Major Channel Changes...Thoughts?

I recently watched a video from YouTuber DougDoug which he calls the Guide for New Content Creators (which I will link above, it's a great video despite its length!). I'm not a new content creator of course! But that doesn't mean that some of his advice wasn't invaluable information. This is a bit of a longer post, but I hope people read as it there is a huge impact on my upcoming video content.

For reasons, I have recently been thinking of ways to promote my channel and increase viewership, audience, and monetization. This is a large part of why I have been pushing away reaction content on my channel, though I still do offer a lot more of it here on Patreon. While a variety of reaction content can pull in a lot of viewers for specific kinds of content, it does not usually affect the rest of my channel nor do I have the chance to make money due to frequent copyright notices.

DougDoug mentioned that creating content was important to the growth of any channel, specifically content that is unique and stands out. Creators need to make content that simply stands out in great ways above the rest of the competition...or it needs to be unique enough that it can't be found anywhere else.

I'm looking back on my own videos, watching myself play a variety of games, making some speed-draws, explaining some subfields of forensics and sciences, reacting to South Park with my own commentary.

But that's the thing. Everybody else is doing that too. So my content already has a lot of competition. I need to create something more unique. But how do I do that exactly? DougDoug suggested taking two skillsets that you have and merging them together into what he calls a "skillmix" that could interest viewers, and to some people that might seem a little hard, maybe impossible, especially if you don't know what your skills yet are.

But funny enough, I think I have already been doing that to a small extent. I have reacted to two different videos by YouTuber LEMMiNO (the Dyatlov Pass Case Mystery and The Search for D. B. Cooper), except they weren't just reactions. I was analyzing the videos as a forensic science college graduate and providing my own educational information and perspective. How many people get to see that? And those videos are some of my most popular ones in recent months.

Even my reactions to videos by Oversimplified and Alpha Betas somewhat fall into this category as well, though to a lesser extent. I do like learning about history and discussing my own thoughts on humanity and time periods and events. And even all my reactions to Alpha Betas content saw me analyzing an adult animated comedy with my own interpretations as as writer because I could see an analysis present across various clips and the pilot episode. And some viewers were not deterred by my explanations of things!

In his video, DougDoug suggests that one of the best ways to create new content is to create fusions of sorts. And I already have a huge advantage with that: my channel is already very diverse. Various reactions, games, forensics, traditional art, vlogs, compilations, and those are just the big topics. I still have my writing and digital art and animals and singing for potential ideas/additions as well. 

I have already been thinking about ways to combine the topics already present on my channel:

• Discussing writing elements such as worldbuilding from games like Hollow Knight and Subnautica, and discuss characters elements from games like Red Dead Redemption II and Genshin Impact
• Speed-draws or livestreams of fanart from cartoons and games, or even of my own animals and landscapes around where I live
• Continuing to react to videos from creators such as LEMMiNO, Sam O'Nella Academy, and other science-related channels as a forensic and science nerd to provide my own educational insights
• Increasing content where I play co-ops with community members since that creates more uncertainty in direction, and more fun with improv as a result
• Podcasting more with community members about a variety of topics and posting those on my channel instead of a third-party podcast platform (or at least waiting until a later date to do that)

And that's just the unique stuff. Remember how I mentioned that DougDoug suggested either making unique fusion content, or creating great content that stands above the rest of the competition? My compilations definitely fit that category. Not only will I create compilations that no one else has yet, but the quality of my compilations can sometimes dominate the same kinds of compilations by others. Not to mention that compilations are by far my biggest money-grabbers, even with half the usual ads placed!

Of course, adding and changing what I already have means that I would have to remove some things. Namely nearly all of my reaction content, which I have already done. That also means that I may have to remove South Park reactions from that list as well.

My thoughts at the moment are to keep South Park reactions here on Patreon, and to make them a bit more lax in terms of release dates. The problem with South Park at this point, is that most viewers who watch those come to my channel only to watch those videos and nothing else despite South Park serving as only about 15% of my entire channel's content. And the South Park videos earn me virtually no money, except for perhaps here on Patreon but even that is a tiny fraction.

It hurts, but I need to think about my channel and what I want to do with it. I need to grow videos and a larger audience, I need to increase revenue and these are the kinds of changes that I am confident will make it happen.

I plan on making a vlog shortly on my channel talking about this, as after a lot of thought I have become a lot more adamant about wanting to make these changes, because I think I need to. My channel has stagnated for a while, and I want to get it out of the rut...and everything I talked about above it going to help with that. I'm still pushing on making merch for my comic and my channel too, though that will take some more time.

Wanted to get all this off my chest as it's something I've been thinking about on and off for the last week...so yeah. There you have it.