If you’re still working toward 1,000 YouTube subscribers, here’s some good news. Unlike creators with large audiences, you still have the freedom to try new things. You aren’t stuck in a niche where viewers expect hyperfocused videos. And you still have time to find your audience and learn how YouTube works.

Gaining 1,000 subscribers is still the dream.

 Once you meet that goal, you’re one step closer to applying to the 

The Easiest Way to Get 1,000 Subscribers on YouTube

, we chat with Alan Spicer, YouTube consultant and blogger, about gaining 1,000 subscribers and beyond. His YouTube growth channel, 

, has 34,000 subscribers. He also has thousands of subscribers on other YouTube channels, and books clients on his website, 

Spicer reviews lots of channels and has noticed a pattern with successful creators. Typically, channels with over 1,000 subscribers have three things in common.

1. The Content Is Hyperfocused and Entertaining

. The first option is making focused content that caters to one audience. But if you don’t know what your niche should be, you can explore different topics to see what gets more views. Be warned, though: The results for this option are unpredictable. You’re letting the numbers decide what your niche should be, even if you aren’t passionate about the topic. That’s why we recommend option one – finding a topic you love and sticking to it.

Is your YouTube niche worth pursuing? Ask yourself three questions to find out:

Are video ideas coming to me effortlessly?

If your answer to all three questions is “yes,” you have a niche worth exploring. Whether that’s cooking, baseball highlights, makeup, or something else, embrace your newfound topic!

 is the fastest way to get 1,000 subscribers on YouTube. The deeper you dive into a subject, the better your chances of attracting like-minded viewers. If you’re a 

, for example, viewers will subscribe to watch hundreds of gaming tutorials.

Making how-to content is a sure-fire way to stand out on YouTube. 

 Spicer sees this formula all the time as a YouTube consultant – and it works.

“You can still be educational and funny,” Spicer says. “[A fencing company] was making content about ‘how to’ this and ‘how to’ that, which was great. But then they made a video that was all about a specific building material…. It’s a nice time-lapse thing, and it’s entertaining. But it still was within their focus of them telling us how to put up that fence and the specific materials you need to use.”

Of course, the video went viral. The fencing company got views from their audience and people who enjoyed the time-lapse video.

2. The Creator Is an Expert – or Passionate About Becoming One

 to reach 1,000 YouTube subscribers? During that time, they post dozens of videos, if not hundreds.

That’s why passion is invaluable on YouTube. If you aren’t excited about your niche, it’s hard to keep going with little to no views and subscribers. Chances are, you will lose motivation.

7 Beliefs You Need to Have to Grow a YouTube Channel

There is one solution, though. You can always 

share your expertise, professional or otherwise, on YouTube.

 That gives you a topic to explore for several years. You can teach viewers an array of skills, from investing to painting to cell phone repair.

Starting a YouTube Career - 7 Steps to Monetize Your Passion

“I’ve done web development for five years prior [to YouTube],” Spicer says. “I understand search engine optimization, and now I’m SEO-certified. If I can teach those things, people then know I’m a Netflix of answers for that specific field.” 

3. The Channel Creates Long-Term Value for Viewers

Want to gain lots of subscribers quickly? Here’s the ultimate rule for succeeding on YouTube:

Create value for your viewers, and never stop giving it to them.

This rule applies to all creators, regardless of your YouTube niche. If you want viewers to subscribe to your channel, you have to give them a reason to stay.

3 Steps to Create Valuable, Highly-Watched Videos

“Whatever your goal happens to be, that’s perfectly fine," Spicer says. "But as long as you deliver the message and value to the audience first, they will keep coming back. If I’m being selfish, telling you what I want from you, taking from you, why would you want to come back to me?”

Gary Vaynerchuk, internet personality and super entrepreneur, is a great example. He succeeds on YouTube because he gives so much information away for free. 

 about entrepreneurship and personal branding help millions of subscribers achieve their goals. Plus, his advice creates long-term value. People will continue to start new businesses and tweak their personal brands for the job market.

 doesn’t mean you’ll become rich on YouTube. But it helps you make some money and grow your audience through the YouTube Partner Program. If you haven’t earned 4,000 hours of Watch Time yet – the other YPP requirement – 

YouTube channels with more than 1,000 subscribers have 3 things in common. Read this post to discover what they are and grow your audience faster.

