Hot Topic Interview with ApexTV (1 MILLION SUB CHANNEL!)

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As part of our YTtalk creator interview series (see: http://yttalk.com/forums/yttalk-creators-interviews.96/ for the full list), I recently interviewed YTtalk member, @ApexTV

If you enjoyed this interview and would like more of them, please give a like and show your appreciation with a comment. :)



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YTtalk member name: ApexTV

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Channel name and link: ApexTV - https://www.youtube.com/user/myapextv

Most popular video: "Time Traveler Caught on 911 Call" ( 16 million views! ):



Twitter: https://twitter.com/ApexTVStudios
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apextvofficial/
instagram: https://instagram.com/apextvofficial/
Website: https://apextvofficial.com/

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INTERVIEW


Hi. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Hello! ApexTV here! I run a paranormal YouTube channel that just hit 1,000,000 subscribers. I don't give my real name or any of my personal information online, because some of the people we have interviewed have expressed a concern for their security, we take precautions in case any of those concerns may translate into ourselves. I say "us" because we are a team of 13 people who run ApexTV, but I started the channel back in 2014 myself. I don't have a job outside of ApexTV an do this full-time. For personality wise, you can call me "Apex" :)


You mention you are a team of 13 people - How did you go about building the team? How is the team organised? What are the different positions?

Yes, we mostly hire people online to help with video editing, voice overs, etc. We also have a Spanish version of our channel, ApexTV Espanol , in which we translate all our videos to Spanish. This requires someone to translate the video itself, and another to do the voiceover, and yet another to take care of the title sand descriptions.


Have you had any problems or issues with having to manage a team of people? Have you ever had to fire someone for example?

Yes, we've had many issues, but that's typically in the initial stage of hiring people. For example, we used to make top 5 and countdown type videos, and we might hire a script writer only to find out that upon getting the script, half of the content is plagiarized. We obviously double and triple checked the scripts before then sending them to a voice over artist and if we found mistakes, we would look for a new script writer. But now that we do interviews, we don't really have to worry about that.



Since you are a team, have you set up a company for the business side of things? How does that work? Does everyone get a share of the ad revenue or do you pay them a fixed salary?

We pay a fixed salary to all the people who help with ApexTV and we do have a holding company.




Apart from Youtube, what are some of your hobbies, favourite pastimes?

Other than making YouTube videos, I enjoy traveling, watching documentaries, and of course watching YouTube!




Let's move on to YouTube. When did you start making videos on Youtube?

ApexTV was founded on November 17, 2014. I always have been interested in the paranormal, and I noticed that there weren't many paranormal channels on YouTube, and I was surprised that literally anyone could make videos that could potentially be seen by millions of people for free, so that's what inspired me to do so.



What is your channel all about and what do you do on your channel?

My channel is about distributing unconventional stories no one else will. We have interviewed everyone from people claiming to be time travelers from the future to a man claiming to be a mermaid. We noticed that most media outlets are fearful of interviewing many people, because they are scared it will make them look crazy. We try not to give our opinion on any of the videos we distribute, because we don't want to influence the viewers' opinions. We simply bring you the stories and let you decide. We are best well known for our interviews with people claiming to be time travelers which have appeared on many national news programs, documentaries, and newspapers across the world.



How and why did you get into Youtube ?

I was inspired to start making videos after watching programs like Ancient Aliens on History channel, and after I discovered YouTube, it seemed like the perfect medium to do it.



How big is your channel now?

As of writing this, ApexTV has 1,004,348 subscribers and 229,310,470 views and our other channel, ApexTV Español which uploads our videos in Spanish, has 395,831 subscribers and 48,050,816 views. ApexTV gets around anywhere from 10 to 20 million views per month right now.



Could you describe the growth? Was it gradual or did it suddenly explode overnight? What events triggered the growth ?

ApexTV started making top 5 and list videos, and during this period growth was somewhat gradual, however after we uploaded our first video of a man claiming to be a time traveler from the year 2026, which was sent to us via email, it got 1 million views in around a week. We kept making countdown list videos, however the most explosive growth occurred after we uploaded another interview with a man named Alexander Smith, who claims to have visited the year 2118. we gained 60,000 subscribers in a month and have since switched to solely original content and interviews with people having amazing stories.



That is some impressive growth! Why do you think those 2 videos got all those views? What was different about them compared to your other videos?

Those two videos were completely different than what we had previously been uploading. Like I said, prior to uploading those videos, we only made top 5 / top 10 videos, and after the success of those videos we have been regularly contacted by people claiming to be time travelers and other people with interesting stories such as a man who claims to have worked at Area 51 and a man claiming to be a mermaid. I think it's because people wanted to hear original stories and no one else was sharing these peoples' stories so why not us? :)



Were you surprised that those 2 videos blew up? Were there other videos that didn't blow up that you thought would have?

