It's a fantastic feeling when somebody subscribes to your channel. But which viewers hit that big, red button? And do they have large, popular channels of their own?

Follow these steps to see a list of recent YouTube subscribers:

1. Log into YouTube, click your profile icon, and go to the 

3. A pop-up window will appear showing your recent subscribers. Adjust the date range at the top to see who subscribed in the last seven days, month, 90 days, year, or the life of your channel.

On this panel, you will see a recent subscriber's:

Creators with the most subscribers appear at the top of the list. But you can click the 

 tabs to filter the list as you please.  

How to Find Your First YouTube Subscriber – Ever!

Want to visit a subscriber's channel? The profile icons are clickable, so simply click one to go to that creator's homepage. If you already know the creator, there's an option to subscribe to their channel, which is a nice short cut. 

Bear in mind that new subscribers will only be displayed here 

 So you probably have more subscribers than this panel will show.

Need more information about your subscribers? 

 to get instant access to robust subscriber data. 

How many subscribers a commenter (underneath any video) has gained on their channel.

How many subscribers a channel has, when viewed in YouTube search results.

 to pick out channels with a certain number of subscribers.

Want to take things to the next level? Our 

 tells you which videos your subscribers watch on YouTube and the channels they're subscribed to. This gives you more data about the type of content your audience likes so you can make better videos.

 to see your live, real-time subscriber count.

Silhouette with question mark and green arrow pointing to "Who Subscribed" text in bold letters

Are you curious about who has subscribed to your YouTube channel? Read this one-minute guide to get an all-time list of subscribers.

How to See Who Subscribed to Your YouTube Channel

Real-time subscriber counts are fun to watch. As the numbers tick up and down, for a few seconds, you can imagine what it feels like to reach your next subscriber milestone.

 a few years ago, but now it’s back. There’s a new page for viewing live subscribers, which feels like a nod to the old feature and an expansion at the same.

See a timeline of your subscriber count over the years

Want to see how many subscribers you have right this second? Keep reading to discover how.

How to See Your Live YouTube Subscriber Count in 2021

As with many YouTube features, you’ll find the live subscriber page in the YouTube Studio.

Look for the real time section on the right side of your screen. This section shows your live subscriber count, but to see a bigger, streamable screen, click 

Watch our video tutorial to get all the steps right:

Here’s what our live subscriber page looks like in the YouTube Studio:

As you gain or lose subscribers, this number will tick forward or backward to display an accurate count.

Below the live counter, there’s a graph showing your subscriber history. This is a cool feature because you can use the period selector to see how many subscribers you had at any point in your YouTube journey. Selecting the 

option gives you a complete numerical history, as shown above.

Public Subscriber Counts Are Still Abbreviated

Remember when YouTube decided to abbreviate public subscriber counts? Well, that rule still applies if you have more than 1,000 subscribers. Eight hundred seventy-seven subscribers will appear as 877 on your channel. Three thousand forty-six subscribers will be displayed as 3.4K.

YouTube’s new subscriber page is simply an add-on. That means the public count, unfortunately, will still 

There’s a positive side, though. If you miss the old days of live streaming your subscriber count, now you can relive those moments. Simply identify your next milestone, plan a live stream, and celebrate the win alongside your viewers.

YouTube vidIQ channel reaching one million subscribers with excited man celebrating

Are you about to reach 1,000 subscribers? 10,000? 100,000? If so, it's time to live stream your big moment with YouTube's new, updated subscriber page.

How to See Your Real-Time YouTube Subscriber Count

A small YouTube creator starts their journey in a vulnerable position. From the moment they post their first video, they have to face two hard truths. The first is that in the beginning, their content may earn minimal views. Another challenge is not knowing when or if their channel will grow and earn revenue.

That’s a lot of uncertainty for one person, but there’s good news. Instead of fumbling through the YouTube journey, you can follow a simple game plan to stand out from other creators. You can bypass all the guesswork, 

, and move one step closer to monetizing your content.

All you have to do, in the beginning, is 

make videos people are already searching for.

On YouTube, these videos tend to be informative, instructive, or highlight trending topics. There are four types of videos that easily provide such value:

Want to learn how to create each one? Watch our latest YouTube tutorial, then keep reading to discover the best tips for filming this powerful content.

