Eluding YouTube Ban: Protective Measures

How to Avoid and Reverse Strikes on Your YouTube Channel

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Do you monetize your videos? Or, do you like to Livestream? These are two perks of having a YouTube account in good standing. You can lose these privileges, have your ability to post videos frozen, and even have your account terminated if you start accumulating strikes.

If you receive a strike, you will usually be able to get rid of it. This article will show you how.

Table of Content:

1. Copyright Strikes

2. Wrongful Copyright Strikes

3. Community Guidelines Strikes

There are two types of strikes: Community Guideline Strikes and Copyright Strikes. Your account and all your videos will be deleted if you get three of either one of these types of strikes, but YouTube is fair about how these strikes are given out and how you can reverse them.

1. Copyright Strikes

You get a copyright strike when you use media in your video which someone else owns the copyrights to. Music, clips, photographs, and sound effects are examples of the kinds of media you may use that could be owned by someone else.

The most obvious way to earn a copyright strike is to repost content which you did not create, i.e. clips from a television show or a popular song. If you know that the content you got a strike for was not yours and did not fall under ‘fair use ’, then there are two ways you can resolve it.

1. You can complete YouTube’s simple course on copyright infringement (Copyright School ) and wait three months. Copyright strikes expire in three months so long as you complete the course (they will not expire if you don’t take the course).

2. you can contact the holder of the copyright and ask them to retract their claim. You will probably have to offer to delete your video. Keep in mind that it is completely up to the rights holder whether you deleting your video is enough for them to retract their claim. They are allowed to say ‘no’.

Deleting your video, especially if you do so without contacting the rights holder, will not automatically reverse your copyright strike.

The majority of copyright strikes that you as a YouTube creator receive – if you receive any – will not be as black and white as ‘someone else owns it, you shouldn’t have used it’. If you know that you have a license to use the song or other media you got the strike for, or feel like your use of a clip falls under ‘fair use’, then your path to reversing the strike will be different.

2. Wrongful Copyright Strikes

YouTube’s system for detecting copyright infringement is automated. This means that you can get a copyright strike without actually breaking any rules. These strikes are generally easy to reverse.

For creators, the most common instance of this is being flagged for using copyrighted music. When you download royalty-free music – whether you download it for free or pay for it – you might not realize that that music is still copyrighted to someone else and can still be flagged by YouTube’s system.

If this has happened to you, reversing it is simple.

1. Submit a counter-notification through the form provided and include either your licensing information or a link to where it can be found online.

2. After you submit your counter-notification, the copyright holder will have 10 business days to respond. Since in this scenario the rights holder will know they have allowed their content to be licensed out, there should be no conflict and your video will be reinstated.

‘Fair use’ is another thing YouTube’s system has no way of detecting. ‘Fair use’ means that you are using content that you do not own, and which you do not have a license to use, but that you are using it in a way that is legally protected. Satire, criticism, education, and news reporting are areas that may be protected by fair use, although every situation is different.

There is no situation in which crediting a rights holder, adding a disclaimer, or simply not monetizing your video will make it fair use.

To reverse a copyright strike where you believe your video should be protected as ‘fair use’, submit a counter-notification through the web form YouTube provides. The rights holder will have 10 business days to provide YouTube with evidence that they have initiated a court action against your content. There is a chance that they will not agree with you about the ‘fair use’ status of your video. You could be in for a bit of a fight.

If your account has been suspended for accumulating multiple strikes, you will no longer be able to access the online counter-notification form and will have to send a free-form counter-notification. Information on that can be found here .

3. Community Guidelines Strikes

Most video creators – people who post vlogs, travel videos, and various kinds of tutorials – will never receive this type of strike. Sexual content, hateful content, threats, and scams are among the things you could post which would result in a community guidelines strike. Creators, in general, are not interested in posting cruel or graphic content.

The only thing some video creators might have to be careful of is misleading metadata. You can get community guidelines to strike for intentionally using the title, tags, and description of your video to build up an expectation of the content your video does not deliver on. For example, if you post a personal vlog and title it ‘Call of Duty Review’ to try and capitalize on people who might be searching for gaming videos then you might receive a strike.

Blatantly using keywords that have nothing to do with your content is not something you can do accidentally, but it is possible to be misleading in your metadata without trying to be dishonest. YouTube is a very competitive place, and many creators are turning towards title strategies which could be considered ‘clickbait’. If you say in your title that you had a baby, but reveal in your actual video that ‘had a baby’ meant ‘wrote a new song’, will that get you a community guidelines strike? Probably not, but it can be a thin line.

In general, just don’t mention anything in your title or tags which you do not talk about in your video.

Community Guidelines strikes expire after three months. As long as you only have one strike, it will not affect your channel or what you can do on YouTube. If you receive a second strike within the three months of your first strike, you will lose the ability to post videos for two weeks. If you receive a third strike before either of your previous strikes has expired, your account will be terminated.

Have you experienced a copyright strike against your YouTube channel? Let us know what happened in the comments.

Create Original Videos with Excellent Video Editor

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Do you monetize your videos? Or, do you like to Livestream? These are two perks of having a YouTube account in good standing. You can lose these privileges, have your ability to post videos frozen, and even have your account terminated if you start accumulating strikes.

