Maybe the best advice for starting a YouTube channel is: just start creating. But diving in head first like that can lead to some unnecessary growing pains. To avoid some of that agony, creators can ask themselves a few important questions before they just start creating. Even if you already have a channel, it’s not too late to do this creative exercise.

What’s your niche?

Usually when you talk to a new creator, they’re brimming with ideas for what they want their channel to be. They might want to ambitiously blend pop culture commentary with tech reviews and some daily vlogging. I’m not here to tell you it’s impossible to succeed with a blend of niches, but it will be an uphill battle. To avoid that, creators should double-down on a niche they’re passionate about. This doesn’t mean you can’t later explore new topics and experiment (in fact, I encourage it). Nor does it mean you’re forever bound to that niche — many creators have successfully pivoted from one to the other. Still, the YouTube algorithm favors creators with tightly defined niches, and therefore, tightly defined audiences (which is what advertisers want). 

When you think you have a niche, you can start identifying other creators in that niche to see what kinds of content they’re publishing, and what is doing well for them.

What makes your channel unique?

Once you’ve defined your niche, the next question is: how are you different from every other creator in the space? One way I like to think about differentiating your channel using a common Hollywood pitch format: “Like X but Y.”  Alien was famously pitched as “Jaws but in space.” Your channel should emulate what’s working for other channels in your space, while adding your own unique spin. So, an interview show might be conceived as “Larry King, but everyone is eating hot wings.”

“Like X but Y” can be a helpful creative exercise, but it’s not the only one. Creators should look at other similar creators in the space and ask:

• What is their perspective, and how would yours be different?
• What do you dislike about their content that you could improve upon?
• What topics aren’t they covering, and does that provide an opportunity for your channel?
• How are the videos paced? Are they quick and to the point, or drawn-out deep dives?
• How are they produced? Are they using interviews, animation, talking heads? Which of those options would you, or wouldn’t you, employ?

Is it creatively sustainable?

Beyond a niche, formats are a great way to brand your content, save time on creating new content, and create consistency in your channel. That might mean a comedian getting hot takes from strangers on the subway or a doctor reacting to viral trends. 

But while creators are fixated on finding a compelling format, they might forget to ask a crucial question: how much content can I get out of this? If your idea is to make explainer videos about current Supreme Court cases for instance, you might notice there’s generally between 40-90 cases decided a year. Seems like plenty, but how many of those would actually be interesting to a general audience? If that thins it out too much, you might try to figure out how to widen your scope, possibly to the thousands of cases the court has decided in the last 200 years.

One helpful exercise: write out ideas, lots of them. Can you easily come up with 40, 50, or even 100 ideas? If the answer is yes, you likely won’t run out of ideas and be forced to pivot.

It’s not just the lack of ideas that can sabotage a growing channel. Creators can also lose their enthusiasm for the topic. The second question you should ask yourself: will I be fulfilled or happy creating content around this format or topic a year from now? If the answer is yes, you’re off to a good start.

Is the workload sustainable?

Whenever I hear new creators talking through their exciting ideas for a new channel, there’s one general theme: it’s always too much.  Creators, commendably, want to give their videos their all: complex documentaries, thesis-level video essays, intricate animations, or live-produced events. But success on platforms like YouTube and TikTok are built on consistency. Even if their one-off masterpiece goes viral, creators are now stuck with a creative vision they can’t deliver on. 

Whether you want to post three times a week or just once a month, make sure your first videos are developing a workflow that allows you to create regularly without over-extending yourself.

How will it monetize?

Most creators support their creative endeavors through YouTube’s built-in ads and brand deals. Both are important to consider when starting a channel, unless you plan on making something purely out of passion.

Most creators can join the YouTube partner program and be eligible for ad revenue when they’ve reached 500 subscribers, have uploaded three times in the last 90 days, and either received 3,000 hours of watch-time or 3 million views on shorts. 

For some niches, that can be difficult. Creators should familiarize themselves with YouTube’s monetization policies before starting their channel, and especially the platform’s advertiser-friendly content guidelines. There are also topics which can be monetized, but creators have frequently had to deal with lost revenue from a fickle and opaque process from YouTube. For instance, many creators have been surprised when a history channel covering hate groups has its ads restricted under the platform’s hate speech policy. Similarly, creators dispelling medical misinformation have been penalized despite their efforts to debunk conspiracy theories. 

If you’re making content adjacent to any of these tricky subjects, it’s a good idea to plan alternative revenue streams like Patreon, classes, or physical products. But even if you’re not, those alternate streams can provide vital stability. The second part of the monetization question though, should be centered on brand deals.

Put simply, will your content be brand safe, and how will that affect your financial planning? Brands are famously averse to negativity, so channels that focus on controversies, drama, debunkings, and so on might have a harder time finding sponsors.

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