5 Reasons Why Most YouTube Channels Fail to Grow, Go Viral & Make Money
And how to fix them.
I’m angry.
Okay, I’m almost angry. It’s more like I’m frustrated after seeing the same mistakes being done again and again after volunteering to review hundreds of YouTube channels on Reddit.
Why?
Because almost all of their pitfalls fall into the same five categories. It’s unlikely any of them have Medium, but I’m writing this article out of pure passion for YouTube and wanting to get it out there.
Ready? You might have to throw a blanket over me to calm me down like you do when guinea pigs fight each other. I believe in us.
Reason #1: They don’t have a direction for their channel
I’ve been watching a lot, and I mean A LOT of VidIQs “Channel Audits” in preparation for this article.
By far the #1 issue they find is that the channels they review are way too random.
By random, I mean uploading anything and everything. The VidIQ crew aren’t reviewing a vlog channel — they end up reviewing vlog, comedy skit, pet, fandom, ASMR, meme & random gameplay videos all on the same channels.
It’s so frustrating to see.
It’s frustrating because they aren’t necessarily bad creators, but are making a newbie mistake.
Newbie mistake: nobody cares about you (yet).
When I say you, I mean the online personality version of you. The reason big creators like Markiplier and PewDiePie can upload whatever they want and still be successful is:
- They have a crazy wide reach.
- Their audience knows them and likes them for who they “are” = they know any video they upload will at least be a semi-fun watch.
If you’re running a YouTube channel for fun, you don’t have to think about any of this. You’re not gunning for the top and can upload whatever the heck you want.
But the reason these people apply to get their channels audited by the VidIQ crew is that they are clearly not happy with their level of growth and want to improve. Just like you who are reading this article want to improve the chances of your channel succeeding.
So I’m here to tell you — uploading a plethora of different videos won’t work.
Why?
When you’re starting from the bottom, the only reason people come to you is the topic of your video.
That’s it.
So if you upload a video somebody enjoys, they go to check out your channel and they see you don’t seem to make any more stuff that appeals to them — well, they aren’t likely to subscribe.
It’s not even about subscribers. They have depreciated in value on YouTube for many years now (the algorithm is where it’s at). It’s about appealing and capturing a certain type of viewer that will stick with you until they convert from passersby to fans invested in you and everything you do.
If your viewers can’t figure out what your channel is about while looking at it in 10 seconds, how do you expect to capture anyone?
I’m not asking you to pigeonhole yourself into a niche and be miserable. I’m asking you to consider your channel’s “big picture” and think about what kind of viewer you want to serve.
WHO are you appealing to?
And HOW are you consistently appealing to them?
If you’re trying to appeal to everybody, you will end up capturing no one.
If you’re brand new and not sure what you enjoy creating the most or who you want to serve, you can of course go wild and upload anything and everything until you find your groove.
Just don’t ask anybody to review your lovely, experimental, and colorful dumpster fire — because now you know what they’re going to tell you.
Reason #2: They sacrifice stand-out quality for daily/weekly uploads
I will die on this hill.
Do you know the #1 reason it’s hard to be original on YouTube?
And the #1 reason your videos aren’t getting any significant views?
You aren’t allowing yourself the time to create an outstanding YouTube video.
I’m not saying daily uploads or uploading a couple of times a week can’t succeed. That amount of output is almost guaranteed to get you somewhere.
But somewhere is not necessarily somewhere good. In equal measure I’m not saying putting in lots of effort on a video is a guaranteed blueprint for wild success — but how else are you supposed to stand out when starting from zero?
The daily or couple-a-week uploaders are usually people with established brands, with fans gobbling up their every upload.
My favorite YouTubers I’ve watched grow from a few thousand to 100,000+ subscribers, all upload every few weeks.
They do incredibly well for themselves because they upload infrequently.
There is a reason daily vlogging pretty much died with Casey Neistat.
You’ll be hard-pressed to get anybody to care about your everyday life when there’s an in-depth video about the history of some loved video game franchise next to your video, or a video essay on a TV show, or “downfall videos” of celebrity figures who used to be on the top of their game.
They are like gourmet buffets next to your ramen noodle vlog.
Why spend a day making a video with a probable cap of 100 views, when you could spend a week creating a video with the potential to reach 100,000 views?
Starting from the bottom is hard, and yeah, taking the time to create a big video is hard too.
But it’s one of the few tools you have at your disposal to stand out and grow.
Think about it.
Who’s more appetizing:
Your infrequent but thought-provoking and entertaining pieces, or the plain-as-oatmeal daily vlogger?
Reason #3: Their titles and thumbnails are uninteresting
Here’s the deal about YouTube.
Your title and thumbnail are your entire sales pitch. Your colorful marketing display to get somebody to approach your stall. The two Poké Balls you have to throw at the person scrolling.
If they’re not working for you, you aren’t going to get anywhere.
But you know this.
You say, “Yeah, yeah… I’ll think about the title and thumbnail. But the most important thing is that the content is great!”
🛑✋
Stop.
Who’s going to watch your content if nobody drops by?
