(piano music) 2 2
-: When you create a channel from scratch, 3 3
you should have an idea of who your viewers might be. 4 4
It's just like planning to start a business. 5 5
You think of who your potential customers are, 6 6
how big the market is, et cetera. 7 7
Chris knows more about that than me, (laughs gently) 8 8
but at the beginning all you can really do is guess 9 9
and target a particular group of people. 10 10
It may be a certain age group, a particular gender 11 11
with a particular interest, or it could be broader. 12 12
When I started my channel I thought that foreigners 13 13
in Indonesia would enjoy it as well as Indonesians 14 14
who have lived overseas at some point, 15 15
and I really didn't target a specific age group 16 16
or gender because that would've made my market 17 17
way too small. 18 18
After I had been uploading for a while, 19 19
I had access to the analytics in YouTube 20 20
and also had sufficient comments on my channel 21 21
which showed me that I indeed succeeded 22 22
in entertaining my target market, 23 23
but also that Indonesians who never lived overseas 24 24
were also watching, which was absolutely amazing 25 25
and allowed me to do other video concepts 26 26
that I previously thought wouldn't work. 27 27
Anyway, you are going to have a target market, 28 28
so antique car enthusiasts, or crafty housewives, 29 29
or digital nomads, or coffee-lovers. 30 30
And from the moment you start uploading 31 31
get to know your audience through the comments 32 32
and the analytics and cater to them the best you can. 33 33
Don't alienate your audience. 34 34
My viewers are over 50% male and mostly Indonesian, 35 35
so it's probably not a good idea for me 36 36
to make a video about, I don't know, 37 37
third wave feminism, or something. 38 38
Because you don't want to make your viewers 39 39
feel too uncomfortable or bad or whatever, 40 40
because people don't wanna feel that way 41 41
and that would alienate the people 42 42
who helped me build my channel. 43 43
And the country your subscribers are in 44 44
tells you a little bit about their culture, 45 45
so I think that's important, as does reading the comments. 46 46
So I like to use YouTube Studio app, 47 47
it's a great place to access your comments, 48 48
and while you're there you can check 49 49
your demographics, age, gender, country, 50 50
those are the most interesting for me, personally. 51 51
Now, when you're still figuring out 52 52
who your target audience will be 53 53
and still deciding what kind of channel you wanna have, 54 54
you may want to consider a few things first. 55 55
First of all, watch time and kids. 56 56
When kids have daddy's iPhone or mommy's iPhone 57 57
they watch videos for kids and then continue to click 58 58
suggested videos until they et carpal tunnel syndrome. 59 59
And this has a great effect on watch time for kids channels, 60 60
and YouTube rewards good watch time over anything else. 61 61
Three-year-olds don't comment or like or subscribe 62 62
but they watch a lot of content, and watch time 63 63
trumps all of those other things. 64 64
So it's not uncommon for videos targeting young children 65 65
to have over a hundred million views. 66 66
Teenagers in the 13 to 17-year-old category 67 67
are also an excellent audience to have 68 68
because not only do they watch a lot of YouTube 69 69
but they share videos more often as well, which is helpful. 70 70
It may be word-of-mouth at school or maybe they'll post 71 71
or send a link to their friend, 72 72
they're just in a better position to share stuff. 73 73
Adults, on the other hand, generally interact a bit less 74 74
and don't have as much time to spend on YouTube, 75 75
and I'm just gonna generalize here 76 76
and say that the older the audience, 77 77
the harder it is to grow your channel. 78 78
That's why Monique Parent is so amazing to me, 79 79
she has a YouTube channel where she talks 80 80
a lot about silver hair or gray hair 81 81
and she had to succeed without the help of youth engagement 82 82
and I think she really did an excellent job. 83 83
So you can still succeed with an older crowd, 84 84
but you are unlikely to be Top 100 Most Viewed. 85 85
And you are very unlikely to get a billion views, 86 86
like Ryan from Ryan's Toy Review. 87 87
But the good news is you don't need one billion views 88 88
to make a difference, nor do you need one billion views 89 89
to build a career for yourself on YouTube. 90 90
Okay, let's say you already have an idea 91 91
for the theme of your channel. 92 92
Now that you have that, you should consider 93 93
how big the market is. 94 94
Is it enough to support the level of success 95 95
that you're hoping for? 96 96
Here's an example: gaming videos. 97 97
I used to be addicted to a game, Clash of Kings, 98 98
and I did do a video about it, but it wasn't a gaming video. 99 99
And although it would've been my dream 100 100
to play Clash of Kings all day long and make money from it 101 101
instead of spend my money on it, 102 102
the game just wasn't popular enough 103 103
to support a gaming channel specifically for Clash of Kings 104 104
at that time, anyway. 105 105
Chris would say the tam was too small. 106 106
So I retired my level 23 castle 107 107
and I went back to real life. 108 108
Now YouTube, if it's just a hobby for you, 109 109
or you have other motives and you don't care too much 110 110
about growing the channel to a massive size, 111 111
then ignore everything I just said, you do you.