Welcome to the wacky, wonderful world of YouTube, where the quest for clicks, likes, and subscribes is a never-ending battle. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into a question that has plagued creators and audiences alike:
Do boobs really get you more views on YouTube?
We’ll explore the psychology, stats, and examples in this fun and friendly article, so buckle up and let’s get going!
The Psychology of Attraction
Let’s start with the basic human instincts. From an evolutionary perspective, our brains are hardwired to be attracted to certain physical traits that signal fertility and good health. For instance, the sight of a voluptuous bosom could evoke feelings of attraction as it suggests a potential mate who can nurture offspring. This is true for both men and women, albeit to varying degrees.
In the context of YouTube, this primal attraction can translate to more clicks on thumbnails featuring boobs, as it plays on our brain’s reward centre that’s geared toward seeking pleasure.
However, it’s important to note that other factors like humour, facial expressions, and intriguing visuals can also trigger the same reward centre, leading to more clicks and views.
The Stats: Boob-Thumbnails vs. Non-Boob-Thumbnails
Quantifying the “boob effect” on YouTube views is tricky, but some anecdotal evidence and informal studies have shown a correlation. For example, YouTuber Philip DeFranco conducted an experiment in 2012 where he alternated between boob and non-boob thumbnails for his daily vlogs. The result? Videos with boob thumbnails received significantly more views.
However, this isn’t a universal truth. A thumbnail featuring boobs may initially attract attention, but if the content is low-quality or irrelevant, viewers will leave quickly, causing watch time to suffer. In the long run, YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes watch time and engagement, so the short-term gains of a clickbait thumbnail might not translate to sustained growth for a channel.
YouTube has over 2 billion monthly active users, making it the second-largest search engine after Google. (Source: YouTube)
Over 500 hours of video content are uploaded to YouTube every minute. (Source: Brandwatch)
The average YouTube session duration on mobile is 40 minutes. (Source: Google)
While these statistics do not directly relate to the use of boob thumbnails on YouTube, they do demonstrate the enormous reach and influence of the platform.
Examples of Boob-Thumbnails in Action
There are numerous examples of creators using boobs in their thumbnails, whether they be gamers, vloggers, or pranksters. Some examples include:
Prank Invasion: This channel gained notoriety for its kissing pranks, often featuring thumbnails of scantily-clad women.
Zoie Burgher: A former Twitch streamer turned YouTuber, Zoie capitalized on her revealing outfits and thumbnails to amass a significant following.
VitalyzdTv: Known for his wild pranks and social experiments, Vitaly often includes provocative images of women in his thumbnails.
While these examples highlight the potential for boobs to draw attention, it’s essential to note that these creators also rely on engaging content to maintain their audience.
In other words, the boobs may reel viewers in, but it’s the content that keeps them coming back for more.
Average YouTube Click-Through Rates
Ad Format
Click-Through Rate
TrueView Ads
0.3%
TrueView Ads with CTA
0.76%
Bumper Ads
0.48%
Display Ads
0.47%
Overlay Ads
0.21%
(Source: Google)
Factors Affecting YouTube Click-Through Rates
Factor
Impact on Click-Through Rate
Video Title
The title is the most important factor in determining whether someone will click on a video, and can affect click-through rates by up to 40%.
Thumbnail
The thumbnail is the second most important factor and can affect click-through rates by up to 30%.
Video Length
Shorter videos tend to have higher click-through rates.
Video Quality
High-quality videos with engaging content tend to have higher click-through rates.
Call to Action (CTA)
Including a CTA in the video can increase click-through rates by up to 15%.
(Source: YouTube Creator Academy)
YouTube Click-Through Rates by Industry
Industry
Average Click-Through Rate
Apparel & Accessories
2.26%
Beauty & Personal Care
1.14%
Consumer Electronics
0.85%
Food & Beverage
1.75%
Health & Fitness
1.23%
Home & Garden
1.26%
Travel & Tourism
1.04%
(Source: Google)
These statistics demonstrate the importance of factors such as video title, thumbnail, and quality content in determining click-through rates on YouTube. Additionally, the data highlights the variation in click-through rates across different industries on the platform.
So, do boobs get you more views on YouTube?
The answer is both yes and no. While using boobs in thumbnails can certainly grab attention, it’s only a piece of the puzzle. Engaging, high-quality content is crucial for maintaining an audience and appeasing the YouTube algorithm.
