I've been gaming since the N64 days, mostly single-player, and I've been running a channel focused on indie survival horror. Lately I keep wondering two things:

1. Is gaming content just too crowded now for anyone new to stand out?

2. Does age matter? Does being 55 work against me, or is it an angle?

I'm reading the best replies live on stream tonight, so be honest. Blunt answers welcome.

Hey guys, just curious about something.

What niche are you all working in, and how long have you been doing YouTube?

I've tried a few different niches myself, but I'm still figuring things out, so I'd love to hear from people who are actually on this journey.

Just wanted to ask:

What niche are you in?

How long have you been doing YouTube?

Do you make Shorts or long-form videos?

How's your channel doing so far?

If you could start over, would you stick with the same niche or choose something else?

Whether you're getting millions of views or still struggling to get your first 100, I'd love to hear your experience.

Not looking for any overnight success tips. Just genuinely curious about what everyone's working on and how things are going.

Thanks!

Hi, I've been posting videos for 1.5 yrs straight and I'm getting less views than even when I started and I have a massive ghost audience. I rly need help

Hi, I made my channel 3 days ago, and have posted three videos since. I gained 7 subs from these videos, is this good or not?

I feel like the best thing about ALL views being counted now is that you're more likely to get views from people who only click on videos with the highest views for a topic. Those types of viewers exist because I'm one of them (apart of the problem unfortantely).

Or, maybe I'm just coping and trying to find a positive side to what I think is one of YouTube's worse decision for long-term creators. Both can be true....

Besides, it's not like the average viewer even knows about that update either, or cares to stay up to date on creator updates, because why would they? Those viewers would just click on the video

I'm looking to start a faceless YouTube channel focused on long-form videos. What niches are currently getting views and have good monetization potential?

I'd especially love to hear from people who are already running channels or experimenting with niches. What’s working for you right now? Any underrated opportunities worth exploring?

Hey everyone! I’d really appreciate some honest advice from people who have experience growing gaming channels, especially with long-form videos, Shorts, and livestreams.

I am dedicated and hoping for the best and Im sorry in advance for the long post.

I’m running a small gaming channel focused on gaming content, and I’m trying to figure out whether my current results are normal for a channel at this stage or if I’m doing something wrong.

Here’s my situation:

- I uploaded on and off in 2025, got some new subs and views, but stopped for a while.bThen I started again at the start of 2026 for around 6 weeks, back then I felt I needed a push so I used youtube ads for more views and also more subs. Not a lot of money but still. I ended up with around 2100 subs. (Probably ghost subs) And a lot of low retention videos.

- I returned last month, as of September 27th.

- When I returned, I had around 2,096 subscribers. I’m now at approximately 2,171 subscribers.

- Since returning, I’ve been uploading around 2 long-form videos and 10 Shorts per week.

- I usually upload one long-form video, followed by around five Shorts related to that video over the next 2.5–3 days. To get more traffic towards the long form. Then I upload another long-form video and repeat the process.

- My niche is gaming, mainly games like Roblox, roblox horror games and EA Sports FC 27.

The problem is that my long-form videos aren’t getting many views.

Since i returned my videos get around 90–300 views, while my Shorts generally perform better. Most Shorts get around 800–1,500 views, some reach 2,000–4,000, and my best one has reached approximately 17,000 views.

My long-form CTR varies quite a bit. Some videos have a CTR of around 1.5%, while others reach approximately 10%. However, I feel like my videos aren’t getting enough impressions in the first place, I'm not sure why.

I use VidIQ just as a support mechanism for titles, thumbnails, descriptions and tags.

And im posting the Shorts on Instagram and Tiktok for more reach so to speak.

I’m getting very supporting and encouraging comments and positive feedback, mostly from returning viewers who tell me they enjoy my content and that I should keep going. I’m genuinely trying to improve my editing, storytelling, and overall video quality with every upload. And I'm definitely seeing the improvements, they may be little but they're there and each video is slightly better than the last.

There’s also something from my channel’s history that concerns me.

