Ask any YouTuber and they will tell you that generating significant views and subscribers isn't easy. But with the right strategy and tools, any video creator can build an engaged subscriber base when they understand what those subscribers want to watch.

Appealing to an audience to watch content you are passionate about making is just the first step, you need to know how to reach them and get your videos discovered. Our guides to how to guide more views on YouTube will give you the best tips to succeed on the platform.

How To Get More Views on YouTube

Do you want to make money on YouTube? Millions of creators are earning a very good living from the platform by uploading content that drives huge views and engagements. Whether that income is from advertising revenue, merch sales, or brand deals, we keep you updated with best practises and ideas.

How To Make Money on YouTube

Do you know how to do keyword research so you understand what videos people are actually searching for on YouTube? Do you know how to create a custom YouTube thumbnail? Do you know how to create a Playlist on YouTube?

vidIQ has a ton of tips that will help every creator maximise their video content. We publish content every week to keep you up to date with all the best practices.

YouTube Tips & Tricks

If you’ve put off creating your own YouTube channel because you’re overwhelmed with the choices you need to make or are panicking because you feel you lack the right skills to succeed, worry no more and welcome to the only resource you’ll need to fulfill your video creator dreams.

If this is your first time here, we have a 

 that aims to educate you on your YouTube journey. And if it is your plan to grow your channel, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and click on our notification bell so you don't miss any of our latest tips, tricks, advice, and news.

How to Start Your YouTube Channel: 10 Top Tips

We promised 20 tips to kickstart your YouTube channel, so let's start delivering on that promise with 10 tips in this post and 10 tips in the 

. All the tips are covered in this video too:

So amazingly, there are still some people out there who are thinking of starting a YouTube channel and have been for months, possibly even years. My advice to you is, ready or not, start now. And I'm not telling you this as a New Year's resolution. Every moment you hesitate or procrastinate, there are thousands of video creators starting their YouTube channel today, and gobbling up all your potential audience. You don't want that.

Feel the fear, do it anyway. Start, press record. Record whatever you want today. It doesn't matter if it doesn't end up on YouTube. You need to gain experience in getting in front of the camera, getting behind the camera, using your editing program. You need to start creating content to find out whether or not you enjoy making videos before you know whether or not you enjoy being a YouTuber.

Tip #2 Learn How YouTube Works, No Seriously:

The chances are, that the first video you make is going to absolutely suck. Fantastic, you've made a video. You've made the first step, and in six months’ time, you'll look back at that first video and think yeah, that really was terrible, but you've gotta start the journey somewhere. And with that, you've gotta start your YouTube channel somewhere as well, even if you're not ready. Create a YouTube account, upload a video to YouTube. You don't have to publish it, that's the important thing.

You need to gain experience going through the workflow of uploading videos. The last thing you want is having a brilliant video ready to upload, but you don't know how the YouTube system works. Again, experience is going to trump any advice any of us can give you, so record a video, upload it to YouTube. You don't have to publish it.

Tip #3 Develop a Strategy you Will Actually Follow:

While getting some practical experience behind you is obviously a good thing, you also want some form of strategy. So, answer these questions:

What do you want your channel to achieve on YouTube

, and when you're answering this, try and answer it from a viewer's perspective, not your perspective. So I don't want to hear about hitting 10,000 subscribers, a million views, or whatever. If your viewers know that you're in it for your own self-gain, they will see through it and immediately switch off. Viewers want to know what they can gain from the content, and you want to sell that as much as possible in your videos.

 Again, try and be as specific as possible. What age range? What gender, if you are going to a particular gender? What type of demographic? What are they interested in? You need to know who's going to watch your content.

 There are millions of gaming channels out there, hundreds of thousands of Fortnite channels out there. How are you going to distinguish your content from everybody else who's already on YouTube making content? You need to disrupt the status quo, not join it, because you'll never be seen.

how are you going to deliver this content?