So, if you’re a content creator looking to boost your views, remember that there’s more to it than just flaunting some cleavage!
It’s fair to say that YouTube has become one of the main platforms for gaming content online. Alongside Twitch, it dominates the online world. Millions of viewers tune in daily to watch their favourite creators play the games that they want to see. It may be less about the game, and more about the creator in some cases.
There are many different categories of games that are popular to watch. Often, new releases do well, but there are decade-old games, such as Minecraft, that will still pull in the big figures.
If you’re an aspiring YouTuber looking for the next game to play, or you’re just interested, then this article will be for you.
Battle Royale Games
Let’s start this list of popular games on YouTube with one of the rising genres of recent years. Battle Royale games have been popular to watch on YouTube since the rise of PUBG back in the ARMA days. The genre has evolved since, with many flops, such as Battlefields interpretation. But these flops have helped pave the way for the success we see now.
Games such as Fortnite and Warzone are easily some of the most popular games out there to play and watch, not just battle royale games. They are so popular to watch that millions watch even if they are not interested in playing. It’s the high-risk, high-reward quick gameplay that people love to watch.
The quick way these games wrap up also appeals to the modern YouTube viewer. Back in 2010, people would be happy to sit down and watch a 3-hour daily let’s play. Nowadays, a short 10-20min video of an edited game will be more than enough. There are plenty of examples online for you to watch, to understand how this trend has changed and how you could get involved if you wished to.
First-Person Shooters
Easily one of the pioneers of gaming on YouTube, first-person shooters are always popular. They first took off following the rise of the Halo and Call of Duty franchises. With Halo, it was all about the creative machinima videos that told a captivating story using assets from within the game.
For games like Call of Duty, it was all about the gameplay and the high-scoring multiplayer games. Gamers loved watching those highly-skilled at the game take on challenges and perform to the best of their abilities. In time, this led to gaming organisations such as OpTic and FAZE recruiting members and dominating the YouTube scene.
This hasn’t slowed down. Any new first-person shooter will get lots of views on YouTube, especially if they are well received by fans. Many gamers will watch their favourite players and streamers play the shooters online first, to see if it’s something that they would enjoy.
Developers are fully aware of this and will partner with top gamers and influencers to show off their game, and promote it accordingly.
Gambling Games
Gambling games have been popular on YouTube for quite a while now. There are many different types of games that fall into this category. One of the biggest games that led to this came in the form of FIFA, back when their Ultimate Team game mode was launched. In this game type, players could purchase packs, also known as loot boxes, which allowed them to earn some players for their team.
People loved the gambling element of the game and loved watching their favourite influencers and streamers have a chance of winning a big prize. This has evolved further, and now there are many games that offer micro transactions, that allow gamers to purchase loot boxes to receive cosmetics or other in-game rewards.
YouTube is also a place for many people to watch casino games, both online and in actual physical tournaments. When viewers watch these types of games, it can inspire them to want to play themselves. You can take a look at the offerings on OnlineCasinos.co.uk to see what sort of games can be played. These types of games will continue to be played and watched on YouTube, so it’s a trend you should keep a close eye on.
Survival Games
In a similar timeframe, survival games have also been popular on YouTube for a while. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, survival games offered a great way for people to watch games they had no access to. This may have been due to console/equipment limitations, or just because they couldn’t afford it.
In some cases, some gamers may be too afraid to play some survival games, or even horror games, on their own. When they are watching others play these games, they find it is a good way to discover the story organically the way it was intended.
There are also some group survival games that are just good fun to watch. Some YouTube communities are formed around games such as Minecraft and Rust, and people will tune into episodes daily to see what people are up to.
MOBA Games
Some of the most popular types of games that exist in the world can be found in the form of MOBA games. These types of games are multiplayer games, with MOBA standing for multiplayer online battle arena. There are many popular games that fall into this category. You may have heard about games such as League of Legends and Dota 2. Not only are these games popular to play, but they are also popular to watch.
There are regular international tournaments that League of Legends and Dota players go through. The prize pools are also quite massive. For example, The International 2021 Dota 2 tournament had a prize pool of $40,018,400.00 up for grabs. This is quite exciting to watch for this reason, and fans will watch in stadiums as well as through streaming platforms such as YouTube
There is also plenty of space for casual players in these games. Many people watch their favourite MOBA players play these games casually, as they are more interested in this approach, as the personalities can shine through more.
