How to Start a Gaming Channel (UPDATED 2023!)

If you recently started a gaming channel, plan to start one in 2023, or have been grinding for awhile, these tips should help you clear some YouTube hurdles.

⏱️⏱️VIDEO CHAPTERS⏱️⏱️
0:00 How to start a gaming channel in 2023?
0:40 What games should you play on your channel?
3:16 What kind of gaming videos should you be making?
5:50 Is gaming on YouTube too saturated?
7:12 How can I grow FAST gaming on YouTube?

The biggest problem with gaming channels on YouTube is that so many of them don't take it seriously, but still expect to somehow make it a job one day. It's not enough to just record yourself playing Minecraft or RuneScape. If you follow the tips from this video, it can help you turn your gaming channel into an actual business one day soon.

CHAT WITH US!
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#moresubscribers2023 #moreviews2023 #GrowYourChannel

[capp]

As someone that's been doing gaming content for 12 years, one thing that wasn't mentioned was Personality. Doesn't matter what strategy you pick, if you have a personality that doesn't keep people coming back, you won't grow very quickly.

[TweekLudwig]

Because of your tips VidIQ, I've gone from approximately 180 something to 236 currently, all because I've gotten confident in my ability to speak, to edit, and to try and make better thumbnails.
Thank you Dan, Rob, and everyone else at VidIQ! You've gotten me back into YouTube in November 2022 and to feel better about myself at making videos!

[percentGAMES]

I love these kind of videos because its definitely a confidence boost for people who wanna start but a lot of these video forget at least 1 key thing (at least in my opinion), when doing a gaming YouTube channel or just a YouTube channel in general is that you should just have fun with it. don't get me wrong all these tips are great for understanding what can help with a channel but I feel that starting a YouTube channel shouldn't be this complex to get started, if your having fun playing games and editing them for YouTube then continue to do that and try and improve on yourself with editing each video, name a video what you wanna name it don't stress about key words or trying your absolute hardest to push out video every day or 2 because all these other channels are doing it, you should just have fun and enjoy the content you make because as you upload content and improve on your abililty to edit and talk in video's you'll also wanna improve in other areas of your channel which is where you'd wanna start looking at tips to help grow your channel and look into the specifics of what can help your channel grow when you've became a lot more comfortable uploading, editing, talking, etc. and wanna really take YouTube seriously.

Great video by the way :)

[BCGaming]

thank you, its nice to here everything I've been doing lately is the correct way to do things. ive went from just hitting record and edit later to actually directing myself a little and planning out each and every type of video. i usually tend to be a more adult humor gaming channel but ive learned to give my self a line not to cross for certain types of videos like tutorials then kinda go all out on the more series based and multiplayer stuff. i stick within my sub niche which are two games that are extremely similar because its the games my community play. if see they are playing a new game on discord I ask about it and sometimes I do poles on which new games they would like to see. the lets play concept is definitely dead, unless you have a special theme to it or twist. also I don't like to bombard my community with a lot of shorts and community posts. i find them mostly annoying myself when I'm going through the recent videos I'm subscribed to I've actually unsubscribed from people because of the spam of notifications and filling up my new videos feed. ive asked others in my community for their thoughts on it and they agree. a short here and there and post or poll once a week is fine but blowing up the subscription feed is annoying and gets old fast. when it comes to making and scheduling content I think about how I consume it. i don't really like to see 2 or more videos from the same person a day because I have a limited view time and don't like to choose. its better when they only put out videos 4 or 5 days a week so I can keep up with them equally. so I try for 3 to 5 videos a week. when I have time or I remember a funny part of a video ill make a short and upload it at random. and do posts on updates to the channel and when ill be doing streams and post some polls. but what you said about making games for your audience and not so much just any new game is spot on. if you go out of your game niche it just confuses the algorithm and your viewers. thank yall for these videos they really help. I'm definitely gonna work on the content ecosystem with a more set schedule and more posts. also the thing with making videos for all people who play that game really stuck out to me because I started that strategy recently and It really helps. i do tutorials to get new viewers and series based stuff along with multiplayer to keep them. and my more series based stuff has started to actually get me more viewers as a side effect.

[SuperflyMN]

I miss the time back when it was easy to start a gaming channel

[Dtwkel]

Just Started growing faster than I thought because of you guys‼️🚀

[zappyfulmemes]

I think everyone needs to understand how important it is to upload, not like a madman, but to upload videos. Not only does it give your channel content for your potential audience to watch, but it also helps you learn. YouTube/content creation is a process, trust the process and you will be successful.

