Starting a YouTube channel can be difficult in most niches, but gaming is a very competitive niche
Starting a gaming channel is possible though if you set yourself up for success and if you are willing to put in the time and effort. Gaming as a niche is too broad and difficult to break into. But you can choose a specific game or a niche within a game
Creating a gaming channel should not be the goal
What kind of game?
What kind of content?
There are too many answers to those questions with the broad “gaming” niche
But there could be room for you if you make character builds for Diablo (for example)
When you are first starting, choose one game and choose a couple of content styles
When your channel starts to grow, you can add more then
But focus for now
Are gaming channels popular on YouTube?
Gaming channels are some of the largest channels on YouTube
And gaming videos are some of the most watched
Most people that are playing a game will go to YouTube if they are struggling with something
Me included!
I go to YouTube to help with some of the puzzles in Zelda, Breathe of the Wild
Or for advice when learning to play Diablo 3
Every game is like that
But gamers also like just watching other gamers
My nephew will watch Minecraft videos for hours
And my husband will watch videos for help with Sea of Thieves puzzles
All of those videos come from YouTube
We even call it “YouTubing”
I need to YouTUbe how do [fill in the blank]
So gaming is definitely a HUGE section of YouTube and very popular
YouTube is also the first place most streamers start promoting their Twitch stream
That is just because YouTube is the most well-known place to grow an audience with gaming content
It is competitive?
So we know that gaming is popular, but it is also very competitive
Before you start a gaming channel, it is important to do competition research and find out what kind of content you need to do in order to have a chance of ranking
This will take some practice, but there are gaps in the content that is available now
Have you ever had a question that you couldn’t find on YouTube?
Or you found videos but they were not very good or helpful?
Those would be excellent videos for a newer YouTuber to create a video on
As long as it is a more common question that will get traffic
By starting very niched down into a gaming niche that needs better content, you are setting your channel up for success
There are so many options for doing this and the best one depends on you
You want to choose a game and video styles that you are good at and enjoy
If you are not naturally funny, making funny videos may not be the best choice
Write down all the games that you would want to create a channel on
Leave some space for notes next to those games
Next to each one, think of all the content that you can create that is valuable
Examples are:
- Walkthroughs
- Character builds
- Tips and Tricks
- Updates
- Improving gameplay
- Beginner advice
- And more
This is what you have to offer people
Once you have the list of games and content types of those games, look on YouTube for competition
YouTube questions and see if they were answered
Cross out the ones where you cannot think of a question that isn’t already answered by a big creator
By the end of this, you should have an idea of what niches need better content and what is highly competitive
Is it possible to start a gaming channel is it too late?
To break down tips for success even more, I outlined 9 that you need to think about:
- Niche down
- Research gaps in the niche
- Provide great value
- Give it time
- Be consistent
- Make your channel easy to navigate
- Practice video editing
- Post often
- Learn and use SEO
Some of these are big and some just help
But all of them can make a difference
Niche down
The first thing you need to do for YouTube is finding your niche
I talked a lot about this above
Find something you can make videos on that has traffic but not a lot of competition
Maybe there are no videos on the topic, or maybe there are videos but they aren’t good
Avoid niches where you need to compete for big creators
Research gaps in the niche
Once you have your niche, there will be search terms and questions that are more competitive and others that are less competitive
Your job is to find search terms and questions that are less competitive that you can create great content on
Even if you need to do research or test something with your game
Filling in the gaps in your niche with great content will help your channel a lot
Provide great value
Every video needs some time of value
Maybe you are teaching your viewer something, or maybe you giving updates on the game
Value could even be a funny video or entertaining video
When you are working on the video that you want to post, ask yourself a question
Why should people watch this video?
Be honest!
If there is no answer, then the video needs to be worked on more until there is an answer to that question
Give it time
Creating a successful YouTube channel takes time
This is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme
It takes a lot of time to do the research, creates the videos, and for the channel to take off
Give yourself at least a year or two before questioning if it is working
And go into this knowing that it could take a couple of years to create a successful gaming YouTube channel
Be consistent
In addition to needing time, YouTube needs you to be consistent
Don’t post once this week and wait three weeks before posting again
Shoot for at least once a week
But don’t do five videos a week if you cannot do that long term
Being consistent is really important
YouTube really values their viewers
And they will recommend channels that they believe they can trust
You only build that trust through consistently putting out great content
Make your channel easy to navigate
Not every channel does this, but it is very preferred
Make your channel easy to navigate
Put your videos into playlists and make the channel look nice
When I find a new channel, I always look at its profile to see more content before subscribing
If the channel is confusing or I happened to find the one video they had that interested me…
I won’t subscribe
But it if looks nice and obviously has a lot of content that interests me, I will definitely subscribe!
Practice video editing
Video is the core of YouTube success
So it is a good idea to learn how to edit and make your videos look and sound nice
It doesn’t have to be crazy, but the videos should look good
Post often
The more you post, the faster you will grow
Content is king
So the more you put out content, the better
But make sure you don’t lose being consistent
It is ok to have one month when you post a lot more
But you should have a normal schedule for most months
Learn and use SEO
SEO is important in every search engine
YouTube is no different
When you found the gaps in content in your niche, your title and description should make it clear that you are answering that gap
Whether it is just content or asking a question
Both YouTube and viewers need to know exactly what they will get from your video