Updates to FindAChannel.Net

6 April 2024: Various Fixes and Updates

The issue that was stopping channel data from being updated has now been fixed.

The site is now logging historical channel data.

Channels with less than 1000 subscribers will no longer be added to FindAChannel's index. Existing channels have been removed so that we can focus on monetized channels.

A large number of inactive channels have been removed. Channels in our non-core geographical market have also been removed.

Numbers of views, subscribers and videos are now displayed in the standardised YouTube format of K (thousands), M (millions) and B (billions).

Michael Jackson's channel is now displaying the correct number of views (at the time of writing they were 15,711,542,795!).

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When using the Influencer Search you can now specify the size of channels to search for.

3 February 2024: New Low Competition Niche Report

There's a new low competition YouTube niche report. This report lists a huge number of ideas for YouTube niches that don't appear to be too competitive. The list changes regularly so be sure to bookmark it and visit from time to time.

18 January 2024: Various Fixes

Additional error handling has been introduced that will hopefully improve the site's reliability. The new influencer search facility now works correctly if a niche is entered that there is currently no data available for. The site's advertising has also been revamped.

31 August 2023: New Influencer Search Facility

The site now has new influencer search facility. Use this to find influencers in a growing number of niches. The search results also highlight up and coming YouTubers who have attained a significant number of followers in the past three years.

21 August 2023: New Reddit Stories Channels List

Reddit story channels are extremely popular on YouTube so this page lists some of the major ones FindAChannel has come across. If you know of any other cool story channels then submit them to FindAChannel using the link at the bottom of the page.

In response to popular demand I've also added a top creepypasta channels listings page. If you want to start your own YouTube channel to meet the public's insatiable demand to know about UFOs, conspiracy theories, time travellers and more then you will definitely want to check out this page.

Staying with the entertainment theme there's a new page listing top meme compilation channels.

Finally there's also a new page listing top cryptocurrency channels.

Other changes:

  • Channel handle names are now supported for channels that have these. Handles start with an @ sign. It will take a while for the FindAChannel index to update existing channel entries to show handles. If a channel has a handle it will be displayed on the channel's details page on FindAChannel.
  • Data on channel creators' countries are now being retrieved. This information will be used to improve searching and other features within the site.
  • Channel submissions using handle format Urls (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/@CodingWithBrett) are now being processed.
  • Channel submissions of channels in YouTube Url format are now being processed.
  • The site has an additional source of new channel niches. This should improve the search results, particularly in trending topics.
  • The channel submission page has a new chart showing the number of submissions per month.

6 August 2023: Various Updates

Youtube have hidden 'Dislikes' from users for sometime. Consequently I've now modified the algorithm that ranks videos based on the available data.

Other changes:

  • The site is now logging errors using Exceptionless. For some reason FindAChannel has been down for a lot of time in the past year or so. I'll try to keep an eye on the site going forward. Hopefully we'll regain our Google traffic, which was growing rapidly until the wheels came off...
  • The site has been updated to .NET Core version 7.
  • We have a new affiliate relationship with vidIQ. This tool is worth checking out if you want to grow your channel into a social media cash cow.
  • There's a new page showcasing some of YouTube's top gaming channels. Many people worry that 2024 is a terrible time to start a new gaming channel. Of course they said exactly the same thing about starting a gaming channel in 2023 and 2022 too!

23 May 2022: Channels Now Updating

Channel data is now beginning to be updated from Youtube. This will result in updates to channel data such as the number of videos and subscribers.

Other changes:

  • The algorithm to find a channels' related channels has also been improved.
  • The Gravity algorithm has been repaired.
  • The process of adding new Youtube niches to the site has been revamped. Many more niches will now start to appear on the site. Their data will also improve over time as the channel index grows in size.

21 August 2021: Improved Searching and Matching

Some changes have been made to the data retrieval and storage routines that should improve the relevancy of the search results and the display of channel properties.

Other changes:

  • Channels are now updated on a more regular schedule.
  • More niches and channels have been added.
  • Channel related channels are now more relevant, although it will take a while for the entire directory to refresh itself. The number of related channels displayed for a particular channel has also been increased.
  • I've added a contact page.
  • There's now a page that lists 100 super hot YouTube niches. These are niches where FindAChannel has found new YouTube channels that are gaining large numbers of subscribers, even in more difficult (and potentially lucrative) niches.