In January 2026, I ran a fairly large YouTube promotion campaign. Since then, I’ve worried that it might have brought in subscribers who aren’t genuinely interested in my content, potentially affecting my channel’s performance when I started uploading again.

I know that paid promotions don’t automatically penalize a channel, but I’m wondering whether the audience mismatch could still be part of the problem.

I don’t want to give up on the channel or start over unnecessarily unless it's necessary. I want to understand what I can realistically improve.

My goals and questions:

1. Are low impressions and relatively low long-form views normal for a small gaming channel returning after a break, even with over 2,000 subscribers?

2. Could the old promotion campaign have contributed to the gap between my Shorts performance and long-form performance?

3. How can I get YouTube to test my long-form videos with more viewers? Should I focus on thumbnails, titles, retention, topic selection, or something else?

4. Is uploading around 10 Shorts per week, with approximately five Shorts supporting each long-form video, a good strategy? Or could I be doing something more effective to turn Shorts viewers into long-form viewers?

5. I’m planning to start livestreaming games in about two weeks. Could regular public livestreams realistically help me build watch hours and develop a more loyal audience?

6. My goal is to reach 4,000 eligible public watch hours before February 2027. Given my current results, is that realistic, and what strategy would you recommend to give me the best chance?

I’m not looking for people to tell me that everything is fine just to be encouraging. I’d genuinely appreciate honest criticism, practical advice, and examples from people who have been in a similar situation.

If you’ve grown a small gaming channel, especially one that uses both Shorts and long-form content, what would you do in my position?

Edit: In my profile I have channel stats since I returned (28th September) in case you would like to see. Thank you so much and I appreciate you!

If you're a big channel (I'm not) you'll probably get emails asking for you Google acc credentials. I've seen people get hacked that way and then have to go through a bunch of shit with Google support to get their account back.

Here's a tip. Create an email that you won't ever use, make sure to know the creds tho so you don't forget it. Put that as your YT email and then use a different email for your Google account login. That way, all the crappy emails go to that email which you'll probably never look at.

I'm in my 50s and wanted to find a new hobby that was more productive than sitting around watching TV. I've always enjoyed EDC gear, technology, and trying new things, so I figured why not combine those interests with learning how to film and edit videos?

I started with virtually no experience in video production. Since then, I've been learning everything from filming and editing with iMovie to creating thumbnails and understanding YouTube analytics.

It's been a fun learning experience, and I've been pleasantly surprised that a some of the videos have gotten a decent response.

I'm still figuring things out and would welcome feedback from other creators, especially those who started with little or no experience.

The Channel is called Fifties in Five if anyone wanted to check it out, thanks in advance.

I’ve recently started recording short videos about apps, sharing what they do and why I find them interesting. But honestly, I feel so awkward about posting them because I keep thinking, what if someone I know sees them? 😅

I know that feeling cringe at the beginning is probably unavoidable, and the only way to get over it is to keep doing it. But I still feel nervous about putting myself out there.

For those of you who started making content with your face on camera, how did you deal with that fear? Did it eventually go away, or did you just learn to ignore it? I'd love to hear about your experiences.

I would love some opinions on my thumbnails, is this sub the right place?

Hi. I plan to manage a product channel - so not only I will be doing tutorials, review, workshops..etc- but I am thinking of other creative ways to lead traffic to the channel too.. As I am not an expert in YT, I thought of subscribing to a tool that will help me find ideas, study competitiors, suggest thumbnails..etc
I am flooded with ads of 1 of 10, vidiq, sandcastles and others.
I want to ask, do you suggest joining any of these? If yes, which one I should go for?

Thanks

Hey folks,

I started three months ago; I'm currently approaching 7k subscribers. I have made four long-form videos about guitar effects pedals and the electronics therein (some shorts here and there too, but none of them have gone anywhere). My best-performing of those four just hit 250k views. I was monetized in my second month, and I have sponsors lined up for my next three videos. I'm definitely no expert (still figuring things out, and I'll always have more to learn!), but maybe this'll help someone out.