There are plenty of reasons why people watch these games, whether it be for the competition itself, or just for the personalities of those who play. Consider tuning into some games to see why they are so popular.
Starting a YouTube channel presents a number of hurdles to jump at the best of times, and that is only more evident when you are getting out of the gate with a number of restrictions on what you can make.
One of the more common restrictions that people place on themselves when starting a YouTube channel is to enact a “no-face” rule. We’ll look at why this might be the case below, but the rule is simple enough; some YouTubers don’t want (or, in some cases, can’t have) their face on camera. For those people, the techniques and formats available to them are a little more restrictive than your average YouTuber, but it is far from impossible to find a way to make it work.
Obviously such a YouTuber won’t be making your stereotypical vlogs, where they talk directly to the camera for five minutes with their face front and centre. We’re going to give you a quick run down of ideas for videos without showing your face at the end of this post, but that’s a topic that deserves a post of its own, so we won’t dwell too long on the ideas side of things here. Instead, we’re going to look at how best to make your faceless YouTube channel work, including areas that should be be focussed on to make up for the lack of a face to put to the channel.
Why Would a YouTuber Not Want to Show Their Face?
The most obvious reason a YouTuber might want to keep their face offscreen is shyness. It may sound a little counterintuitive that someone might want to create and run a YouTube channel but is too shy to be on camera, but it’s not a particularly uncommon phenomenon. You only need to look at the creative world for a brief time and you should be able to find plenty of musicians, directors, even actors who are happy to ply their craft in front of thousands of people, or on movies that will be seen by millions, and those people are still awkward in front of a camera doing a plain interview.
There is also the matter of anonymity. Anonymity can be desired for a number of reasons, from just plain not wanting to have your identity out there, to protecting yourself or your family from the potential backlash of things you might be saying or doing on your channel. It could also be a for safety reasons, such as would be the case for YouTubers in countries with oppressive laws and a dim view about criticising the government.
The Faceless Stats
Videos without showing the creator’s face have gained popularity across various genres on YouTube. Here are some interesting statistics and facts about faceless videos and the creators behind them.
Faceless Video Categories on YouTube:
Category
Percentage of Faceless Videos
ASMR
45%
Cooking & Food
25%
Art & Animation
15%
Gaming
10%
DIY & Crafts
5%
Top 5 Faceless YouTube Creators (by subscribers as of September 2021):
How to Make YouTube Videos Without Showing Your Face
Making videos without showing your face makes things a little trickier, but not too much. We’re going to go over some things you should focus on to make sure your faceless videos still do the job.
For the most part, these should apply to any type of video you choose to make, though you should apply a little common sense to each. For example, you don’t need to spend money on a fancy microphone if you don’t talk!
Audio Quality
Now, we would ordinarily recommend striving for the best audio quality regardless of the type of video you are making, whether it has your face in or not. Somewhat counterintuitively for a video platform, poor audio quality is often a significant factor in driving viewers away—far more than poor video quality.
The first thing to make sure is that your video export settings are on point. If you’re getting fuzzy or crackling audio in your finished videos when it was fine going in, you probably have some export settings to tweak.
The next thing is your audio quality going in. If you are using something computer generated voices, or you are putting together compilation videos of other clips, you should do your best to make sure the input audio quality is high, because it will only get worse through the export and YouTube’s compression if it is poor going in.
Give the Viewers Something to Latch on To
Branding has become an integral part of any kind of success using the Internet. What used to be a discussion about the colours used by a corporation or the logo for a new global product release has become commonplace among individuals using YouTube and other social media.
For individuals, a face is often all the branding you need. It is recognisable, often unique, and it belongs to you. Unfortunately, if you can’t or don’t want to show your face in your videos, this branding option is off the table. But that doesn’t erase the power that branding has.
So, without your face, you need to make sure that branding void is filled. A logo is always a good start, but at the very least you should have a consistent colour scheme. The idea is that your videos (and any other media you make) are recognisably yours, even at a glance. This brand recognition helps you better retain new viewers.
Have a Clear Purpose in Mind
This one could be just as easily applied to any type of YouTube channel, and it’s just as important here. Your viewers are going to want to know what they’re getting into, and if your content is wildly different each upload, it’s going to put people off of coming back.
