Is over saturation making it hard to gain subs?

Okay, I tried something new with my latest video which was drifting. I am not good, nor have I ever been at "marketing" myself. I sort of just like to record what I do. I see so many other driving youtubers that do exactly the opposite of what you state and pull in hundreds of thousands of views per video. I am not saying this to disagree, simply that others have video that are "just driving" with zero fun and games haha. They're just driving with no commentary or police chases, explosions or crashes and it does just fine.

Please know I am not disagreeing with you at all. I am just frustrated because I love cars, I love driving - but I am not good at the sensational titles, how to get right to the action, ect. I honestly don't think I am meant to do Youtube like most of these other natural entertainers. This is not for me.

I love cars so much, I absolutely get excitement when I see how great I've made my game look+ the webcam lighting and all of that stuff but it's so short sighted. Most people don't care about the stuff I obsess over haha.
 
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GnarlyGator said:
Okay, I tried something new with my latest video which was drifting. I am not good, nor have I ever been at "marketing" myself. I sort of just like to record what I do. I see so many other driving youtubers that do exactly the opposite of what you state and pull in hundreds of thousands of views per video. I am not saying this to disagree, simply that others have video that are "just driving" with zero fun and games haha. They're just driving with no commentary or police chases, explosions or crashes and it does just fine.

Please know I am not disagreeing with you at all. I am just frustrated because I love cars, I love driving - but I am not good at the sensational titles, how to get right to the action, ect. I honestly don't think I am meant to do Youtube like most of these other natural entertainers. This is not for me.

I love cars so much, I absolutely get excitement when I see how great I've made my game look+ the webcam lighting and all of that stuff but it's so short sighted. Most people don't care about the stuff I obsess over haha.
Click to expand...

Don't get discouraged, ever.

However, you just admitted you're not as good at a few key areas that are relevant and very important for YT growth. That's fine, nothing to be ashamed of.

I suck at video editing, it takes me way too much time and the end result isn't reflective of my personality at all. But, I figured out it's time to get better at it in 2020, so it's something I'll be hammering hard this year.

You might not possess a talent for clickbaity titles and eye-stabbing thumbnails, but consistent, smart work will beat raw talent in the long run, 10/10, I guarantee it. I suck at so many things, but I possess above-average pattern recognition and that's one pattern in life that's obvious literally everywhere you look. Now, this is just my theory but based on my personal observations, I think that talent and skill ceiling don't correlate. I've seen untalented people reach the level of skill way higher than those with natural talent in it. So, you just might be able to train/educate yourself to become really, really good at something you really suck at right now compared to the "cool kids who just get it".

Dive deeper into your analytics, I can see you already experimented with titles and thumbnails at least a little bit, try out some of those thumbnail styles and title structures a few more times and if you notice a good/bad pattern, you'll know what to do. We're all lucky that YT nowadays offers all this data, back in 2013 I remember YT Analytics didn't show nearly as much info you can use to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Nobody can give you an exact formula because literally every YT channel is different, even in the same niche. But if you want to grow on YT, experimenting and trying out new things will definitely help - if whatever you're doing right now isn't giving you results you're after, try something else.

Above everything, if you aren't getting ANY enjoyment out of uploading YT videos and it's a source of frustration for you, only THEN I'd recommend re-evaluating your priorities. Otherwise, keep uploading.
 
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Min/Max Munchking said:
Don't get discouraged, ever.

However, you just admitted you're not as good at a few key areas that are relevant and very important for YT growth. That's fine, nothing to be ashamed of.

I suck at video editing, it takes me way too much time and the end result isn't reflective of my personality at all. But, I figured out it's time to get better at it in 2020, so it's something I'll be hammering hard this year.

You might not possess a talent for clickbaity titles and eye-stabbing thumbnails, but consistent, smart work will beat raw talent in the long run, 10/10, I guarantee it. I suck at so many things, but I possess above-average pattern recognition and that's one pattern in life that's obvious literally everywhere you look. Now, this is just my theory but based on my personal observations, I think that talent and skill ceiling don't correlate. I've seen untalented people reach the level of skill way higher than those with natural talent in it. So, you just might be able to train/educate yourself to become really, really good at something you really suck at right now compared to the "cool kids who just get it".

