Picking a Niche on YouTube: The How-To Guide

The first step to getting started on YouTube is picking a niche on which your content would be based. Making money from YouTube today is as easy as uploading great content, amassing millions of views, and earning a share of advertising revenue.

The platform has daily streaming of over 1 billion hours of videos and content creators can monetize their content in multiple ways. Potential owners of channels on the platform can’t afford to ignore picking a niche that’s sure to bring them success.

Aside from advertising, monetization can include corporate sponsorships from a major brand, fan funding, affiliate marketing, or merchandise sales. Creating an account and starting a channel on YouTube is easy, but that’s just the beginning. The real work starts even before you create your first video.

While the life of a YouTuber might appeal to you, the very first challenge will be picking a niche to start with. Not just any niche, but the perfect niche that is suited to your person and skill set. In addition to picking a niche, you require constant work and quality contents to attain success which won’t happen overnight.

In this article, We at Danielshustle will be discussing picking a niche for your new YouTube channel. We’ll even show you some approximated monthly revenue and example channels to inspire you.

What is a Niche?

A niche is a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service. Basically a niche discusses the product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs targeting a small market segment.

With respect to YouTube, a niche is a profitable segment of any topic with a focus on audience who are looking to consume information provided on that segment of the topic. This is where YouTube content creators provide useful contents with the aim of promoting such segment with a video representation.

Since niches are a segment of a market, a niche can be further segmented. We have categories such as sub-niche, which contains further sub-sub-niches.

Picking a niche on YouTube

Let’s state clearly here that there is no such thing as “the best or perfect niche”. The success attributed to some popular niches is a result of so many factors. These factors have helped the players in these niches to attain success. But some factors have also driven intending players off those niches as well. The fact that a niche is considered profitable doesn’t necessarily mean you should opt to create content for it.

The bottom line; what works for you might not work for others.  With all said, there are still some considerations that are common to all YouTubers whether successful or otherwise. Truth be told, people differ and everyone’s talents, passions, and skills will differ too.

Picking a niche that is right for you and by extension, a YouTube channel will certainly increase your chances of success. There are numerous YouTube niche ideas available but as we earlier stated, there are no “perfect niches”.
Therefore, before picking a niche, you should consider these factors:

Passion

Picking a niche for your YouTube channel has to be what you are passionate about. So ask yourself, what are you most passionate about?  Passion will help you create quality and unique content consistently. Some other questions to consider are:

• What can you talk about for hours on end?
• What is the one thing you love more than anything else in the world?

The passion and enthusiasm you display in making your videos will attract audiences. And since you can’t make compelling videos to watch and interact with without infusing passion, why not just make it about what you passionate about already.

The truth is at the early stages of your YouTube channel, chances are that you won’t earn money for the first few months. If you end up picking a niche that you are not passionate about, you might end up quitting. This is just another reason to consider passion when picking a niche for your YouTube channel.

Knowledge

Most likely, passion will fuel your knowledge. Once again, ask yourself, what do I know? For instance, if you are good at beating video games, then video games are your knowledge base. And you probably won’t engage in it if you weren’t so passionate about it. You could be passionate and knowledgeable about your work such as a gym instructor, mechanic, a doctor or as above, a gamer, etc.

Focus on that knowledge and use it to create content that gives your audience value. Chances are that people want to learn about what you know. So use that to attract an audience to your channel and make them learn in an interesting manner.

Narrow down your niche

At this point, you may want to further trim your niche choice. You can achieve this by visiting related forums, Facebook groups, subreddits, niche groups, and forums. This could help you narrow your niche as well as give you insights about additional sub-niches or topic ideas for the future.

Consider that “freelance writing” is a popular and lucrative niche. Chances are that competition is high, so you can further trim the focus to either “blog freelance writer” or “freelance science fiction writers”.

Tools like Redditlist can help you to find which subtopics or sub-niches you might want to pursue. Simply type in your main keywords and scroll through the most popular subreddits to find appealing results.