Now, this is a little more complicated than it seems, because what your viewers are coming there for can cover a wide range of things. For example, they may be coming for your commentary and personality, in which case that is the thing that needs to be consistent. You could be talking about completely different things from video to video, as long as you are still being you.
Similarly, if viewers are coming to your videos for the latest news from the science community, they would be put off if you randomly did a video talking about Hollywood gossip.
Stand Out
This one is perhaps one of the most important things you can do as a YouTuber. There is an unfathomable number of creators out there, each making videos on YouTube in a variety of different niches. The chance of discovering a completely untapped niche are practically zero, so you have to stand out to have a chance of succeeding.
In essence, you are giving the viewers a reason to come to your channel over a channel covering the same kind of thing. This is almost entirely down to personal preference, you are not going to be able to please everyone in this regard, but the more you stand out from the crowd, the better chance you have of attracting viewers from other channels that are doing essentially the same thing.
Play to Your Strengths
This is self-explanatory, but don’t force yourself to do something you’re not good at. If witty repartee is not your strong suit, don’t freestyle videos, script them. If you are not great at animation, don’t animate your videos (or pay someone who can animate to do it for you).
Ideas for Faceless Videos
As we said, we’re not going to devote too much effort to this section here because there’s a whole post’s-worth of information to get through, but here are a few ideas for videos that don’t involve your face to get you started.
Meditation and Mindfulness Videos
Some people love to tune out of the world and take a moment with their own thoughts. The practice of mindfulness and meditation has been embraced widely over the last few years as a why to help people sleep, study or relax.
Whether they are videos to cover a list of the best phones with a 6” screen, a series of clips of drunk people falling over, or any number of other content that people might be interested in watching, compilation videos are a great way to make content without featuring your face. Just be sure to get permission for the clips you use.
Commentary Videos
If you’ve got some interesting insight on the latest movie trailer or political event, or you’re just very good at breaking things down, you could make videos where you do that very thing over the top of newsreels or the aforementioned trailer.
Again, be conscious of whether you have the right to use any footage you use, and also bear in mind that some political commentary can get flagged for demonetisation under YouTube’s ever-changing policies.
VTubing
VTubers are YouTubers who have a digital avatar on screen. Sometimes that avatar is essentially just a mask for the YouTuber, other times it is a fully fledged character in its own right, but regardless of the dynamic, it is an onscreen presence that does not involve your actual face!
Final Thoughts
For the most part, the guidelines for running a YouTube channel without your face are the same as the guidelines for running a YouTube with your face. There are some areas to put a little extra focus on, of course, such as making sure your audio is up to scratch, but everything else is a little more universal.
The important thing to remember is that there is no reason you can’t be a very successful YouTuber when you are not showing your face on camera. Plenty of YouTubers have done it, and plenty more will do it. Why not be one of them?
Given the enormous growth of video games in recent years, it is not surprising that it now forms the basis for a diverse range of careers.
Being involved with the creation of video games is no longer the only way to get paid in the gaming industry, with millions of gamers checking gaming media outlets regularly, an eSports sector worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and no end of opportunities to make content around video games, there has never been a better time to be interested making a career around video games.
Of course, YouTube has enjoyed plenty of growth itself during this time, so it only makes sense that a lot of people would look to combine the success potential of YouTube with the demand for video game content.
Still, getting started in this world isn’t always intuitive, and there is a lot of competition, but if you’ve found yourself Googling how to make money on YouTube playing games, you’ve come to the right place.
Get yourself a beverage and make yourself comfortable while we take a deep dive on how to make money on YouTube playing games.
A Brief Note on the Legalities of YouTube Gaming Content
The legalities of gaming on YouTube (or any other video platform for that matter) are deserving of a post of their own; however, it would be irresponsible to not at least cover the basics here.
The specifics will change depending on the publishers and developers in question. It can range from studios like Devolver Digital—who actively encourage people to make content using their games—to Nintendo—who only recently started allowing gamers to create content using their games at all!
For the most part, the rules around video game content can be boiled down to this; you have to add something to the footage.
This could be a running commentary, a review, humorous editing, or any number of options. In other words, you can’t just record a playthrough with no commentary and expect to make money. For one thing, it is against YouTube’s policies to do that, but also it may result in the publisher or developer getting your channel struck.
This is because many larger studios have a similar policy to YouTube, stating that any content made using their games must be transformative. It’s also worth noting that there is a much smaller audience for videos that are essentially just watching someone else play a game with no additional input.