 Is it going to be every day, once a week, at a particular time of the day? Think about when your audience is most likely to watch YouTube, and how much YouTube they can watch per week, and then tailor your content to those watching habits, and think about whether you're going to do video on demand, live streams, what's going to be best for you and your audience?

Tip #4 Find Your Niche and Build the Hell Out of It:

live streams, you'll know this one off by heart. Niche down. Let me give you a quick example. What's your channel about? If you're giving an answer such as, "My channel's about beauty, and it's about travel, "and it's about vlogging," then it's about too many things. 

. It should be about one specific topic, when you start your channel, because you need to appeal to a very specific audience.

Once you've grown your channel, and you've got millions of subscribers who fall in love with you, you can take them on a journey wherever you want, but to begin with, the audience is only interested in the content. They have no investment in you. Try and remember that. It's a cruel lesson to understand, but it will help you when you first start out on YouTube.

Once you've thought about and answered all of these questions, I want you to wrap it all up in a nice little present, called your value proposition. This is your elevator pitch. Try and tell your audience who you are, and why they should watch you, in around about six words.

. It tells you the who, YouTubers, video creators, and why they should watch, because they will learn how to grow their channels. But we've managed to do that in four words. Now it's your turn.

Tip #6 Invest in the Right Audio Equipment:

If you've just started out on YouTube, and you're wondering what your first tech upgrade should be, it is 100% audio, and here's why. Bad audio is so much more distracting than bad video, and everybody hates onboard microphones. 

So if you can, get yourself a dedicated microphone for your camera,

 and if you're recording from a computer, you can't go far wrong with a Blue Yeti.

Tip #7 Create a Formula with Template Videos:

Videos need structure, so when you make your next video, try to think of how you will develop a show formula, that you can use as a template for your future videos. Remember at the beginning of this video, I literally gave you a hook. An introduction, a teaser to what's going to be going on for the rest of this video. Then we have the branded intro, followed by an introduction to who we are for new viewers, a call to action to subscribe to our channel, and then we jumped into the meat of the content where we are right now, and at the end of this video, you'll see how we round this all up.

Your show formula will take time to structure, and it will evolve over the course of your YouTube journey. Try and keep an eye out for this when you watch your favorite YouTubers. As rough and as random as they might appear, there is always structure and story behind each video, and that's why you watch them.

Some people love analytics, others hate them, but there are a couple that are crucial to keep an eye on, whether or not you want to look at that analytics. The first is 

This represents how enticing your titles are, and how clickable your thumbnails are. Check the click-through rate for your channel as a whole, and on individual videos as you test. I'm not going to give you all of the same target to reach. Check what your current click-through rate is, and whether it's two, four, six, or eight percent. I want you to try and improve that by two to three percent this year. It will bring in so many more views.

The other metric, as it always has been, is 

. Generally speaking, the more watch time you get, the more YouTube is going to promote your content. But if you make shorter videos, that doesn't necessarily mean you must make longer videos, because your audience might not react very well to those longer videos.

What I will say is maximize the value of your watch time in the videos that you have. That's by looking at relative audience retention. How does your video stack up to similar videos, in terms of whether people are still watching or not, and try and improve the relative audience retention. Having said that, if your average view duration is 60, 70, 80%, you're doing really well, and it gives you a license to try testing longer videos.

Verify your YouTube account. That will give you access to the most important tool on YouTube, which is custom thumbnails. We've got a video here on how to do it.

Tip #10 Create an Engaging, Interesting Channel Banner:

If I see another generic cityscape, or rolling hills in the channel banner when we do channel audits, I'm going to rip out my hair.

10 more tips or creating and growing your YouTube channel

If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level and 

 then make sure to download vidIQ. Join over 1 million other users and use vidIQ to help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps 

Members of the vidIQ family that have upgraded to our Boost and Pro packages get immediate access to the Academy 

 so you can kickstart your YouTube success today! Access to the exclusive vidIQ academy will give you a huge advantage over your competitors from the get-go. 

