If you want to open or have already opened your channel on YouTube, it will be useful for you to get acquainted with the results of a study showing which topics are most popular and who have a chance to gather a lot of subscribers.
The media landscape changed over a decade ago when the YouTube video sharing site was launched. The volume and variety of content posted on the site is simply amazing. The popularity of the site makes it a launching pad for performers, companies and commentators on all conceivable topics. And, like many platforms in today's digital ecosystem, YouTube has become a hot spot in recent years in ongoing discussions on issues such as Internet harassment, misinformation, and the impact of technology on children.
A week in the life of popular YouTube channels
Due to the growing attention and attempt to continue demystifying the content of this popular source of information, the Pew Research Center used its own display methodology to compile a list of popular YouTube channels (with at least 250,000 subscribers) that existed at the time of publication at the end of 2018. Then he conducted a large-scale analysis of the videos shot by these channels in the first week of 2019.
The Center identified a total of 43,770 channels with a high level of subscribers using the recommendation-based search algorithm process. This data collection provided insight into the nature of content on the platform.
Diverse content
The YouTube ecosystem produces a huge amount of content. Only on these popular channels in the first seven days of 2019, about a quarter of a million videos were posted with a total volume of 48,486 hours.
To put this figure in context, it will take more than 16 years for one person watching a video eight hours a day (without breaks and days off) to view all content posted only by the most popular channels on the platform within one week.
The average number of videos posted by these channels during this time period was about 12 minutes, and in the first week they were viewed on the site 58,358 times.
In total, these videos were viewed more than 14.2 billion times in the first seven days on the platform.
YouTube Worldwide
YouTube is a global phenomenon and its most popular channels publish a significant amount of content in languages other than English. Using a combination of manual marking and machine learning, the Center classified videos based on whether they contained any text or audio in a language other than English.
The results of this analysis illustrate the global nature of the YouTube platform. Just over half of these channels (56%) posted videos during the first week of 2019, and most of these active channels (72%) posted at least one video that was partially or fully in a language other than English. Overall, only 17% of the nearly quarter of a million videos included in this analysis were entirely in English.
A small proportion of highly active authors have created most of the content posted by these popular channels. As with many online platforms (such as Twitter), a relatively small proportion of the channels accounted for most of the content posted during the study period.
Only 10% of the popular channels indicated in the Center’s picture produced 70% of all videos published by these channels during the first week of 2019.Similarly, 10% of the videos of popular channels that had the most views over this period were responsible for 79% of all views that switched to new content posted by these channels.
Active growth of channels and subscribers since July 2018
The total number of channels with a high subscription level increased sharply in the second half of 2018. During the Center’s comparison, 9,689 channels were identified that crossed the threshold of 250,000 subscribers between July 2018, when the Center last analyzed YouTube data, and in December 2018, when the data was updated for this analysis.
This is 32% more than the total number of popular channels over this period. Similarly, the number of subscribers to existing popular channels that were already identified as of July 2018 increased by an average of 27% over the same period.
Topic popularity study
In addition to this broader data collection, the Pew Research Center also conducted a separate content analysis of English videos hosted by these popular channels during the first week of 2019 (a total of 37,079 videos matched this description). The center used human encoders to identify the main category or topic of each video (such as video games, consumer technology or current events and policies), and also examined the keywords used in the titles and descriptions of the video to identify words that were widely used and associated. with more views than other videos.
Ahead of children's channels
Videos intended for children were very popular, as well as those in which there were children under 13 years old - regardless of their target audience. Only a small part of the English-language videos posted by these popular channels during the study period were specifically designed for children (based on the consensus of human programmers). More views received longer videos and came from channels with a large number of subscribers compared to the video of the general audience.
Videos involving a child or children under 13 years of age, regardless of whether the video was intended solely for children or not, received three times more views on average than other types of videos.
And a very small part of the videos that were directly aimed at a young audience also confirmed the assumption that children under the age of 13 were more popular than any other type of content, which is measured by the number of views.
It should be noted that YouTube explicitly states that the platform is not intended for children under the age of 13. YouTube provides the YouTube Kids platform with enhanced parental controls and curated video playlists, but the analysis in this report focuses on YouTube as a whole.
Politics
YouTube videos, clearly related to current events or policies, were relatively common, accounting for 16% of all videos uploaded during the study period. Most of these videos were international. Channels published one or more videos about current events or politics, were especially active - on average 63 videos were published during the week.
Video games
Video game content has been a constant attribute of popular YouTube channels. Meanwhile, about 18% of videos posted on popular channels during the study period relate to video games or games. Video game content was one of the most popular genres, measured by the total number of views over the seven days of the study period, and these videos also tended to be longer than other types of videos.
The impact of keywords and cross-links on content popularity
Certain video title keywords were associated with an increase in views.An analysis of the video titles shows that certain keywords were associated with a much higher number of views compared to other videos during the study period.
Some of them indicate the orientation of the platform on entertainment. For example, videos that mention words such as “bad” or “worst” received five times more views on the median than videos that don't mention these words. Others were more substantial in nature.
Cross-advertising of videos on other channels on social networks was widespread and associated with an increase in the number of views. Seven out of ten videos mentioned other well-known social networking platforms in their description, such as Instagram or Twitter (either in links or in the text itself), and received more views than videos that did not link to other platforms.
The above results are based on an analysis of YouTube channels with at least 250,000 subscribers and videos that they posted over the week of January 1-7, 2019.
These statistics will help you make the right conclusions in order to make your channels more successful in search and popular with subscribers. Use keywords, shoot interesting material, post it regularly, keep accounts in social networks, post links and become popular.