What YouTube Channels with Over 1,000 Subscribers Have In Common

Can a YouTube creator’s CPM change for no apparent reason? By studying different channels, we know that CPMs fluctuate all the time. But increases or decreases don't happen randomly; whether your CPM soars to the moon like dogecoin or drops to the ground like a meteor, there’s a specific reason every time.

CPM (cost per millie) is the amount of money advertisers pay per 1,000 views. So for example, if one of your videos gets 100,000 views and the CPM is $8.50, the video’s total revenue is $850. That's a nice profit, but only a portion of it goes to your bank account. YouTube takes a 45% cut, which leaves you with $467.50. After that, subtract a healthy amount for taxes.

This is a best-case scenario because not every “view” on YouTube is monetized. In the YouTube Studio, there is a metric called 

 It shows how many views were actually monetized on your channel.

Take a look at the table below. In this example, the creator has 68,216 views on their channel (for a specific time period). But as you can see, YouTube didn’t monetize all of those views. Only 43,812 views brought in revenue.

You can find all this data in the YouTube Studio. Go to the 

 to see your CPM and estimated monetized playbacks.

With that in mind, here are six factors that increase or decrease your YouTube CPM.

1. The Geographic Location Listed on Your Channel

Did you know that where you live determines how much money you make on YouTube? Some countries have a larger economy than others, and that abundance translates to YouTube. If you live in the U.S., this is something you already know. The American cost of living is higher than most countries. Take India, for example. According to 

, the average disposable income is $3,258.85 per month for Americans and $452.11 per month for Indians. That means the average American has seven times more money to spend.

What does this have to do with your YouTube CPM? It simply means companies advertise different products and services on an American channel versus an Indian channel. Those products will likely cost more in the U.S., which means advertisers will pay more to have them appear (as ads) in a video. So you could earn a higher YouTube CPM just by living in a specific country.

Using our example of American income, let's look at the age of your YouTube audience. Your viewers likely fall into one of these ranges:

These groups have different income levels. For Americans between 45 and 54, yearly income peaked at $78,879 in 2013. As a result, these older but wealthier Americans spent more money (about $60,524) than other groups. And remember what we said earlier: 

Advertisers want to be where the money flows.

Now, compare that to the income of Americans under 25. In the same year, they only made $27,914.

Let’s say you have a gaming channel, and your audience is American teenagers. Because this demographic has less spending power, there’s a chance advertisers aren’t paying high CPMs to market their products in gaming videos. This means your CPM could be lower than a channel focusing on middle-aged Americans. That’s a broad generalization, obviously. But on a basic level, this methodology is why some creators make more money than others.

What are the most profitable topics on YouTube? According to research by creator 

This data was collected by studying CPMs in different niches across Russia, the U.S., Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia, and India. Take a closer look below.

Are you starting to see a trend? Topics like investing, health, and real estate don’t attract every viewer on YouTube. Most viewers don’t think about these areas of life until they’re approaching 30 or reach a higher salary. That’s why your YouTube niche, among other things, affects your CPM.

 to learn how one creator made $200,000 per month in advertising revenue.

4. Seasonal Changes In Your Niche/Industry

In addition to geographic location, age of the viewer, and YouTube niche, seasonality affects your CPM. Our YouTuber-in-residence, Rob Wilson, had a tech channel before joining the team and knows how AdSense revenue can fluctuate.

“CPMs for tech channels go through the roof as we approach Christmas,” Wilson says. “It’s the gift-buying season, and people are making purchasing decisions when they’re watching tech content. However, the moment we leave the holiday season, CPMs tank on those channels for a couple of months…. then we’re in the New Years’ Resolution season, where food and fitness channels see their CPMs rise.”

Now that we’ve discussed other CPM factors, let's talk about something you can control: the type of ads placed on your videos.

When your channel finally gets monetized, your first thought is probably, “I’m going to put every type of ad on my videos – display ads, overlay ads, sponsored cards, non-skippable ads. 