DEMAND

Next up on the list is demand. Is there any demand for the knowledge you have and want to turn to video content? Or do you just want to create videos for niches that audiences aren’t interested in?

If your goal is to earn money on YouTube, instead of sharing your hobbies, then you need the audience. Everything on YouTube relies on the audience and the amount of them you can get. So make sure there is a demand for that skill fueled by your passion.

There are tools that can aid with the research on demand. Tools like the Google AdWords Keyword Planner can give you an idea of how many searches there are per month on certain search queries. Also, the Google Trends tool can show you how popular different topics are over time.

COMPETITION

Competition is a factor you can’t afford to joke with. If your niche is oversaturated and highly competitive, then getting acknowledged will be tough and take time. If your skillset leads you to a niche that is highly competitive, then lots of YouTubers are actively engaged in it. As a newbie, the chance of success reduces but it’s not entirely possible.

But if you don’t have a niche in mind yet or you are still contemplating which skill set to use, then worry not. You have more room to pick a niche to target. You can find a great niche with high demand and little competition. Keep in mind that:

• There are already tons of well-known sites ranking for those keywords. This niche may be oversaturated and it may be better to find one that isn’t quite so popular.
• There are no sites ranking for those keywords. Be careful here – this could indicate that there’s lots of opportunities, but more likely it means others have already discovered there’s no market for this niche.
• There are some sites ranking for those keywords, but they’re generally smaller or low quality. This is generally a good sign that this niche is worth pursuing. There is likely some market for this niche, and the competition won’t be too harsh.

In general, high-paying YouTube niches usually have more creators than audiences, which creates a huge problem for newcomers.  And if you’ve learned anything from fundamental finance and economics; if there’s too much supply and not enough demand, there will be no profit in it for you.

Sources to find YouTube niche ideas

We’ve been discussing picking a niche for your YouTube channel and it’s been based on having passion and skill. What if you don’t have a skill or you don’t know how to apply a skill. Sometimes, your skill can be shallow and you need sources of inspiration to keep contents flowing.

Whatever you do, try picking a niche you can really create new materials for. This makes you stand out from the multitudes. If you go the other way round, your creativity, time, and eventual output will end up drowning in an ocean of content.

To handle these situations, there are few online resource hubs you can rely on to get the job done:

Amazon

Amazon is arguably the world’s largest store. It has a comprehensive list of categories alongside sub-categories that you can utilize in picking a niche. For instance: the category “Home Décor” has subcategories like “exterior décor”, “interior décor”, “dining décor” and even “kitchen décor” etc. with amazon, you don’t need to worry about sub-niches, they’ve done the thinking for you.
Go through the subcategories on Amazon and find one that tickles your fancy. These subcategories are awesome ideas for YouTube niches.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free resource tool that you can utilize. You can find a list of skills that are in high demand then use that to make a decision when picking a niche. The good aspect; you can type in any keyword and expect relevant results within 2 seconds.

Marketplaces and Forums

Many online marketplaces such as eBay or Craigslist have numerous sub-categories which could be great YouTube niches. Just take your time to go through enough that appeals to you.
Forums like Quora or Reddit also have categories that could translate well to niches. Also, they are loaded with topic ideas that generate discussions on a daily basis. Forums could are a good place to find new content ideas for our niche.

Picking a niche for YouTube with low competition

Chances are that when you make your choice about picking a niche, you won’t be the only one creating content for it. Picking a niche with very high competition is a possibility especially if you don’t know what metrics to look out for.

Your first point of call is to ensure that your niche down well enough to create some uniqueness for yourself. This means you have a shot at standing out against the competition.

For instance, a YouTube channel about fashion would be certainly broad. Chances are you will get drowned by high competition. But if you find a sub-niche within fashion such as ethnic fashion style, contemporary handbags, or girly style. Then you stand a greater chance of success.

USING THE YouTube SEARCH BAR

Since we are picking a niche to start our YouTube channel, why not refer to the platform itself. Using YouTube to search for a low competition niche means you get a more reliable data set.