If you receive a strike, you will usually be able to get rid of it. This article will show you how.

Table of Content:

1. Copyright Strikes

2. Wrongful Copyright Strikes

3. Community Guidelines Strikes

There are two types of strikes: Community Guideline Strikes and Copyright Strikes. Your account and all your videos will be deleted if you get three of either one of these types of strikes, but YouTube is fair about how these strikes are given out and how you can reverse them.

1. Copyright Strikes

You get a copyright strike when you use media in your video which someone else owns the copyrights to. Music, clips, photographs, and sound effects are examples of the kinds of media you may use that could be owned by someone else.

The most obvious way to earn a copyright strike is to repost content which you did not create, i.e. clips from a television show or a popular song. If you know that the content you got a strike for was not yours and did not fall under ‘fair use ’, then there are two ways you can resolve it.

1. You can complete YouTube’s simple course on copyright infringement (Copyright School ) and wait three months. Copyright strikes expire in three months so long as you complete the course (they will not expire if you don’t take the course).

2. you can contact the holder of the copyright and ask them to retract their claim. You will probably have to offer to delete your video. Keep in mind that it is completely up to the rights holder whether you deleting your video is enough for them to retract their claim. They are allowed to say ‘no’.

Deleting your video, especially if you do so without contacting the rights holder, will not automatically reverse your copyright strike.

The majority of copyright strikes that you as a YouTube creator receive – if you receive any – will not be as black and white as ‘someone else owns it, you shouldn’t have used it’. If you know that you have a license to use the song or other media you got the strike for, or feel like your use of a clip falls under ‘fair use’, then your path to reversing the strike will be different.

2. Wrongful Copyright Strikes

YouTube’s system for detecting copyright infringement is automated. This means that you can get a copyright strike without actually breaking any rules. These strikes are generally easy to reverse.

For creators, the most common instance of this is being flagged for using copyrighted music. When you download royalty-free music – whether you download it for free or pay for it – you might not realize that that music is still copyrighted to someone else and can still be flagged by YouTube’s system.

If this has happened to you, reversing it is simple.

1. Submit a counter-notification through the form provided and include either your licensing information or a link to where it can be found online.

2. After you submit your counter-notification, the copyright holder will have 10 business days to respond. Since in this scenario the rights holder will know they have allowed their content to be licensed out, there should be no conflict and your video will be reinstated.

‘Fair use’ is another thing YouTube’s system has no way of detecting. ‘Fair use’ means that you are using content that you do not own, and which you do not have a license to use, but that you are using it in a way that is legally protected. Satire, criticism, education, and news reporting are areas that may be protected by fair use, although every situation is different.

There is no situation in which crediting a rights holder, adding a disclaimer, or simply not monetizing your video will make it fair use.

To reverse a copyright strike where you believe your video should be protected as ‘fair use’, submit a counter-notification through the web form YouTube provides. The rights holder will have 10 business days to provide YouTube with evidence that they have initiated a court action against your content. There is a chance that they will not agree with you about the ‘fair use’ status of your video. You could be in for a bit of a fight.

If your account has been suspended for accumulating multiple strikes, you will no longer be able to access the online counter-notification form and will have to send a free-form counter-notification. Information on that can be found here .

3. Community Guidelines Strikes

Most video creators – people who post vlogs, travel videos, and various kinds of tutorials – will never receive this type of strike. Sexual content, hateful content, threats, and scams are among the things you could post which would result in a community guidelines strike. Creators, in general, are not interested in posting cruel or graphic content.

The only thing some video creators might have to be careful of is misleading metadata. You can get community guidelines to strike for intentionally using the title, tags, and description of your video to build up an expectation of the content your video does not deliver on. For example, if you post a personal vlog and title it ‘Call of Duty Review’ to try and capitalize on people who might be searching for gaming videos then you might receive a strike.

Blatantly using keywords that have nothing to do with your content is not something you can do accidentally, but it is possible to be misleading in your metadata without trying to be dishonest. YouTube is a very competitive place, and many creators are turning towards title strategies which could be considered ‘clickbait’. If you say in your title that you had a baby, but reveal in your actual video that ‘had a baby’ meant ‘wrote a new song’, will that get you a community guidelines strike? Probably not, but it can be a thin line.

In general, just don’t mention anything in your title or tags which you do not talk about in your video.

Community Guidelines strikes expire after three months. As long as you only have one strike, it will not affect your channel or what you can do on YouTube. If you receive a second strike within the three months of your first strike, you will lose the ability to post videos for two weeks. If you receive a third strike before either of your previous strikes has expired, your account will be terminated.

Have you experienced a copyright strike against your YouTube channel? Let us know what happened in the comments.

Create Original Videos with Excellent Video Editor

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Do you monetize your videos? Or, do you like to Livestream? These are two perks of having a YouTube account in good standing. You can lose these privileges, have your ability to post videos frozen, and even have your account terminated if you start accumulating strikes.

If you receive a strike, you will usually be able to get rid of it. This article will show you how.

Table of Content:

1. Copyright Strikes

2. Wrongful Copyright Strikes

3. Community Guidelines Strikes

There are two types of strikes: Community Guideline Strikes and Copyright Strikes. Your account and all your videos will be deleted if you get three of either one of these types of strikes, but YouTube is fair about how these strikes are given out and how you can reverse them.