Dive deeper into your analytics, I can see you already experimented with titles and thumbnails at least a little bit, try out some of those thumbnail styles and title structures a few more times and if you notice a good/bad pattern, you'll know what to do. We're all lucky that YT nowadays offers all this data, back in 2013 I remember YT Analytics didn't show nearly as much info you can use to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Nobody can give you an exact formula because literally every YT channel is different, even in the same niche. But if you want to grow on YT, experimenting and trying out new things will definitely help - if whatever you're doing right now isn't giving you results you're after, try something else.

Above everything, if you aren't getting ANY enjoyment out of uploading YT videos and it's a source of frustration for you, only THEN I'd recommend re-evaluating your priorities. Otherwise, keep uploading.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great response man. My entire life I've been talented at things that just came to me. Music, mainly. I find the instrument and just go. I have a friend who is simply remarkable at marketing on YT, makes hundreds of thousands a year with his company. I will tell you this - He works his a** off, yes he is constantly working but this is something he has always had. I mean this is the definition of god given talent. He can take any topic and make money on it using Youtube. Trends, thumbnails, ect - he will get 100K subs and just keep making channels that constantly pour in more and more views.

What discourages me is that I try SO hard to make sure my quality is perfect (4k, not editing errors), that my microphone sounds crisp, the video in the top left looks good. I really try to make every little thing perfect and 80 videos later.... 30 subs. I saw this one kid, yes I mean KID on youtube (Randomly clicked his account) that had 200 subs and uploaded the past year of him rambling into a camera. Probably 10 - 12 years old. Every video is rambling on different topics into an iphone shot portrait and he has more subs than me.

I really do not know HOW to get people to click my videos. There are countless people out there that do not need to try and lore people in, they just click because the content is just that good. That to me is a good wakeup call. I can make 80 videos and have 30 subs, they can make 5 videos and have 5K subs.

What I like doing people don't want to see, and what they want to see - I don't like doing. I am in this because it is YOUtube, hence doing what you like, but when I see the 10 year old with 200 subs, the channels with 5K subs and 10 videos... that's a wakeup call. Buddy, you f*****g suck.

Please know - this is not me being a defeatist. It's being a realist. You need to know when you are not good enough or cut out for something. Just "believing" is delusional and actually not helpful for success. You're spinning your wheels - pun intended.

Feedback is key, and when people don't want to watch - there must be a reason!
 
GnarlyGator said:
Thanks for the great response man. My entire life I've been talented at things that just came to me. Music, mainly. I find the instrument and just go. I have a friend who is simply remarkable at marketing on YT, makes hundreds of thousands a year with his company. I will tell you this - He works his a** off, yes he is constantly working but this is something he has always had. I mean this is the definition of god given talent. He can take any topic and make money on it using Youtube. Trends, thumbnails, ect - he will get 100K subs and just keep making channels that constantly pour in more and more views.

What discourages me is that I try SO hard to make sure my quality is perfect (4k, not editing errors), that my microphone sounds crisp, the video in the top left looks good. I really try to make every little thing perfect and 80 videos later.... 30 subs. I saw this one kid, yes I mean KID on youtube (Randomly clicked his account) that had 200 subs and uploaded the past year of him rambling into a camera. Probably 10 - 12 years old. Every video is rambling on different topics into an iphone shot portrait and he has more subs than me.

I really do not know HOW to get people to click my videos. There are countless people out there that do not need to try and lore people in, they just click because the content is just that good. That to me is a good wakeup call. I can make 80 videos and have 30 subs, they can make 5 videos and have 5K subs.

What I like doing people don't want to see, and what they want to see - I don't like doing. I am in this because it is YOUtube, hence doing what you like, but when I see the 10 year old with 200 subs, the channels with 5K subs and 10 videos... that's a wakeup call. Buddy, you f*****g suck.

Please know - this is not me being a defeatist. It's being a realist. You need to know when you are not good enough or cut out for something. Just "believing" is delusional and actually not helpful for success. You're spinning your wheels - pun intended.

Feedback is key, and when people don't want to watch - there must be a reason!
Click to expand...

Check this out
https://www.screencast.com/t/iHBmSCEl05H

As you can see, my channel's been bouncing around 80% non-sub views for quite a while. So, my last video just broke 900 views, that means probably less than 200 of those came from subs, and I have almost 3,270 of them atm.