12 June 2021: Improved Power Words SEO Tool

There's now a pop-up on the Power Words page that lists some popular YouTube videos already making use of a particular Power Word.

6 June 2021: New YouTube Title Generator Tool

FindAChannel has gained a YouTube Video Title Generator tool. There are quite a lot of video title generators on other websites but I didn't think any of them made genuinely useable video titles, so I made my own version. This tool is much more tailored towards video content rather than just being a blog title generator that's been recycled as a video title generator. Please do share the tool if you find it useful!

Other updates:

  • There's now a Power Words page that lists the most common Power Words as used by the YouTubers whose videos are included in the FindAChannel directory of YouTube channels. These words can be very beneficial if you use them in your video titles.

15 May 2021: Improvements to YouTube SEO Tool

The YouTube Channel Ideas Generator and SEO Tool has been improved and now takes account of some of the YouTube ranking signal suggestions made by Briggsby. FindAChannel's SEO tool for YouTube will now advise on:

  • A reminder about the importance of allowing other people to embed your channel's videos in other websites.
  • SEO being more important for channels that are less than a year old.
  • Missing channel description.
  • Missing channel keywords.
  • YouTube channel keywords being less than 50 characters in length.
  • Channel having less than the key level of 10,000 total video views.
  • Channel having less than the key level of 100 publically listed videos.
  • New channels: subscriber count less than 1,000 required to be considered an Established channel.
  • Established channels: subscriber count approaching the key 100,000 threshold to be considered as a Popular channel.
  • Established channels: subscriber count under the key 5 million threshold to be considered as a Highly Popular channel.
  • Gravity (FindAChannel's custom channel rating system) is less than optimal.
  • A warning is given if the channel's video titles are on average greater than the optimal length of 30 characters, with an additional warning given if they are on average greater than 50 characters long.
  • A warning is given if the channel's videos are not highly rated by viewers.
  • A warning is given if the channel's video descriptions are too long or too short (200 - 350 words is the sweet spot).
  • Content creators are reminded that the optimal length of YouTube videos appears to be between 10 and 16 minutes long. Videos should be at least 4.5 minutes long. Viewer engagement significantly decreases if videos are shorter than 2 minutes long. 1 minute long or shorter videos can be detrimental to your channel's engagement metrics, although YouTube is probably taking this into consideration with their introduction of #Shorts short-form videos. It has been my experience that I do get annoyed with channels that appear on my feed but their videos are just 15 seconds long. I am mainly somebody who watches YouTube on a TV and I hardly ever upvote short videos. I have also stopped watching a number of channels that have made the push into #Shorts, primarily because I can't eat my dinner while watching such short videos - I need something meaty in the 10-16 minutes range (you see now why this is the sweet spot for content length?).
  • A recommendation to try live streaming will appear for channels where this could be most beneficial.

The SEO tool will now also advise if these criteria have been met.

Other updates:

  • Video description word count is now being recorded as this is a possible factor in YouTube SEO.
  • There's a new page showcasing some of YouTube's top animators. There are still a lot of opportunities to create popular animated content on YouTube, particularly in the explainer and storytelling niches.
  • The side menu will now appear on most pages in the site. The alerts panel will also show on most pages, bringing the design of FindAChannel into line with my portfolio of other directory sites.
  • The most subscribers, least videos page has been repaired.
  • Saki's verdict on YouTube niches is now working as intended. She also reveals more insider information about channels in each niche.
  • There's a new side panel showcasing some YouTube niches with some good potential.
  • Niches are now starting to be displayed on any channel listings where the channel is particularly relevant to that niche.

5 May 2021: New YouTube Channel Earnings Reports

People are very interested in any data related to YouTube channel earnings so I've added two new reports. The Most Income / Least Subscribers report shows channels that achieve the highest estimated channel earnings with the least number of subscribers. The Most Income Per Video View report attempts to gauge which YouTube channels make the most money on a per video view basis.