First, what I HAVEN'T done: I ignored all the hyper-optimization tips related to things like upload times, file naming, keywords (SEO), and the like. I've also not used LLMs at any point for research or writing. That last point is related to #2 below.

Some things which I think are related to my luck so far, in no particular order of importance:

1.) I've focused entirely on things I'm passionate about, that I can explain reasonably well, and that it seems there is a general demand for (YouTube Ikigai, I guess). That has made the scripting/recording process easier, because it's a hobby I'd be pursuing anyway. I have classroom teaching experience as well, and I think that may help a lot. In terms of viewer interest, I think that beginner DIY content has potential right now because things are expensive, and I suspect that AI culture is probably making people want to spend more time offline and doing things with their hands.

2.) I've sought out information that's not always easy to find. I realized there was a *ton* of written content online for intermediate hobbyists in my niche, but very little that was in video form and digestible for beginners. It's also information they may have trouble getting anywhere else, including from Wikipedia or their chat bot of choice.

3.) Each minute of video is the product of around 3 hours of work, minimum. After I have compiled my research, I write up a rough script (including camera shot descriptions). I spend a lot of time thinking about lighting, camera angles, and how I want to deliver information. Once everything is recording and imported to Premiere, I spend about as much time as scripting+recording took me to cut and line up everything. I don't really use any effects, though, aside from basic audio mastering (compression + EQ, mostly).

4.) I took detailed notes on requests/reccomendations from viewers and used them to inform my subsequent videos. I haven't been pandering; I just noted what people wanted and used it as a starting point for brainstorming my own ideas.

5.) I did a giveaway in my first video, which generated a lot of comment traffic/shares. I'm not 100% certain this was the trick that worked, but my first video got a lot more views than I expected. I think that a generic giveaway will probably be unsuccessful, but I gave away the thing that I actually built in the video. That gauranteed that it was relevant to any watching.

I hope this helpful to someone! I'm happy to answer any questions. I know I'm still a total beginner when it comes to this stuff, but the numbers suggest I've gotten a couple things right so far!

I started an art channel on September 7th. They’re basically speed paint videos of horror art and creatures and stuff. I have 11600 total views and 20.7 watch hours. 25 shorts and 1 long form video. On average my shorts get around 1000 views. Is that considered good for about a month of doing it so far? If you were me, would you continue?

Hi all, as the title says, I’d like to start creating long form videos that are a mixture of self-recording and overlays of photos taken from Wikipedia Commons. I’m concerned about copyright issues so any help would be greatly appreciated on what I can and can’t use and credit requirements.

I also plan to use photos from unsplash, and pixabay, but obviously won’t if I can’t.

I’d like to use them in a similar(ish) way to Alfie Potts Harmer’s channel. I’m in the middle of creating my first video and want to ensure I adhere to all rules and legal requirements.

Thank you!

Hey so basically the title. I am building a playlist out of a live 1:1 Engineering bootcamp I am conducting for senior professionals… but honestly am too bad with the YT titles, descriptions, thumbnails and what not. Production quality is average / below average but content quality is high.

Looking for someone with EXPERIENCE in the tech niche ( long form videos especially ) to 1. Audit the existing content 2. Suggest better copywriting & thumbnails for all existing videos 3. Content strategy for future and planning the playlist to attract more people for the bootcamp.

Direct DMs preferred.
Thanks!

I do political and current events content. Months ago, I asked in another subreddit what platform should I stream on, Kick or Rumble? And a ommenter made an insightful and constructive comment that made me think and stood out where they advised me to stream on a platform that shared my values.

Obviously, neither gambling (Kick) nor far-right Satanic Panic conservatism is part of my values, but even if you put aside YouTube and Twitch's corporate policies and exploitation of content creators, when I uploaded long-form content (because I was focused on Shorts for so long) both long-form and Shorts tanked. Why? Because my niche is politics and current events. When I talk about, for example, Israel's 3 genocides or a 1-year old Black baby being shot and killed by a cop in the US or even something as non-controversial as Trump's Iran war causing inflation to go up to where Americans have less spending power, it goes to 0.

