Today is the one-year anniversary of my first YouTube video. I started my channel in October ’14 but didn’t actually upload anything until January ’15.
I began creating as a new years resolution to earn some side money on a project I enjoy. I began with the goal of only earning $1 a day.
I chose to do toy videos because whenever I would give my daughter my phone and set it to something like Mickey Mouse or nursery rhymes, she would inevitably end up watching a toy channel. I noticed the huge view counts on some of the channels she was watching, so I thought I’d try it out myself. I was already buying toys anyway, I might as well make something out of it.
In the beginning, I had little to no idea what I was doing. I had edited and made some videos as part of school projects long ago, so I had a basic idea. I have learned a lot since then. I started with basic toy opening and unboxing and now I have a huge list of ideas of things from craft to science to education for children. The next year will be huge for my channel.
So I had a goal of $1/day and 1 sub/day. . . I surpassed my goal by a lot. In 2015 I had 6,426,351 views and 7,472 subscribers. Can’t say exactly what my earnings were but they were pretty average (based on everything I’ve read about typical earnings).
There are just so many toddlers and young children getting screen time. I have noticed that there are even more toy channels these days, so there is a lot more competition. But, there are more and more viewers so I think it’s still a viable niche. These days my daily views fluctuate between 20k and 30k, though I’d like more.
The main contributor to my view count was a single video I posted in February. After about two months of giving me low views, it took off and now is at over 4.7m views. This accounts for a huge portion of my views and earnings. Honestly, I’m not sure if I would have continued for the full year if this video had not done so well.
Since then, I have tried to replicate that success with a total of 90 videos. So far, nearly all of them have failed at that, but they still give me several thousand views and I never know when one will take off.
For 2016, I hope to see my channel soar. My goal is to surpass 100m views and 100k subscribers. I’ve seen other toy channels to that in less time, I’m hoping I will be able to do it.
To get to my goal:
1. I’m going to commit to posting 15 videos a month.
2. I’ll improve my thumbnails, editing, and video quality.
3. I’ll learn how to promote my videos.
4. Build a better community. A lot of other channels get so many more comments and participation than me.
5. …. Not sure really… any ideas?
I'll let fate decide! Don't fail me now sexy, lady luck, you.