Google AdSense 101 - How to Benefit from Ad Revenue on YouTube

But did you know that CPMs vary across ad types? You can see these figures by filtering for 

Check out the image below. For a particular piece of content, video ads commanded a higher CPM than display ads. That’s because viewers can’t easily escape a video advertisement. But a small graphic at the bottom of the frame? That’s easy to ignore or make disappear with one tap.

A couple of years ago, YouTube was fined $170 million for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Act. This law states that websites can’t collect personal information from users under 13 years of age.

What does that mean for you? If you’re a “

,” it essentially means you’ll make less ad revenue. YouTube isn’t allowed to collect personal interest data for most children. As a result, those views don't see targeted ads they’re likely to click.

Advertisers know this, and they aren’t willing to pay top dollar for ads placed on content with “limited revenue." So if you have a kids channel, that's another factor driving your YouTube CPM way down.

7. How ‘Safe’ Your Videos Are For Viewing

Do your videos show adult content? How about guns and violence? On YouTube, these are CPM killers. For the most part, advertisers want to market their products on positive, PG-13 videos. So anything that falls outside of that will result in limited monetization and lower CPMs.

YouTube’s list of non-advertiser-friendly topics is lengthy. See the image below for every category.

 to keep your channel in good standing and earn the highest possible CPM.

CPM is an advertiser-focused metric. If you want to see your income after all YouTube deductions, 

Your YouTube CPM can be amazingly high or shockingly low. Here are 7 reasons why.

YouTube CPM: 7 Factors Affecting Your Channel's Revenue

Are you a gamer looking to start a Minecraft channel? We’ve got exciting news for you and the thousands of subscribers you’re about to gain. Regardless of what you may have heard, it’s 

 too late to become a Minecraft creator. The game is 12 years old and shows no signs of losing its popularity – not even in 2021.

Why It's Not Too Late to Create a Minecraft Channel on YouTube

 about launching a successful Minecraft channel on YouTube. Farzy is a Minecraft creator himself and has more than 140,000 subscribers and 33 million views. His channel is only five years old, which makes him a stand-out creator among aspiring YouTubers.

Want the secret to Farzy’s success? Here’s how he grew his channel in one of the most competitive YouTube niches.

1. Create a Niche Within a Niche for Your Minecraft Channel

If you follow our YouTube advice, you’ve heard this tip before. Succeeding on the platform is almost impossible without focused content, so 

 For Minecraft creators, it’s not as simple as saying, “Because I only play one game on YouTube, my channel has a strong focus.” You have to dig deeper and get 

 specific to stand out as a Minecraft creator.

“There are a lot of segments in the Minecraft community,” Farzy says. “There are people doing SMPs, which is survival multiplayer. There are people doing redstone videos. So I’m not just doing all of Minecraft on YouTube. I took an exact slice of that game, and in there, it’s me being the entertaining let’s play content slash tutorial content.”

Want to create a successful Minecraft channel? Choose one thing to focus on within the game: build challenges, speedrunning, new worlds, or anything you want. Then make your titles and thumbnails reflect those parts of the Minecraft universe.

2. Pay Attention to Which Videos Get the Most Views, and Make Similar Content

Imagine logging into YouTube to find one of your Minecraft videos 

. What would you do after seeing something like that? If your answer is “

investigate the cause and make similar content

,” that’s the right thing to do. More than anything, measuring the success of popular videos and repeating what works is a reliable way to grow your Minecraft channel.

After all, that’s what Farzy did. Three months ago, both newer and older videos on his channel received some love from 

. It didn’t seem to matter if the videos were weeks old or published years ago. YouTube was recommending his content to viewers, and he decided to capitalize on that.

“I had a big spurt of views from normal traffic sources – lots of them,” Farzy says. “What I did from there is I just tried to double down on that content. So making more engaging tutorials. Making let’s play content that has an inherent value…. And the growth has just skyrocketed.”

3. Strike a Balance Between Minecraft Let’s Plays and Tutorials

Is it wise to upload Minecraft tutorials and let’s play videos on the same channel? According to Farzy, it depends on how you balance the content. When you first start a Minecraft channel, tutorials that are 

 help you stand out. By answering questions people have about the game or showing them how to overcome different challenges, you can certainly get more views.