Ideas for Gaming Videos on YouTube
Now that that’s out of the way let’s look at how you can make money playing games on YouTube. Before we get into specific video ideas, it’s worth taking a moment to say that, whatever you do, you should enjoy it on some level.
There is entertainment value in seeing someone who dislikes a particular kind of game playing that game, but if you don’t enjoy any part of the process, you will soon get burned out and not want to continue making videos.
And if there’s one thing that can guarantee you won’t make money on YouTube, it’s not making videos on YouTube.
For most kinds of gaming videos, on the other hand, you should enjoy the game you are playing. If you are forcing yourself to play something you have no interest in, that will come through in your video, and there is a very strong chance your viewers will join you in not being interested.
Now, let’s take a look at some ideas for gaming videos on YouTube!
Let’s Play Videos
Probably the most popular kind of gaming video you will find on YouTube are Let’s Play videos, though the term “let’s play” is rarely used anymore since this is kind of the default state for gaming content on YouTube.
These kinds of videos involve the YouTuber playing a game while commentating on what is happening, often with a live feed of their face in a corner of the screen, large enough to see how they are reacting but not too large that it gets in the way of the game.
For the viewers, a large part of why they will tune in is for the YouTuber themselves rather than the game.
The most successful Let’s Play YouTubers have an entertaining persona, and the viewers are typically there more to see that persona than they are to see the game that is being played in the video.
This is how YouTubers like PewDiePie are able to transition from these kinds of videos into other types of content because their subscribers want to see them, not the game.
That being said, it pays to keep your finger on the pulse of what is popular in the YouTube gaming scene, even if you are trading on your screen presence.
It doesn’t hurt to have a go-to game or genre that you cover, but sometimes certain games become incredibly popular, and it can be an excellent opportunity for your channel to grow by capitalising on this kind of trend. The recent explosion of interest in Minecraft, a decade after it first came onto the scene, is an excellent example of this kind of thing happening.
On the subject of having a go-to game or genre, many YouTubers are incredibly successful in making videos playing a specific game. An excellent example of this is Glock9, a YouTuber who almost exclusively makes videos playing the popular survival game, 7 Days to Die, and has seen his subscriber count explode in the last year, gaining nearly 200k subscribers.
If you opt to focus on one game in this manner, don’t be afraid to try something new every once in a while.
You don’t want people to lose interest in your channel before you have had a chance to work through potentially new directions your channel can take. But that could very well happen if you stubbornly stick to the same content even when it is clear people are getting weary of it.
Fortunately, YouTube has started to make serious moves into the streaming arena, and they have seen lots of gamers choosing their platform for streaming as a result. Perhaps the most significant sign of changing times was the arrival of DrDisRespect—an immensely popular Twitch streamer who, after being banned from Twitch for unknown reasons, chose YouTube as the place to continue entertaining his millions of fans.
In a way, streaming content is a lot like Let’s Play content at first glance. The main difference is that streaming is live, so there is no editing of your videos before they go out. This also means you can interact with your subscribers in real-time, as they will be in the chat while you game.
Features like membership and super chat will allow your subscribers to support you in other ways besides the ad revenue that your streams generate, and, should you choose to enable it, your streams can continue living on your channel like regular videos when you are done, creating more potential for earnings with future watches.
One thing to note when starting a career as a streamer is that you will need to have complete control of yourself and your feed.
There are countless stories of people letting an incredibly offensive word slip out of their mouth onstream, or absently engaging in a bit of casual animal abuse.
Incidents like this might not be enough to take down some of the biggest streamers in the world, but they could easily stop your channel from growing.
Reviews and Commentary
Though it’s not strictly playing video games on YouTube, creating reviews and commentary of games will require you to play those games, even though it isn’t necessarily on camera. That being said, you will probably want to use footage of you playing the game for visuals under your commentary.
The thing to remember about this kind of video is that people are not coming to watch you play the game, they are coming to learn about it.
With that in mind, you should tailor the gameplay footage to show the particular aspects of the game that are being talked about at any given moment in the video. And, as far as the talking goes, be sure to cover everything that might be important.
If people are going to come to you to get a sense of whether a game is worth buying, they’ll want to be sure they have a full picture by the time they have finished watching.
You might have noticed that this section is called “reviews and commentary“. True, reviews are a kind of commentary, but there other ways to approach this kind of video.