Check this out too
https://www.screencast.com/t/JCXTHhXSh
As you can see I'm on the lower end of the typical YT range for bell notifications too. Not even all of those people click and watch my videos.

Subscribers are more of a vanity metrics nowadays. It's dopamine-inducing watching it grow, not gonna lie, but it's absolutely useless when you upload videos that don't have wide/mass appeal.
Here are my worst performing videos
https://www.screencast.com/t/Wr8BCf4D

Think about it, you already have videos on your channel that have more views than a few of my videos and I'm more than 100 times your size subs-wise. So, there's almost ZERO DIFFERENCE between channels when we upload content that people aren't overly interested in, even though I have way less competition than you.

It's all about figuring out what people want to watch and then being willing to deliver it to them. And that's I think the only thing I might be doing a bit better than you now.

I can find you at least 5 channels right now with only marginally better production quality and content similar to mine that get 10x, 100x more views and engagement than I do. However, they do things their own way, it resonates with the target audience and that's why they are growing so much faster than me. Even if I copied what they do, I know I wouldn't grow as fast because I'm just a copycat at that point.

I would be lying if I said I haven't compared myself to them many, many times so far, but if I dwell too much or too long on it, I go through what you're going right now - I feel frustrated, defeated, discouraged, my drive plummets down into the bottomless pits of Abyss and I go on a 2-months long hiatus without a single new video.

It's pointless.

I know it's easy for me to say all this when our channels have about the same number of videos, yet I'm getting a lot more views than you, but I want you to check 2 of my old, abandoned failure channels for a little bit of context:
https://www.youtube.com/user/NaniteNecromancer https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmbFvipRfB8VtnJPdscZ3gA

Last, but not least, this is a MrBeast video from roughly 6.5 years ago:
https://youtu.be/MC-7ziNt_U4

Sure, you DO have to be realistic with yourself, but just giving up because you're not good at something right this moment isn't the right way to put things into perspective either.

Keep trying, keep experimenting. Keep uploading.
 
Min/Max Munchking said:
Check this out
https://www.screencast.com/t/iHBmSCEl05H

As you can see, my channel's been bouncing around 80% non-sub views for quite a while. So, my last video just broke 900 views, that means probably less than 200 of those came from subs, and I have almost 3,270 of them atm.

Check this out too
https://www.screencast.com/t/JCXTHhXSh
As you can see I'm on the lower end of the typical YT range for bell notifications too. Not even all of those people click and watch my videos.

Subscribers are more of a vanity metrics nowadays. It's dopamine-inducing watching it grow, not gonna lie, but it's absolutely useless when you upload videos that don't have wide/mass appeal.
Here are my worst performing videos
https://www.screencast.com/t/Wr8BCf4D

Think about it, you already have videos on your channel that have more views than a few of my videos and I'm more than 100 times your size subs-wise. So, there's almost ZERO DIFFERENCE between channels when we upload content that people aren't overly interested in, even though I have way less competition than you.

It's all about figuring out what people want to watch and then being willing to deliver it to them. And that's I think the only thing I might be doing a bit better than you now.

I can find you at least 5 channels right now with only marginally better production quality and content similar to mine that get 10x, 100x more views and engagement than I do. However, they do things their own way, it resonates with the target audience and that's why they are growing so much faster than me. Even if I copied what they do, I know I wouldn't grow as fast because I'm just a copycat at that point.

I would be lying if I said I haven't compared myself to them many, many times so far, but if I dwell too much or too long on it, I go through what you're going right now - I feel frustrated, defeated, discouraged, my drive plummets down into the bottomless pits of Abyss and I go on a 2-months long hiatus without a single new video.

It's pointless.

I know it's easy for me to say all this when our channels have about the same number of videos, yet I'm getting a lot more views than you, but I want you to check 2 of my old, abandoned failure channels for a little bit of context:
https://www.youtube.com/user/NaniteNecromancer https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmbFvipRfB8VtnJPdscZ3gA

Last, but not least, this is a MrBeast video from roughly 6.5 years ago:
https://youtu.be/MC-7ziNt_U4

Sure, you DO have to be realistic with yourself, but just giving up because you're not good at something right this moment isn't the right way to put things into perspective either.

Keep trying, keep experimenting. Keep uploading.
Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the time to create such a fantastic response. This will certainly help other lurkers, too - I am sure!

