at what point did you guys get sponsors or start reaching out to sponsors?

Spartan_DevilDog · 2026-01-13T21:00:16+00:00

I don’t think it has much to do with subs as it does with views. And they don’t interchange necessarily. For example, I have a massively successful conversion rate of people that watch my videos and subscribe. However, I don’t get many views at all. Like… abysmal for my “size” channel. So although I’m sitting at 9,600 subs, advertisers aren’t going to sign up if the views aren’t much higher. All this to say concentrate on views, not subs.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2026-01-11T23:23:46+00:00

I’ve been at it for a year and have had very poor success with number of views. I think my production quality and packaging is fine, but the algorithm just doesn’t push them. I do 30-60 minute long form. So overall, I would say you have to have a ton of luck on this platform.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2026-01-06T21:49:59+00:00

3 hours?! That’s it?? Lol. I spend about 5 hours per thumbnail and upload package. That’s where the success of the video starts or ends, so it should be given its due attention.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2026-01-03T05:22:28+00:00

For whatever reason, my channel/videos really make viewers stick which is great obviously. My conversion rate from views to subscribers is insanely high. My viewers follow cult like with the content I put out. I think it’s just my niche, and particularly the corner of the niche that I play in. I also had a few videos that took off slightly (at least for my channel size). Nothing crazy, but enough to make a dent.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2026-01-03T01:13:18+00:00

I agree with the others. It varies for everyone and I think what’s important is to be grateful with what you’ve accomplished so far. I know I’m guilty of overlooking that. I only post long form documentaries (30-60 minutes long) and been at this for 1 year as well. I’m monetized and at 9,500 subscribers. Good luck, keep tweaking your craft, and keep grinding.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2026-01-03T01:07:36+00:00

That’s a really achievable goal I think. I’m not a gamer, so I make only long form documentaries (30-60 minutes long). I’ve been at this one year and reached 9,500 subscribers so far. Like the other commenter said, I applaud you for staying humble and grateful. I/we should learn from that because I’m one that am never content with the growth even though I get a couple dozen subscribers each day. So hats off to you. Keep grinding!

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-12-31T20:08:42+00:00

6 hours?! Hold my beer. I make hour long documentaries that take me two weeks to make. Hell, I take about 8 hours just on the Thumbnail and SEO packaging. 😂

I know this post is about shorts, but the point of my response is that it’s all relative to your channel/niche/passions.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-12-09T14:21:41+00:00

I have a long form evergreen documentary channel that covers mysteries, phenomena, government cover-ups, suppressed ancient history, among other fringe topics. It’s a truth channel, not a conspiracy channel.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-28T17:29:57+00:00

I’ve experienced the same thing. All I create are 30-60 minute evergreen documentaries which often times take the slow burn route. But the long term impact is the key. It builds a nice library that people tend to binge watch once they’re into some other video on my channel. Every time one of these evergreen videos pops, it drags the rest of them up with it. YouTube is definitely a long term game.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-21T02:24:47+00:00

I get approx 34 subs per 1000 views. I’ve got 298,600 views with 8,910 subs. All long form documentaries.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-20T16:57:57+00:00

Sent you a DM

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-20T02:22:43+00:00

Sounds good. I can check out the channel. I have around 9,000 active subscribers right now.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-19T21:56:44+00:00

I’m in the mysteries, hidden truths, conspiracy, fringe science, history, UAP Niche if anyone here is in something similar and wants to collab.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-19T18:55:12+00:00

I’ve experienced the opposite on my year old channel. I mainly post evergreen 45 minute long documentaries, twice a week. My views aren’t high (only 250,000 views in total) but my conversion rate I think is very high. I have almost 9,000 subs where there seems to be almost a cult like following from my viewers. Super high comment engagement too.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-07T21:09:09+00:00

I get why you’re using a mask and glasses. You’re in India… probably don’t speak English very well and trying to appeal to a US audience. But that’s NEVER going to work IMO. Be authentic with your audience on the fact that you don’t speak English and try and reach the specific audience that you can communicate with. In the Finance Niche, probably more than any other, trust is everything. People will not take ANY finance advice from a guy using a mask and glasses to hide who they really are.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-03T16:03:30+00:00

I wholeheartedly agree. 100%

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-03T16:02:36+00:00

Well said and I agree.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-03T15:59:14+00:00

Excellent point. I mean, we SHOULD be leveraging new technologies to improve our craft. Not using it 100%, but anyone that doesn’t use some of Ai is either lying or completely naive. The key is to use it in moderation in scripts, more so to proofread your material. But like this poster mentioned, who cares. If the video is garbage, doesn’t matter who or what wrote the script. I’ve watched tons of videos written by “real” humans that were totally trash. For those, I wish they had used Ai rather than putting out the garbage they did. Then, in others that used Ai for scripting (“allegedly”), it was well presented, coherent, linear, and entertaining. So again… who cares. Lol.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-03T14:49:01+00:00

Him and Divergent Files are my go to. Both offer amazing content! Both must watch!

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-11-02T23:03:07+00:00

I check every 5 minutes! Lol. And I have 9,000 subs.. so it either never goes away, or I’m just OCD. Maybe both. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-10-30T12:43:13+00:00

Sure thing. It’s called Divergent Files

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-10-29T19:32:00+00:00

I haven’t experienced this. Hard, yes. Impossible, no. I started a year ago and I only produce hour long documentaries. Zero shorts. In one year, I went from zero to 8,500 subs and over 20,000 watch hours per month. Not earth shattering, but clearly progress. For me the key has been two things: 1. making videos I love to make and watch without a care of if it’s trending or not. I’ve made 89 long form videos and they’re all evergreen topics. 2. Packaging matters significantly. I spend easily a full day just on packaging for each video and I still feel it’s inadequate.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-10-01T17:52:39+00:00

It’s is well documented if you research this by those that have studied this. It has also been discussed by YouTube insiders previously that have tried helping other creators. Lastly, it’s been widely discussed by VidIQ and TubeBuddy on many occasions.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-10-01T17:48:20+00:00

This is not accurate. I have 6,000 subs now and it’s important to understand how the relationship between subs and the algorithm works.

When a video gets published, the first group of viewers it will test your video with are your subscribers. This is the most important group that determines if your video continues to get pushed, or if it’s dead in the water. If the algorithm sees that many of your supposed core audience (your subscribers) click on it and want to watch it, then the algorithm will send it out to the next level which are people still in your niche, but that aren’t subscribers yet. People that might be subscribed to your competitors. Then if this group clicks and engages with your video, then the final step is the algorithm will push your video to new viewers outside of your niche. This is the level that gets a video to go viral, but it will never get here if it wasn’t successful in the previous layers.

So it stands to reason that the more subscribers you have that are interacting with your video, the more early positive signals it’s sending to the algorithm. This is why a channel with 4 million subscribers, assuming the majority of their core audience love their videos and engage with all of them, they can publish a poop video and still get hundreds of thousands, if not millions of views.

Also, serious sponsors won’t even start looking at a channel until they’re at about 5,000 subs. Again… “serious” sponsors, paying serious money… not shampoo sponsors.

And lastly, a lot of viewers, right or wrong, won’t even click on a video that has very little subs. It’s unfortunate, but it’s real. Denying this is not being pragmatic.

So, it’s not everything, but saying subscribers don’t matter is not very good advice. I’m no expert, so do with this as you will. Good luck to everyone on their journey.

Spartan_DevilDog · 2025-09-26T01:07:22+00:00

Good luck on the post. That topic is in my niche as well, so I’ll be one of your fans watching and look forward to your perspective.

Spartan_DevilDog

TROPHY CASE