For example, retrospective videos on important games throughout gaming history, or breakdowns of why a particular game had the impact on the industry that it did. This type of video is incredibly popular in the retro computers community, as talking about games from the 1980s and 90s is right in that wheelhouse.
General Advice
Choosing the style of YouTube gamer you want to be is essential, of course, but there are some factors that are applicable regardless of what kind of video you intend to make.
Find a Niche
If you’ve spent any time reading advice on succeeding on YouTube, you will already know this one. Finding your niche might be the most significant key to success on YouTube (after making great content, of course). If you are one of a very small number of people serving a particular niche, you stand to gain a lot more views from that niche by virtue of there not being many other options.
In short, you reduce your competition.
Now, you may be supremely confident in your ability to bring in the subscribers, and perhaps you don’t worry about competition for that reason.
Unfortunately, given the sheer volume of YouTubers out there, it can be very difficult to get noticed, even for an extremely talented and entertaining YouTuber. But if that talented and entertaining YouTuber chooses a niche, they are more likely to be seen by the people with that interest, and from there the talent will take over.
Once that YouTuber is established, they can branch out into other areas.
In terms of gaming, your niche could be very specific—such as videos on one particular game—or a little broader in scope—such as a particular genre or style of game—but you should try to narrow it down to something. Just playing video games will likely get lost in the algorithm shuffle.
Offer Something Unique
As important as finding your niche is, there will still be more work to do.
The chances of you finding a niche that is both dramatically underserved but also popular enough to attract the kind of numbers you would need to make money is very slim. In other words, you’re still going to have to get noticed in a crowded field of competition, even in a focussed niche.
Granted, a much less crowded field, but crowded nonetheless.
The way you get noticed is by offering your viewers something that other YouTubers aren’t. For personality-based YouTubers, they are the unique component. For other kinds of YouTuber, consider offering a unique perspective.
As an example of how the same niche can be approached in different ways, consider these three channels on computer keyboards.
TaeKeyboards is a channel that covers both reviews and modding of mechanical keyboards and is very analytical in approach. Keyboards are explored in-depth, and all the details are laid out for the viewer.
:3ildcat is similar in that it does reviews of a sort, as well as modding videos. However, this channel is considerably more aesthetic and does not feature any spoken word. Instead, the content of the video takes place over pleasant music with annotations.
Chyrosran22 focuses on keyboard reviews (often older keyboards) and often uses more… colourful language.
Granted, they are not gaming channels, but all three of these channels take a very different approach to what is essentially the same topic.
Conclusions
Gaming is a huge industry, and there is a healthy demand for gaming content on YouTube.
If you can get over the initial hurdle of attracting viewers, and you have something unique to offer them, you will struggle to find an audience with as much earning potential as gaming.
Of all the niches that video streaming platforms like YouTube have either created or allowed to flourish, few can boast as much unprecedented growth as gaming.
Twitch may be the first name that comes to mind when you think about making gaming video content, but it is only very recently that YouTube began to compete with Twitch in the live streaming arena directly.
Even before that, YouTube acted as an excellent complementary platform for Twitch streamers to put highlight videos out on. Now, of course, YouTube is making moves of their own in the streaming world, which only increases the number of ways you can make money with gaming content on the platform.
The truth is, there are many ways to make money as a gaming YouTuber. Sponsorship, affiliate marketing, live stream super chats, superstickers, YouTube premieres, donations and directly selling services like direct gaming advice or multiplayer games where you join their fireteam in a co-op game – and even a few ways to make money on YouTube with gaming content if you aren’t a gamer.
This post will cover more than just video ideas for gaming content. There are some interesting legal question marks over this niche that deserve mention.
So keep reading as we explore how to make money on YouTube as a gamer.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful tools for any budding YouTuber or Twitch gamer looking to make money online but it an be full of jargon. That is why I wrote a deep dive into affiliate marketing for beginners to help you wade through all the confusing words and get you on the path to making money online fast – without any need to buy silly expensive courses.
Gaming Content and Monetisation
If you intend to make Let’s Play style videos, there is a question of rights ownership that may affect your ability to make money from your content. YouTube has its own policy on software and video game content, which essentially boil down to it being fine to monetise as long as there is commentary and instructional value that is associate with the video.
All of that is a wordy way of saying you can’t just have an hour of video game footage playing while you talk about something unrelated to the game, or don’t talk at all.
