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 Easy E wrote:
Many folks here are not looking for non-GW content, so don't really know how sustainable it is really.

That said, I think an approach that has a portion of GW and a portion of Non-GW is the best approach.

I'd disagree, especially considering the amount of complaining about GW that this forum has.

I'd also like to point out that we have done a fair analysis of the content the channel produces. It's not a channel conducive to causal viewing due to the persistent 90-120 minute videos, it has a way too broad scope in content but somehow still seems to only focus on smaller indie games, and the host made the jump into making it their primary source of income when the channel was very small (relatively speaking). The channel isn't doing badly because it isn't covering GW games, it's doing badly because the content model is poor and the topics are a niche within a niche within a niche.

I think most (if not all) users who have contributed to the discussion have been very fair with their arguments

 Overread wrote:
Even if you make GW content you'll have a hard time because there's a LOT of that out there.

You basically have to work hard at it; promote yourself a lot; understand the algorithms and have good quality product (videos) when you put them out.


You could certainly make a name for yourself outside of GW content, there's more than a few doing that. The key is finding a niche, finding a style, finding a fangroup.

Just open a 40k wiki and read it word for word and stick "Lore" in the title, you'll be swimming in 10,000+ views in no time.

 Gert wrote:
Many folks here are not looking for non-GW content, so don't really know how sustainable it is really.

Fair enough. I will bow to your wisdom. YT Channels are not my thing or area of interest. I prefer to read, and can read a transcript of a 90 minute video in about 5-10 minutes so the video seems like a waste of time to me.

I also am not a YT content creator because I have a face for radio, and a voice for silent movies.

Eh, I wouldn't call it wisdom, certainly not experience either.
I've just seen a lot of niches suffer the same way in the past but then find ways to fix it rather than just blame a company that has no power over the algorithm. The host says the channel is their job but does a stream per week? That's a recipe for failure right there. It's like showing up to a job one day a week and complaining you weren't getting paid for five.

I think there is a big difference between old/middle aged gamers going to find stuff on youtube and the interwebs and younger players - we think about how to look for things differently and certainly I think the various systems are better designed to capture them compared to older people like me.

I've watched a few of this particular channel's videos in the past, mostly before he took it "full time." Back then, he was still mostly covering smaller companies and lesser known games, and had some good reviews, look throughs, etc. At some point he started doing less of those 20min or so videos and did long live streams, which I had zero interest in, since they seemed mostly unorganized and rambling, like any live stream that's essentially someone just sharing their thoughts can be. And that's fine, if that's what you want to do, go for it. However, realize that there are a lot of people who are not going to want to watch that. 15 minute clip talking about some indie game that they may not have otherwise known about? Sure. 60 min of someone babbling about the same, while also stopping to constantly read and reply to chat messages in real time? Gonna say you're gonna get fewer viewers there. If you're cool with that, too, then great, go for it.

While I think covering GW content will probably get you some initial "new viewers," if your content quality is junk, you won't retain them. Likewise, if you have good content quality, even if you're not covering GW stuff, you'll have a more solid viewer base. Look at, for example, some of the best painting related YouTubers and some of them never touch a GW model (or at least, rarely).

So to answer the OP: Yes, I think a non-GW content YT channel is sustainable, if the quality of the content is good. What "good" is, is of course the elusive question. Also, I guess the question of "what is sustainable" is probably different for each creator.

My favorite channels are the ones who have thumbnails that say things similar to: GW are real razzenfrazzers!

Then the video proceeds to say what razzenfrazzin’ awesome sculpts are coming in the next release. They play on viewers’ discontent to get clicks but I don’t know how length of view plays into their revenue.

I'm not quite sure what you mean.
Do you mean people who bait the nerd ragers with fake thumbnails then talk about stuff they like? I'm not sure I've seen that done in any large capacity.

You got it on the first try. Several channels post that they’re ostensibly outraged about x and then fawn all over the product.

I've never seen this, would you mind linking some?

A lot of YouTube is marketing. Quality content matters, but you've got to build an audience. Some of that is just getting attention. Doing some content on popular stuff like GW definitely helps to that end. Your channel doesn't need to be GW focused, but your GW content will probably spike your viewership and if you can properly sell your brand, turn a percentage of those viewers into part of your general audience. Top 10's, Tier lists and the like serve a similar purpose.

A big part of the brand is consistency. Make sure your content is similar lengths, with a similar vibe and people who like your presentation will stick around. On that note, presentation really matters; graphics, mic quality, camera work and the like are all a big deal. The top channels probably spend as much time working on their thumbnails and titles as the actual video and watching day to day watches for trends to improve your viewership really matters.

So lets talk BJL. Honestly, I've never heard of them, which given how much of their content SHOULD show up in my searches, but just hasn't, or if it has, I haven't noticed. Went to channel, looked for one of those "get to know you" videos and found a top 5 games of 2021. 2 hours long? I'm 15 minutes in and we're talking about local shop deals? So its livestream content, maybe somewhere in there we get on topic, but apparently the title isn't the focus so I bounce before I get to anything of value and. yeah. Looking around , that seems pretty common. Edit those things down into topic focused segments and you'll get a lot more attention. You can even divide up into multiple channels for people that want the raw video.