Other updates:

  • Niches now display their creation and updated dates.
  • The footer of each page on the site now displays the number of current YouTube niches that have been researched.
  • The About page has been enhanced, with a few fixes, additional links and technical details on how the site was built and maintained.
  • The Niche Ideas Finder page listing easy and difficult YouTube niches has been tweaked. Now niches will only appear if we have some Featured Channels to display. These are channels less than 3 years old that have gained enormous success (even in the toughest niches). The page also has two additional tables. The first new table shows a list of recently updated niches. The second table shows trending niches. I have defined these as niches where new channels (again, less than 3 years old) have gained a larger than average number of subscribers. This should indicate that there are still some good opportunities in these niches if you are professional (have a decent microphone and lighting) and/or have some new ideas.

21 April 2021: Database Migration

I have moved the site's database from MySQL to SQL Server as the MySQL database server was proving extremely unreliable.

Other updates:

  • The search has been improved and I've fixed a bug whereby search results were ordered randomly.
  • Channels are now being found via the Google API video search as well as the channel search. This should improve the relevancy of results related to YouTube niches.
  • I've added a job to remove channels with no videos from the index. 741 channels were removed in the initial run which is equal to around 1% of the total number of YouTube channels listed on the site.
  • Niches are now being researched more randomly than before. This should prevent the Niche Ideas Finder page from being flooded with similar niches at a particular point in time.
  • Niches are now periodically updating so that the popularity, competitiveness and data stays fresh.

14 April 2021: Work to Add YouTube Niches Underway

I've been reading a lot of articles online to see what people reckon are the most competitive niches on YouTube. This article is a pretty good rundown, and the author appears to do a reasonable job of explaining which YouTube niches are super competitive. But is he right? I have now begun to get FindAChannel on the case, and during April 2021 I will add niches to the site. My initial pilot study seems to indicate that the most difficult niche I have found so far is make money online and the easiest niche is related to the telling of stories. I could be onto something here because this site also reckon that storytelling is a brilliant niche on YouTube. A niche I personally should try out is programming tutorials, as this appears to be a less competitive niche too. The good thing about stories and programming tutorials is that both will generally lead to quite long videos which helps when you're trying to achieve those all important 4000 watch hours.

Weirdly the advice to stay away from niches like weight loss may not be such good advice. This niche is actually a good one if you want to gain a lot of subscribers. I now have an algorithm that can identify the standout new channels in niches like this that are finding a tonne of subscribers by doing something new and interesting in an apparently saturated niche. Check out FindAChannel's new Niche Ideas Finder to see what my algorithm reckon's are the most and least competitive niches for YouTube channels.

Other updates:

  • It is now possible to click through from the Niche Ideas Finder page to view details of a particular niche. Some niches have photos and descriptions courtesy of free stock photo site Pixabay and internet encyclopedia WikiPedia. Many niches also highlight new channels that already have a larger number of fans on YouTube. Go check them out as they're obviously doing something right with their content strategy.

4 April 2021: 4000 Watch Hours Calculator Tool Now Available

There's a new 4000 Watch Hours Calculator tool that helps you estimate how many videos you need to meet YouTube's eligibility requirements for channel monetization. The page also contains a load of tips on how to reach this goal.

Other updates:

  • There was a database accident and I decided to delete all but 1500 channels and start populating the site's index again. Now FindAChannel has a much improved database including support for unicode characters as well as emojis in channel descriptions. The site will repopulate itself quickly while using less precious server resources than before.
  • There's a new FAQ page to answer your questions about FindAChannel and YouTube.

30 March 2021: Improving Channel Data Quality

Larger channels now have their Gravity and estimated monthly income calculated when they are added to FindAChannel.

Other updates:

  • Channels are now being filtered to remove non-English language channels.
  • You can now search on Gravity using the home page search form.
  • The home page search form now has icons for each field.
  • Channel additions and updates have been reworked to make them more efficient.
  • A channel's related channels and related blogs are now populated when the channel is added to the directory.

20 March 2021: New Search Facility

There is a new search facility on the home page. This allows you to find YouTube channels based on their numbers of subscribers, views and videos as well as when the channels were established. These are searches that are not very easy to accomplish using the YouTube site's search.