I think your channel has done so well because you explain things, you're educational towards your audience. The videos you posted that have the lowest views make perfect sense to me. The thumbnails, the text, ect. You don't want to click them.

It's funny because I can see what looks great on your channel and I understand why those videos have the lowest views - but I cannot seem to do it for myself. Like hearing yourself on a recording "Wow, does my voice really sound that out of tune?". I forget the science but I think it's the vibrations when you hear yourself speak that make you sound better vs. the way you REALLY sound on a recording. It's that with a channel. If I could only see my channel through a viewers eyes.

The Mr.Beast video was a great example, I see that more and more now-a-days. People that have had a channel for 5 years and just now explode. They change the way they make videos (Usually following the tide of the trend) and the rest is history. Literally - the old videos they posted are looked over and they are off to the races.

While I don't mean to be critical of other channels, how can you not get enraged at the low effort ones? Some may look at mine and say "Dude, you aren't producing magic either", so that's true. I am talking about the "OMG GTA 6 GRAPHICS!!!" or "IS GTA 6 COMING IN 2020!?!?!?!??!". These people that clickbait the same video over and over and over again but don't have any shame in it. It's not real content in the terms of - they don't make it for you to enjoy, they make it for money only.

Mr. Beast is fantastically entertaining but can still post a video that's clickbaity and it's okay.... because it's REAL content. He puts effort into it. I often feel cheated at the channels that do the same thing over and over again no matter how many dislikes they get... all for the bottom dollar. These are usually the channels with 800K subs and 10K views a video.
 
GnarlyGator said:
Thank you for taking the time to create such a fantastic response. This will certainly help other lurkers, too - I am sure!

I think your channel has done so well because you explain things, you're educational towards your audience. The videos you posted that have the lowest views make perfect sense to me. The thumbnails, the text, ect. You don't want to click them.

It's funny because I can see what looks great on your channel and I understand why those videos have the lowest views - but I cannot seem to do it for myself. Like hearing yourself on a recording "Wow, does my voice really sound that out of tune?". I forget the science but I think it's the vibrations when you hear yourself speak that make you sound better vs. the way you REALLY sound on a recording. It's that with a channel. If I could only see my channel through a viewers eyes.

The Mr.Beast video was a great example, I see that more and more now-a-days. People that have had a channel for 5 years and just now explode. They change the way they make videos (Usually following the tide of the trend) and the rest is history. Literally - the old videos they posted are looked over and they are off to the races.

While I don't mean to be critical of other channels, how can you not get enraged at the low effort ones? Some may look at mine and say "Dude, you aren't producing magic either", so that's true. I am talking about the "OMG GTA 6 GRAPHICS!!!" or "IS GTA 6 COMING IN 2020!?!?!?!??!". These people that clickbait the same video over and over and over again but don't have any shame in it. It's not real content in the terms of - they don't make it for you to enjoy, they make it for money only.

Mr. Beast is fantastically entertaining but can still post a video that's clickbaity and it's okay.... because it's REAL content. He puts effort into it. I often feel cheated at the channels that do the same thing over and over again no matter how many dislikes they get... all for the bottom dollar. These are usually the channels with 800K subs and 10K views a video.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and imagine how crap it is to have a 80:1 subs to views ratio. That's horrible, those channels will die off once the algorithm weeds them out of circulation. And it will happen sooner or later, it's just a matter of time.

Regardless, you need to cut all that noise out. The only thing you have control over is what you do with your time, energy, efforts and interests. You can't control what other people do and how they game a system. Systems have holes and there will always be those that abuse them, but only true, long-term value persists and keeps growing over time. This is the lesson I had to learn the hard way. I wasted 10+ years of my life chasing the short-term, "gimme 10 now instead of 100 later" goals and objectives. I sometimes catch myself regretting my life choices, but I'm aware living in the past won't solve my present problems and certainly won't do anything to improve my future.

YT is highly volatile to begin with, you can literally lose everything overnight no matter how many views and subs you get. You can't further tax your brain and psyche being angry and jaded because the opportunist next door is still managing to squeeze the last bits of juice out of a progressively more punitive algorithm.

Again, if all you're feeling are negative emotions, it's time to re-evaluate your mindset and priorities, but if you are half-serious about YT, or any online or offline endeavour really, you simply need to keep moving forward.
 
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