Kick off your YouTube dreams with the tools you need to launch YOUR channel. We've got the top tips just for you!

How to Start a YouTube Channel: 10 Brilliant Tips

Are you excited about the changes coming to online video content and social media platforms in 2020? We asked the experts at vidIQ for their tips and predictions for the coming year.

What do Video Creators Need to Know for 2020?

 YouTube’s not going anywhere and neither should you.

 Tricks are not as important as understanding your value to the world. No title, thumbnail or description is going to make someone watch your entire video. Really focus on the value you bring. Discover your superpower and become a perceived thought leader in that niche.

 There is still an enormous opportunity to build an audience around your video content on YouTube - but you have to go all-in with strategy! While a handful of lucky channels generate a massive amount of views and engagement with random content, that’s not going to work for 99% of creators. Pick a focus for your channel, learn what your potential community is searching for around that topic, then create, create, create and optimize, optimize, optimize until you hit your stride.

Carla Marshall: Head of Content Marketing

 While 2020 will bring on new challenges for creators, one thing will not change; viewers on YouTube want to be entertained or educated. Your content should either entertain the person watching or teach them in some way about something they are looking for. Think about some of the reasons you watch YouTube. When you are looking to learn something, what kind of aspects of a video work best? When you are looking to be entertained, what works when you watch that awesome video that you shared with your friends? Think about the viewer first!

Travis McPherson: Customer Success Manager

 YouTube might constantly change, but the one element that is consistent is making good content people want to watch. Going into 2020 it is important to understand what you are bringing to YouTube and your channel, why would someone want to watch you over another and are you delivering value.

Liron Segev: Director of Customer Success

 Focus on timeless and perennial truths, keep on shipping videos, whether you deem them good or bad and keep honing your craft until you get really great at creating content consistently without much effort required. Your audience will give you feedback in the way of comments, views, likes, and other ways, and keep testing and improving what you’re doing. 

Mr Beast didn’t become Mr Beast overnight

, and neither will you. When you empower your analytical left brain with mastery of creating content and the shipping process, your right brain has the power to be creative and find those magical ideas that become trends.

 Unless you make videos aimed at children, don’t let COPPA and the FTC slow you down when it comes to your content schedule. Remaining optimistic on YouTube is essential when you’re trying to stay focused on your next upload.

Kick-start Your 2020 YouTube Journey with the vidIQ Academy!

Before we continue with the predictions, why not start growing your channel, and earn revenue in 2020 by joining the new vidIQ Academy! Members of the vidIQ family that 

have upgraded to our Boost and Pro packages get immediate access

 so you can start your YouTube success today!

Access to the exclusive vidIQ academy will give you a huge advantage over your competitors from the get-go. For a quick overview of what to expect from vidIQ's brand new Academy just watch this video:

What Trend Are You Most Excited For in 2020?

 There are some exciting things going on with YouTube analytics. At first, like everyone else, I was resistant to the huge overhaul. But now I’m really getting into the flow of what YouTube is trying to do, which is to spell out as loudly as possible to creators: this is what’s working for your channel, do more - dare I say it, taking a page from vidIQ’s own book.

I will miss the classic studio but the time does now feel right to move on and once we do, within three months no one will remember how YouTube analytics used to look. That should free up YouTube to create even more tools.

Talking of mobile....there is a LOT in the vidIQ pipeline for 2020 and I’m looking forward to sharing it with the vidIQ community. 

Tools that complement YouTube’s analytics

 and help you grow your channels smarter and faster.

On another note, I’m as intrigued as everyone else to see how this 

 ‘thing’ is going to play out. There has been a LOT of negativity and it’s an especially challenging time for kids content creators… but amongst the chaos, I believe there is going to be opportunity. Whether or not it directly affects you as a creator, if you approach this with an open mindset and stay positive you will overcome this obstacle, just like every other one that has been put in front of you.