1. Copyright Strikes

You get a copyright strike when you use media in your video which someone else owns the copyrights to. Music, clips, photographs, and sound effects are examples of the kinds of media you may use that could be owned by someone else.

The most obvious way to earn a copyright strike is to repost content which you did not create, i.e. clips from a television show or a popular song. If you know that the content you got a strike for was not yours and did not fall under ‘fair use ’, then there are two ways you can resolve it.

1. You can complete YouTube’s simple course on copyright infringement (Copyright School ) and wait three months. Copyright strikes expire in three months so long as you complete the course (they will not expire if you don’t take the course).

2. you can contact the holder of the copyright and ask them to retract their claim. You will probably have to offer to delete your video. Keep in mind that it is completely up to the rights holder whether you deleting your video is enough for them to retract their claim. They are allowed to say ‘no’.

Deleting your video, especially if you do so without contacting the rights holder, will not automatically reverse your copyright strike.

The majority of copyright strikes that you as a YouTube creator receive – if you receive any – will not be as black and white as ‘someone else owns it, you shouldn’t have used it’. If you know that you have a license to use the song or other media you got the strike for, or feel like your use of a clip falls under ‘fair use’, then your path to reversing the strike will be different.

2. Wrongful Copyright Strikes

YouTube’s system for detecting copyright infringement is automated. This means that you can get a copyright strike without actually breaking any rules. These strikes are generally easy to reverse.

For creators, the most common instance of this is being flagged for using copyrighted music. When you download royalty-free music – whether you download it for free or pay for it – you might not realize that that music is still copyrighted to someone else and can still be flagged by YouTube’s system.

If this has happened to you, reversing it is simple.

1. Submit a counter-notification through the form provided and include either your licensing information or a link to where it can be found online.

2. After you submit your counter-notification, the copyright holder will have 10 business days to respond. Since in this scenario the rights holder will know they have allowed their content to be licensed out, there should be no conflict and your video will be reinstated.

‘Fair use’ is another thing YouTube’s system has no way of detecting. ‘Fair use’ means that you are using content that you do not own, and which you do not have a license to use, but that you are using it in a way that is legally protected. Satire, criticism, education, and news reporting are areas that may be protected by fair use, although every situation is different.

There is no situation in which crediting a rights holder, adding a disclaimer, or simply not monetizing your video will make it fair use.

To reverse a copyright strike where you believe your video should be protected as ‘fair use’, submit a counter-notification through the web form YouTube provides. The rights holder will have 10 business days to provide YouTube with evidence that they have initiated a court action against your content. There is a chance that they will not agree with you about the ‘fair use’ status of your video. You could be in for a bit of a fight.

If your account has been suspended for accumulating multiple strikes, you will no longer be able to access the online counter-notification form and will have to send a free-form counter-notification. Information on that can be found here .

3. Community Guidelines Strikes

Most video creators – people who post vlogs, travel videos, and various kinds of tutorials – will never receive this type of strike. Sexual content, hateful content, threats, and scams are among the things you could post which would result in a community guidelines strike. Creators, in general, are not interested in posting cruel or graphic content.

The only thing some video creators might have to be careful of is misleading metadata. You can get community guidelines to strike for intentionally using the title, tags, and description of your video to build up an expectation of the content your video does not deliver on. For example, if you post a personal vlog and title it ‘Call of Duty Review’ to try and capitalize on people who might be searching for gaming videos then you might receive a strike.

Blatantly using keywords that have nothing to do with your content is not something you can do accidentally, but it is possible to be misleading in your metadata without trying to be dishonest. YouTube is a very competitive place, and many creators are turning towards title strategies which could be considered ‘clickbait’. If you say in your title that you had a baby, but reveal in your actual video that ‘had a baby’ meant ‘wrote a new song’, will that get you a community guidelines strike? Probably not, but it can be a thin line.

In general, just don’t mention anything in your title or tags which you do not talk about in your video.

Community Guidelines strikes expire after three months. As long as you only have one strike, it will not affect your channel or what you can do on YouTube. If you receive a second strike within the three months of your first strike, you will lose the ability to post videos for two weeks. If you receive a third strike before either of your previous strikes has expired, your account will be terminated.

Have you experienced a copyright strike against your YouTube channel? Let us know what happened in the comments.

Create Original Videos with Excellent Video Editor

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Do you monetize your videos? Or, do you like to Livestream? These are two perks of having a YouTube account in good standing. You can lose these privileges, have your ability to post videos frozen, and even have your account terminated if you start accumulating strikes.

If you receive a strike, you will usually be able to get rid of it. This article will show you how.

Table of Content:

1. Copyright Strikes

2. Wrongful Copyright Strikes

3. Community Guidelines Strikes

There are two types of strikes: Community Guideline Strikes and Copyright Strikes. Your account and all your videos will be deleted if you get three of either one of these types of strikes, but YouTube is fair about how these strikes are given out and how you can reverse them.

1. Copyright Strikes

You get a copyright strike when you use media in your video which someone else owns the copyrights to. Music, clips, photographs, and sound effects are examples of the kinds of media you may use that could be owned by someone else.