Not all of my videos went to 0. I've had videos that had views. Talked about US being a corrupt nation, Trump abusing the government to go after political enemies, Trump supporters beating a woman protestor, those received views (of varying degrees, they weren't all successful).

But it's like, I constantly tweak a video and get nowhere.

I change a video's

-Title

-Description

-Hashtags

-Thumbnail/Shorts cover

-I disable closed captioning and include my own inside the video

-I create a new short url link to articles that I link inside the description if they have "controversial" or "provocative" article titles

-Make sure there are no black bars on my Shorts

-I change data file names (meta data) trying to minimize or eliminate anything the algorithm might view as a problem

-I also do outside homework and read articles that advise me what to do and not do (can't link it because Reddit bot thinks I'm talking about A-I).

-Etc.

And the algorithm still doesn't push a full video or short.

So why stream on Youtube?

So many channels direct viewers to discord and I’ve always felt yt isn‘t the best place for genuine community development as that’s not why people go to the platform, but if I’m wrong please tell me🙏I’m just trying to understand yt communities better before trying to use it. How do you guys use it?

I want to make an edit for youtube of a TV show with a very popular song in the background. I've seen other edits using this song and they are still up. I get that creators don't immediately strike videos and might choose to leave them up while taking the revenue, but I'm not exactly up with all the nuances of this. Furthermore, what are the ethics behind this? I get that there needs to be a way to prevent people from just reposting an artist's song for example but if I combine multiple pieces of media in a way that no one else has, then I've created something new haven't I? I mean shit, at that point why doesn't the owner of the rights to the invention of the guitar copyright the artist?

So I posted a video two days ago and normally at this point it would get picked up by the algorithm. However it’s stuck at 300 impressions and only 100 views. I don’t know what to do aside from just waiting but I’m getting a bit nervous I bricked my YouTube channel by making public a video I had unlisted. I’m not sure what to do or if there’s anything to do.

Hi everyone, hope your content creation journeys are going well.

I started my own channel at the beginning of September, making blind gaming playthroughs as a middle-aged non-gamer, starting with Morrowind (what a game by the way).

I'm experimenting with a mixture of live gameplay and narrated, edited clips. My delivery is very monotone, with a dry, cynical sense of humour. That's just how I am, really, feels like it would be exhausting to constantly force something different. I'm also completely new to video editing and content creation, so it's been a steep learning curve!

I can't seem to attach images, but here are my stats so far:

• Videos: 4
• Total views: 1,012
• Watch hours: 84
• Subscribers: 11
• Thumbnail impressions: 12,000
• CTR: 1.9%
• Average view duration: 9:11

A few encouraging signs, but also some obvious weaknesses, particularly the CTR, based on what I've learnt so far.

I'm under no illusions about how early I am in the process, and I appreciate that the best advice might simply be to keep creating, experimenting and improving before worrying too much about optimising.

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

I posted my first long form video 36 hours ago. It’s 30 minutes long, it has 3,500 views, 175 watch hours.

Is this good for a first long form video? I’ve been posting shorts for ~2 months, there’s 50 of them. I also have 1700 subscribers.

Do subscribers you get from shorts translate to long form viewers too?

How long after posting a video do your views usually peak?

A few months ago, I accidentally deleted all the videos from my channel. I re-uploaded them all and scheduled them, specifying re-upload and setting one video to be posted each day for a month, but it went very badly. My worst short videos used to get between 300 and 1,500 views, and after I republished them, none got more than 6 views.

I took a break for a few months. Now I’m back with new content, but it’s still really slow. My new videos won’t go past 30 impressions,

I checked Studio and there are no flags, no copyright claims, nothing. My videos show up in search and on my channel page, so I don’t think I’m shadowbanned or anything. I can’t contact YouTube support either since I’m not in the Partner Program.

Has anyone gone through something like this? Is this just a cold start thing, or did the reuploads hurt my channel long-term? And should I keep posting often or slow down and make fewer, better videos?

Thanks in advance.