Hit a brick wall!

Double Doppler

Double Doppler

Member
Hey YTTalk, I haven't really been on here since I first registered, but a lot has changed since then!
Basically, I have hit a brick wall.

I have almost ran out of ideas, and I barely have any motivation for my channel anymore. When I started doing YouTube around 2013-2014, I was a different person. I had an interest in something I found exciting, and built my channel around it. I was enthralled to see it grow around my niche, but now it feels like I have reached content saturation. The same things that fascinated me then no long hold much interest with me now. It's like I built my channel over something temporary and it feels like I can't turn it into something else. My audience seems to only want the same type of videos - I tried some new games about a year ago but they didn't get near as much views as my regular videos did. These days, I'm far more interested with what happens in the real world, than trying to mimic it in a computer game.

I am not quite sure what to do at this point. Part of me wants to close the channel down, and give up YT/take a long break, however I don't want to lose the money that it brings each month. Another part of me wants to keep it up and see how far I can change my content to hook a new audience and entertain the ones who stay without messing everything up.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
 
If you're only in YouTube now for the "money it brings in" then it seems you have lost the drive and the reason why you first started. Focus on what you want to do and enjoy. A viewer can tell if the YouTuber is not interested or fully committed and that is suicide. You might lose subs, viewers at first, but if you are truly passionate about your new content you will see your channel come back up in a few months time!
 
I'm sorry you're no longer motivated. I would say try out the new content that you liked...I found your channel (the link in your bio is broken) and it's quite a good size, so it may be a bit of a financial risk to try something different, but maybe you can invest your subscribers in that new content and find a balance between the new stuff you want to make and the things that your subscribers are expecting.
 
go with the content you want to do. you might take a small hit but you'll be much happier and who knows, eventually you may even gain back that momentum and motivation once you truly find your niche.
 
Because this is channel-specific, I've moved it to the Channel Feedback forum. =)

Also, I've noticed that the channel link in your signature does not work. This thread explains how to fix it:
http://yttalk.com/threads/how-to-add-your-youtube-channel-to-every-message-post.32/

If you don't like making your current content, it will start to show.... Maybe try merging your interests together? Perhaps talk about world news while showing game play? I don't really know what you have on your channel, but it's a thought. ^_^
 
I mean, if you're not doing it out of passion and enjoyment, then you're kinda missing the point, right? 'Cause you said so yourself, the reason you got into Youtube in the first place was the excitement and fascination with what you were doing. Thing is, life is dynamic and you can't really script it, try as you might. The notion that you can know one day what you're going to enjoy doing for the next 40 years, though encouraged by society, is naive at best and arrogant at worst. You're going to be so many different people over the course of your life that no paradigms can really be expected to apply throughout, even though it could potentially happen. So the reality is losing touch with yesterday's interests is always going to be a possibility, the question is when that happens how are you going to go about it.

Now I'm always an advocate of following your heart, but I don't really know your financial situation etc., "ripping the band-aid" might not be an option. It really comes down to asking yourself what can/can't you imagine yourself doing day in and day out going forward, and transitioning yourself into it and, y'know, not starving :) If you can't see yourself doing the same thing anymore that's perfectly fine, you just have to be honest with yourself about it. I honestly don't see why you can't really push your channel in ya new direction. Sure, you'll end up ******* some people off, but they will be the ones who assume your previous work is all you are about. Evolution is fine, it's natural, and if you end up changing the output on your channel, once it's settled the fans that stay and the new ones you acquire will be more suited to your current content, and thus you'll have a stronger, tighter, more adjusted fanbase. But however you end up approaching this, whatever you end up doing, it's imperative that you make sure what you're creating is genuine and authentic to yourself. That's ultimately the only aspect you can control. You got to where you are by doing just that, so why assume that this new evolution won't continue the same trend? You may be in for some trying times as you and your viewership figure stuff out, but it will be worth it in the end, just as the path this far has been.

Now, since I'm not exactly certain from your post, do you fell you've hit a wall because you want to do something different but feel trapped by the expectations of your channel or because you just don't want to do what you're currently doing anymore? Because if it's the latter then this seems like the first step you have to consider, sort of a foundation for things moving forward. If you feel what you're doing is no longer "you" in a sense, then in order to figure out what to do instead you have to do a little soul-searching, find out what IS you and what inspires you and makes you feel the same way you did in 2013/14. And it may be a difficult prospect, it's not something that always comes easily. But once you figure it out, kinda identify who you've grown into being and how it manifests itself, then you have a nice launching pad, now it's all about experiencing that and making sure its reflected in your work. And as you figure yourself out so will the viewers. And who knows, maybe all you need is actually a little break. Maybe it's a whole paradigm shift. But whatever it may be you're never really going to regret following your heart. I mean, when people list their regrets they never really say they wish they'd sold out or slaved over something mundane :) Quite the opposite, in fact...

Anyway, sorry for the mindless rant, I'm super low on sleep, and I'm not the most coherent person in the best of times. Hope you find something of use in this post, if not then feel free to slap me :)
 
Thank you everyone for the insightful and varied responses. I appreciate all of your feedback. I'm puzzled because it seems like I've built my audience around this specific content, and doing something else may not put me in the suggested videos of new content. That being how I have tried to grow my channel so far; it's difficult to find a way to grow it otherwise.
 
If you've tried new videos for new games and the current audience is not getting on board, why not target a different audience for such new content? Make your channel diverse if you will, target different audiences and give something good for everyone to watch. I think we commonly see our main audience as our security blanket so to say, we don't want to lose them so we don't stray too far from them but we need to take risks, try new things, innovate and go after others who might enjoy our content and media. :)
 
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