The most obvious way to earn a copyright strike is to repost content which you did not create, i.e. clips from a television show or a popular song. If you know that the content you got a strike for was not yours and did not fall under ‘fair use ’, then there are two ways you can resolve it.

1. You can complete YouTube’s simple course on copyright infringement (Copyright School ) and wait three months. Copyright strikes expire in three months so long as you complete the course (they will not expire if you don’t take the course).

2. you can contact the holder of the copyright and ask them to retract their claim. You will probably have to offer to delete your video. Keep in mind that it is completely up to the rights holder whether you deleting your video is enough for them to retract their claim. They are allowed to say ‘no’.

Deleting your video, especially if you do so without contacting the rights holder, will not automatically reverse your copyright strike.

The majority of copyright strikes that you as a YouTube creator receive – if you receive any – will not be as black and white as ‘someone else owns it, you shouldn’t have used it’. If you know that you have a license to use the song or other media you got the strike for, or feel like your use of a clip falls under ‘fair use’, then your path to reversing the strike will be different.

2. Wrongful Copyright Strikes

YouTube’s system for detecting copyright infringement is automated. This means that you can get a copyright strike without actually breaking any rules. These strikes are generally easy to reverse.

For creators, the most common instance of this is being flagged for using copyrighted music. When you download royalty-free music – whether you download it for free or pay for it – you might not realize that that music is still copyrighted to someone else and can still be flagged by YouTube’s system.

If this has happened to you, reversing it is simple.

1. Submit a counter-notification through the form provided and include either your licensing information or a link to where it can be found online.

2. After you submit your counter-notification, the copyright holder will have 10 business days to respond. Since in this scenario the rights holder will know they have allowed their content to be licensed out, there should be no conflict and your video will be reinstated.

‘Fair use’ is another thing YouTube’s system has no way of detecting. ‘Fair use’ means that you are using content that you do not own, and which you do not have a license to use, but that you are using it in a way that is legally protected. Satire, criticism, education, and news reporting are areas that may be protected by fair use, although every situation is different.

There is no situation in which crediting a rights holder, adding a disclaimer, or simply not monetizing your video will make it fair use.

To reverse a copyright strike where you believe your video should be protected as ‘fair use’, submit a counter-notification through the web form YouTube provides. The rights holder will have 10 business days to provide YouTube with evidence that they have initiated a court action against your content. There is a chance that they will not agree with you about the ‘fair use’ status of your video. You could be in for a bit of a fight.

If your account has been suspended for accumulating multiple strikes, you will no longer be able to access the online counter-notification form and will have to send a free-form counter-notification. Information on that can be found here .

3. Community Guidelines Strikes

Most video creators – people who post vlogs, travel videos, and various kinds of tutorials – will never receive this type of strike. Sexual content, hateful content, threats, and scams are among the things you could post which would result in a community guidelines strike. Creators, in general, are not interested in posting cruel or graphic content.

The only thing some video creators might have to be careful of is misleading metadata. You can get community guidelines to strike for intentionally using the title, tags, and description of your video to build up an expectation of the content your video does not deliver on. For example, if you post a personal vlog and title it ‘Call of Duty Review’ to try and capitalize on people who might be searching for gaming videos then you might receive a strike.

Blatantly using keywords that have nothing to do with your content is not something you can do accidentally, but it is possible to be misleading in your metadata without trying to be dishonest. YouTube is a very competitive place, and many creators are turning towards title strategies which could be considered ‘clickbait’. If you say in your title that you had a baby, but reveal in your actual video that ‘had a baby’ meant ‘wrote a new song’, will that get you a community guidelines strike? Probably not, but it can be a thin line.

In general, just don’t mention anything in your title or tags which you do not talk about in your video.

Community Guidelines strikes expire after three months. As long as you only have one strike, it will not affect your channel or what you can do on YouTube. If you receive a second strike within the three months of your first strike, you will lose the ability to post videos for two weeks. If you receive a third strike before either of your previous strikes has expired, your account will be terminated.

Have you experienced a copyright strike against your YouTube channel? Let us know what happened in the comments.

Create Original Videos with Excellent Video Editor

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Mastering Your YouTube: Pinpointing a Specialized Audience

How to Find A Niche Market on YouTube

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

What is a Niche?

A niche is what makes your channel unique.

When you are finding a niche for your YouTube channel, you are looking for a subset of a genre, subject, or topic to make videos about.

A niche can be broad like a channel about traveling.

Or more focused such as a channel only about traveling for food.

Then it can be hyper-focused such as a channel only about traveling for street food.

When people talk about “niching down,” they mean getting more focused on an area of a broader topic.

Best YouTube Video Editor - Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora is the tool that you require at this moment if you are a YouTuber who wants to create engaging videos and earn some money, with endless features and effects, it would make your videos go viral as the engagement rate tends to increase with better quality. You can fine-tune and add music to your videos with Filmora and every single tab on Wondershare Filmora is equipped with great video editing tools such as video cutter, fine tuner, stabilize video, etc that you can make use of. Filmora is the best tool for YouTubers around the globe as it has helped a lot of new as well as professionals YouTubers in scaling their channels.

