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YouTube Question What is the real reason behind you, as a viewer, subscribing to a channel?

HenryBR

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What makes you subscribe to a channel? The content or the person(or people) behind the content???
Would love to read your insights. And hopefully this post becomes helpful to anyone else.

Update: After letting this post sit for a couple of days and after reading the comments, it seems to me like most people only subscribe to a channel based only on the content produced and not the person(or people) producing the content. For me it has always been the other way around. Don't get me wrong, of course the content has to be intriguing to me. But most often than not, if I like the person, I will also like their content. Something for y'all to think about.
 
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tropicthunder

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because I like their contents, doesn't matter who the person is or how attractive they are. I subs to them so that I know when they're uploading new videos.
 

Travel Interesante

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It is a combination of factors, but mostly I need to be interested in the topic. After that it is a combination of information and entertainment and that is what we try to provide in our own videos as well.
 

Ater

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What makes you subscribe to a channel? The content or the person(or people) behind the content???
Would love to read your insights. And hopefully this post becomes helpful to anyone else.

First off it's very rarely I subscribe to a channel. It really need to be something extra. I have been using YouTube more or less daily for years and I'm only subscribed to 83 channels and of does 83 about 10 is people I know IRL so they probably don't count. So they need to really offer me something unique that I come back to often.

The thing with YouTube is that the algorithm so advanced nowadays that to get entertained I just have to visit the site and start clicking the recommended videos, I don't even need to visit some special that I subscribe to. I find it that most of the people I actually subscribe to are either my competitors that do videos inside my niche so I can keep up with them and what they are doing or they are making videos inside a niche that I may do a second channel about in the future or they are educational channels that I can visit to learn and get better and then a few are channels I just find entertaining or interesting. 90% of the time it's mostly about the content and 10% it's mostly about the person but often it's a bit of booth, the way the person are could be a reason to why the content is so good, like maybe he has a personality and a voice that makes him perfect to do tutorials.
 
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Damon

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Same here, I hardly ever subscribe to a channel. when I do it's usually temporary because of the subject matter I'm interested in at the moment. Sometimes you you'll subscribe to people, take a break for a year, then come back to their content.
 

Tito Tim

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I do not subscribe to very many channels. I have used YT since 2006 and sub to maybe 75 channels - and half of those have been inactive for years (I need to go clean out my list). For me to sub I have to really be interested in the topic, the channel has to be entertaining, and video quality does not have to be perfect but pretty good (sound & lighting need to be comfortably viewable).

Most of the active channels I sub to are my US TV shows (I emigrated years ago): Trevor, Colbert, Kimmel etc. Some informational channels: Creator Insider, PowerDirectorUniversity, Bill Gates, SAG-AFTRA. I sub to very few entertainment vloggers. Community Channel was one of the last ones I subbed to and she only posted one vid in the last 4 years. There are a couple Disney vloggers I follow. I rarely sub to a channel...

Maybe that is why I cannot figure out how to encourage people to sub to my channel - because I am not into subbing either...

The only reason to subscribe to a channel is because you want to be notified of any new uploads on that channel. Why would you subscribe if that was not the reason?

I have all notifications turned off, except the little red number on the top of the screen - no popups, no mail, leave me alone ha ha. The channels I sub to are on the left sidebar. I can look to see if there is a new video.

The algorithm does know what to do with me - I am rarely the target demographic on anything - YT still does not know what to recommend to me...
 
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NanoniumTheDude

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I subscribe to a channel if I can tell they have a niche, I've watched a few videos and enjoyed them, and I can see that they will be consistent in delivering their content - doesn't have to be a strict schedule, just signs they haven't vanished
 

BraveStar

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Update: After letting this post sit for a couple of days and after reading the comments, it seems to me like most people only subscribe to a channel based only on the content produced and not the person(or people) producing the content. For me it has always been the other way around. Don't get me wrong, of course the content has to be intriguing to me. But most often than not, if I like the person, I will also like their content. Something for y'all to think about.

Years ago subscribing to a channel was often about the creator. I enjoyed watching videos from gamers like MuzzaFuzza and Starcraft Husky (Rosanna Pansino's boyfriend) and tech Youtubers like MKBHD and Austin Evans because of how they entertained me and also gave me content I could learn from.

These days I often watch based on the content itself. I enjoy PUBg gameplay and often watch based on the gameplay. I follow ChocoTaco but I enjoy his gameplay more than his comments. I also follow channels that are often very specific on content. I like, for example, channels that talk about PC tech but don't often subscribe to channels that tend to also upload smartphone videos as part of their tech content.

Sadly these days the content itself is what gets most viewers to watch first. Bare in mind with millions of new people uploading daily it's not easy to become recognizable in order to get your content viewed more. Even Mr Beast was famous not because everyone knew him but because everyone knew about his crazy videos and they watched to see what he would do next.
 

Naheed

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Too good question. The reason that anyone subscribes to any channel is that they want to stay updated around their interest areas which helps in many ways. It helps to keep you updated whenever your subscribed channel publishes a new video. Moreover, People Subscribe to Youtube Channel because they find the Videos of Topic interesting and they are excited to watch more and more contents like this
 

Kindred

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I feel like I used to subscribe for the person but now it has become more content based. I like people who upload regularly and that I can rely on to produce videos that I like. Honestly, I dont think channels need too much variety as I subscribe for specific content
 

Beanie Draws

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This is a fantastic question. I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos over the last week randomly, and I've come to realise I never even look at the channel names, let alone subscribe, and I spend maybe a few moments scrolling through my notification feed.

Realistically I don't check the channels I subscribe to often, if they show up when I'm bored, that's great, but the channels I DO subscribe, is because I want to bookmark them because their content is interesting to me long term.