You won’t be prevented from making this kind of content, of course, but YouTube may demonetise it, which will put a major roadblock in your efforts to make money as a YouTube gamer.
The other thing to note in the legal realm of YouTube gaming is the policies of the companies behind the games themselves. Though they have since eased up on their draconian approach to gaming content, Nintendo has been an example of this for some time.
This is because they would routinely claim videos of their games through YouTube’s Content ID system, claiming the revenue those videos made.
Since then, Nintendo has adopted a more fan-friendly approach, instead issuing a set of guidelines that state more or less what YouTube’s own policies state—that you have to add commentary or creative input to the content. If you want to just upload straight video of Nintendo games, you have to do it using Nintendo’s own tools.
That being said, it is worth noting that Nintendo chose to soften their stance on this after negative feedback, but there is no legal impetus for them to do so, and nothing to stop them from going back to a more hostile approach in the future.
Of course, there are more than just the Nintendos, Sonys, and Microsofts of the world.
The Internet has fostered a vibrant independent game development scene, and many of the developers and publishers in that scene are more than happy to let YouTubers make content using their games as it brings more exposure to their product.
An excellent example of this can be found at Devolver Digital, a small game development studio who actively encourage people to make content using their games, and even have a page on their site where you can enter your channel name to get written permission.
Choosing Which Games to Make Content Around
Once you’ve made peace with the various legal hurdles surrounding intellectual property, there is the small matter of what kind of content you intend to make.
There are plenty of different types of gaming video you can make, and we’re going to list a lot of them shortly, including examples of each.
As with any attempt to create regular content—especially if you intend to make money from it, one of the best things you can do is play to your strengths. It will not only produce better content, but it will also make your life more comfortable since it is always less work to do something you are good at than it is to do something you struggle with.
As an example, let’s consider a personality-based YouTube gaming channel. This is a channel where the YouTuber themself is what draws the views because the subscribers like to watch that person specifically. With a channel like this, the YouTuber could theoretically play anything they wanted, and the views would still roll in.
But by playing to their strengths, they can make better content and attract more views than just those diehard fans who will tune in for anything.
Two examples we have picked out are PewDiePie and DrDisRespect. Both of these YouTubers are incredibly popular, and could probably make a video of them eating a sandwich and still get millions of views. Despite this, they have clear strengths in the video game niche.
For PewDiePie’s part, he greatly enhanced his popularity by playing horror games. It was his comical reactions to jump scares and tense moments that pushed his channel into the upper echelons of YouTube during his early days of making videos, something that he would not have been able to reproduce with a different genre of game.
This stage of PewDiePie’s YouTube career is an excellent example of playing to your strengths, as PewDiePie started out making video game commentaries, but it wasn’t until he started making horror game videos that his channel really took off.
In the case of DrDisRespect, as his name suggests, his gimmick is being disrespectful. Now, while he could be disrespectful while playing a casual, friendly game like Animal Crossing, it wouldn’t have quite the same impact as it does while playing competitive multiplayer shooters. DrDisRespect, for all his gimmicks, is a very good gamer and has plenty of opportunities to boast during his playthroughs.
There may be a bit of trial and error in finding your strengths, but it is a worthy goal to achieve, especially when you are just starting out.
Who knows, maybe PewDiePie would have just been another successful YouTuber with a few million followers had he not started making horror game videos, rather than the most successful individual YouTuber in the history of the platform.
Different Types of Gaming Content
Before you can play to your strengths, you need to know what kind of content there is a market for. Of course, it’s worth noting that there will always be rewards for those who can think outside of the box and be successful because of it.
What we are about to list are established types of gaming content with proven popularity. We are not saying these are the only options if you want to make gaming content.
Unfortunately, if you want to blaze new trails, you will be on your own on that journey. After all, it wouldn’t be trailblazing if there was a post like this one telling you how to do it!
Straight Playthroughs
These are the kinds of videos that companies like Nintendo won’t allow you to monetise, so you will have to think carefully about what games you intend to make your videos around if you choose this path.
With a platform as big as YouTube, there is an audience for just about everything, including watching games being played. Sometimes it is merely a desire to watch the narrative in some of the more cinematic games, other times it is a gamer wanting to see parts of the game they missed but are not prepared to play the game again. With enormous open-world games like Fallout 4 and Grand Theft Auto V, it is easy to miss a lot of the content available to you. It can even be people who can’t play a particular game for one reason or another but still want to see it.