 I’m most excited to see how people will evolve based on new laws and changes to the algorithm. Many of the best things in life come when you have to get creative and have restrictions. The creative problem solvers might just win 2020 on YouTube.

 Two things. Firstly, the ‘Shane Dawson Effect’ on documentary commentary and long-form content. Did the YouTube audience tune in specifically because of the 

 and the drama that came with it or are we about to see an explosion of longer and more in-depth content from publishers and creators on YouTube?

Secondly, the evolution of TikTok - I’m excited to see what steps (if any) the platform will take to help creators monetize. Also, am ready to get out the popcorn and watch the mass migration of creators to other platforms if this doesn’t happen.

 In 2020 we will see more creators using other platforms to connect with audiences. This is already happening on channels where comments and notifications have been disabled.

Docuseries style content will become more mainstream and I expect more high-profile individuals such as celebrities (Will Smith) will continue to use YouTube to keep top-of-mind.

New show formats such as video podcasts will also emerge as varied content will be tried and tested to ascertain if there is a receptive audience. Phil DeFranco, HotOnes, Kevin Hart LOL Network are just some Podcast shows doing it with a twist.

 In 2020 and beyond, everyone is self-employed. That means you’re going to have a whole lot more competition because we all need our own brands and that’s exciting because that means whatever you want to teach or become, there’s usually a growing audience for it. We are responsible for our own success, no one is going to hand you success.

 Every year on YouTube the competition grows, forcing creators to come up with even more insightful, engaging, valuable videos to help them stand out. I look forward to seeing people who record gameplay videos (for example) look to find more ways to build their audience besides just playing a game.

And if you’re really serious about growing your YouTube views and subscribers, sign up for exclusive access to the 

 and learn how to launch a successful YouTube Channel in just 30 days.

2020 is going to be a huge year for online video, but what changes can we expect and what do YouTubers need to get right?

Online Video 2020: Tips and Predictions from vidIQ

Valentine's Day is just weeks away and millions of viewers will be turning to YouTube for ideas around dinners, desserts, and decor as well as inspiration for gifts and ways to treat their other half.

Of course, this offers a massive opportunity for creators to publish the exact content viewers will be looking for. Let's take a look at the top keywords and terms around Valentine’s that users on YouTube have been searching for in the past 30 days.

If your strategy is to upload content about Valentine’s Day then you need to confirm the keywords users are searching for. We did our research using the invaluable 

, and the following are the most searched for Valentine’s keywords and phrases on YouTube right now:

When are Viewers Searching for Valentine's Content on YouTube?

Of course, as a creator, you should also know when people are searching for Valentine’s Day content so you can maximize your video’s viewing potential. As with any tentpole or holiday event, interest is often specifically seasonal.

, interest from viewers in Valentine’s Day starts to peak around the end of December and lasts right through to the beginning of March. No breaking news there of course but a great strategy would be to publish 2 to 4 weeks ahead of February 14th to attract those views and engagements.

Don’t forget that tentpole content is evergreen so if you’ve published any Valentine’s Day clips on YouTube in the past, and you believe the videos are still relevant, 

update your titles and custom thumbnails to see if can leverage the interest in the content

 that always comes this way this time of year.

Finding Opportunities to Create Valentine's Content on YouTube

When viewers are searching for content on YouTube, it’s usually with a specific topic or question in mind. They want an answer for something they’ve gone searching for, and will use a core keyword as a kickoff point for more ideas.

A look at most-searched-for keywords brings up a lot of search intent around Valentine’s Day decor, so let’s take a deeper dive into what viewers are interested in around this category:

Top 10 Valentine's Day Decor Keywords: YouTube

If you want an idea of the type of Valentine’s decor inspo that YouTube viewers love, take a look at this upload, published by IDunnGoddess on January 30th 2016. It has generated over 7.8M views to date:

Top 10 Valentine's Day Treats Keywords on YouTube

Valentine’s Day content about gifts and treats is also a total winner with viewers (and creators and publishers) on YouTube. Here are the top keywords in this category:

MissRemiAshten uploaded this 9:41 minute video a couple of days before Valentine’s Day 2016 which has attracted just under a million views to date:

Valentine's Day is nearly upon us ❤️ Here are the most searched for keywords on YouTube around this romantic tentpole event.