Want to appear on YouTube search pages for two keywords at once? That’s what you’d achieve (potentially) by posting a versus video, which is an in-depth discussion comparing any two things. They could be video games, types of homes, investments strategies, or anything within your YouTube niche.

People search for these videos all the time, especially when they want to make a purchase. If someone can’t decide between two products, they need you, an independent arbiter, to help them decide. That creates a valuable opportunity for you. You can film an objective video weighing the pros and cons of each product or create a subjective video, one where each product is useful, but there’s clearly a better option.

To get started, identify the most important topic on your channel. Whatever that is, type it into the YouTube search bar and add two more letters to the query: V and S.

If you’re a tech creator, for example, you may type in something like this:

Pay attention to how YouTube autocompletes the search term. In the example above, typing “iPhone 12 vs” gives you 10 search terms related to the topic. You could create a video comparing the iPhone 12 to the iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Pro, or Samsung S21. These are all potential video ideas.

To make these videos even more appealing, add emotional context to the title. These short phrases are usually tacked onto the end:

 to see how competitive a search term is.

You’ve likely seen list videos on YouTube. These popular pieces of content follow a simple titling convention: adjective + number + topic. That creates highly searchable content, such as “Top 10 Travel Destinations in LA ” or “8 Seafood Recipes to Try During Lent.”

When you make a listicle video, choose one topic to cover and quickly discuss several aspects of the subject. That allows you to cover plenty of searchable keywords and make your content more discoverable. For example, imagine posting a video titled “Top 10 Action Movies of 2021.” If you optimize the video properly, you should have at least 10 keywords – one for each movie.

Do you have a polarizing opinion in your listicle? That’s even better. An upset of any kind electrifies viewers. It motivates them to use the comment section, sharing what they’d view as the proper list or simply offer a dissenting opinion.

Listicle videos are hard to rank for unless a certain topic is being recycled on YouTube. When you 

, you’ll get access to a search companion that demystifies this entire process.

As an example, we used the term “top 5 stocks for 2021” to see what the search companion reported.

As you can see, the average age of these videos is about one month. If you posted a video with “top 5 stocks for 2021” in the title, you could earn 223,335 views in 30 days, on average.

When you combine an instructional video with a trending topic, you can’t go wrong. That’s what many creators learned when they posted how-to videos about a new social network called Clubhouse.

If you haven’t heard already, this app is for group audio conversations. The chats are invite-only, and that created a mysterious, FOMO-inducing panic among people who wanted to be involved. It became a trending topic, which found its way to every corner of the internet – YouTube included.

Because Clubhouse has limited access, how-to videos started appearing on YouTube. People wanted to know how to get invited, how to use the app, and how to host a group conversation. 

 have between 10k and 200k views on YouTube.

We found these videos using the search term “how to use Clubhouse.” On the right side of the search results, the vidIQ keyword score tells us this term is lucrative. The search volume is high and the competition low, which is perfect for new creators who want more views.

You don’t have to be a veteran creator to make popular how-to videos. There are two creators – 

 – that have less than 5k subscribers and earned between 10k and 50k views on their Clubhouse videos. They succeeded because they brought knowledge and education to a new trend.

Remember when GameStop stocks went crazy? Many channels reacted to the news that everyday investors were profiting from a short squeeze, which is when the price of a stock rises but hurts investors who betted against it.

It was such a new story at the time, and there were so many questions. What is a short squeeze? Why are GameStop investors making so much money? Should I buy GameStop stocks? On YouTube, reacting to the chaos can accelerate your channel’s growth.

This topic was in circulation for weeks, so corresponding videos were recycled by YouTube’s algorithm for a long time. Content from smaller creators had the chance to appear at the top of search pages, attract more views, and reel in more subscribers. That’s the power of a well-timed reaction video!

You can react to anyone or anything in your videos. You can add your style, knowledge, or point-of-view to a trending event within your niche. Just remember that the key to reaction videos is being one of the first creators to react.

New Creators Need High-Value Content to Get More Subscribers

When you start a YouTube channel, viewers won’t subscribe for your personality – not at first. In the beginning, they don’t know who you are. But they do know which type of videos they’re searching for.

If you’re working toward 1,000 YouTube subscribers, give people what they want. Answer their questions, solve their problems, and react to things they care about.