They own their data so they have no reason to exclude major metrics from you. Searching for a niche via YouTube means you get to see the actual demand and competition in numbers: video views and channel sizes.

By observing the number of subscribers to a certain channel, age of the videos posted as well as video views of multiple videos of a channel, you can deduce the demand and competition for that niche. Basically, views within the range of:

And for numbers of subscribers:

Using YouTube’s Auto-Suggest

The Auto-Suggest feature gives you an idea of what people are searching for in relation to your search query. It basically lets you see if there is demand for a topic or niche. All you have to do is go on to the YouTube platform and type in the search bar your niche keyword.

In the process, YouTube suggests related search queries from other users to you. Take note of this as it indicates the demand level for such a niche. Since we are researching for a niche, it will take time. Select a few of the suggestions one after the other and click on a few videos in the first 10-15 results. How many views do the videos have? How many subscribers do the channels have?

To get a detailed data set for the niche, also click on a couple of suggested videos and take note of how many views they have. Then compare the numbers with the tables above, this should give you a general knowledge of the niche. Repeat the process for as many as possible related terms.

If the data suggests a high level of competition for the niche, then further niche down. Sometimes, niching down can still get lots of competition. At that point, you should consider changing the niche term or picking a completely different niche.

Using pre-existing YouTube channels

You can use YouTube channels to determine demand and the level of competition of a niche as well. Simply type into the YouTube search bar the niche and add the word “channel” at the end of the query. For instance: inputting “car channel” will most likely return a competitive channel with lots of active players in it. Chances are they are more experienced than you, stay away from them.  An input term like “retro car channel” will most likely return less competitive channels with minimal players in it. This is where you want to be.

Just as describe above, observe the numbers of subscribers to the channels as well as the numbers of views.

With Google

If you don’t know, Google is the parent company of YouTube. This means Google gives preference to YouTube-related search queries. That’s just by the way and it can help you grow your YouTube channel later on.

When it comes to searching for low competition niches on Google, you want to use its auto-suggest tool. It works the same way as describes above for YouTube’s auto-suggest. You can expand the search even further by entering a letter of the alphabet after your search query. Google is sure to return a lot of suggestions for you to select from.

Keep in mind that Google isn’t YouTube and it works differently. Consider using Google as a resource for getting your search started.

Search results

Simply type in your search query and perform the search operation. Then take time to sift through the returned results. You can check the number of results found by Google. This is always directed at the top of search results. This number can be inaccurate since Google returns all data sets that match your search query it can find on the web.

To further streamline Google’s results, prioritize these sets of results:

• If Google returns YouTube videos instead of websites, then that’s a good sign of low competition
• When Google returns Quora, Reddit, or other forums, that denotes demand for the niche
• If the returned results are not an exact match of your search query, then you can provide answers by creating content on that niche.

Using Google’s “people also search” feature

Another way to search for a YouTube niche is to use its frequently asked question section on its returned result page. This section is usually below the first few search results returned. If you click on a couple of boxes, the list keeps expanding, bringing more suggestions to you.

Using Google’s “Related searches”

You can also rely on the related searches section of Google. This is located at the bottom of a search page. It displays related search terms that people have inputted into Google. Some might be potential YouTube niche ideas perfect for you.

With Google trends

Google trends can help you in picking a niche that is suitable for starting a YouTube channel. It gives you comprehensive demand and completion data of entered keywords. It can also suggest related topics for your consideration. Google Trends is the official tool licensed by Google with actual search data from Google and YouTube.

For optimal results, use these settings:

• Pick a worldwide audience except when your target audience is local
• Pick trends dating as far back as 2005. This means the tool will cover a wide range of data set since the selected date.
• Pick YouTube search instead of Google search. Since you are trying to decide to pick a niche for YouTube, it makes sense to use the YouTube search function.

Repeat the process for different niche ideas and compare data sets. In the end, pick a niche that is stable or rising to have a sustainable YouTube channel. Sometimes, Google trends can label a topic as rising when in actuality, it is declining. Examine the graph to see if it is actually rising.