Top 15 Valentine's Day Keywords on YouTube

Now a very reasonable question to ask me is, "Rob, why have you set 100 subscribers "as the first big YouTube milestone?" Well, let's be honest, getting to 10 subscribers is pretty easy because you could just ask all of your friends and family to help you get there. As for 1,000 subscribers, well, right now that's probably a little bit too ambitious, and that's a trap you don't want to fall into.

Throughout your YouTube journey, which hopefully is going to be a very long and successful one, you want to set yourself manageable targets. The obvious temptation is to target 

1,000 subscribers, along with 4,000 hours of Watch Time

, because it means you're halfway to monetizing your channel. The problem is, this is going to hurt your short-term, day-to-day mindset. Because you won't feel as if you’re making enough progress.

For some channels, reaching 1,000 subscribers can take many months, if not years. If you start with that mindset, and you're into day 17 or day 34, and you haven't yet reached 100 subscribers, how is that going to make you feel? And when you get frustrated, you might start resorting to bad habits and awful tactics early on.

Those include sub-for-sub, which is against terms of service, and as we all know, and never proves to be successful in the long term for successful channels. Spamming other YouTube channels with comments is also a no-no as those actions just center around the ‘me, me, me’ mentality of a YouTube video creator, and that get’s you nowhere.

Key to 100 YouTube Subscribers: Audience Trust

As we will always preach here at vidIQ, it is the value that you give to your audience that will get them to trust you and subscribe to your content. If you get completely desperate, you may resort to buying subscribers, which is the worst thing you can do on your channel.

First of all, it is against terms of service, once again, and it may resort in your channel being terminated. Those subscribers will offer absolutely zero value to your YouTube channel in terms of growing it through views, watch time, and creating a community.

So I personally believe that your first subscriber milestone should be 100 subscribers. When you first start your channel, you'll be getting a new subscriber every few days. Then you'll be getting maybe one or two a day, and then you'll be getting ten or so a week, and that should help you reach that goal as quickly, as hopefully, as possible. Let's give you a best-case-scenario.

#1 Kick Off Your YouTube Channel with Enough Content

You launch your channel, the first video goes up, and to your surprise, lots of people watch it. And then you've got nothing else to show them. It's always a good strategy to give your viewers a collection of videos to watch on your channel. So if possible, don't launch with just one video on your channel, or at the very beginning, you want to try and pump out as many videos as possible, which may be against the schedule that you end up doing.

For example, you might be wanting to post one video a week, maybe in that first week, you want to post three videos so that people who are finding your content have something to feed off of very quickly. It is often the case that viewers won't subscribe to the first video that they watch on a channel. It may take two or three videos to persuade them to push that red button. And if you have more than one video, you can start to communicate to your audience in all of the content that you produce, that it is on a topic that your audience is interested in.

If you can get your audience to enjoy your first piece of content, fall in love with your second piece of content, and then subscribe as a result of the third piece of your content, then you potentially have a viewer there for months, years, a lifetime possibly.

Now, I wouldn't recommend necessarily launching three or four videos at exactly the same time when you start your channel. You want to give each video a moment to breathe on the platform. If you have a batch of videos you want to upload to YouTube all at once, that is absolutely fine, just make sure that they remain private until you're ready to publish them. Then when you do publish them, stagger them by at least one day, and then if you don't intend to post on a daily basis on YouTube, probably give each video at least 48 hours.

