This is the statistics behind our first month on YouTube.
Neither Glenn nor I have ever known anyone with a YouTube channel before, so being on YouTube is a whole new world to us. Today I share our statistics from 1 month on YouTube.
Before we set out on our trip, we decided it would be fun to make a YouTube Channel about our travels.
We knew it would be hard to get recognition as there are so many good youtubers out there, especially great travel vloggers like “Kare and Nate”, “The Budgeteers”, “Kinging-it”, and many more. Our channel would just be a single drop in the ocean.
Anyways, we decided to give it a go. And WOW, it is hard work!
Not just getting people to watch our content – but making the content in itself … all the hours spent on filming and editing … It’s just crazy. On the other hand, it gives us work along the way which feels good and satisfying.
This blog post is about our statistics after 1 month on YouTube.
How did our YouTube Channel do in the first 30 days?
So, within the first month of our Channel we managed to upload 8 videos (all about Thailand) and they range from 4:54 minutes to 10:46 minutes, which means they are very different in length.
The content is also very different as we both did temples in Bangkok and beaches on Koh Tao island. In total we had 987 views and 3525 watch minutes from our 8 videos.
In the beginning of posting our videos, all of our views came from an external source because we posted them on a Facebook-page made for family and friends.
However only 50,9% of all our views come from an external source now, which means we get more and more views from YouTube Search, suggested videos, etc. – This means that the more content we put out there, the bigger our Youtube search becomes (people finding our videos through searching for specific topics).
We got 27 subscribers in the one month. This isn’t much, however, it is a great feeling every time we get a new subscriber – we even have some people we don’t know, who now have chosen to follow our trip.
This is so GREAT! Because it means that other people than friends and family show interest in our content, and we like to inspire/entertain other people too. It also gives a kind of recognition that we are actually making something worth watching.
Monetization in the future?
If we want to be monetized on YouTube, we need at least 4000 watch hours – and we only have 3525 watch minutes, so basically, we are very far from that goal.
Further, a YouTube channel needs at least 1000 subscribers to be monetized. As the statistics show you, we are very far away from that goal after only 1 month on YouTube. If you are interested, we talk about how to gain more subscribers in our 100 subscribers post.
Even if monetization would happen for us one day, the return we would get for such a small channel would be almost invisible (Update July 2020: We are now monetized).
If you want to make good money from YouTube, you need a VERY big channel. So, for now, we do it to secure future memories for ourselves, for our families, and to have a purpose on the road.
Finding our niche
It is hard to start something new, especially because you have to find your identity – your niche.
We decided that we want to make something that is funnier rather than prettier, which means we’d rather show the truth about traveling full time than the polished picture.
That is for example why we filmed the part of me getting bed bugs and such. It has been very hard for us to find our place but every day we get more and more comfortable with being on video.
And the most important thing – we have fun with it, even though it is hard.
If you are starting a YouTube channel – go for it! The best of luck to you.