It’s the opposite with let’s play content. This section of “Minecraft YouTube” is saturated and less prevalent than it used to be. Nowadays, top creators with thousands of subscribers dominate the niche.

 create let’s play videos. You just have to be smart about it. 

In 2021, posting a 40-minute, unedited let’s play isn’t the best approach as a new creator

. And having those let’s plays and tutorials on the same channel is even more chaotic.

So what’s the solution? For Farzy, injecting as much value into every let’s play while still creating tutorials solved the problem.

“Now I’ve learned to hedge what’s not working in my favor,” Farzy says. “One example is how the classic let’s play style isn’t working. It’s very niche, and it’s not a trending topic anymore. So what I’ve done, and what other people have done as well, is within your let’s play content, try and answer a question. You can try and dig into another niche within your let’s play."

Creating a 20-minute let’s play, where the first five minutes is a valuable tutorial

Using the other 15 minutes to entertain people while exploring the game

Check out the video below from Farzy. This survial let's play is the perfect example of instructing in the first half and having fun in the second.

Farzy says he’s attracting new viewers (and quickly) after adopting this content style. If you’re going to create let’s plays, give his strategy a try.

4. Be Strategic With Your Minecraft Thumbnails

Put yourself in the shoes of a new viewer. If they aren’t familiar with Minecraft just yet, is it easy to understand what’s happening on your channel? Can viewers tell which videos are let’s plays or Minecraft tutorials?

If not, it’s time to get strategic with your thumbnails.

10 Reasons Why Some Custom Thumbnails Work and Others Don't

“A lot of new creators look at their favorite YouTubers and their thumbnails, which usually show their brand – their face making some shocked expression with little to do with the game," Farzy says. "They look at that and say, ‘OK, I’ll do that too because they have all these views.’ But really, if you’re not well-known, you need to showcase what the video is about. Nobody cares who you are yet.”

Here’s Farzy’s strategy for making Minecraft thumbnails:

For let’s play content, he shows his face in the thumbnail. But the image has text that reads, “survival series.” It’s his way of saying, “This is a let’s play video.”

He keeps his face out of the thumbnail for tutorials, so viewers know they’re getting a tutorial.

Not every viewer knows what your channel is about. Be sure to help new viewers understand who you are and what you do on YouTube.

It takes time to grow on YouTube. Whether you’re starting a Minecraft channel or a channel that tracks hummingbirds in the wild, it's the same slow grind. You need lots of patience and fortitude to get more views and subscribers consistently.

“My viewers will ask me, ‘Farzi, how did you grow your channel so fast?’.... But you’re not going to grow in a couple of weeks unless you’re some crazy channel. You need to understand that and say, ‘I’m going to put my head down, I’m going to work at this, I’m going to get better, and I’m going to do my research. If you don’t have that patience and understanding, you’re going to get frustrated.”

Take a deep breath, upload consistently, and don’t give up. Eventually, you’ll reach your goal of starting and growing a Minecraft channel.

Starting a Minecraft channel in 2021 is still worth the effort. After all, Minecraft creator Nick Farzy gained 33 million views in five years. Could you be next?

How to Start a Successful Minecraft YouTube Channel

Most YouTube creators dream of getting a brand deal – and for good reason. Instead of depending on 

, they get to diversify their income and make more money.

The best way to get a brand deal, ironically, is to become a brand yourself.

 Having a YouTube channel is great, but taking the steps to create a business gives your content a different identity. For example, it’s one thing to post videos about how to emigrate from the U.S. to Mexico. It is another thing entirely to sell courses, consultations, and e-books about how to make the switch. That’s a step above content creation. When your empire is 

 fleshed out, brands have more information about how and why they should partner with you.

Making Money on YouTube - 7 Tips to Start a Successful Business

In this episode of TubeTalk, we chat with Mike Bienstock about what it takes to get and keep a brand deal on YouTube. Bienstock is the chief executive at 

, which helps creators get products into stores, negotiate brand deals, and more.

In addition to treating yourself like a brand, here's how to get (and keep) YouTube brand deals.

“a partnership between creators and brands and is sometimes referred to as a brand sponsorship.”

 That definition comes from a Creator Academy 

. Most partnerships are simple: You create a piece of content that features a product, and the brand pays you for your work.