Now as I say, three in the first week is probably perfect. You'll quickly learn that when your videos get released, you get lots of bonuses from YouTube, and you find that you have rapid view velocity in the first 24 hours. But if you launch them all at the same time, it's not giving YouTube a chance to distribute that content to the potential audience it's looking for. It might not be possible to sustain the volume of content you push out in the first week or month of your YouTube channel. But give your viewers as much as you are able to provide them when you first launch your channel.

The first subscribers to your channel, who you don't know in real life, are wondrous things. Just consider what's happening here for a second. Somebody somewhere in the world has found your content valuable enough that they want to be notified again when you release more content. And then it gets to ten subscribers, and that's a line of people waiting for a bus. And they've got to say something to them.

Then you get up to 25 subscribers, that is a room full of people, and then you start to get towards 100 subscribers, which is a hall full of people. Can you imagine standing on stage, and speaking to those people directly in real life? It's a terrifying prospect, but every single one of you is doing that every single day as you try to reach this first big milestone. Now these real-life people are very precious to you, and you want to treat them with that respect.

#2 Be Consistent and Focused from the Start

When you have such small sample sizes, if people are subscribing to particular videos on your channel, you want to make more of that content. Yes, we are drifting down the common topic of niching down, one of YouTube's most important strategies. But I'm going to try and keep it fairly light for this video.

Let's say you're watching television, and you come across a new sitcom, and you enjoy the first episode that you watch. You enjoy the characters, the comedy is on point with your type of humor, and you like the way the story is going. What happens if next week, you tune in and they remove half of the characters, there are new comedy scriptwriters writing all of the material, and the story has suddenly jumped the shark in some way? You're probably going to be turned off from that content.

Now that is a bit of an extreme case of course but on YouTube channels, this happens pretty much with all channels. To begin with, and I don't understand this, many creators are a little self-indulgent, because they want to create what they're going to enjoy making, and not realizing there's an audience out there who's already watched some of your previous content, enjoyed it, subscribed to it, and want to see more or less the same thing.

If you continue to deliver content that your subscribers have subscribed for, you will start to build momentum, I guarantee it. And remember, I've already said that the first video a viewer watches on your channel may not convince them to subscribe. However, due to the way YouTube's recommendations work, even if a viewer doesn't subscribe to your channel, they may see more of your content appear in their browse feeds or suggested videos. And if they watch a second video from you which is similar to the first, and they enjoy it more, then that will convince them to subscribe. But it has to stay on topic for the audience's watching habits.

#3 It’s OK to Ask Your Viewers to Subscribe

There's something I want to get you into the mindset of as early as possible in your YouTube journey. It's okay to ask people to subscribe to your channel. Some people have a real mental block about this. Maybe it's because they find it too embarrassing, or because they feel as if they're begging too much to their audience.

This is not the same as sub-for-sub. Remember, the viewer is already watching your video, and you are providing value to them. There's nothing wrong with reminding the audience, "Hey, if you want to see more of this content, "then it might be a good idea "to subscribe to the channel."

There are many ways to ask people politely to subscribe to your channel. For example, in this video, at the very beginning, what did we do? “Hello, I'm Rob, and welcome to vidIQ, the YouTube tool and channel that educates you on your YouTube journey. For more content just like this, make sure to subscribe to the channel, and do this so that you're the first to be notified when there are new videos released.” In 18 seconds, I told new viewers of vidIQ who we are, our value proposition, and why you should subscribe to your channel in a slightly inventive way.

As you continue on through a video, if you get to a point where you deliver something of real value, or a spectacular moment in a video, and that is your payoff to a certain extent, don't be afraid to put in a call to action there as well. And what I mean by a call to action is asking the viewer to subscribe, or something onscreen that you don't even address, it's just there, it just reminds the viewer, "Hey, if you're liking this, "remember to press that red button."

You can also add a subscribe watermark to your videos and this can be really effective for bringing in a few extra subscribers to every single video. We've got a dedicated video on this here:

And, don't be afraid to also put a subscribe link in your channel description, in the end screens, and maybe in a pinned comment. Give your viewers as many opportunities as possible to remind them that it's free to subscribe, and they'll get value from it because you're going to give your audience exactly what they're asking for.