I was very surprised that those videos blew up and equally surprised at how many people contacted us after that claiming to be time travelers. I think any YouTuber can contest that there are many videos that they think will get a lot of views that don't and sometimes their most viral content is something they almost didn't upload. That is definitely the case for us.



When the channel became big, did the channel become harder to manage at that point? I mean you must have been inundated with comments and other requests from third parties. How did you manage that sudden change of pace?

Yes, the channel became much harder to manage, and that's when we started delegating work to video editors etc. because it was way too much for a few people. We were inundated with news interview requests, requests for people to tell their story on ApexTV, and so much more. I couldn't have done it without the great team we have today.



Do you use social media to promote your content? If so how?

Our biggest social media account other than YouTube is Instagram (36,000 followers) then Facebook (23,000 followers) and then finally Twitter (4,000 followers). We typically use all these different social channels to promote when a new video is coming out, but 96% of our traffic comes directly from YouTube itself.



Do you use SEO (Search engine optimization)? If so how?

Yes, we use SEO and find it to be extremely important in getting our videos out to the people who want to see them. We use a tool called VidIQ for figuring out what the best tags are to use. It is a paid service, but in my opinion it's completely worth it. A tip for YouTubers looking to get their videos seen by more people is to use similar content in the title, tags, and description. This keeps the metadata consistent and YouTube will be more likely to rank your video.



What other promotion do you do?

We do have a website (https://apextvofficial.com/), but a lot of traffic comes from news outlets promoting our videos such as The Express, Daily Mail, The Daily Dot, Unilad, and much more.



Are you active in the "YouTube community"? How important do you think it is to make contacts and to network with other creators ?

We try to be as active as possible in sending emails to other creators and connecting with other channels in our same niche. I wanna give a shoutout to my good friend Rick over at LookNowTV for all the help he's given us in the form of YouTube advice and more. We're also part of a few Discord servers with YouTubers and it's a great way to connect. I think connecting with other content creators that do what you do is very important, and we could certainly do a better job of it.



Has YTtalk helped?

YTTalk has helped immensely in learning about YouTube and being able to ask other YouTubers questions. If you don't know where to find other YouTubers in your niche, YTTalk's got you covered. I have posted so many threads here and will go as far as to say that ApexTV wouldn't be where it is today if it wasn't for YTTalk. We've met friends who help produce music for our channel, been able to get answers to questions, and I LOVE the milestone announcement section! I've been posting milestone announcements ever since 1,700 subscribers and it's an amazing way to stay motivated and the community is so special. I've never got an ounce of hate here and everyone is so supportive of each other. Plus, it doesn't matter if you have 50 subscribers or a million, everyone is welcome. I am going to try to be on YTTalk more often and try to give back and answer other peoples' questions.




What do you enjoy the most about being a YouTube creator?

I enjoy being able to talk with people about their stories, but I must say that the thing I enjoy most is traveling to other countries to interview people. We've been able to go to Russia, Slovenia, Germany, Georgia, and more.



And what do you dislike the most? Have you ever felt like quitting?

I can't say I dislike anything, however I've felt like quitting many times. In fact, we almost had to shut ApexTV down in late 2017 as we weren't getting many views and were barely able to cover the cost of hiring people. That is, until we uploaded that video of that man claiming to be a time traveler we completely shifted our focus from countdown videos to interviews.



Can you remember any mistakes you made that with hindsight you wouldn't make again?

There were many mistakes, for example not uploading frequently enough, and at times if we would have made more of an effort we could maybe be at 10 million subscribers today rather than 1, but we are infinitely grateful to every single person who was watched our videos and taken the time to subscribe.



What advice would you give to new Youtubers who are struggling to grow their channels?

Upload upload upload! The more videos you upload the more data you have to reflect on and double down on what's working. Also, spend time going to places like YTTalk to learn about the algorithm and see what's working for other people.


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(If you enjoyed this interview and would like more of them, please give a like and show your appreciation with a comment. :) )
 
Wow! That's amazing! And starting in 2014! That wasn't that long ago... :eek: It's neat to read these success stories and see how far people can go in such a short period of time! :)
 
Interviews like these are HUGELY valuable to the community. It shows what is actually possible on YT. The reality is that the Net is a big lonely place that can feel like shouting into a hurricane at times, so success stories like this, from members of YTTalk especially, prove that success can be had with hard work, motivation, and a slice of luck! Congratulations to ApexTV. In all honesty your genre is one of intense personal joy for me, especially time travel. I'll reserve judgement on what's true and what's not, but your success is most certainly not in question. Great work!
 
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