You don’t need millions of subscribers to partner with a brand. Oftentimes, you just need a focused niche, high-quality content, and a good pitch.

It’s Easier to Get a Brand Deal When You’re Serious About YouTube

Before striking a deal with a creator, Bienstock gauges their 

 So if you’re interested in getting brand deals, go all-in. Be consistent with your video uploads, create awesome thumbnails, and write the best titles you can. Let your passion spill over into everything you create so brands know you’re here to stay.

Having lots of views and subscribers helps too. But Bienstock says there are more important factors.

“It’s more about attitude and dedication than any particular metrics because the metrics can grow and expand over time,” Bienstock says. “The creator’s attitude of how they are treating it is usually pretty [ingrained].”

You Need to Love The Product/Service You’re Promoting

You can’t fake passion on YouTube. If you’re a creator who appears on camera, think of how long people have studied your mannerisms. By now, they know when you’re being genuine or if something seems off. That’s why you can’t say yes to any brand deal. People will know when you’re promoting something just for the money.

“Creators and their audiences, that relationship is very transparent,” Bienstock says. “We’ve learned this way back in the early days: If the creator isn’t really excited or passionate about the project or what’s happening, the audience can tell…. We need to figure out something that’s going to fire up the creator because the audience is going to sense how true that is.”

Before agreeing to do anything, make sure that…

The product or service is something you believe in and aligns with your channel

Your audience will benefit from using the product or service

You are excited and passionate about promoting the brand

Brands Will Reject Your Pitch, and That’s OK

Everyone faces rejection when they’re trying to get a brand deal. Yes, – even the talented negotiators at Semaphore. The company is super successful, and yet, not every brand is willing to work with the creators they represent.

“We get told no a lot, and we get told, ‘What you're proposing is impossible,’” Bienstock says. “Now it makes me laugh because people tell me things are impossible, and 12 months later, we’re working on a national launch tied to something they swore was impossible.”

If a major company can fail like this and still keep going, so can you! Don’t feel too bad about getting rejection emails, or even worse, no response. It’s just one brand. There are more opportunities out there if you’re willing to look.

Brand Deals Create More Work, But You Can Handle It

It’s true. Brand deals are more work than what you would do on your own. When you’re simply creating videos, you get to make a plan and execute a few ideas – nothing more and nothing less. With a brand deal, you might be tasked with making three sponsored videos a month, in addition to regular content. Then there’s the pressure to make quality videos that perform well for your channel 

It’s challenging because you have more responsibility. But just think: If you made it this far, it’s because you have the work ethic to create at a high level. That’s a trait you can tap into when things get rough.

“[Successful creators] are very true to their roots of being a new influencer,” Bienstock says. “They remember those all-nighters where they couldn’t even afford an editor. They had to do the editing. And the mic didn’t work. And they’re re-filming their videos. So I don’t believe they change. Because everything they’ve done to get to that place is thinking about their emotional connection to their audience.”

Partnering With a Brand Doesn’t Make You a Sell-Out

Repeat after me: Promoting a brand on your YouTube channel 

 make you a sell-out. It’s 2021, and viewers love to see it. A few years ago, promoting a brand could alienate your audience and even cause jealousy or disgust. It’s the opposite today. People are simply happy their favorite creator is being recognized and compensated. They leave comments expressing how proud they are, and how just a few years ago, that creator had 100 subscribers instead of millions.

Need another reason to pursue a partnership? Here’s one of the best: 

 Creating and posting YouTube videos is hard work. A brand deal helps you support yourself.

7 Steps to Build Multiple Income Streams on YouTube

“Listen, if you cannot pay your rent or your car expense or buy a camera, you have no content to create for the world,” Bienstock says. “You’re going to need to get a job somewhere, and you’re going to have zero time to create. So we need to be realistic and transparent about the fact that you’re filming and buying props. They don’t just get given to you. You’re going on Amazon and buying these things.”

Are you ready to get a brand deal as a small creator? Check out 

You don't need millions of YouTube subscribers to get a brand deal. It's all about having the right attitude and a bit of persistence to close the deal. 

The Truth About Getting a Brand Deal on YouTube

Are viewers watching your YouTube videos to completion? Is your audience retention so high that 70% of people are still watching after the first 30 seconds?