[Kotka]

Thanks for all the tips you have shared over the years. Your tips and information made my channel grow a lot even though my channel never got "big". I had very small niche but I still found my small but very loyal audience since no one really had the type of videos I was making. I have always kept making Youtube videos as a nice hobby but now since I have other plans for my life I decided to quit it. As I get older I can always go back and check the videos I have done and how much positivity it gave to me and my audience.

[oldmatttv]

Good vid. Thanks for sharing the tips. I personally don't agree about let's plays having come to an end, and not really even sure about focusing on one game only. It think it all really depends. I suppose your larger points still make sense since if you were to have any success with variety and let's plays you'd still need to be a good storyteller, especially when it comes to editing the videos, and would need to be able to bring something unique to the table. I'm just saying it can be something else than the current trending things too, and it can also largely depend on personality and how entertaining or insightful the person is. Furthermore, I'd actually argue there is a counter wave starting where content that is less in your face, less edited, and more relaxed is actually making a comeback. People seem tired of the constant bombardment to their senses and are looking for more chill content as well. Perhaps I'm wrong, and regardless I reckon it's easier to grow if you try and hit the trends, but I'm just saying there is still demand for other things too.

[MrLooseGoose]

Yeah I just started as a gaming channel and this video has helped me realize a couple things. Right now I was feeling really discouraged because my videos are actually garbage and not what I want them to be. Then I see all the other YouTubers be successful and make GOOD content. Even after this I told myself that they have also been doing this a lot longer than I have. I may not have the best equipment or any knowledge on editing, scriptwriting, etc. I told myself I will get better, and I'll eventually get the equipment I need to make the content I want to make. I just had to come to terms that it will take time. I just need become better and constantly strive for improvement!

[mihailoaleksic]

The content ecosystem is a really good strategy because a few years ago, the long-forn videos were YouTube, shorts were TikTok, live streams were Twitch and the community tab were Twitter and/or Instagram, and it's really good to have all that in one place.

[JohnnyB.]

My best friend started a channel about a month ago and its an extremely niche gaming channel. It's on a private server to an old game, and he's also just talking in depth on one specific build in the private server. so EXTREMELY niched down, but his first video did 2.8k views and every video after that has done 1k+ views! He's 7 videos in and 14k views, which I feel is doing pretty good! Up 190 subs in 1 month!! IT IS POSSIBLE!!

[fungameplaysyt]

You guys are the absolute best at explaining how gaming channels work. From now on, I'm treating youtube gaming as an actual (fun) business now.

A little tip from FGYT, thank you.

[match]

Wow!! that was close to the best video (if not the best) that I have watched on this subject, many thanks. I'm guilty of the lack of focus issue as I started as a study project to learn all I could for my son's benefit but I've become a little addicted to it myself now, so I have used multiple games most of which I do enjoy playing but I have been trying to gain more focus after "testing the waters".

[SleekGains]

I definitely am looking forward to growing my channel to push success and hopefully start businesses as I currently work as a manager for a fast food restaurant. My dream is cinematography and YouTube is the start to this. Not to mention hopefully one day being able to buy my parents a home and support them as they did for me when I grew up.

This was an amazing video and thank you so much for these videos you produce

[SurvivalJoe]

First time I hear Dan say focus on 1 type of audience rather then focus on 1 game only. That is EXACTLY what I am doing by going for the survival games audience trying to deliver news, tips and other content for that niche. Despite some games’ tips bringing in more audience then others this approach seems to be working as opposed to general variety lets play that is my main channel (Grunfworks).
So I guess what I am trying to say here Dan, I hear you, and as far as I am concerned, you are spot on with this one.

[JVKL]

Even though I started over a year ago, I definitely need to try dedicate more time to my channel, so it's basically like a restart so this is really helpful!

[digtalninja]

This video helped a lot! If I start a channel i wanted it to be a Minecraft gaming channel, specifically based around PvP. Recently I've been racking my brain to figure out, "what hasn't been done before in Crystal PvP?" That's when i watched this video, which explained that you can do something that someone else has done before; you just have to do it better. Thank you guys so much for the input! :DDD

[antonywithnoh]

I started a YouTube hiatus a few months ago because I had life things that meant I couldn't make videos for a while, but I also realised that trying to make variety content when just starting out just doesn't work, so over this whole break I've been trying to figure out what sort of content to focus on. I was sure I didn't want to do gaming because it's such a saturated market, but right when I was starting to want to make videos again, this video came along. I'm now considering gaming again. It's what I've always wanted to do, the only reason I ruled it out is because I thought it was impossible to stand out among the hundreds of thousands of gaming channels. But if it's still a viable way to start out (I'm basically soft rebooting my channel after all), then I'm putting gaming back on the table.

Thank you for setting me on the beth past to success XD

[HumanDoing]

Literally started a second channel for gaming 2 weeks ago, perfect timing on this video!