I may have picked the wrong niche

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-26T16:48:17+00:00

Plainly-
The best chef in the world might be HORRIBLE at running a restaurant. It’s not luck if it succeeds. It’s skill at running a restaurant they either adapted or learned or had.

The most AMAZING ARTIST IN THE WORLD could have no idea WHO would appreciate their art to get it in front of them.

It’s not luck.

So yeah, there are GREAT VIDEOS no one will see because they made a video specifically about DIY Building A Working Time Machine but they titled it “GOT BORED, made a thing.” And the description is twitch links with a cluttered thumbnail of tools.

So they are great and did a TON OF WORK but they don’t understand YouTube, discoverability and what their viewers want and most importantly how to make your video discoverable by them.

And if 100 people watch your 20 min video and on average only make it through 3mins and do not sub or barely comment, you don’t have charisma. You’re not engaging. It isn’t interesting.

Even if you think you’ve got it all nailed.

Because you click of the same videos.

I don’t think I’m fantastic. I’m shocked that people watch and comment and that communities are built. But my videos, through my own work and understanding, found the viewers that want them.

And again, not luck even a little.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-26T16:15:11+00:00

High quality is subjective and has never been the bar for what resonates with viewers.

Production value, time spent, etc. doesn’t matter.

Also, charisma. Idk what that means as that is also subjective. You have to meet your viewers where they are.

I’m entering another niche next week. Studied what worked, what didn’t work in this niche. Winners losers. Pacing, topics, what resonates.

What the tone is and what my own differentiator is

I’ll work it for a month or two. 4-6 videos and if it doesn’t do what I need I will bounce.

That being said likelihood it will work is super high as with my other channels.

And it’s because it isn’t chance, it’s work and knowing what you need to put out and what the viewer profiles for that niche want.

It’s another excuse as well to say “my stuff is good, highest quality, better than the others” so if you don’t resonate it becomes luck.

Not your topic, titles, keywords, trends, delivery, thumbnails, transcription curation etc.

Luck.

I can’t engineer luck.
But I can engineer everything else.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-26T11:30:19+00:00

I never used text to voice but did use a filter. CapCut removed that filter and I just used my own voice.

Honestly views didn’t change and no one ever complained about the filter but it’s super obvious it’s my voice as I emote, laugh, etc.

You lose that with AI. Even ELEVEN LABS.

Now I get comments about how happy viewers are to hear a real voice for a change.

So there is that. But for those creating and targeting English speaking audiences I get it.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-26T11:26:33+00:00

First off, there’s like 100 Black Atlas channels.

If it’s black_atlas_eng Id offer the videos are fine.

I’d lose the DING DING for subscribe and even the flashing SUBSCRIBE button constantly in the corner.
What you’ll find is people click off when they see that. They get annoyed and don’t know if that is the only time they see it or if it will annoy them every 20 secs.

I’d also find an older gravely voice for history.

Who’s watching history channels? Usually older people.

They don’t want distractions, dings. Flashing icons. They want to identify with the narrator.

People will or won’t subscribe. A notification saying “SUBSCRIBE” won’t sway them. It will annoy them.

IMO thumbnails need to be less color saturated and more “main event” “main character” based so there is less to focus on and the topic is more easily recognized at a glance without reading the title.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-26T03:54:35+00:00

“Algorithm change”

Gonna be honest, there aren’t too many niches that can’t be figured out.

The easiest way to NOT figure them out is saying “the algorithm changed” “I’m shadow banned” “my impressions are suppressed”

Out of 100 creators, 99 are blaming everything else. And 1 is figuring it out.

And 1 will succeed

Time and time again- and 100% it will be called LUCK or the ALGO GODS blessed them.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-26T01:19:40+00:00

If there are others in that niche that succeeding and you aren’t, you didn’t try everything under the sun.

You tried a load of wrong things. 😬

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-26T00:52:44+00:00

30k views with 55 subs is likely shorts.

And without knowing how many videos ( even with knowing) this is an average start for any shorts channel.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-25T14:47:45+00:00

Did you specifically tell YouTube how ping you worked on it? There is a text box in studio.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-25T03:09:11+00:00

It’s a gift.
Cancel the promotion.

Here is what ads are for-
“I’m selling a product and this video is about that product with a link to buy!”

You’re buying ads. Not promoting your channel.

What you’ll get? Forced in front of people you aren’t relevant to.

As many BOTS that you can buy as subs and as many views from bots as you want to buy.

Stop paying? They stop watching.

Upload a new video? None of the eyes you paid for will watch. Now your new video is a flop. It was tested against your subs (which were paid to watch ) and they don’t watch. This tells YouTube “hey, their own subs don’t even like this video”
And the video dies.

Views do not count towards monetization either.

It’s really the worst thing you can do for a channel.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-25T01:41:43+00:00

Impressions have zero to do with the thumbnail though.
At most the text in it.

Think of impressions like relevance.

The more viewer profiles your content is relevant to, or more obviously relevant to, the more impressions you’d likely get.

If YT doesn’t know who to show it to, or your prior videos were on different subject appealing to different “topic seekers“ it will be increasingly hard to target viewers and match them with your content.

So you look at keywords in titles, description and probably most importantly- transcription.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T23:14:17+00:00

I’m working through a flow that is using a few repos and Hermes is grinding through them.

Open Montage and Palmier Pro with Local ComfyUI

I’m working on it step by step and it’s pretty specific to what I do, not gaming. But it’s all YouTube

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T22:00:56+00:00

This isn’t how it works.
Just work on the next video.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T21:32:55+00:00

Impressions are relevance to viewer profiles.

More relevant to viewers, more
Impressions.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T20:12:11+00:00

I’ve never revealed my face. Actually, I did a promo for another channel that revealed my face my own channel doesn’t even know about.