Top 5 Earning Niches on YouTube

We’ve been talking about picking a niche for your YouTube channel. And I’m sure you are probably bored of reading about the techniques needed to achieve this. To whet your appetite and get your zeal running, we will be taking a look at 5 of the most profitable niches on YouTube as of today.

Along with sharing the biggest 5, we will also be including the top 3 earners in that niche. This should spur your interest even more and hopefully start your YouTube journey.

Unboxing and Reviews

The channels in this niche are all about reviewing products. Sub-niches in here range from toys to hi-tech gadgets. Content creators in this field create videos tailored towards unboxing products and giving audiences a first-hand impression or full review of those products.

In other words, they often help buyers make smart consumer choices. If you can assert your authority and grow big enough, you’ll even receive free products from companies to review on your channel.

Unboxing/Reviews creators’ monthly revenue from YouTube only:

• Ryan ToysReview earns approximately $1,334,569 per month
• Unbox Therapy earns approximately $155,860 per month
• Dope or Nope earns approximately $107,239 per month

Food and Cooking 

Everybody eats, so naturally, people are always searching for information pertaining to food or cooking. The channels operating in this niche are all about eating, cooking, and tasting weird foreign foods. Not only are they extremely useful, but they can also be very entertaining in most cases.

This niche is extremely populated with seasoned professionals such as superstar chefs such as Jamie Oliver and amateurs who are looking for awesome new recipes. A good sub-niche of this is its food-related “reaction” channels and videos. This is humor added to eating for those looking for a hearty laugh relating to food.

Food/Cooking creators’ monthly revenue from YouTube only:

• Tasty earns approximately $258,373 per month
• Jamie Oliver earns approximately $17,234 per month
• Laura In The Kitchen earns approximately $6,115 per month

Fitness and Health

People no longer rely on home-workout DVDs and VHS to stay fit. Nowadays, it’s all about YouTube. As a nutritionist, fitness trainer, diet trainer or just a healthy lifestyle enthusiast, you can make extra income off your interest on YouTube. Channels operating in this niche are all about good health, exercise, and nutrition.

Fitness/Health creators’ monthly revenue from YouTube only:

• FitnessBlender earns approximately $15,818 per month
• Blogilates earns approximately $12,576 per month
• Tone It Up earns approximately $667 per month

Beauty and Fashion

This is probably one of the largest YouTube communities today, with thousands of big and small creators showcasing their amazing talent. This niche includes anything related to beauty, style, and fashion: from clothing and make-up hauls and reviews to first impressions, hair care, and skincare. Creators in this niche are some of the biggest online influencers today and are celebrities by their own merit.

Beauty/Fashion creators’ monthly revenue from YouTube only:

• Jeffree Star earns approximately $108,364 per month
• Nikki Tutorials earns approximately $42,849 per month
• Patricia Bright earns approximately $7,733 per month

Gaming

This is a popular channel that keeps growing by the day. It covers everything from compilations of great gaming moments, gaming event live-streams, play-throughs’, walkthroughs, or game reviews.

Content creators in this niche often prove useful information to help out fellow gamers beat an impossible level in a game or just show off their amazing gaming skills. If you are a gaming enthusiast, then this might be a perfect niche for you to try.

Gaming creators’ monthly revenue from YouTube only:

• VanossGaming earns approximately $336,990 per month
• Markiplier earns approximately $288,796 per month
• Jackspecticeye earns approximately $286,213 per month

Conclusion

Picking a niche for your YouTube channel isn’t an easy task. The failure or success of your channel depends on the quality and uniqueness of content which depends on your niche. So getting it right is imperative.

We at danielshustle have taken the time to highlight some tactics that you can employ from our personal experience. We are certain that after reading this piece, you can make the right call in picking a niche. There are lots of topics you could choose to major in. with quality research and data analysis, you can find a niche that suits your passion and subsequently earn from it.