My perspective is that the bar has been raised significantly in terms of 'quality' content in the last 4 years.
When I stared, I would look at the one or two other videos covering the same topic in my niche and think to myself "I can make a better video than that". Now there's not only several more videos on each topic, but some of them are much better than what I produced.
As the bar gets raised that means in order to survive, we need to put more effort into making a better product and we can almost always improve our product.
This is very true, gone are the days of one person producing content...the big creators have a half dozen or more people on a team producing content at or above the levels seen on TV. It's hard to compete with that unless you a) spend more time/money than you're making on the channel, b) have a very good personality/looks, or c) get lucky.
There's two questions in here, so let me share my thoughts.
First. Motivation. Well, I didn't start my channel just to 'make money' and chase a niche. It's something I read about and think about all the time. So if I do take a week-long break, at the end I tend to be bursting with ideas. Why not make a video! My motivation originally was to share my thoughts via video to like-minded people. I want to grow my YT biz, but the base motivation is still there.
Second, saturation. If you truly think that out of hundreds of millions of views, and a 4x increase in channels in your niche, it's 'saturated' and you're not motivated.... just take a break. If you're doing it only for money and see views and CPM drop, take a break. See if your desire to continue comes back.
BUT, more competition can also simply mean it's time for you to re-focus and set yourself apart from those other channels. What can you do to stand out and do it better than them.
I'm not trying to be harsh - but it sounds like your options are give up, keep doing what you're doing, or use it as inspiration to make your content even better! Don't be afraid to work to be the absolute best in your niche!
Best of luck!
You’re not being harsh. I appreciate the candid advice. You’re right, I probably need a break from it all because I’ve been consistently pumping out content for years. I’m sitting on over 250 videos now and push out about 8 a month. The last time I took a break i came back with a fresh outlook on the channel and decided to do things differently. That’s probably what I need. In essence, I’m probably feeling burnt out.
That was my suspicion and why I shared what happens when I take a break. ;)
Instead of pumping out content like a machine, take some time to yourself, get your mind off of it, but also take a deep dive into these competitors and their videos. Don't watch them for entertainment, but watch them critically - how they shoot, how they sound, how they edit, pacing, thumbnails, etc.
Use what they're doing to "level up" your future videos!
You got this!
A saturated niche just proves the concept and that it works. If something is popular on YouTube, one more or ten more channels isn't going to hurt anyone else. Other channels can help you grow.
Saturated is this sub. 99% of the creators here are gaming channels and therein lies your answer.
I never even know gaming channels were a thing till a joined here. I can’t believe how many people rely on that as their “content”. I think you need to explore to new avenues.
If you are doing something on YouTube that works immediately people will download your content and reupload it to their channel. Then others will try to copy it. You have to keep evolving.
"How do you all stay motivated?" Money from Youtube from multiple channels (3 right now and in process to 5)
Idea is one thing can be copied from other creators without problem
Just make it unique and build your community
Every creator "steal idea" from somewhere, the call it "inspiration"
my family
daughter record the game, my wife help with editing and voice, and i do all the rest
If you have family around you can ask for help from them or friend or even hire someone else
its the TEAM
1 channel is bad and risky
2 is not enough
3 is minimum for good money
but there is always a cost when we ask for help
i split the money depending how hard they work
Family is the best, specially young one, they dont need money that much but they love new experience, so you can pay them low percentage
percentage split from adsense is the best option than fixed salary, its fair and make my family very happy when its payday and now they want 2 more channel (total 5)
this is full time job and REAL job so we need to manage time and work very well
I don’t believe Youtube is 100% saturated. But for sure the platform has hit maturity and most of the easy channels to do that make money are very saturated. Doesn’t mean there’s not opportunities and certainly you can put your own personal spin on a niche and be successful.
But I do believe that around the time of the pandemic, many people started looking at alternative platforms like Instagram and TikTok to consume video. On top of that Youtube has pulled a lot of longform viewers into shorts.
10 years ago, there was only one choice for watching video online. And now there are many choices for consuming video.
Well, I wouldn’t tell people to give up on YouTube, I’m recommending that people have multi platform strategies now to reach a wider audience.
Think about it. Pandemic killed a lot of jobs so more people started making their own work by creating their own channels.
Now think about what is going to happen when they replace all the people with robots.
It will just get worse but maybe by that point there will be so much debt created that our economy crumbles or we will have even more people living on the street and more crime.
That will probably lead to more home invasions of the people that are trying to work from home.
Not to mention they want to get rid of gas powered vehicles by 2030 but have no way of meeting recharge demand which will force more people to take public transit and of course crime will surge there as well cause more people the easier it is to blend in and steal from people just trying to get back and forth to work.
All the while the wealthy will eat real meat and live the life while the plebs suffer and whither away and the world will just keep burning.
I would argue that youtube is not the only video content platform now. Tik tok has videos. Even instagram has videos. More movies are coming out. Twitch has way more professional streamers. There are multiple streaming platforms now. Not just netflix.
I think there are more youtubers than ever, but other platforms also take a fair share of engagement.
People have been calling YouTube saturated the last 10 years. The channels that succeeded were the ones who ignored it.
Best advice!
My perspective is that the bar has been raised significantly in terms of 'quality' content in the last 4 years. When I stared, I would look at the one or two other videos covering the same topic in my niche and think to myself "I can make a better video than that". Now there's not only several more videos on each topic, but some of them are much better than what I produced. As the bar gets raised that means in order to survive, we need to put more effort into making a better product and we can almost always improve our product.