If not, you have an opportunity to improve the "stickiness" of your videos. This is a special kind of video magic that stops people from clicking away. Creating sticky videos is about identifying what’s working (or not) to keep viewers engaged.

This simple act will help you flourish on YouTube. The algorithm loves to 

YouTube Watch Time - The Secret Sauce to More YouTube Views and Subscribers

The first step is understanding how audience retention works. Keep reading to discover this metric on your own channel, plus six simple ways to keep people watching.

 shows how many viewers are watching a video throughout the beginning, middle, end, or altogether. The "altogether" rate is shown as a percentage of total views. So for example, if you post a 12-minute video, and people watch for eight minutes on average, your audience retention rate is 66%.

In the YouTube Studio, you’ll see different moments within a video that affect your audience retention, such as:

 where viewers re-watched or skipped certain parts

 where viewers skipped a section or left the video completely

These moments highlight where viewers are losing or gaining interest during a video.

Take a look at the image below from YouTube’s 

 to see what each moment looks like on an audience retention graph.

 is a key retention metric. It’s an estimate of how many minutes viewers watched a video, on average. Increasing this number, as well as other retention metrics, can boost your views on YouTube.

“YouTube’s search and discovery system loves videos that people have found satisfying, and a great way it determines that is audience retention,” creator liaison Matt Koval said in a Creator Insider 

How to See Your Channel’s Audience Retention

Want to see if your videos are truly engaging? Follow the steps below to find out.

 (click your profile image and select YouTube Studio).

Select the video you want to analyze. Choose from the list of videos shown or use the search bar to find a specific video.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You’ll see a graph showing the video’s average view duration and average percentage viewed.

This data is from a video of ours, titled “

YouTube’s Discovery Algorithm...Exposed

.” The audience retention graph shows that:

On average, viewers watched the video for 

, a new YouTube metric. It compares videos of similar length on your channel and tells you if the video you're analyzing is performing better or worse than previous content.

Audience retention varies widely. It can change depending on the length of your video, the topic, and the audience. For example, a gaming or education channel’s retention could be low because of 

Young children are intrigued by gaming videos, but they have short attention spans. An adult who watches a video about investing may skip certain parts to find one piece of information. There are many reasons people don’t finish a video, so take your niche, as well as audience behavior, into consideration.

What Is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

First, know that there isn’t a golden percentage for audience retention. Viewers have different intentions for watching a video, which leads to shorter or longer Watch Time. That’s not a bad thing at all. It leaves you free to analyze your data and make adjustments without comparing yourself to others.

But if you need a benchmark, our YouTuber-in-residence Rob Wilson has a number in mind.

“If your video is longer than five minutes, and audience retention is above 50%, you’re probably doing a good job,” Wilson says. “If your video is longer than five minutes, and you’re getting audience retention above 70% in the first 30 seconds, then you’ve got your hook on the video and you’re doing a good job.”

Want his full opinion on audience retention (and another important metric)? Watch the video below to hear Wilson explain in more detail:

How to Increase Audience Retention on YouTube

With everything we’ve covered, here are some tips for increasing audience retention:

During the first 30 seconds, hundreds of people will click away from the video. But you can reduce that number by catching viewers’ attention early. Just think: What would intrigue them so much that clicking away is not an option?

Want to boost your YouTube audience retention? Here are six ways to improve that metric and keep viewers watching for longer.

Posts Written By Lydia Sweatt

What YouTube Channels with Over 1,000 Subscribers Have In Common

YouTube CPM: 7 Factors Affecting Your Channel's Revenue

How to Start a Successful Minecraft YouTube Channel

The Truth About Getting a Brand Deal on YouTube

How to Increase Audience Retention on Every YouTube Video

Getting a Good Click-Through Rate on YouTube: 6 Powerful Tips

How to Make a YouTube Short In 2021: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide

YouTube Success: 3 Steps to Create Valuable, Highly-Watched Videos

How to Double Your YouTube Watch Time by Looping Shorts

5 Mistakes That Stop Your YouTube Channel From Growing

Quantity Over Quality: The One Thing New YouTubers Should Focus On

YouTube Algorithm Guide: How Your Videos Are Recommended to Viewers