Man pointing up with YouTube logo and green growth graph showing 1000 subscribers milestone

If you have less than 1,000 subscribers, this simple strategy will help you grow on YouTube.

Make These 4 YouTube Videos to Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers

YouTube’s video editor has undergone some major changes. What used to be a limited tool is filled with features every creator needs, such as a tool for blurring faces, adding end cards, and choosing royalty-free music.

Now that the video editor seems to be complete, we can show you how to use each feature. Watch our tutorial below to get the full tour:

Need a quick way to bookmark this information? No problem. Scroll down to read the complete guide to YouTube’s video editor, then save this page for future reference.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to reach YouTube’s video editor:

Find the video you want to edit and hover your mouse over it. On the pop-up menu that appears, click the 

You’ll know you’re in the right place when you’ve reached this screen:

You can also reach the video editor from any watch page. To do that, click on one of your videos and watch it the traditional way. This means you’ll be able to see comments, your video’s description, and other suggested videos.

If you’re logged in as the channel owner, you’ll see two blue buttons below the video. Click the one that says 

 to reach the video details page, then select the video editor once again.

Basic Controls in the YouTube Video Editor

A good video editor has user-friendly controls. YouTube’s has six important ones you’ll likely need at some point:

 An area for scrubbing through the entire video, complete with a marker for clicking and dragging across the timeline.

 A tool for zooming in and out on the timeline so you can make accurate changes to the video.

 Allows you to speed up or slow down the video.

 Allows you to jump forward or backward in 10-second increments.

 A tool for erasing or reapplying certain changes to your video.

To quickly find each control, match the numbers above to the features below.

Here’s a routine task every creator needs to master. Follow the steps below to trim your YouTube videos of unwanted scenes:

Make your way to YouTube’s video editor (YouTube Studio > Content > Hover over the video > Pencil Icon > Editor).

Click the trim button to highlight the entire video, which will turn blue.

Use the gray video marker to scrub the timeline to the exact point you want to trim. Zoom in so you can see the sound waves and make an accurate selection.

Go to the beginning of the video, then click and drag the dark blue bar to the position of the gray marker. This part of the video will be grayed out and won’t play when you test the results.

Don’t worry about saving your changes just yet. In the next section, we’ll show you the most efficient way to do that.

Next up, we're going to do a split in the middle of a video and remove footage. This is a combination of splitting and trimming, and after we make those changes, we’ll show you the best way to save the video.

On the video timeline, drag your gray marker to the split point of your choice.

The gray marker should now be highlighted in blue. Drag the marker from the split point to create a split in the middle of the video. Everything that’s grayed will now be cut from the video. To cancel a split, click the X symbol above any of the gray areas.

When you’re done, follow the steps from the previous section to trim the video as you see fit. Click 

How to Save Editing Changes in the YouTube Editor

Before we go any further, we need to talk about saving your video. Here’s the best way to lock in your changes:

Instead of clicking the blue save button in the top right corner, click the three dots beside it.

This allows you to save the changes as a brand new video. If you simply click the Save button, YouTube will show the original, unedited video as it processes the changes for a few hours.

To get around this altogether, do your editing before you make a video public. If it's already public and you need to urgently change something, set it to private until the changes are applied.

How to Add Royalty-Free Music in the YouTube Editor

Unfortunately, you can’t add external audio or footage to the YouTube editor. That means last minute voice-overs or other sound effects will have to be added using a separate video editor, such as Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro.

 add royalty-free music. YouTube has an audio library that any creator can access from the video editor. The music is pretty nice, too!

Here’s how to add audio tracks to your video:

To the left of the video timeline, click the 

A panel of free music tracks will appear by default. You can scroll the list, listen to tracks, and perform searches. Click 

 to insert a song into the video timeline. For extra details about all the songs, click Audio Library.

When the music track is on your timeline, it shows up as a blue bar with three dots at the end. This is a menu you can click to remove the track or view its license, which explains whether you need to credit the artist in your video description.

Next to the three dots are mixing controls. Click the 

 and drag the slider to the appropriate position. By default, the music will completely replace the video’s original audio, so you need to adjust this setting to get a good mixture of the two.

To position the music track itself, simply click and drag it to the appropriate place on the timeline.

