Starting a YouTube Channel › What Should You Make a YouTube Video About
What Should You Make a YouTube Video About
Start by picking a specific topic you understand well enough to explain clearly, then check whether an audience is already searching for it on YouTube. The fastest way to narrow down what to make a YouTube video about is to look at what has already overperformed in your niche — videos with view counts well above a channel's average reveal exactly what that audience wants. Guessing is slower and riskier than reading existing demand.
The most common trap for new creators is spending weeks debating what to make a YouTube video about before ever publishing anything. That delay is almost never useful. What actually matters in the first few months is building the habit of producing content, learning how your specific niche behaves, and paying close attention to which topics attract attention and which ones don't.
That said, picking your first few topics thoughtfully does matter. A reasonable starting point is to list the questions people in your area of interest ask repeatedly — in Reddit threads, in forum posts, in the comment sections of channels you already watch. If those questions keep coming up, someone is searching for them on YouTube too. You are not inventing demand; you are meeting it.
One thing beginners consistently overthink is production quality. A video that answers a genuine question clearly, shot on a phone in decent light, will outperform a polished video on a topic nobody was looking for. Audio clarity matters more than camera quality. Getting to the point matters more than a long intro. These are things you can control immediately, without any equipment investment.
What you should not overthink early on: channel art, posting frequency rules, optimal upload times, and monetization thresholds. None of those determine whether a channel grows. The content topic and execution do.
Here is where most beginners leave real advantage on the table. When you are trying to figure out what to make a YouTube video about, you do not have to rely on intuition. You can look at channels already operating in your niche and identify which of their videos significantly outperformed their average view count. Those outlier videos are signals — they tell you what that audience responded to strongly, often in ways the creator themselves did not expect. Reading the comments on those videos adds another layer: you can see exactly what viewers praised, questioned, or asked for as a follow-up.
This approach shifts the question from "what should I make?" to "what does this audience demonstrably want?" That is a much easier question to answer, and the answer is already sitting in public data.
Younalyse lets you pull this kind of analysis on any channel — surfacing outlier videos in a niche and digging into comment patterns across both your own uploads and competitors'. If you are serious about starting on the right foot rather than publishing ten videos and hoping something lands, it is worth running a few searches before you record anything.
Find what already works in your niche
Surface the videos that overperformed in your niche, compare channels, and turn competitor comments into your next content plan — in minutes.
Start free analysis →Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find a niche for my YouTube channel as a beginner?
Look for the intersection of a topic you can speak about credibly and an audience that already searches for that topic on YouTube. Checking which videos in a potential niche consistently overperform gives you early evidence that the audience is real and active.
How many videos should I make before I know if my channel is working?
Most creators need at least 20 to 30 videos before they can draw meaningful conclusions, because early data is too noisy. The more important signal is whether individual videos are reaching viewers outside your existing subscribers.
What makes a YouTube video topic perform well?
Topics tend to overperform when they match a specific search intent, have a clear and honest title, and deliver on the promise quickly. Studying which videos in your niche exceeded their channel's average view count reveals this pattern concretely.
Can I tell what topics my competitors' audiences actually want?
Yes — comment sections on competitor videos contain direct feedback from the audience you are trying to reach. Analyzing those comments systematically, rather than skimming a few manually, shows recurring questions and requests you can turn into your own content.