What’s the point of pouring hours and hours of blood, sweat, and tears into your videos if they remain stuck at 13 views?
You have to swing your perspective around.
Start with the title, start with the thumbnail. Before you do any other work on your video.
Your title and thumbnail should be your North Star guiding you through the creation process. They force you to think about how you are delivering the premise they promised. They prevent you from going off on tangents and padding your video with unrelated fluff.
All that matters is the title and thumbnail and then delivering what they promise.
Honestly, you could probably run a whole college class on how to succeed with titles and thumbnails.
If you take one thing of this article, once again: try commencing production of your next video with the title and thumbnail finished first.
It will feel like an uncomfortable change to your workflow at first but I guarantee if you stick with it, it will become natural and deliver results.
Reason #4: They have nothing original going for them
Here’s the cold truth.
Most channel premises aren’t very interesting. By channel premise, I mean what content the channel produces and why it produces it.
Why be another Minecraft channel on a site with millions of gaming channels?
“But I love Minecraft,” you might say. “It’s my childhood passion”.
Okay. If you love something and want to get paid for it, the same rule goes for everybody:
Make it interesting. Have a unique selling point.
If I asked you what sets your Minecraft channel apart, what would you tell me?
“I play with friends and we have a fun time, it feels like you’re hanging out with us.”
“I make compilations of short, funny Minecraft skits.”
“I review mods and give my honest opinion on them.”
You might know nothing about Minecraft, but let me tell you that these are all good ideas that are immensely successful on YouTube.
How do I know? Because they have been done to death.
There are certain topics and trends like these in every niche. Finance, ASMR, crypto, self-care, animation, business, etc. — they all host their own tropes that should be avoided.
When I say avoid, I mean you should avoid the “wholesale version” of them. Part of creating an original channel premise for yourself is expanding upon, satirizing, analyzing, debunking, and discussing these tropes and making the tropes yours.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel — but to achieve stand-out success on YouTube and maintain it, you have to offer the general audience something fresh to latch on to.
How do you do this?
The most successful example I can think of is combining niches and formats.
Think about it — your favorite creators aren’t just a bunch of funny fellows with funny usernames.
Usually they play to their interests and combine them with an established format on YouTube that does well.
A few common examples include:
- Music + covers of songs from fandom culture (bands, cartoons, anime, games)
- Listicle format+ fandom culture (top 10 channels about nerdy facts)
- ASMR + fandom culture (roleplays, anything that can be done whispered)
- Media + analysis (video essayists, commentary channels)
- Telling stories + animation (story time animation)
- Celebrity/news/social media culture + analysis (pop culture & psychology commentary channels)
- Video games + challenge format (crazy game challenges/speedruns)
- Self-improvement + challenge format (productivity YouTubers challenging themselves & sharing the results)
Also, adhering to what I mentioned in reason #2 will make having the time to come up with something more original easier.
Study these reasons and you’ll see how they all go together.
Reason #5: They don’t script with the viewer in mind
I can’t believe I have to ask you this, but I seem to have to.
When you make a video — who are you making it for?
A human? Or a robot that is willing to absorb everything presented to it?
For many channels, the unintended answer seems to be the latter. Do you ever find yourself being in the middle of watching a video and wondering: just what are they droning on about? Why did they keep this section?
And so you fast-forward.
Do you know what happens to your videos when viewers fast forward?
Your retention graphs start to look all jagged. The declining jaggedness represents the viewer skipping forward in your video. It signifies the quintessential bad YouTube video.
On the contrary, tall up-ticks in your graphs mean your viewer rewinding parts of your video — probably because you provided something valuable or fun that they felt the need to replay.
YouTube doesn’t look favorably on videos where viewers skip forward or leave the video early. Retention has been the name of the game for years ever since YouTube made the switch from a click-based promotional system to a watch-based one.
So, how do you create engaging videos for humans that keep them watching?
It’s time to touch up that script of yours (assuming you have one).
After freewriting a script and adding every idea I have, I put on my “viewer retention” goggles and give it another look.
Intro:
- Does the intro set up the video premise and capture the viewer in 15–30 seconds?
- Does it set up a pay-off for the end of the video?
- Does it visually communicate what the viewer wants to see (without giving away everything)?
Body:
- Is each paragraph structured in a mini “set-up & pay-off” way? Meaning, does each section of the video have an educational or entertaining point?
- Is there anything I can cut that will make the video more concise? Am I respecting the viewer’s time with this script?
- Always ask: is the viewer bored/confused?
Outro:
- Has every loose thread been tied up and has every promise been delivered on?
- Can the viewer see the outro coming? This is a big mistake almost every YouTuber makes — as soon as you say the words “thanks for watching”, the viewers will not listen to a word you say. They will abandon your video quicker than you abandon your diet. It’s better that your viewers don’t see the video’s end coming in the slightest and you cut things off before your retention starts taking major damage.
- Does the outro include “if you liked this video, I think you will enjoy this next video because X and Y” end card with a link to a video the viewer might enjoy, based on the video they just watched?
Phew.
And there you have it.
Now please tell me, what are your thoughts on my list?
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