One of my goals for 2019 was to reach 10 000 YouTube subscribers. I had the same goal in 2020, 2021, and now in 2022, I'm only halfway there. With many of you saying that my channel is a gem and is underrated, we need to understand what's not working. My YouTube channel is gaining only about 50 new subscribers a month and since I cannot monetize my channel in my country, I am spending all this time for nothing. What should I do next? I should work on a strategy.
I started my YouTube channel in June 2018, initially posting 2 videos a week, then one video every day. Then, I decided to make longer videos but only 3 times a week.
Earlier, I had to focus on quantity since I was new to YouTube but then, quality became more important. This shift was quantity to quality was a boon to my channel.
My channel grew in 2020 during the market crash when many people started investing and then peaked in early 2021 during the GameStop Short Squeeze. Since then, it has been slowing down.
This is something happening to other finance YouTubers as well and the competition is growing. We can see, for example, Sven Carlin, Graham Stephan, and Financial Education. All these channels are having the same issues as me.
What is causing this? I believe that recently videos about crypto and NFT have been more popular. Besides, more and more investors have been starting YouTube channels. This sector has become saturated. To survive and grow, I need to be different.
How can I be different?
I know that my content as a value investor is very unique but it is also important that I can successfully bring this content to people outside my usual audience.
Two numbers are important when it comes to YouTube, click-through rate (CRT) and average percentage viewed (AVP).
My target CRT is 4.5% while my target APV is 45%. The CRT target is being met but viewers are not staying to watch the videos.
One way I can increase the AVP is to make better quality content that compels the viewers to stay till the end and to do that I have to compromise on the quantity.
That's why I have decided to post only two videos a week.
YouTube is only a subset of my business and I cannot give it the most time when it is not the number one source of revenue. I have to make YouTube work along with other platforms.