#4 The First Few Months will be Frustrating but Keep Going

Something that's going to be really important throughout your YouTube journey is perspective. You may not like what I'm about to tell you, but it is the truth. When you start your YouTube channel, you have no authority, you have no influence, you have no social proof. From the audience perspective, they are asking the question, "Why should I subscribe to you?" "What makes you different as a video creator?"

From YouTube's perspective, the platform wants more data from your content. It wants to know which audience is watching your content, and for how long, and how successful it is, and whether or not to push that content to more people after they've watched it and indeed subscribed.

I am not going to lie to you, the first few weeks and months on YouTube can be a real uphill struggle. For many creators, hitting that first hundred subscribers was the most challenging thing they did on their channel. But then, hitting the next hundred subscribers wasn't so hard, and then the next hundred, and before you know it, you're up to five hundred, and then your coming into the thousand subscriber mark.

What needs to happen is a connection between the viewer and the content creator. When you build trust, you build a relationship, and you get onto a personal level, you somehow impact that viewer in an emotional way. That creates a bond where the subscription hopefully will happen, and then who knows what beyond that.

Now what I hope I've done throughout this video is establish some of those bonds so you can subscribe. You see what I did there? As this portion of the video suggests, accept and embrace the challenge. Think of it in a completely different mindset. Enjoy the journey.

You need to determine whether or not you enjoy making videos, that's what you're going to be doing the majority of the time. And it could take you 50 videos, 100 videos, six months, to understand whether you like that process. And if you're concentrating more on how you're going to deliver the content to your audience, and observing their feedback, rather than looking at that single metric of subscribers, or that single metric of views and Watch Time, I guarantee you will enjoy the process so much more. And before you know it, you may not even realize it, you'll surpass 100 subscribers.

Let’s take a look at some of the best strategies for reaching that first big YouTube milestone - 100 subscribers.

How to Get Your First 100 Subscribers on YouTube

In November 2019, YouTube made platform-shaking changes that affected every channel. Suddenly every creator and publisher had to acknowledge whether their library of videos were 'made for kids' or not.

If you are out of the loop, you can quickly catch up by reading our '

11 Things You Need to Know About COPPA and Kid's Content on YouTube

Part of the announcement was confirmation of the type of video content that YouTube considered made for, and consumed by, children under 13. Creators are now asked to indicate whether their channel or videos are subject to the following guidelines:

What is the subject matter of your video?

Whether children are your intended audience for the video

Whether the video includes child actors or models

Whether the video includes characters, celebrities or toys that appeal to children, including animated characters or cartoon figures.

Whether the language of the video is intended for children to understand

Whether the video includes activities that appeal to children

Whether the video includes songs, stories, or poems that appeal to children

The 7 Types of 'Made for Kids' Content on YouTube

Although there are many channels who are publishing content that's not necessarily created directly for a young audience, those videos are being watched by a younger audience. That's a fine line that millions of channels are now struggling with. One thing we do know for sure is the kind of content that very clearly 

 fall within the new guidelines. Let's take a look at each of the seven categories with examples.

#1 What is the Subject Matter of the Video?

While education is a life long pursuit, many of us past of the age of 13 know our colors so wouldn't independently watch a video about that - especially if the learning mode was via the medium of ice cream and soccer balls.

Given that this channel is called 'Kid's Camp' and the topic is learning the names of different colors, this is a perfect example of an educational video made especially for younger children.

#2 Whether Children are Your Intended Audience for the Video

While many of us carry our love of fairy tales and other bedtime stories into adulthood, the vast majority of this content on YouTube is aimed at young children.

This video from the 'Fairy Tales and Stories for Kids' YouTube channel uses simple animation to tell the story of Rapunzel, and is also clearly labelled as kid-focused content.

