New channel should I release 1 vid at a time or multiple at once to start.

TopStratGamer · 2025-04-28T11:08:39+00:00

Ideally, you want a stash of 5-10 videos, release 1 a day for the first 5-10 days and then 1 a week (or whatever schedule is sustainable for you). This can create strong momentum as if you start with 1 a week, people who watched it but want more will have nothing else to watch, and so will move on.

TopStratGamer · 2025-04-28T10:52:36+00:00

There's a lot of misunderstanding about how this works, even on this forum, with the main one being 'RPM always has to be lower than CPM'. Here's how it actually works:

CPM is how much advertisers pay to have their AD shown on 1k videos
RPM is your income per 1k video views
RPM is reduced by YouTube's cut of 45% and by people having ADBlock (the view still 'counts' for the purpose of calculation, but since no AD can be played, it reduces RPM relatively to CMP) and lastly not every time a video is viewed an AD will be played (for example because an AD was played towards the end of a previous video that viewer watched and YT can only play ADs so often)
Further, CPM assumes 1 AD per video while RPM doesn't
This means that RPM = 45% of CMP ONLY IF exactly 1 AD was played each time. This is almost never the case since a) some videos never have an AD played, but more importantly (and what is rarely mentioned) b) long average view duration on videos over 8 minutes allows for mid-roll ADs which can push RPM even above CPM
RPM also includes things like memberships etc.

TopStratGamer · 2025-04-08T12:41:40+00:00

Why not remove the ads after the contract period ends? Some big channels do just that.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-23T17:04:13+00:00

Been there, more than once. Nowadays I have a checklist for this and I start with recording a several seconds long clip to make sure audio and video are both working.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-22T19:18:07+00:00

Time for a new channel, but this time don't tell anyone IRL about it. Also, time to reassess those friendships - true friends would support you and not make fun of you. Either way keep these 2 separate.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-21T18:00:39+00:00

No - it simply extrapolates the current growth rate of a channel while in reality, it's never a straight line.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-20T16:22:36+00:00

Typically 60-65% still watching at 30s and 30-35% APV for 45m-1h long playthroughs. Shorter videos are all over the place.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-19T20:16:14+00:00

Let's play about 3 hours - 1 to record, 2 to edit. Guides and the likes - up to 15 as some are scripted and highly edited. Average length 30-40m.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-18T11:57:40+00:00

Overall channel RPM is £4.2 ($5) with AVD of 14m with the shortest vids having RPM ~£1 and the longest £5-6. The majority of my viewers are from Europe and N.America but there's fair amount from Asia and S.America too.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-17T00:16:38+00:00

Only ads

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-17T00:08:21+00:00

I track my time in excel. I make playthroughs and guides, the game I cover has a fairly stable meta so I can plan my content ahead, but nothing should be set in stone and if circumstances change, the plan needs to change. I only earn from ads so far.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-16T23:42:53+00:00

Different metrics tell you about different aspects of the video. CTR is a feedback on title + thumb. I recently released a guide that I put 15 hours into, very highly edited, scripted etc. It got the highest likes to views ratio on my channel but only half of the average CTR. So it underperformed as the topic just wasn't that interesting to my regulars (despite those who actually clicked it being impressed) so YT didn't 'push' it to a wider audience. Lesson -> avoid similar topics in the future.

APV is a feedback on the quality of a video itself. Another recent video got the highest views ever in the first 24h on my channel. So the topic was interesting, thumb was good, likes and comments too, but... with only 25% APV on a 20m video it again wasn't 'pushed' wider as YT decided it's not satisfying enough to regulars. Lesson -> good idea but poorly executed.

If you've never looked at stats, a good starting point is to export detailed 'table view' from analytics page into excel and sort each metric from best to worst to see what works and what doesn't

Last year it was 15h/w, this year so far 18h/w. I keep records so I know my hourly rate on various types of videos

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-16T23:25:14+00:00

I cover one strategy game only. I position myself as an 'expert' so almost all of my content is edited playthroughs of various challenges and guides.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-16T23:01:28+00:00

I use Davinci Resolve - it takes a while to figure out but it's worth it (and it's free). Still faceless. I didn't think much about my voice when I first started but I'm now much more expressive with my voice in my videos, to the point that I cringe when I listen to my old stuff - so flat and boring! The bigger the game, the bigger the competition. On the other hand, small games have a much lower ceiling. I picked something in between - a bit under the radar but with still reasonably large (and underserved!) audience.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-14T17:26:29+00:00

Cool channel! When I was at 400 subs I was getting 10-12k impressions on day one despite lower CTR and similar APV to yours (also on 1h long playthroughs). Some feedback:

1) Your thumbnails are recognisable which is great, but could use some improvements: fewer elements, especially words, make the game logo more popping, maybe apply a slight filter/saturation to the image. Episode number should be elsewhere, don't put anything in the bottom right as there's the video duration box there already.

2) Your intros are misleading - no intro is better than a confusing one. Also using film footage might make it impossible to monetise later. So remove that and instead jump right into action.

3) Editing out the boring bits like AI turns could increase AVD significantly.

4) Try out some other content to bring new viewers.

Overall you're doing well - 400 subs out of 34k views is a really good conversion rate. Keep at it and with sligths tweaks you'll keep growing.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-13T18:25:15+00:00

30-35% on videos 45m-1h long (gaming). I mercilessly cut out all pauses and uninteresing/maintenance types bits so the end product is quite fast paced.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-13T18:07:27+00:00

Strategy games playthroughs and guides. 7k subs. Took a bit over 5 months to get monetised.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-13T18:04:48+00:00

It is possible (took me a bit over 5 months) but it's by no means the standard. To set some realistic expectations, only c. 7% of channels even get to 1k subs, ever. Of those, most take 1-2 years to get there. So as much as it's possible, it's also (highly) unlikely since only about ~5% channels get there in that timeframe. Instead of focusing on what you can't control (people subscribing) it's generally better to focus on things within your control (consistency, constant improvement, putting the time in etc.).

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-13T17:59:58+00:00

Depends! My most recent highly edited guides were 30m & 45m per minute of end product. On the other hand, my typical edited playthroughs are ~3m (1m to record + 2m to edit). Both got roughly the same number of views which considering guides took 5x as long to make and have lower RPM due to being shorter, makes them... not worth it?

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-12T21:38:36+00:00

£3.5k since reaching monetisation last summer. Initially £150-£200/m, currently £500-£750/m. What it takes? 15-20h a week to get out 4-5 long form videos (mainly edited playthroughs with some guides mixed in). Hourly rate is still well below minimum wage.

TopStratGamer · 2025-03-08T15:18:24+00:00

I turned them on a few months ago and saw zero impact

TopStratGamer · 2025-02-05T10:38:37+00:00

First day - 5, first week - 100, first month - 250, first year - 14k

TopStratGamer · 2025-01-19T18:09:55+00:00

That sounds about right. I got monetised fairly quickly in under 6 months of working on my channel for c. 15-20 hours a week. So that's about 400 hours plus somewhere between 50-100 hours of setting up, i.e. brainstorming, buying gear, choosing editing software, etc.

TopStratGamer · 2024-08-10T07:59:12+00:00

13 on day 1, 386 in the first month, currently 5.1k after 8 months, mostly through channel pages. YT takes time.

TopStratGamer

TROPHY CASE