusivity that NO OTHER videos on YouTube have. Suddenly, if people want to see the video, theres something they have to do first. How many times have you clicked LIKE on a Facebook page just to be able to see what was there? Or how many groups have you joined on Facebook and then waited to be accepted just because you wanted to know what was there? Curiosity is a strong motivator, and being told you CAN'T do something is even stronger.

I'm under the impression that if there was a video that I absolutely HAD to see, but the only way to see it was to be ACCEPTED to see it, well suddenly I'd feel compelled to know what was there more than I would if someone just sent me a link. I really think a channel like this would be the first of its kind, and would take a LOT of work to get off the ground, but it could be done. Word of mouth would get around about this channel that you have to be ACCEPTED to view, which gives you a connection to that audience that all of us are looking to get. They feel involved and part of it. It feels special and exclusive.

Thoughts?

 

[xandru8]

well ... to tell you the truth at first it would be interesting and it could catch one ... that is if you have greate content bcuz if some one gets to the channel and see the situation that if you don`t sub you can`t see it then hes expecting something REALLY BIG AND GREATE bcuz thats the mentality and if its vlogs and some small skits like i do then the mouth to mouth promotion is going in youre disfavour, but ... i would suggest try it and see how it turns out you might never know good luck

 

[Christopher]

The main flaw of that is the fact that only 25 people can see private videos. Personally I think it'd be a bad idea mainly because people would rather see a video and then decide whether to subscribe rather than the other way around. The only way I could see it working is if you had some pretty amazing videos, and also how would people find the channel, seeing private videos don't show up in searches or anything, so how would the original people find you. The only way I could see it working at all is if you're already an established youtuber, seeing initial exposure for it to work would be a nightmare.

 

[Symph]

I think if you do it private style it's doomed to fail. But what if you do it unlisted? Now you have to send out the initial links, but the people who have the links can share them too. So it becomes exclusive but within the hands of the viewers. If you make the video EXTREMELY good, and then make all of them unlisted, then the viewer will feel a sense of being special, and being a part of something unique, this might encourage sharing more, and actually bring more views. In theory anyway

 

[xandru8]

i think it could go greate if there is awesome content on the channel so that pople would be exited and they would be bitten by the curiosity bug to come back and see but that is a 50-50% chance bcuz like i sed you have to create greate content so to keep the public coming back for more ... its a bit triky but if you put enough effort in ti i`m sure it can go fantastick

 

[FlipRJ]

i don't think it'd work. your are essentially trading views for subs, and in my opinion that's a bad trade. more views means more exposure and the possibilities of subs. having only subs be your viewers is not a great way to go about things.

also, those facebook pages that make you like this thing to see the content kind of annoy me. especially if I don't like what I find afterwards, then I'm just p****d and unlike it afterwards

 

[xandru8]

i hate the facebook thingy as well lol, but i was thinking if you have awesome content then yea it would be a greate ideea bcuz it would give the viewer a sence of importance and then he or she would come back over and over agian to the channel but ... if i think more about it ... i think youre right ... in this situation to make it work you would need greate content and put a lot of work i it and you have 50-50 % chance to make it work so ... yeah