Zero to 10K Subscribers - A Peek At Our Earnings and Analytics

I want to talk about starting a YouTube channel with zero subscribers. In the video I discuss how we got our first thousand subscribers and how it's taken off exponentially since then. We'll take a look at our analytics and see how much money you can make on YouTube, how to get views in the very beginning, and how become suggested more often on the "what to watch" page.

The growth of our channel has been incredible, but it's neither the fastest nor the slowest I've witnessed. I think our results are very repeatable if you're just starting on YouTube. We would love to go full time, and we have a very loose plan to do that. But even if that never happens, we've consider everything so far a huge success.

From his comment below:
1) The "recency factor" that you mentioned is 48 hours long is actually 7 days long. Unless something has recently changed that I'm not aware of (which is always very possible), you get more time than you thought, so that's good!

2) You don't actually get paid based on how many views you have. You only get paid whenever a viewer engages with an ad in some way. It sounds like splitting hairs, but the difference is that not every view is a monetized view. In fact, many of them aren't. The reason I bother to mention it is that, going along with what you were saying, most active subscribers are not the ones who are engaging with ads. You can have a lot of views and subscribers and still not make much money. You'll earn far more money from ads on searchable, evergreen content like what you guys are doing where someone searches for a solution to a problem, finds your video, and sees a targeted, relevant ad with it. They're far more likely to engage with the ad (watch it, click it, etc.) than an active subscriber who's just trying to skip so they can get to your video."

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[VideoCreators]

It's great that you guys are paying such close attention to your YouTube Analytics and adjusting your strategy accordingly. Great job! I'm sharing this to Google+ to help other creators see it.

Good tips, too! You're spot on with all of them! Only two minor technicalities that are hopefully helpful for you guys and others:

1) The "recency factor" that you mentioned is 48 hours long is actually 7 days long. Unless something has recently changed that I'm not aware of (which is always very possible), you get more time than you thought, so that's good!

2) You don't actually get paid based on how many views you have. You only get paid whenever a viewer engages with an ad in some way. It sounds like splitting hairs, but the difference is that not every view is a monetized view. In fact, many of them aren't. The reason I bother to mention it is that, going along with what you were saying, most active subscribers are not the ones who are engaging with ads. You can have a lot of views and subscribers and still not make much money. You'll earn far more money from ads on searchable, evergreen content like what you guys are doing where someone searches for a solution to a problem, finds your video, and sees a targeted, relevant ad with it. They're far more likely to engage with the ad (watch it, click it, etc.) than an active subscriber who's just trying to skip so they can get to your video.

So make more searchable, DIY stuff if money from ad revenue is your primary goal.

And great job on reaching 10, 000 subscribers! Awesome!

[TwinkleTVi]

this is one of the best video for YouTube people say blah blah blah but never shows actual also the analytics and your views made a lot of things clear....thanks a lot....

[LostInVegas]

This was an EXCELLENT video. Great job! Genuine, transparent and straight to the point. Thank you!

[RawBeanHD]

*I love you openness. not most of the YOUTUBERS will reveal the information that you just gave.*

[TheBootstrapBoutique]

MIke & Lauren - I just found this video through suggested views (guess who is trying to grow her channel?) and I really appreciate the detailed information you have shared. I'm subscribing now and look forward to watching your progress...especially since you are now at 4x your subscriber base from when you posted the video!

[fightorflightgamer]

So glad I found your video. I've looked a several & none gave such informative detailed info. It was very valuable info for someone like myself just starting out and totally clueless. Thanks so much!

[elaynalayne]

Loved getting a look at the behind the scenes stuff. I'm just starting out, and I found it really encouraging. Sometimes waiting for growth is hard because you want to see the ROI right away, patience is key. These types of videos help me relax and remember that even if not too many people are watching, at least I'm having fun and enjoy making my videos. Thanks!

[Curiositycure]

Real glad I found your channel. I especially like how transparent you are, and ready to "pull back the curtain." It speaks to your authenticity and integrity. Bravo.

[TremainHayhoe]

Thanks for the video Mike! Congrats on all your present and future success!

[Aikable]

Hey thanks Mike. Never seen one of your videos before -- first time here, but very helpful towards me as a small YouTuber. Thank you so much. GS

[jason]

Great stuff, thanks for making this video. Would like to see more like this. Hope you are healing quickly, and congrats on the 10k subs.

[chriswesley]

What a cracking video! No bull, nothing except solid sense. And a lot of that. So refreshing. Thanks guys.

[TheDatingLab]

This was actually very motivating seeing your analytics. Thank you!

[MunkeySpaz]

Great content here. Love that you show the behind the scenes and talked about what tips and tricks worked for you. Appreciate it!

[rockentry]

This was very helpful! I started a climbing channel and this I would definitely put in to action. thanks!

[BongEats]

Great video. Incredibly helpful for a channel like us, working on the 1k-10k milestone. :-)

[mirrorsandhaze]

I really love your informative style! I agree cutting is important- and you've done it well- I was engaged till the very end! Well done on your channel growth!

[danielceballos]

Thank you so much for this video. I'm new to YouTube and I'm trying to do as much research on this topic as possible. Great video!

[DinuNoroc]

Thank you. This might be the most transparent video on YouTube. I am glad I found you.

[RiazSidi]

Thank you! This was really informative indeed. It can be a bit discouraging when things aren't growing as fast as we would want but I have blind faith that consistency and a strong effort will make it happen!