Why Do You Need a Niche on YouTube?

1. Discoverability

Having a niche differentiates your channel from all the other ones on YouTube. There is no denying the crowded space on the video platform. Every minute, 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube . If you were simply copying other YouTubers, it will be challenging to grow, as your content will be in the shadows of all the other ones.

2. Consistency

By having a consistent niche, your channel will be more coherent for those who discovered your awesome content and wants more related videos. If you don’t have a clear focus on your YouTube channel, it will be confusing for your potential fans.

For example, if you created a great video about painting, but your channel also contains videos with you playing video games, doing movie commentaries, and cooking recipes, then the viewer who discovered your painting video wouldn’t subscribe to you because she has no interest in the other topics your channel covers.

3. Credibility

In a specialized niche, you can own it and become an expert on the topic. Increasing your credibility will allow you to build trust much faster with your audience and therefore, grow at a much faster rate.

Finding Your Niche on YouTube

What Is Your Objective On YouTube?

Do you want to make money? Do you want to fuel a passion? Do you want to educate the masses?

Your intentions on YouTube can be a numbers game: you want to get views, subscribers, and make money.

Or perhaps your intentions on YouTube can be to make content for a specific audience so that you can build a community.

Moreover, you might be using YouTube as the platform to showcase your personal brand and develop a reputation that you can bring to the real world.

Once you have a clear objective for what you want to achieve on YouTube, then you can consider the tactical direction to take your channel in: finding a niche and creating content for it.

What is Your Passion?

Building a YouTube channel is a grind and if you are not passionate about the topics you are covering in your niche, you may not have the motivation needed to churn out videos day after day, week after week.

Answering what you are passionate about isn’t enough to form your niche around, but it is definitely a critical part. Start by finding your passion.

Think of the things that you can do for hours without getting bored. Think of the hobbies you have where you put in hours and hours to improve. Think about all the research you’ve done on a given topic for no other reason than satisfying your own curiosity. These can all help you understand what you are most passionate about.

Knowing your passion opens an avenue for you to travel down in discovering your niche. But the journey isn’t over yet… there are few more questions to ask:

What Are Your Expertises?

Over the course of your life, you have gained experiences and skills — and you might not even know it. Stop for a moment and take inventory of everything that you feel you know better than the average person.

While the term “expert” is subjective, consider this, what can you pick up and do without a guide or a manual, or what can you tell me without Googling or researching?

If you can sit at a piano and start playing beautiful music, you have expertise in it. If you can tell me off the top of your head what train and bus to take to get across town, you are an expert in your city. Your expertise is what you confidently know.

What Do People Know You For?

If you are having trouble finding your expertise, ask those who are close to you: What am I best known for?

If your friends tell you that you are known for being athletic, then that might be an area to explore. If your classmates tell you that you are always punctual, you might be an expert in time management.

Sometimes it takes someone else to tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Once you’ve recognized what you are an expert on, you can expand on it.

Ask yourself these questions about your expertise:

- Can I teach people what I know?

- Will I want to learn more about this topic?

- Does this knowledge solve problems or improve life?

Once answered, you are that much closer to identifying your niche. But there is still another major question:

What Are Your Audience’s Wants and Needs?

If you are passionate about and an expert on a topic, but the topic is not interesting or useful to anyone then you are going to have a tough time getting views on YouTube.

When it comes down to it, your content needs to do at least 1 of 3 things, but if you strive to have all 3, you’ll have the recipe for a successful video:

- Educate

- Entertain

- Inspire

Educate Your Audience

Your audience wants to learn how to solve a problem or answer a question. If your content can teach, it will be valuable because it has real-world applications. (example: How-tos, product reviews, etc.)

Entertain Your Audience

Your audience wants to be entertained. Remember, when a viewer is watching your content, they are choosing it over all the books, movies, and music in the world. You have their attention, so don’t be boring. (example: Daily vlogs, commentary, etc.)

Inspire Your Audience

Your audience might be looking for a community to support them as they attempt a new goal. YouTube is a great platform to encourage others to do their best and achieve more. (example: 30-day challenges, motivational talks, etc.)

Don’t pick a niche simply because of general interest in a topic. If your niche comes to you in a flash and you go: “That’s a good idea,” before you set up your YouTube channel and commit to this video project, sit down, do some research, write out a script, and actually film the initial video. Go through the process and know what you are getting into.

Once you have a niche, it’s all about coming up with ideas for your video. If you want to become an idea machine, read this blog: How to Come Up With Better YouTube Video Ideas

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

What is a Niche?

A niche is what makes your channel unique.

When you are finding a niche for your YouTube channel, you are looking for a subset of a genre, subject, or topic to make videos about.

A niche can be broad like a channel about traveling.

Or more focused such as a channel only about traveling for food.

Then it can be hyper-focused such as a channel only about traveling for street food.

When people talk about “niching down,” they mean getting more focused on an area of a broader topic.

Best YouTube Video Editor - Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora is the tool that you require at this moment if you are a YouTuber who wants to create engaging videos and earn some money, with endless features and effects, it would make your videos go viral as the engagement rate tends to increase with better quality. You can fine-tune and add music to your videos with Filmora and every single tab on Wondershare Filmora is equipped with great video editing tools such as video cutter, fine tuner, stabilize video, etc that you can make use of. Filmora is the best tool for YouTubers around the globe as it has helped a lot of new as well as professionals YouTubers in scaling their channels.