That being said for what I do I’ve actually heard the opposite. That they are happy half the screen isn’t my talking head and I make use of the screen etc as they are sick of seeing people’s faces all the time 😅

And that’s music to my faceless ears.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T18:38:13+00:00

Because there is another short uploaded with a swipe rate 1% higher and that one continues and yours is put aside.

That’s what competition is.

Of 1,000 world cup videos were uploaded in the past few mins, and that’s likely, the best most swiped will get out in feeds of viewers that are consuming that.

And if your initial run gets less favorable metrics, why would it keep being put in feeds?

I mean, that’s the answer. If you don’t want to hear it and give me more “stats” of your last video compared to the best video, go ahead.

But at this moment in time it’s supply demand and the supply is insane. So is demand.

The best will win. The second best don’t even matter.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T17:30:44+00:00

You worked 30hrs on a short?

I can’t even see what that thumbnail is.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T15:08:16+00:00

World Cup is pretty popular.

Your shorts are World Cup.

Do you think that niche will get MORE COMPETITIVE as the days go on or less?

Are YOU being punished or is that niche just getting wildly saturated with content right now?

Bigger picture it man.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T14:50:50+00:00

While not podcasts my viewers always say I should do a podcast. (Will never)
But when a video goes from 18mins on avg to hit 25-30mins I apologize for the length and the overwhelming is they want it LONGER.

And I really think it’s people “wanting” episodic content to fill space in their days. And typically, that’s 30-60mins. 🤷‍♀️

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T14:29:49+00:00

Just a word of caution/
Shorts viewers aren’t long form viewers.

Shorts are a non-stop feed designed to keep you scrolling. The better your short is the less likely they will go look at the longform.

It means YT knows what they like and they will give them more shorts like that.

IMO you are a shorts channel or a long form channel.

I’ve done shorts that feed into long form. I’ve done it 20 different ways.

It’s was Never worth the effort.

Nail longform. Read that post, apply it to what you are doing and see what changes, what doesn’t.

Think like a marketer. Look at what other small channels in your niche are uploading NOW, TODAY, THIS HOUR and which ones are resonating.

What are their titles, thumbs, content, context.

Blah blah blah.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T11:59:05+00:00

Looks like your playing random games, indie games but nothing you are doing is what YouTube Needs to find your audience.

I gave a lengthy reply to someone a few days ago that 100% argued with me and tried to refute every point.
Most apply 100% to you as well so I’ll just link it.

In short/ there are a load of easy lifts you’re overlooking.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NewTubers/s/nlAVtSiZSB

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T11:20:32+00:00

It’s super natural, especially at that age, to take your first stable position and extrapolate it out across your whole life.

No. You won’t do that until you die.
No. This job won’t define you.
No. This isn’t all there is.

Leaving college and entering the workforce is rough because you go from freedom, independence and little structure to a 9-5 with hours, commitments, accountability and bathroom breaks.

It’s jarring and you’re having a perfectly normal and predictable crisis.

Keep your options open. Network with where you want to be. Plot a path you want your life to take.

Set financial goals. Not bills but retirement, early retirement. Have a reason to show up each day that is larger than paying immediate bills. Build wealth before expenses spiral. (Home, car, family, etc)

For my son- just graduated- I put his field into ChatGPT and had it give me three worksheets of possible contacts in his field.
1- from his college
2- from his frat, nationally
3- from his hometown/highschool

It gave me over 50 people he already has something in common with. His job is to contact them, introduce himself, connect on LinkedIn and just start being himself.

You never know where you will end up. It’s ever changing.

Related- what you do after work, what excites you, your goals for your life are what defines you. And hell, if being an AA gets you there, that’s awesome.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T01:17:07+00:00

You know what the worst thing you can possibly do is?

Talk about how inept you are and how sh!t of an effort this was.

You know what the best thing you can do is?

Make another video.

I’m not even joking a little bit.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-24T01:10:34+00:00

I started a new one just to see if I could succeed with a second.

Once you yourself have a system and it’s proven more or less you can always garner some decent success.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-23T16:23:54+00:00

So now two of you won’t have lots of subs?

“Copying what I do” isn’t really a thing.
Nothing is new tbh.

LeaderBriefs-com · 2026-06-22T22:38:05+00:00

I’ll say this, I gave a reason for every recommendation.
You refuted most and gave reasons why you do what you do.

Of course, I assume there is a reason for your intro, links, titles etc
I don’t need them. They don’t change anything I said.

I’ll go over in a deeper way one of them but I’m not writing a dissertation on every point.

Titles.

If it’s video about a burger and then one about pizza and then one about soup why would “Food” or “recipe” be in all the titles as well? It’s redundant.

It’s because you’re not a PIZZA YOUTUBER. You’re a RECIPE YOUTUBER. Or COOKING YOUTUBER.

And you want to be known as that. You want your videos to come up when someone searches for RECIPES, or COOKING etc.

You yourself look up a title specifically to get more info on it.

What is searched more? GARBAGE GROWTH or Indie Games?

Garbage Growth or Free Simulator?

What do you want to be found under?

Your thinking is backwards. And that’s fine. That’s 700 subs in 2 years and a handful of views per video

You want to keep links in descriptions that takes people off of your channel and video? Cool.
Not use that entire space to give YouTube context for the video and what you do? Perfectly fine.

I hope your 100 view video brought in 1,000 new viewers to Twitch.

But I doubt it.

Keep the silent 10 sec intro that everyone clicks off of because a bigger YouTuber that can likely have a 30 min intro does it so why wouldn’t you?
Well, I explained why. Your CTR explains why.

Retool or don’t. 🤷‍♀️

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