#3 Whether the Video Includes Child Actors or Models

While this one can be a little trickier (there's a lot of TV and movie content on YouTube that includes child actors for example), children themselves are often the main focus of a video clip and that's what the new COPPA rules are picking up on.

Children like to watch other children pretend play or act out stories that they can either join along with or watch passively. We went with a very clear example of a child in front of the camera with the ubiquitous Ryan of Ryan Toy's Review and other franchises.

Ryan has always been the main focus of any video his channel publishes so this is a slam-dunk example of the use of a child in the content.

#4 Whether the Video Includes Characters, Celebrities or Toys That Appeal to Children including Animated Characters or Cartoon Figures

Kids content on YouTube is one of the top 10 most-popular verticals and we've seen hundreds of thousands of channels launch over the past few years that have leveraged the interest in the topic.

With pretend play, unboxing, and even slime videos using characters, celebrities, or toys that appeal to children generating millions of views, it's easy to see why YouTube has confirmed this type of content falls squarely in the 'made for kids' content category.

#5 Whether the Language of the Video is Intended for Children to Understand

Did you know that some American children are 

Whether that's true or not, we know that the language used in the 'Peppa Pig' videos 

 absolutely intended for children to understand. Think about whether your own videos do if you're unsure whether they should be classed as made specifically for children or not.

#6 Whether the Video Includes Activities That Appeal to Children

Of course we were always going to include 'Baby Shark' as an example somewhere, and it actually perfectly illustrates the concept of including activities that appeal to children.

Repeat after me now - "doo doo doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo, Baby shark!"

#7 Whether the Video Includes Songs, Stories or Poems That Appeal to Children

Nursery rhyme videos are the perfect storm of content that appeals to young kids. With their bouncy mix of music and colorful images, it's hard to imagine a genre that appeals to children more.

We're not saying that the longer-form clips of this type of content have been used to entertain kids for hours on end. But we're not saying that they haven't been either. YouTube and the FTC know that babies and toddlers are lapping this kind of stuff up which is why it's being excluded from the new rules around data collection.

Do you know the 7 very specific types of content that YouTube now considers 'Made for Kids' under the new COPPA rules? We break them down.

The 7 Types of 'Made for Kids' Content on YouTube Under #COPPA

 recently cracked 2.5M views, and usually, that would be a 

 cause for a celebration, but on this occasion, I'm not so sure. There are two fundamental questions that are wrestling with my conscience. Did I clickbait the YouTube community? And if I did, why is YouTube rewarding me for this? Allow me to explain.

Welcome to VidIQ, the YouTube tool, channel and blog that educates you on your YouTube journey. Of course, as video creators ourselves, we are also learning with every single video that we publish, and this particular one raised some very interesting moral questions.

It was never my intention to clickbait people into watching the video that now has over 2.5M views, but the general response and reaction to the video seems to be just that. Just to be clear, we never profit from any of our videos on YouTube. We don't monetize content here at VidIQ so there was never a financial aspect involved in everything that I'm about to tell you.

Let me explain. Say hello to the new YouTube Creator Studio, the video management and analytics suite we will all be using in 2020 whether we like it or not. The classic Creator Studio's days are very much numbered.

Now, when you think about this, it is a monumental shift for millions of video creators on YouTube. They've all been used to working with YouTube in a certain way for almost a decade, and now all of that is changing, and that creates a unique and lucrative opportunity for YouTube growth channels such as ourselves. We've capitalized on that with videos about how to delete a YouTube video, how to add subtitles to your videos, how to create a playlist, how to hide your subscriber count, etc.

Thanks to the new Creator Studio, the way you do a lot of things you’ve always done on YouTube has completely changed, and throughout 2019 we systematically worked our way through a 

big list of beginner's guides for the new YouTube Creator Studio

One of our beginner guide videos on the vidIQ YouTube channel just hit over 2.5M views. But did we unintentionally clickbait YouTube by making it? Read on for the full story.

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