Why Do You Need a Niche on YouTube?

1. Discoverability

Having a niche differentiates your channel from all the other ones on YouTube. There is no denying the crowded space on the video platform. Every minute, 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube . If you were simply copying other YouTubers, it will be challenging to grow, as your content will be in the shadows of all the other ones.

2. Consistency

By having a consistent niche, your channel will be more coherent for those who discovered your awesome content and wants more related videos. If you don’t have a clear focus on your YouTube channel, it will be confusing for your potential fans.

For example, if you created a great video about painting, but your channel also contains videos with you playing video games, doing movie commentaries, and cooking recipes, then the viewer who discovered your painting video wouldn’t subscribe to you because she has no interest in the other topics your channel covers.

3. Credibility

In a specialized niche, you can own it and become an expert on the topic. Increasing your credibility will allow you to build trust much faster with your audience and therefore, grow at a much faster rate.

Finding Your Niche on YouTube

What Is Your Objective On YouTube?

Do you want to make money? Do you want to fuel a passion? Do you want to educate the masses?

Your intentions on YouTube can be a numbers game: you want to get views, subscribers, and make money.

Or perhaps your intentions on YouTube can be to make content for a specific audience so that you can build a community.

Moreover, you might be using YouTube as the platform to showcase your personal brand and develop a reputation that you can bring to the real world.

Once you have a clear objective for what you want to achieve on YouTube, then you can consider the tactical direction to take your channel in: finding a niche and creating content for it.

What is Your Passion?

Building a YouTube channel is a grind and if you are not passionate about the topics you are covering in your niche, you may not have the motivation needed to churn out videos day after day, week after week.

Answering what you are passionate about isn’t enough to form your niche around, but it is definitely a critical part. Start by finding your passion.

Think of the things that you can do for hours without getting bored. Think of the hobbies you have where you put in hours and hours to improve. Think about all the research you’ve done on a given topic for no other reason than satisfying your own curiosity. These can all help you understand what you are most passionate about.

Knowing your passion opens an avenue for you to travel down in discovering your niche. But the journey isn’t over yet… there are few more questions to ask:

What Are Your Expertises?

Over the course of your life, you have gained experiences and skills — and you might not even know it. Stop for a moment and take inventory of everything that you feel you know better than the average person.

While the term “expert” is subjective, consider this, what can you pick up and do without a guide or a manual, or what can you tell me without Googling or researching?

If you can sit at a piano and start playing beautiful music, you have expertise in it. If you can tell me off the top of your head what train and bus to take to get across town, you are an expert in your city. Your expertise is what you confidently know.

What Do People Know You For?

If you are having trouble finding your expertise, ask those who are close to you: What am I best known for?

If your friends tell you that you are known for being athletic, then that might be an area to explore. If your classmates tell you that you are always punctual, you might be an expert in time management.

Sometimes it takes someone else to tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Once you’ve recognized what you are an expert on, you can expand on it.

Ask yourself these questions about your expertise:

- Can I teach people what I know?

- Will I want to learn more about this topic?

- Does this knowledge solve problems or improve life?

Once answered, you are that much closer to identifying your niche. But there is still another major question:

What Are Your Audience’s Wants and Needs?

If you are passionate about and an expert on a topic, but the topic is not interesting or useful to anyone then you are going to have a tough time getting views on YouTube.

When it comes down to it, your content needs to do at least 1 of 3 things, but if you strive to have all 3, you’ll have the recipe for a successful video:

- Educate

- Entertain

- Inspire

Educate Your Audience

Your audience wants to learn how to solve a problem or answer a question. If your content can teach, it will be valuable because it has real-world applications. (example: How-tos, product reviews, etc.)

Entertain Your Audience

Your audience wants to be entertained. Remember, when a viewer is watching your content, they are choosing it over all the books, movies, and music in the world. You have their attention, so don’t be boring. (example: Daily vlogs, commentary, etc.)

Inspire Your Audience

Your audience might be looking for a community to support them as they attempt a new goal. YouTube is a great platform to encourage others to do their best and achieve more. (example: 30-day challenges, motivational talks, etc.)

Don’t pick a niche simply because of general interest in a topic. If your niche comes to you in a flash and you go: “That’s a good idea,” before you set up your YouTube channel and commit to this video project, sit down, do some research, write out a script, and actually film the initial video. Go through the process and know what you are getting into.

Once you have a niche, it’s all about coming up with ideas for your video. If you want to become an idea machine, read this blog: How to Come Up With Better YouTube Video Ideas

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

What is a Niche?

A niche is what makes your channel unique.

When you are finding a niche for your YouTube channel, you are looking for a subset of a genre, subject, or topic to make videos about.

A niche can be broad like a channel about traveling.

Or more focused such as a channel only about traveling for food.

Then it can be hyper-focused such as a channel only about traveling for street food.

When people talk about “niching down,” they mean getting more focused on an area of a broader topic.