How to Blur Faces and Objects in YouTube Videos

Have you ever needed to blur something out of your video? Fortunately, YouTube has a tool for that in its video editor. You can do two types of blurs - one for faces and another for custom objects.

When you do a face blur, YouTube will scan the video for all of the faces it can detect. Then you’ll choose which faces to blur on an individual basis.

A custom blur allows you to place circular or rectangular blurs over different objects.

To access this part of the video editor, go to the timeline and click 

. The lettering is big, blue, and hard to miss. You’ll find it right below the timeline section for royalty-free audio tracks.

YouTube’s face blur will do most of the work for you. After it detects faces, and you select which ones to blur, you’re nearly done. For the custom blur, you’ll need to make more selections, such as whether to employ a circular or rectangular blur, plus motion tracking for certain objects.

We have a helpful blog post on this topic, so be sure to read it 

. If you need a visual tutorial, watch the video below to learn more about blurring in the YouTube video editor:

How to Add End Screens in the YouTube Video Editor

The video editor probably isn’t the best place to add end screens. If you go back to the video details page, there’s a dedicated end screen feature that’s less cluttered.

But if you want to add end screens in the YouTube video editor, the tools there work just fine. To add one, go to the video timeline and click the card icon. It’s right below the 

 feature we discussed in the previous section.

A pop-up will appear, allowing you to choose between promoting a:

The number of subscribers you have will determine how many of these options you can access. But in any case, you can only add four end screens to a video.

For each option, YouTube will guide you through the process for choosing the playlist, video, channel, etc., you want to promote. It’s pretty straightforward and doesn’t take much time.

Here are a few extra things to remember, though:

End screens run for a maximum of 20 seconds at the end of the video.

YouTube has templates to help you create an end screen layout for your videos. In the video editor, the template option is listed with the other promotion types above (video, playlist, etc.)

You can import end screens from previous videos.

End screens are great for suggesting content to your audience so you can get more views. And if you really want to wow your viewers, you can design something like what we have below – a nice layout where you can direct viewers to certain videos on your channel.

Complete guide to YouTube video editing with scissors and audio wave visuals.

Need to quickly trim a video? Add royalty-free music to set the scene for your content? If so, you're going to need this guide to YouTube's new-and-improved video editor.

How to Use YouTube's Video Editor [2021 Update]

What if we told you the ideal duration for a Fortnite video is 9 minutes, 50 seconds? And that no matter how good your content is, trying to exceed that limit will cause hundreds of viewers to click off the video?

Immediately, you’d wonder two things about that mysterious claim:

Let’s start with number two. The length of your videos matters because viewers have a wide range of intentions on YouTube. Some are searching for quick answers to everyday questions, such as how to tie a necktie. Others want to know things that take several minutes to explain. They’ll watch a 30-minute video about building a gaming PC and still have the stamina to view more content.

Knowing which type of viewer you’re dealing with makes all the difference. You can plan better content and film videos that are long enough to appease your audience.

Want to learn how it's done? Keep reading to find the best YouTube video length for your content.

Method 1: Calculate the Average Length of Top-Performing Videos

Producing videos at the right length is easier than you think. All you have to do is:

Perform a search for the topic/title you’re interested in filming.

Copy the video length of the top four or five videos.

Paste the values into a time calculator, such as 

 - you’ll get the average length of top-ranking videos for that search term.

For visual instructions, watch our recent video, “How Long Should Your YouTube Videos Be?”

This isn’t the most scientific method, but it’s a good way to capitalize on what works. With this strategy, you at least know that thousands of viewers - maybe even millions - have watched specific content at a length they could stand.

You only have to do a few searches on YouTube to see how eye-opening this data is. For example, run a search for “how to tie a tie.” The average length for the highest-performing videos is 3 minutes, 10 seconds. Why? Because it’s a 30-second task and people searching this query want a fast solution.

What about “how to build a gaming PC?” As a creator, that’s going to cost you about 26 minutes, 39 seconds. Why? Viewers know the task is complicated and will watch a longer video to get the information.

Method 2: Analyze the Average View Duration on Your Channel

There are other ways to glean your ideal video length on YouTube. Instead of calculating average video lengths, you can follow the steps below to see how long viewers watch your content.

