The 2-Step Process To Growing Your Youtube Channel In 2023

I’m bullish on Youtube - both for creators and brands.

Complex’s Hot Ones used Youtube to build an 8-figure business on the backend of their hit show that now drives over $10m in revenue selling hot sauces.

The Future used Youtube to develop an 8-figure business on the backend of their 2M subscriber Youtube channel - while doing over 8 figures in revenue via courses.

What makes building an audience on Youtube more valuable than on any other channel?

The idea of: Interruption vs. Decision

Interruption: On social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook - we publish a piece of content that inadvertently interrupts an individual on their feed, where you strive to gain their attention.

Decision: On Youtube, individuals choose to search your content, sit down, and consume it.

The second differentiator is consumption time.

The average Instagram video is 26 seconds.

The average Youtube video is 11.1 minutes.

Just simple math, that’s 25 videos on Instagram w/ a 100% consumption to equal one 11-minute Youtube video.

Subscribers who spend this much time consuming your content evolve from subscribers into fans.

And if you want to decrease acquisition costs, increase your CLV, etc, then don’t try to build an audience — try to create fans.

This creates my stance — more brands and creators should use Youtube as their pillar piece of content because it drives affinity, which is key to building a long-term successful business.

So, How Do You Grow Your Youtube Channel In 2022?

We’re going to cover two parts:

1. Testing
2. Scaling

And how to do it cohesively to build your channel.

1. Testing

Don’t spend resources and time on a video that doesn't garner interest.

Test it via YT shorts, then produce it if it performs.

Colin and Samir first created a Youtube Short to test the idea behind a longer-form video they wanted to create.

It hit 21,000,000M views which signaled to Colin and Samir that the demand was there.

They then scaled the Youtube short into a long-form Youtube video.

That video now has 1.6M views and is their 6th most popular video.

Test to create the best.

2. Scaling

The next step is growing the channel, and for that, we’ll examine Codie Sanchez.

In January of 2022, Codie Sachez’s Youtube channel had just over 2,000 subscribers.

On May 15th, 2022, Codie’s channel had 15,300 subscribers.

As of Sept 15th 2022, Codie’s channel has 285,000+ subscribers.

In 10 months, Codie’s gained over 280k subscribers, and most of the growth came in the last four months.

Codie’s strategy comes down to this:

Give them an appetizer so good they subscribe for the entree.

During these 10 months, Codie’s team published 105 Youtube Shorts equaling 30,421,207 views.

Those Youtube shorts are appetizers.

And during those 10 months, Codie’s team published 26 long-form videos equaling 4,531,000 views.

The long-form videos are entrees.

The Youtube Shorts get them to subscribe.

The long-form videos retain them.