Other updates:

  • Channels that hide their subscriber count will no longer be eligible for inclusion in FindAChannel.
  • There's a new channel count on the home page menu bar.
  • There's a new YouTube News page that displays latest blog posts relating to YouTube content creation. Be sure to bookmark this page and visit from time to time in order to learn new tips and trips from the expert vloggers.
  • The site has started to calculate how much money each channel might make each money. Take this figure as a very rough estimation! Things I don't know about: what country a channel's viewers are from, how engaged the audience is (though I can have a guestimate of this), what percentage of their videos are monetized etc. etc. etc.. It's also important to remember that a lot of youtubers are getting better at monetizing their channels. For example an increasing number of videos have paid for promotions or promote affiliate offers. YouTubers may also sell their own products and merchandise. Don't forget that making videos is time consuming, and if you're streaming Warzone for 8 hours a day then it's less likely you'd be able to find time to do a day job. One factor that *is* set in stone is that channels with less than 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours per year do not get monetised by YouTube. I'm pretty confident I can detect these channels.
  • Channels are now assigned a value for Gravity. This is an attempt to measure how engaging and interesting a channel is. Gravity runs on a percentage scale, with 100% being awarded for the most engaging channels. This factor will help you to discover smaller and less well known channels that are listed on FindAChannel.
  • There's a new High Earning YouTube Channels page. This lists some of the highest earning channels on the site (if our math is to be believed).
  • In response to user demand, there's also a new YouTube Channels with the Most Videos page. Let's hope quality isn't sacrified in the push for quantity.
  • Users of FindAChannel have also asked about channels with the least amount of subscribers, so here is our page showing YouTube Channels with the least number of subscribers. Please do go and subscribe to their channels - you'll make them very happy!
  • Channels' last video publication date is now being recorded which will allow active channels to be sorted from inactive ones.
  • There's a new page showcasing smaller channels that are very popular with their audiences. Check them out for ideas on how to grow your own small YouTube channel.
  • There's a new page showing channels with many subscribers but few videos. What's the secret of their success? Check the channels to find out.
  • Listings pages now show the month and year when the channel was established. Note that they may not necessarily have started creating videos from this date - they could just have lurked for a while.
  • Code is now using asynchronous processing which should improve site performance.
  • YouTube Topic channels are no longer being added to the index and existing topic channels will be removed.
  • Channels no longer listed on FindAChannel now return a 410 error status code, meaning the channel has been permanently removed from the index.

16 March 2021: New Channel Improvement SEO Tool

There's a new YouTube Channel Ideas Generator Tool. Use this to check on the SEO status of your channel as well as getting suggestions on content ideas for growing your channel's reach. This tool will also allow you to add your channel to the FindAChannel index. Remember that you can check out your competitors using this tool too!

Other updates:

  • The site is now automatically adding channels in popular niches.
  • Channel total views, number of subscribers and number of videos are now being displayed in search results and listings pages.
  • Related channels will start appearing in channel listings pages.
  • Related blogs will start appearing in channel listings pages. These are supplied courtesy of our sister site FindABlog.Net.
  • The number of channels has been ramped up considerably.
  • Links in channel descriptions are now hyperlinked to their source. Remember if you add links to your channel's description, keep them updated!

11 March 2021: YouTube Channels Now Appearing on the Site

I've started adding YouTube channels onto the site. There are around 100 or so channels on here but there's a queue of around 500 more. I know we're not the only YouTube channel directory on the internet, however we have more data than other sites and we also have our our SakiAI AI engine which can help to make sense of it all.

Other updates:

  • There is now one half of a home page. I'm still deciding what to put on the left hand side.
  • There is now a search facility.
  • You can now submit channels to the site (link at the bottom of the page).
  • I've added a random channel link in the menu bar.
  • There are two new menu options that show you channels with the most subscribers and those with the most total number of video views.
  • Channel videos are now being retrieved.
  • A channel's most recent YouTube videos are now being displayed on the channel details page.
  • Channels are now being ranked by our own internal ranking algorithm. This aims to find interesting channels that are popular with their audiences.

10 March 2021: FindAChannel is Open For Business

Hi everybody!

I am pleased to announce that FindAChannel.Net is now live. There's not too much here yet but I have some amazing plans for this place.