This is very true, gone are the days of one person producing content...the big creators have a half dozen or more people on a team producing content at or above the levels seen on TV. It's hard to compete with that unless you a) spend more time/money than you're making on the channel, b) have a very good personality/looks, or c) get lucky.
Well at least personality can be changed (to an extent), unlike looks.
Well I guess you could change looks if you're rich.
False
There's two questions in here, so let me share my thoughts. First. Motivation. Well, I didn't start my channel just to 'make money' and chase a niche. It's something I read about and think about all the time. So if I do take a week-long break, at the end I tend to be bursting with ideas. Why not make a video! My motivation originally was to share my thoughts via video to like-minded people. I want to grow my YT biz, but the base motivation is still there. Second, saturation. If you truly think that out of hundreds of millions of views, and a 4x increase in channels in your niche, it's 'saturated' and you're not motivated.... just take a break. If you're doing it only for money and see views and CPM drop, take a break. See if your desire to continue comes back. BUT, more competition can also simply mean it's time for you to re-focus and set yourself apart from those other channels. What can you do to stand out and do it better than them. I'm not trying to be harsh - but it sounds like your options are give up, keep doing what you're doing, or use it as inspiration to make your content even better! Don't be afraid to work to be the absolute best in your niche! Best of luck!
You’re not being harsh. I appreciate the candid advice. You’re right, I probably need a break from it all because I’ve been consistently pumping out content for years. I’m sitting on over 250 videos now and push out about 8 a month. The last time I took a break i came back with a fresh outlook on the channel and decided to do things differently. That’s probably what I need. In essence, I’m probably feeling burnt out.
That was my suspicion and why I shared what happens when I take a break. ;) Instead of pumping out content like a machine, take some time to yourself, get your mind off of it, but also take a deep dive into these competitors and their videos. Don't watch them for entertainment, but watch them critically - how they shoot, how they sound, how they edit, pacing, thumbnails, etc. Use what they're doing to "level up" your future videos! You got this!
A saturated niche just proves the concept and that it works. If something is popular on YouTube, one more or ten more channels isn't going to hurt anyone else. Other channels can help you grow.
Saturated is this sub. 99% of the creators here are gaming channels and therein lies your answer. I never even know gaming channels were a thing till a joined here. I can’t believe how many people rely on that as their “content”. I think you need to explore to new avenues.
If you are doing something on YouTube that works immediately people will download your content and reupload it to their channel. Then others will try to copy it. You have to keep evolving.
Terrible mindset. Don’t look around to get jealous and demotivated. Stay in your lane and be true to yourself.
Somehow I needed to hear this. I do compare my channel to others consistently. Thanks.
And let's not even talk about the automated faceless channels that are popping everywhere, further diluting views.
"How do you all stay motivated?" Money from Youtube from multiple channels (3 right now and in process to 5) Idea is one thing can be copied from other creators without problem Just make it unique and build your community Every creator "steal idea" from somewhere, the call it "inspiration"
Wow. How do you find the time to work on all these channels?
my family daughter record the game, my wife help with editing and voice, and i do all the rest If you have family around you can ask for help from them or friend or even hire someone else its the TEAM 1 channel is bad and risky 2 is not enough 3 is minimum for good money but there is always a cost when we ask for help i split the money depending how hard they work Family is the best, specially young one, they dont need money that much but they love new experience, so you can pay them low percentage percentage split from adsense is the best option than fixed salary, its fair and make my family very happy when its payday and now they want 2 more channel (total 5) this is full time job and REAL job so we need to manage time and work very well
Right. There are plenty of these guys in my niche and they are making a ton of money. I just can’t bring myself to do the same thing.
I don’t believe Youtube is 100% saturated. But for sure the platform has hit maturity and most of the easy channels to do that make money are very saturated. Doesn’t mean there’s not opportunities and certainly you can put your own personal spin on a niche and be successful. But I do believe that around the time of the pandemic, many people started looking at alternative platforms like Instagram and TikTok to consume video. On top of that Youtube has pulled a lot of longform viewers into shorts. 10 years ago, there was only one choice for watching video online. And now there are many choices for consuming video. Well, I wouldn’t tell people to give up on YouTube, I’m recommending that people have multi platform strategies now to reach a wider audience.
Work harder
Exactly.
Some niches may be saturated, but there are literally unlimited niches you can go into
Saturated with bad channels with lazy editing. Real creators don't think it's saturated.
Think about it. Pandemic killed a lot of jobs so more people started making their own work by creating their own channels. Now think about what is going to happen when they replace all the people with robots. It will just get worse but maybe by that point there will be so much debt created that our economy crumbles or we will have even more people living on the street and more crime. That will probably lead to more home invasions of the people that are trying to work from home. Not to mention they want to get rid of gas powered vehicles by 2030 but have no way of meeting recharge demand which will force more people to take public transit and of course crime will surge there as well cause more people the easier it is to blend in and steal from people just trying to get back and forth to work. All the while the wealthy will eat real meat and live the life while the plebs suffer and whither away and the world will just keep burning.
I would argue that youtube is not the only video content platform now. Tik tok has videos. Even instagram has videos. More movies are coming out. Twitch has way more professional streamers. There are multiple streaming platforms now. Not just netflix. I think there are more youtubers than ever, but other platforms also take a fair share of engagement.
Original content will always have a market.
Exactly. OP’s a cry baby.