Below the graph showing channel views, Watch Time, subscribers, and revenue, click 

On the next page, you’ll see a row of tabs near the top of the page. Click 

. If you don’t see this option, you may need to expand the menu by clicking 

This will show you a graph of views, segmented by subscribers and non-subscribers. Be sure to 

 at the top right corner of the page to get at least a month of data.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see your channel's average view duration.

Here’s what this page looks like for the vidIQ channel:

Here you can see the impact of your subscribers, and generally speaking, how long they watch your content. 

On the vidIQ channel, subscribers watch our content for an average of 3 minutes, 21 seconds. So at the very least, we know our audience is willing to stick around for 3 minutes. That doesn’t mean we’ll make videos at that length, but it gives us a benchmark to follow and a time frame for presenting the most valuable information in a video.

Also, where people discover your content on YouTube influences how long they’re willing to watch - and that’s powerful information to have. So you can check the 

 tab on this same page (below) for a deeper understanding of your average view duration.

For example, look at the two highlighted areas below.

Our average view duration from suggested videos is 3 minutes, 59 seconds. That’s significantly higher than the 2 minutes, 7 seconds we receive from YouTube search.

So for people who watch content like ours, they see a suggested video from vidIQ, click on it, and watch for nearly four minutes on average. 

Looking at this chart, we may decide to not make videos shorter than four minutes.

Turning casual viewers into fans is a great indicator of success. That’s why you should analyze your subscriber growth to see if making longer or shorter content is a good idea.

To get started, return to this page (below) in the YouTube Studio.

On this chart, pay close attention to the percentage breakdown of views earned from subscribers versus non-subscribers. As you can see, 85% of our views come from non-subscribers. Our goal is to convert these casual viewers into loyal fans.

That’s why you have to keep returning to this page. Keep watching the percentage split, and make note of increases or decreases trending in either direction.

If views from subscribers are growing, increase the length of your videos and see where that takes you.

 If the opposite is true, and you’re losing subscribers, don’t worry about making longer content. You should figure out 

Viewer Intent Should Determine the Length of Your YouTube Videos

At this point, we’ve shared three options for choosing an ideal video length. You can:

Calculate the average length of similar, top-performing videos.

Analyze your average view duration for certain traffic sources.

Determine whether your subscriber count is rising or falling, then make adjustments to your video time limit.

These are great strategies, but don’t forget about viewer intent. 

You should determine how much information will best serve your audience, then make a video long enough to achieve that goal.

 After satisfying this requirement, you can make adjustments to your video length strategy.

And when you finally do, don't become attached to one video length. Some topics require a bit of creative license, especially when you’re telling an emotional story. If you have a magnetic personality and excellent storytelling skills, you can be flexible with the length of your videos.

Our only recommendation is to never make videos less than two minutes long. So far, we haven’t seen a video that short reach meaningful success on YouTube.

If your video is less than two minutes, you might 

. This new content type has the potential to go viral and introduce your videos to millions of people on YouTube.

Smartwatch displaying a 4:30 YouTube timer with a blurred man in the background.

There's no perfect length for a YouTube video. You have to find what works for you, so here are three tips to jumpstart the process.

3 Ways to Find the Best YouTube Video Length

When you first set up your YouTube channel, its web address won’t be a snazzy URL of your choosing. The default address will actually include your channel ID - a 24-character “name tag” that helps certain apps identify your channel.

In 2021, a 24-character URL is way too long. Fortunately, YouTube lets creators choose a custom address for their channel. It comes in handy nowadays, especially if you want to build a recognizable brand on the platform.

Are you ready to give your YouTube channel a custom URL? Here are the requirements to do so, plus a quick tutorial to help you get it done.

YouTube Tips & Tricks

How to See Who Subscribed to Your YouTube Channel

How to See Your Real-Time YouTube Subscriber Count

Make These 4 YouTube Videos to Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers

How to Use YouTube's Video Editor [2021 Update]

3 Ways to Find the Best YouTube Video Length

How To Get a Custom URL For Your YouTube Channel [2021 Update]

25 vidIQ Tools You Need to Grow Your YouTube Channel NOW!

Please Stop Using Episode Numbers on Your Gaming Content

How to Grow Your YouTube Channel By Giving Back to Subscribers

Top 5 YouTube Metrics Every Creator Should Study

Find Out Who Posts the Most Comments on Your YouTube Videos

Why You Should be Using YouTube Video Chapters