If you choose this style of gaming video, you will want to make sure you are offering something to the viewer. If you are showing the cinematics, don’t have 3 hours of regular gameplay in between.
Gameplay With Commentary
You may have seen these videos labelled as Let’s Play videos in the past. These videos involve the YouTuber playing through a game while talking about it. Videos like this will often have the YouTuber’s face in the video so the viewers can see their reactions.
This is by far the most popular kind of gaming content on YouTube, and both of the above examples of PewDiePie and DrDisRespect fall into this category.
Speedruns
If you are a particularly talented gamer, there is a whole niche around the ability to complete video games as quickly as possible. There is no limitation in terms of the game, with everything from retro platformers to huge open-world role-playing games being completed in ludicrously short spaces of time.
One example of this kind of channel can be found in GarishGoblin, who may not have that many subscribers, but has been able to amass millions of views with various speedruns in the Halo franchise.
Comedy Videos
Comedy gaming videos can come in several forms. One of the more famous examples is Red Vs Blue, a series on the Rooster Teeth Animation channel that features comedy sketches acted out using the Halo video game franchise.
Another example is SovietWomble, who creates highlight videos from his streams, often with humorous edits and effects to enhance the final product.
These types of videos are considerably more work in terms of editing when compared to something like a commentary video. On the other hand, they require less skill at actual gaming, which makes them an excellent option for people who enjoy gaming but aren’t necessarily that good at it.
Update Videos
Update videos could take the form of a general roundup of gaming news; however, that would be a competitive niche to enter, and one that would contain several media outlets. Success may be more attainable with a model like that employed by the YouTuber, ShadowFrax.
ShadowFrax makes videos detailing the latest updates surrounding the game, Rust, an open-world multiplayer survival game that is continually getting new content and updates from the developers. T
here are hundreds of popular games in active development, and finding one that you like and focusing your content on that could be an excellent way to create gaming content.
How to Make Games
This option is a little less attainable for your average YouTuber, but if you have the ability, making videos on how to make certain popular games may be a good option, as demonstrated by small YouTuber, b3agz, whose videos on how to make Minecraft and 7 Days to Die have amassed hundreds of thousands of views despite only having a few thousand subscribers.
Of course, you don’t necessarily need to create full step-by-step tutorials in the way that b3agz does; you could make videos analysing game mechanics, or talking about the methods behind certain aspects of the game. There has never been a better time to be providing resources for game developers, with game development being more popular now than at any point in its history.
How to Make Money on YouTube as a Gamer Conclusions
Ultimately, the key to making money on YouTube as a gamer—or as anything else, for that matter—is to make good content that people want to watch.
Granted, you must navigate the hurdles we mentioned above regarding intellectual property rights, but once you have done that, the first thing you should be focussing on is your content.
If you make good content, your chances of succeeding on YouTube—and making money as a result of that success—will be significantly improved. And, while we can’t guarantee a good video will make you money, we can say with confidence that a lousy video won’t make you money.
Or, perhaps more accurately, it could make you money, but it will be a short term thing that could damage your earning potential in the long run, as your channel will get a reputation for poor content, both in the eyes of the viewers and of YouTube itself.
How To Grow A Gaming Channel on YouTube in 2018 // Growing a YouTube gaming channel and starting a new youtube channel for gaming content doesn’t have to be hard. I am asked about how to grow my channel so often that I thought I would tailor a video to each niche and today is How To Grow A Gaming YouTube Channel in 2018.
How To Start and Grow A Gaming Channel — YouTube Growth Strategies for Gaming Channels seem to be hidden away from the public at times. Growing ANY channel on YouTube is all down to consistency, search friendly titles and engagement.
Alan Spicer YouTube Tips Channel — YouTube Tricks, YouTube Tips & YouTube Hacks to Help Grow Your YouTube Channel. I make YouTube Training Tutorials based on my personal experience on How To Increase YouTube Views, How To Gain YouTube Subscribers and How To Grow A YouTube Brand Online.
I have been on YouTube since 2013 growing an Entertainment and News Channel, MrHairyBrit. Within that time I have made many mistakes but have also learnt many YouTube Hacks that I want to share with you to help you Rank Your YouTube Videos On YouTube, Grow Your YouTube Channel and Get Your Brand Noticed On YouTube.
I also have a background in Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, and Web Design & Development.
We can grow together, We can learn together… Start Creating!
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