How to 10x Views in Any YouTube Niche — Steal His Strategy

Kevin Jon, a YouTube strategist and media entrepreneur, shares his journey from a teenage YouTuber to building and selling successful channels. He discusses his strategies for identifying opportunities, growing channels, and turning them into profitable businesses, emphasizing the importance of a "YouTube Masterplan" and adapting to the evolving creator economy.

The YouTube Masterplan: Finding Your Niche

Kevin Jon's approach to YouTube growth starts with a YouTube Masterplan. This involves analyzing existing content and identifying unmet needs within a niche. He suggests looking at two main axes for sub-niching:

• Format: This could be documentaries, video essays, interviews, or talk shows.
• Topic: Even within a narrow niche like saunas, you can go deeper, focusing on infrared saunas or outdoor saunas.

The goal is to find a clear position by paying attention to supply and demand. For example, his team found success with a channel about biker gangs. There was a lot of search interest and literature, but not much YouTube content. Their first video got half a million views, and the third got a million.

Key Takeaways:

• Look for niches with high demand and low YouTube content supply.
• Sub-niche by format and topic to find your unique angle.
• Analyze existing media (books, movies) for content ideas that haven't been fully explored on YouTube.

Identifying Opportunities and Measuring Success

To find under-saturated niches, Kevin looks for channels that are relatively new (e.g., 3 months old) with low subscriber counts (e.g., 500 subscribers) but high recent view counts (e.g., 100,000 views on their last four videos). This suggests the channel is doing something right and the niche has potential. Tools like NextLab can help analyze the YouTube space for these imbalances.

When it comes to metrics, Kevin's focus has shifted. While subscribers and views are important, he now prioritizes how these metrics convert into backend offers. For client channels, the goal is sales, not just views. He emphasizes using lead magnets to convert YouTube views into email subscribers, which is a key metric for gauging interest in potential products.

Building a Media Empire: From Solo Creator to Agency Owner

Kevin started by building his own channels, realizing he could outsource many tasks. His typical team for a channel includes a channel manager (who might also script), a separate scriptwriter if needed, a video editor, and a thumbnail designer. For the biker channel, they spent about $15,000 to produce four videos and broke even quickly through AdSense.

His personal channel, Megalo Media, evolved from personal career advice to documentaries about finance and business. He realized the potential of the creator economy and decided to go all-in on YouTube. While Megalo Media currently operates at a loss, it's part of a long-term strategy to build owned media assets. The agency side of his business, Channel Craft, is profitable, building channels for companies and helping traditional media navigate YouTube.

Lessons from Traditional Media and Global Experience

Working with traditional media companies, like national television in Germany, taught Kevin the importance of diligent research and journalism. They emphasize fact-checking and require multiple sources for claims, a practice he believes the YouTube world can learn from. These companies often measure success by reaching specific demographics, like young, ambitious urban individuals, rather than just profitability, especially if they are state-funded.

Kevin's experience living and working in China instilled three key principles:

• Scrappiness: Finding creative ways to get things done, even if it means bending traditional rules.
• Speed: Operating at a much faster pace than is typical in Europe or the US.
• Results Orientation: Focusing directly on the return on investment (ROI) and how much money a project will generate.

These principles have shaped his business operations, pushing for efficiency and clear outcomes.

The Future of YouTube: Bullish on Vulnerability, Bearish on Low-Quality Automation

Kevin is bullish on the trend of "building in public" on YouTube, especially when combined with vulnerability. He believes that showing the challenges and imperfections of building a business or a life resonates more with audiences than curated, perfect portrayals. This approach can help creators stand out in a crowded content landscape.

He is bearish on low-quality YouTube automation and content that relies heavily on clickbait and AI-generated material without substance. While some clever creators might find ways to reduce production costs with AI and increase production value, the overall trend of low-quality, brain-numbing content is not sustainable. As the ability to produce quantity increases, quality becomes even more valuable.