How Long Does It Take to Reach 100 Subscribers on YouTube?

JUMP TO SECTION:

• By the Numbers: Gaining 100 Subs
• Does YouTube Get Easier After 100 Subscribers?
• What Happens When You Get 100 Subscribers on YouTube?
• Gaining YouTube Subscribers Is About More Than Numbers
• What You Should Actually Focus on as a New Creator

A question we receive from creators all the time is, "How long to get 100 subscribers on YouTube?"

Well, we won’t keep you in suspense. Our answer is roughly two months or approximately 61 days.

How did we get this number? By asking you, of course.

On the Community tab of vidIQ’s YouTube channel, we asked creators how long it took them to gain 100 subscribers on YouTube. More than 13,000 people responded to our poll, and here are the anecdotal results:

As you can see, 58% of respondents haven’t reached 100 subscribers yet. That left 5,500 creators we could get some kind of data from.

If we only include those respondents, here are the new percentages of how long it took some creators to get 100 subscribers:

• Less than 10 days: 19%
• Less than 50 days: 26%
• Less than 100 days: 24%
• Less than 365 days: 31%

Before we go any further, we need to add a quick disclaimer. The poll results above are purely anecdotal and don’t represent official vidIQ data.

Nonetheless, we did some extra math to see if our results seemed believable. With basic addition, we know that 45% of respondents got 100 subscribers in less than 50 days. And 55% of respondents accomplished the same goal in less than 365 days. With extra calculating and extrapolations (all speculative, really), that's how we reached our magic number of 61 days to reach 100 subscribers.

Read More: How to Get 100 Subscribers on YouTube

To see how we arrived at that number, watch the video below:

Also, if you’re way better at math, tweet us your answer at @vidIQ.

By the Numbers: Gaining 100 Subs

We’re answering the 100-subscriber question anecdotally, so here’s a fun theory.

If it takes 61 days on average to get 100 subs, you'd need:

• 1.6 subscribers per day to hit the milestone in two months.
• Nearly nine videos uploaded on your channel.
• 11.5 subscribers generated from each video.

Does YouTube Get Easier After 100 Subscribers?

Not substantially. With 100 subs, you're still in the small creator club. YouTube is difficult at this point, but you'll feel more confident with 100 strangers believing in your channel.

More than anything, we'd say YouTube gets easier once you have 1,000 subscribers. That's the number you need to enter the YouTube Partner Program and monetize your channel. You also need 4,000 hours of channel watch time to round out the list of requirements.

Read More: How to Monetize Your YouTube Channel - A Beginner's Guide

Combine those two milestones, and you'll unlock the best YouTube has to offer: video monetization through ads, Super Chats, Channel Memberships, and more.

What Happens When You Get 100 Subscribers on YouTube?

The main perk you receive is the ability to customize your channel's URL. So if you're interested in starting a business, reaching 100 subscribers is good for your online brand.

Also, you need at least 50 subscribers to live stream on YouTube using a mobile device. One hundred subscribers is twice that amount, so naturally, you'll unlock the ability to go live anywhere there's internet access.

Gaining YouTube Subscribers Is About More Than Numbers

The data above is what many creators want to see. They want to know how long it takes to get a certain amount of views or subscribers on YouTube, because there's so much uncertainty from the start.

The problem with trying to come up with a solid answer is that the math doesn’t make sense. It’s hard to calculate on-camera likability, the quality of your keywords, or how attractive your thumbnails look. But somehow, you need to measure those things because they help your YouTube channel grow.

This is where vidIQ can help. When you install our browser extension, you'll get access to:

• Keyword research for dominating YouTube search results
• A tool that compares your thumbnails to your competitor’s
• A channel audit tool that shows which videos attract the most subscribers

What You Should Actually Focus on as a New Creator

When you start your YouTube journey, it won’t be easy or feasible to follow one plan. Most likely, you won’t post two videos each week and earn exactly 100 subscribers in 61 days. You’ll probably try new things to see what works best, which could mean posting five videos one week and three videos the next.

Also, the distribution of views and subscribers doesn’t adhere to a strict formula. Some videos will get less than 10 views and earn you no subscribers; next week, a video may get hundreds of views and attract 25 subscribers.

When you’re just starting out on YouTube, take care of the basics:

• Give your channel a distinct niche.
• Create eye-catching thumbnails for your videos.
• Double down on what works.

That will earn you more subscribers than any YouTube posting formula.

Have you reached 100 subscribers on YouTube? Here are 10 tips to get your first 1,000 this year.