Best YouTube Video Editor - Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora is the tool that you require at this moment if you are a YouTuber who wants to create engaging videos and earn some money, with endless features and effects, it would make your videos go viral as the engagement rate tends to increase with better quality. You can fine-tune and add music to your videos with Filmora and every single tab on Wondershare Filmora is equipped with great video editing tools such as video cutter, fine tuner, stabilize video, etc that you can make use of. Filmora is the best tool for YouTubers around the globe as it has helped a lot of new as well as professionals YouTubers in scaling their channels.

Why Do You Need a Niche on YouTube?

1. Discoverability

Having a niche differentiates your channel from all the other ones on YouTube. There is no denying the crowded space on the video platform. Every minute, 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube . If you were simply copying other YouTubers, it will be challenging to grow, as your content will be in the shadows of all the other ones.

2. Consistency

By having a consistent niche, your channel will be more coherent for those who discovered your awesome content and wants more related videos. If you don’t have a clear focus on your YouTube channel, it will be confusing for your potential fans.

For example, if you created a great video about painting, but your channel also contains videos with you playing video games, doing movie commentaries, and cooking recipes, then the viewer who discovered your painting video wouldn’t subscribe to you because she has no interest in the other topics your channel covers.

3. Credibility

In a specialized niche, you can own it and become an expert on the topic. Increasing your credibility will allow you to build trust much faster with your audience and therefore, grow at a much faster rate.

Finding Your Niche on YouTube

What Is Your Objective On YouTube?

Do you want to make money? Do you want to fuel a passion? Do you want to educate the masses?

Your intentions on YouTube can be a numbers game: you want to get views, subscribers, and make money.

Or perhaps your intentions on YouTube can be to make content for a specific audience so that you can build a community.

Moreover, you might be using YouTube as the platform to showcase your personal brand and develop a reputation that you can bring to the real world.

Once you have a clear objective for what you want to achieve on YouTube, then you can consider the tactical direction to take your channel in: finding a niche and creating content for it.

What is Your Passion?

Building a YouTube channel is a grind and if you are not passionate about the topics you are covering in your niche, you may not have the motivation needed to churn out videos day after day, week after week.

Answering what you are passionate about isn’t enough to form your niche around, but it is definitely a critical part. Start by finding your passion.

Think of the things that you can do for hours without getting bored. Think of the hobbies you have where you put in hours and hours to improve. Think about all the research you’ve done on a given topic for no other reason than satisfying your own curiosity. These can all help you understand what you are most passionate about.

Knowing your passion opens an avenue for you to travel down in discovering your niche. But the journey isn’t over yet… there are few more questions to ask:

What Are Your Expertises?

Over the course of your life, you have gained experiences and skills — and you might not even know it. Stop for a moment and take inventory of everything that you feel you know better than the average person.

While the term “expert” is subjective, consider this, what can you pick up and do without a guide or a manual, or what can you tell me without Googling or researching?

If you can sit at a piano and start playing beautiful music, you have expertise in it. If you can tell me off the top of your head what train and bus to take to get across town, you are an expert in your city. Your expertise is what you confidently know.

What Do People Know You For?

If you are having trouble finding your expertise, ask those who are close to you: What am I best known for?

If your friends tell you that you are known for being athletic, then that might be an area to explore. If your classmates tell you that you are always punctual, you might be an expert in time management.

Sometimes it takes someone else to tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Once you’ve recognized what you are an expert on, you can expand on it.

Ask yourself these questions about your expertise:

- Can I teach people what I know?

- Will I want to learn more about this topic?

- Does this knowledge solve problems or improve life?

Once answered, you are that much closer to identifying your niche. But there is still another major question:

What Are Your Audience’s Wants and Needs?

If you are passionate about and an expert on a topic, but the topic is not interesting or useful to anyone then you are going to have a tough time getting views on YouTube.

When it comes down to it, your content needs to do at least 1 of 3 things, but if you strive to have all 3, you’ll have the recipe for a successful video:

- Educate

- Entertain

- Inspire

Educate Your Audience

Your audience wants to learn how to solve a problem or answer a question. If your content can teach, it will be valuable because it has real-world applications. (example: How-tos, product reviews, etc.)

Entertain Your Audience

Your audience wants to be entertained. Remember, when a viewer is watching your content, they are choosing it over all the books, movies, and music in the world. You have their attention, so don’t be boring. (example: Daily vlogs, commentary, etc.)

Inspire Your Audience

Your audience might be looking for a community to support them as they attempt a new goal. YouTube is a great platform to encourage others to do their best and achieve more. (example: 30-day challenges, motivational talks, etc.)

Don’t pick a niche simply because of general interest in a topic. If your niche comes to you in a flash and you go: “That’s a good idea,” before you set up your YouTube channel and commit to this video project, sit down, do some research, write out a script, and actually film the initial video. Go through the process and know what you are getting into.

Once you have a niche, it’s all about coming up with ideas for your video. If you want to become an idea machine, read this blog: How to Come Up With Better YouTube Video Ideas

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

What is a Niche?

A niche is what makes your channel unique.

When you are finding a niche for your YouTube channel, you are looking for a subset of a genre, subject, or topic to make videos about.

A niche can be broad like a channel about traveling.

