Choosing a YouTube niche is the most important decision a creator has to make. There’s plenty of room to experiment within that niche but if you don’t know what your YouTube niche is, neither viewers nor YouTube itself will know what to do with your content.

In other words, no YouTube niche, no YouTube success.

New creators can be successful on YouTube. We have the data to prove the point: if you do the work on YouTube, you can and will grow your channel. You’ll reach the 500 subs / 3,000 watch hours required for early entry into the YouTube Partner Program. You’ll hit the 1,000 subs / 4,000 watch hours required to get a 55% cut of ad revenue generated against your videos. 

And, if you use TubeBuddy, you’ll reach these benchmarks faster.

Before you do any of that though, you need to find your niche.

Do I have to choose a YouTube niche?

If you’re just making content for yourself, you don’t need to pick a niche. You are your own niche. If, however, you’re making content with the hope that the YouTube algorithm will pick it up and people will watch then yes, you have to choose niche.

How do I choose a YouTube niche?

Choosing a YouTube niche shouldn’t be too hard. You need to balance what you are passionate about with what viewers are looking for. You might want to avoid the highest competition niches (see our post on the 10 most saturated YouTube niches) where you’ll struggle to stand out. Ideally, you want a niche that you can own. At the same time, you want to be in a niche where you can make money with your content (see our post on the 15 most profitable YouTube niches).

It’s OK to start broad when picking your niche but you’ll need to niche down. We’ll talk more about that in a moment.

Your passion = your YouTube niche

The first step in choosing your niche is figuring out what you’re passionate about. This could be anything from cooking, tech, travel, education, DIY, gardening, gaming… Your passion is the fuel that will keep you motivated during the challenging early stages of channel growth.

If all goes to plan, you’re going to be making content in your niche for a long time. If you aspire to make money with your content, the stakes will be even higher. 

There’s a saying that applies here “if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” That’s basically saying that if you can find a way to make your passions pay, it won’t feel so much like work.

Pick your passion to grow on YouTube

Check the trends

While passion is key, the content sweet spot is where your passion and what viewers are seeking meet. 

Do some research to understand trends and gaps in content. Tools like Google Trends, YouTube’s search bar, and social media can provide insights into what content is in demand. For instance, if you love cooking, is there a demand for vegan recipes? Budget meal planning? Cultural cuisine?

See who else is creating content in the niche you’re considering. Use TubeBuddy Videolytics to start digging into the data. Look into search volume, popular keywords, opportunity score (competition), and so on. TubeBuddy Keyword Explorer, SEO Studio, and other tools can help here. 

Gather intel: what kind of content breaks out? What keywords have low competition and high interest? How can you take this information, apply your unique creator spin, and create content in the sweet spot? 

Find a niche you’re interested in and look for your genius zone within that niche. That is, the thing that you can offer, that viewers are looking for, and that other creators can’t tackle as well as you.

Don’t make someone else’s content

It’s great to learn and take inspiration from other creators across a variety of niches and platforms, but you need to make your own content and build your own audience. You need to find your own voice.

What you don’t want to do is become a carbon copy of another creator. Finding your own niche is the key. Take inspiration from other creators, but make your own content, in your own niche, for your own viewers.

In other words:

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

Oscar Wilde

Niche down

Niching down means digging into a topic to find the sweet spot of high viewer interest and low competition. You’re looking for a content vacuum that you can fill by creating unique content that viewers love. 

“Gaming” is not a niche, it’s a category… and even if gaming weren’t the most saturated category on YouTube, it’s too broad. The same logic applies to beauty, food, finance and so on.

Minecraft is a niche, but it’s still too broad. That’s not to say you can’t create Minecraft content. Because it’s so competitive though, you’ll need to get pretty specific to find a niche where your content can stand out. 

Crafting isn’t a niche, it’s a category. Knitting and crochet is a niche but it’s too broad. Amigurumi crochet is closer but also a bit saturated… so you’ll need to find your unique hook (not sure if pun intended).

Maybe you have a unique skill set, perspective, or presentation style. For instance, in a crowded niche like gaming, could you focus on retro games, or go deep on one specific game, or offer a unique insight into some of the choices the development team made?

Get started

Don’t let this advice — or anything else — stop you. You won’t get it all right with your first attempts. If there’s one thing that all successful content creators have in common, it’s a learning mindset. 

It’s better to start now than to wait for things to be perfect. Things will never be perfect.

Maybe you’ve read this far and you know exactly what your niche is. Maybe you have a vague idea but you need to try some stuff first. There is no one way that works for all creators. Some stumble upon their niche. Some pore over analytics and make a data-driven decision. For most of us, it’ll be somewhere in between.

The point is to try. Grind. Make mistakes. Look at those mistakes as learning opportunities. Grind some more.

Don’t expect to blow up with your first attempts. Expect to learn. And remember that if you do the work consistently, your YouTube channel will grow.

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