So yeah. IDK. Unedited ramblings with chat probably isn't going to make you stand out on YouTube. I really don't think GW is a limiting factor in this instance.

 endlesswaltz123 wrote:
The guys livestream has just popped up, with the title "The One that ISN'T about Games Workshop" safe to say, it's all just views fishing then.

Some person just donated a £16 super chat... wtf...

You think that's strange. I saw a girl livestreaming on YT once in a tank top and the number of super chats over the 100$ USD mark were in the DOZENS. It's just a weird part of internet culture, some folks have deep pockets and nothing else to spend it on.

As for war gaming youtube, I don't really want to watch other people do on camera, what I can just go down to the LGS and do myself. Doing it myself gives a much bigger hit of happy brain chemicals anyways.

The guy linked pals around with Discourse Miniatures, who is a clickbait GW hate channel. I think it's safe to say he's just picking up tactics from her.

So the channel has put out a short video and here's a quick summary with some notes:

- The host was surprised by the big response the video got.
- The host says video wasn't a whinge against GW. (However, they did the clickbait title and thumbnail.)
- The host says they are fine with the low numbers as the intention of the channel is about growing a community and not growing the channel. I believe this 100% as they go on to explain their work-life balance as well.
- The host says "out of context people's opinions are fine" a lot, in fact, they say it about every single point in the video, but maintains that if people knew what the channel was about then they wouldn't say the same things.
- The host claims that the video was a nuanced view on the topic but still still made the clickbait title and thumbnail. The host then says it wasn't clickbait because according to their definition clickbait is only when the video is misleading.

I'm a pretty optimistic person and I don't like to think badly of people without knowing more.
Having now known more, the host knew what they were doing. Unless they were exceptionally ignorant of just how much GW-hate there is online, there is no way that they made that video title and thumbnail without knowing it would reach those corners. Combine that with the previous video where they collaborate with a well-known anti-GW channel that consistently does clickbait and makes up things to be angry about, and I very much doubt they were as ignorant as they claim.
Was it malicious to make the video? No, people are allowed to have their opinions. Was it really stupid to now claim they didn't do it to get attention while expressly making the video the clickiest of baits? Absolutely.

GW is to miniatures what NiN is to industrial music.

Mainstream.

Yes you can have non mainstream stuff but you will never reach the levels of GW attention.

 Dropbear Victim wrote:
It's Google's gakky algorithms in general locking people into ever narrower search results. Youtube content creators just cop the other end of this; being involuntarily flagged as X content.
Ive been recently experiencing this myself as Ive been going through my old toys in the last month and Ive watched my searches narrow in real time. My search results identifying old 80s/90s action figures throw up many of the same results regardless of the keywords I search now.

100% this. Youtube and google are narrowing down the amount of search results you get even compared to a few years ago. Ive noticed my suggested video list changes depending on what I watch in the last few days.

If I watch video game stuff then most of the big names come up even if I was watching something smaller like Shumps or beat em ups. I usually get tons of fighting game suggestions of MOBA/COD/FPS suggestions. I've never looked up a cod or a fps video I can't stand them. I usually look up shumps. What I have found you have to do is subscribe to them and then just look in your subs list. If not YT will just throw whatever crap they want at you.

I believe the closer we get to the mid terms the more it will narrow down the searches to try to keep us in our bubbles.

Also YT is pushing all its creators to publish shorts so they can pretend to compete with Tik Tok (ugh) and live streaming/chats so they can get a piece of that tasty tasty super chat money. Same reason why almost every time you open or close the YT app its trying to sell you the youtube paid subscription.

looks like to be more like a big experiment in YT and GW in general

this is not just one channel doing it, there are more

for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlsE2iUy-YM
https://youtu.be/FGP_C8X_g4E
https://youtu.be/A3i3_yi5E94

at the same time a channel that usually has negative clickbait titles with GW, makes a positive one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1u00RX8Ha0

and several smaller channels doing it at the same time this is more of a coordinated afford, for whatever reason (likely to mess up the YT algorithm)

I make some odd videos for fun and to share my ideas. Not getting many views but not really looking to make money at it. I do have some GW content, but it is 3rd edition Fantasy battle from a time before most current gamers were even born.

I think if you want to make money it would be important to stick with what draws in the views.


The one thing I dislike about youtube are the channels that are simply gushing about the latest new product or kick starter. How they can remain constantly excited about everything is curious.

It seems a bit like an extended advertisement, preceded by an advertisement, interrupted by a few advertisements, that is also sponsored by someone, and then has the time to ask for Patreon support. And also buy some merch.

kenofyork wrote:
I make some odd videos for fun and to share my ideas. Not getting many views but not really looking to make money at it. I do have some GW content, but it is 3rd edition Fantasy battle from a time before most current gamers were even born.

I think if you want to make money it would be important to stick with what draws in the views.


The one thing I dislike about youtube are the channels that are simply gushing about the latest new product or kick starter. How they can remain constantly excited about everything is curious.

It seems a bit like an extended advertisement, preceded by an advertisement, interrupted by a few advertisements, that is also sponsored by someone, and then has the time to ask for Patreon support. And also buy some merch.

That’s what happens when you try and monetize attention spans….