Or more focused such as a channel only about traveling for food.

Then it can be hyper-focused such as a channel only about traveling for street food.

When people talk about “niching down,” they mean getting more focused on an area of a broader topic.

Best YouTube Video Editor - Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora is the tool that you require at this moment if you are a YouTuber who wants to create engaging videos and earn some money, with endless features and effects, it would make your videos go viral as the engagement rate tends to increase with better quality. You can fine-tune and add music to your videos with Filmora and every single tab on Wondershare Filmora is equipped with great video editing tools such as video cutter, fine tuner, stabilize video, etc that you can make use of. Filmora is the best tool for YouTubers around the globe as it has helped a lot of new as well as professionals YouTubers in scaling their channels.

Why Do You Need a Niche on YouTube?

1. Discoverability

Having a niche differentiates your channel from all the other ones on YouTube. There is no denying the crowded space on the video platform. Every minute, 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube . If you were simply copying other YouTubers, it will be challenging to grow, as your content will be in the shadows of all the other ones.

2. Consistency

By having a consistent niche, your channel will be more coherent for those who discovered your awesome content and wants more related videos. If you don’t have a clear focus on your YouTube channel, it will be confusing for your potential fans.

For example, if you created a great video about painting, but your channel also contains videos with you playing video games, doing movie commentaries, and cooking recipes, then the viewer who discovered your painting video wouldn’t subscribe to you because she has no interest in the other topics your channel covers.

3. Credibility

In a specialized niche, you can own it and become an expert on the topic. Increasing your credibility will allow you to build trust much faster with your audience and therefore, grow at a much faster rate.

Finding Your Niche on YouTube

What Is Your Objective On YouTube?

Do you want to make money? Do you want to fuel a passion? Do you want to educate the masses?

Your intentions on YouTube can be a numbers game: you want to get views, subscribers, and make money.

Or perhaps your intentions on YouTube can be to make content for a specific audience so that you can build a community.

Moreover, you might be using YouTube as the platform to showcase your personal brand and develop a reputation that you can bring to the real world.

Once you have a clear objective for what you want to achieve on YouTube, then you can consider the tactical direction to take your channel in: finding a niche and creating content for it.

What is Your Passion?

Building a YouTube channel is a grind and if you are not passionate about the topics you are covering in your niche, you may not have the motivation needed to churn out videos day after day, week after week.

Answering what you are passionate about isn’t enough to form your niche around, but it is definitely a critical part. Start by finding your passion.

Think of the things that you can do for hours without getting bored. Think of the hobbies you have where you put in hours and hours to improve. Think about all the research you’ve done on a given topic for no other reason than satisfying your own curiosity. These can all help you understand what you are most passionate about.

Knowing your passion opens an avenue for you to travel down in discovering your niche. But the journey isn’t over yet… there are few more questions to ask:

What Are Your Expertises?

Over the course of your life, you have gained experiences and skills — and you might not even know it. Stop for a moment and take inventory of everything that you feel you know better than the average person.

While the term “expert” is subjective, consider this, what can you pick up and do without a guide or a manual, or what can you tell me without Googling or researching?

If you can sit at a piano and start playing beautiful music, you have expertise in it. If you can tell me off the top of your head what train and bus to take to get across town, you are an expert in your city. Your expertise is what you confidently know.

What Do People Know You For?

If you are having trouble finding your expertise, ask those who are close to you: What am I best known for?

If your friends tell you that you are known for being athletic, then that might be an area to explore. If your classmates tell you that you are always punctual, you might be an expert in time management.

Sometimes it takes someone else to tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Once you’ve recognized what you are an expert on, you can expand on it.

Ask yourself these questions about your expertise:

- Can I teach people what I know?

- Will I want to learn more about this topic?

- Does this knowledge solve problems or improve life?

Once answered, you are that much closer to identifying your niche. But there is still another major question:

What Are Your Audience’s Wants and Needs?

If you are passionate about and an expert on a topic, but the topic is not interesting or useful to anyone then you are going to have a tough time getting views on YouTube.

When it comes down to it, your content needs to do at least 1 of 3 things, but if you strive to have all 3, you’ll have the recipe for a successful video:

- Educate

- Entertain

- Inspire

Educate Your Audience

Your audience wants to learn how to solve a problem or answer a question. If your content can teach, it will be valuable because it has real-world applications. (example: How-tos, product reviews, etc.)

Entertain Your Audience

Your audience wants to be entertained. Remember, when a viewer is watching your content, they are choosing it over all the books, movies, and music in the world. You have their attention, so don’t be boring. (example: Daily vlogs, commentary, etc.)

Inspire Your Audience

Your audience might be looking for a community to support them as they attempt a new goal. YouTube is a great platform to encourage others to do their best and achieve more. (example: 30-day challenges, motivational talks, etc.)

Don’t pick a niche simply because of general interest in a topic. If your niche comes to you in a flash and you go: “That’s a good idea,” before you set up your YouTube channel and commit to this video project, sit down, do some research, write out a script, and actually film the initial video. Go through the process and know what you are getting into.

Once you have a niche, it’s all about coming up with ideas for your video. If you want to become an idea machine, read this blog: How to Come Up With Better YouTube Video Ideas

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

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