I get it. It's everyone's goal to gain subscribers. After all, we need them to be able to qualify for the YouTube Partnership Program (YPP) which means making that sweet, sweet mula, money, dough, caching.
But if you look a little closer at the YPP you'll notice one little thing that is also necessary to qualify. That pesky 4000 hours of view time in the last 12 months. Basically, you need viewers to watch your content to reach this goal as quickly as possible which is easier said than done. If my math is still as good as when I was in high school 4000 hours is 240,000 minutes. Which means you would need 16,000 viewers to watch one 15 minute video all the way through each. Getting someone to watch a 15 minute video in its entirety is challenging enough. Getting 16,000 to do it in one video, that would be a miracle.
To make a long calculation short, in essence, it would take at least around 1000 viewers (not necessarily subscribers) watching at least 5 minutes of 50 videos each just to hit that 4000 hour eligibility requirements. A difficult feat that will take a long time.
This is why focusing on subscribers is meaningless as a new channel if, even by some random chance, you manage to get 1000 subscribers you'll still need to reach that 4000 hour eligibility requirement. And asking others to subscribe just so you can get to the 100 subscriber eligibility requirement faster will make this journey even longer because you don't really want 1000 subs that won't watch your content and thus never reach the 4000 hours you need.
My advice: focus on creating content first. Focus on learning how to make good content. You may think your content is good. You may think your thumbnails look great, your audio is on point and your type of content is extremely interesting. But what you think doesn't really matter because you're not making content for yourself. You're making content for an audience and you need to figure out what that audience wants to see. You need to figure out who your ideal audience is, who are the people you are trying to attract with your content. Figure this out first and focus your content on this audience.
Growth will eventually come, but first, you must build a brand, you must give YouTube a reason to know you're there, to see you. The more content you make the more YouTube will notice you. The better the content the more likely it is for Youtube to consider your content worth sharing with more potential viewers. So more, good, quality content focus on a specific audience should be your goal right now. Give yourself a target. 100 good videos in 12 months. About 2 videos a week. Give Youtube a chance to get to know your content. This will in turn let Youtube share your content with viewers looking for this content. Then you can start looking at how to get more people watching and then learn how to get them to watch longer and then learn how to get them to subscribe.
I've said this before and I'll say it every time. Youtube is not a quick trip to the corner store. YouTube is a journey. Learn to enjoy the trip, it will make the time go by faster and less boring.
But if you look a little closer at the YPP you'll notice one little thing that is also necessary to qualify. That pesky 4000 hours of view time in the last 12 months. Basically, you need viewers to watch your content to reach this goal as quickly as possible which is easier said than done. If my math is still as good as when I was in high school 4000 hours is 240,000 minutes. Which means you would need 16,000 viewers to watch one 15 minute video all the way through each. Getting someone to watch a 15 minute video in its entirety is challenging enough. Getting 16,000 to do it in one video, that would be a miracle.
To make a long calculation short, in essence, it would take at least around 1000 viewers (not necessarily subscribers) watching at least 5 minutes of 50 videos each just to hit that 4000 hour eligibility requirements. A difficult feat that will take a long time.
This is why focusing on subscribers is meaningless as a new channel if, even by some random chance, you manage to get 1000 subscribers you'll still need to reach that 4000 hour eligibility requirement. And asking others to subscribe just so you can get to the 100 subscriber eligibility requirement faster will make this journey even longer because you don't really want 1000 subs that won't watch your content and thus never reach the 4000 hours you need.
My advice: focus on creating content first. Focus on learning how to make good content. You may think your content is good. You may think your thumbnails look great, your audio is on point and your type of content is extremely interesting. But what you think doesn't really matter because you're not making content for yourself. You're making content for an audience and you need to figure out what that audience wants to see. You need to figure out who your ideal audience is, who are the people you are trying to attract with your content. Figure this out first and focus your content on this audience.
Growth will eventually come, but first, you must build a brand, you must give YouTube a reason to know you're there, to see you. The more content you make the more YouTube will notice you. The better the content the more likely it is for Youtube to consider your content worth sharing with more potential viewers. So more, good, quality content focus on a specific audience should be your goal right now. Give yourself a target. 100 good videos in 12 months. About 2 videos a week. Give Youtube a chance to get to know your content. This will in turn let Youtube share your content with viewers looking for this content. Then you can start looking at how to get more people watching and then learn how to get them to watch longer and then learn how to get them to subscribe.
I've said this before and I'll say it every time. Youtube is not a quick trip to the corner store. YouTube is a journey. Learn to enjoy the trip, it will make the time go by faster and less boring.
