I built my first YouTube channel on a laptop so terrible that I had to delete the operating system and downgrade it in order to record my first video. And that channel, among others, reached nearly 10 million [music] subscribers. So, I'm going to break down how exactly I did it. So, when people tell me that gaming and YouTube is dead or oversaturated or whatever they say, I'm here to prove you wrong. The niche isn't dead, but the old ways of doing it are not going to work anymore.

So, in this video, we're going to break down the new ways to grow on YouTube in 2026 [music] with a gaming channel. And I think gaming is one of the best ways to start a YouTube channel, cuz think about it. All you got to do is get a computer, a microphone, a way to record, and the video game, and you can make thousands of videos basically for free. If you guys don't know who I am, my name is Nathan. I run multiple successful channels.

Here's a little picture of all of my awards. I show this not to flex, but more so to prove to you guys that I've been in the trenches. I've done it. I've grown multiple channels to over 10 million subscribers. So, the advice I'm going to give you today is pretty legit. I'm not some YouTube guru that is basically just trying to fill your brain with nonsense. And I'm still actively doing it today. We average 100 million monthly views every single month.

And we've been doing that for about the past 5 years. So, Johnny is going to ask me some questions about YouTube, and let's do it. >> go. Question number one. Is YouTube actually saturated or are most people just approaching it wrong? >> That's a good question. So, saturation is something that every YouTube creator talks about, and they say, "Oh, my niche is saturated." And, "Oh, there's too many people making these videos." And, "Oh, there's this.

There's that." But yet, somehow, certain creators figure out a way to break [music] out of that saturation. So, it's not that the niche is saturated, it's more so that you don't know how to break out of the saturation. To be different enough to actually be seen amongst the crowd of competition. That is what you should be focusing on and asking yourself. In fact, I think a saturated niche is a incredible place to be because it proves that there is demand for viewership in that category of content.

So, if anything, a saturated niche is what you want [music] to be in. Because if you go into a space that is not saturated and no one's [music] posting videos and no one's really talking about it, it's arguably going to be more difficult to grow in that space because no one even knows about it. Minecraft. Back in 2012 when I started, Minecraft was very saturated. In fact, Minecraft was the biggest game on YouTube. It had the most amount of videos, the most amount of creators, but I kind of thought to myself, think of it this way.

If we keep uploading Minecraft videos, all of these creators [music] combined, the market of the game is going to get bigger and just keep growing. And that's exactly what happened. From 2013 to 2014 to 2015 to 2016, the game kept getting larger every single year, selling more copies, attracting more fans, attracting more views. So, if anything, I think being in a saturated niche is probably one of your best opportunities.

Question number two. If you were starting a gaming channel from zero in 2026, how would you choose the right niche? [music] That's a good question. This is mainly about market decision, right? Like, what market do you want to be in? I think the first thing it starts with is it needs to be a game that you know. It needs to be a game that you like. Like, if you don't like playing [music] Fortnite, but everyone is playing Fortnite, don't start a Fortnite channel.

You should start a game that you enjoy. But on the flip side, you should pick a game that has a lot of attention on YouTube. Because some games are really entertaining to film, and other games are really entertaining to play. A great example of this would be World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is one of the biggest [music] games in the entire world. However, if you look up World of Warcraft on YouTube, you'll notice that a lot of videos struggle to get past [music] a million views because a lot of people are not watching this game, instead they're playing it.

So, games like Minecraft, GTA, Roblox, Fortnite, a lot of these games are enjoyed watching the experience of someone else play. So, you want to pick a game like that. [music] But you also want to pick a game that you enjoy. You want to pick a game that you're also good at. Now, of course, over time, as you post more videos, you'll get better at the game. When I first started playing Minecraft and recording it, I was not very good.

I probably played the game for about a year before I started my YouTube channel. And then over time, as I posted hundreds of videos, I'm better at the game. And eventually, people saw me as an expert in the game when it comes to knowledge and survival and all the different things you have to do in the game. So, over time, that will grow because if you think about it, a lot of people watch gaming creators because there's some sort of professionalism into how they play.

A great example of this would be Ninja when he plays Fortnite. He was like a pro gamer. People watched him because he was so freaking good, and they wanted to see his crazy moves and how he would pull off 30 kills [music] in one game. That's what you want to focus on. Question number three. Why do most gaming channels fail? Is it because they focus on the game, or is it because they focus on the creator? That's a really good question.

We're talking about the character problem. That's actually one of the biggest mistakes [music] that I made in my gaming career as a YouTuber, and one of the things I decided to start pivoting. Because as a gaming creator, you have two things you have to balance. The first thing is the game, right? Like, playing the game, showcasing cool things in the game, maybe showing off those Easter eggs. But the other thing you have to balance is your personality.

Because as a YouTube content creator, you are filming videos about you playing the game. Now, the thing is, I am a big believer that people will stick around for you and not for the game. If you make your entire YouTube channel specifically about the game, once the game dies, your channel is dead. That's a big problem. Basically, what you want to do is you want to get a lot of people to click on your video, and they need to enjoy an experience with you playing the game, but at the [music] same time, they need to enjoy hanging out with you and your personality even more.

Now, again, this is something that is built through repetition. In our Blueprint University course, which is a free 11-hour course on our website, basically explaining to you how to start a YouTube channel, how to think of video ideas, titles, thumbnails, editing, filming your video, your personality, all of these things. That is on our website. I would highly recommend going to watch that because we dive very deep on what it means to be a really good creator in terms of that sense.

[music] But the biggest thing you have to understand is repetition is what is going to get you there. If you go back and you look at any YouTuber's channel, you can look at my channel. You can look at Mr. Beast. [music] Go look at some of their first couple videos, and then look at his 50th [music] video, his 100th video, his 200th video. You can see the evolution of their personality shining over time. [music] So, personality is one of those things that takes time to grow, to build, to mold, and to figure out your brand, your style, and what you're actually going to be like as a creator.

But the thing is, personality is significantly stronger. People connect with people. People don't connect with games, especially on YouTube. Now, when you're playing a game, you connect with the game. But when you're watching someone play the game, you're connecting with the human playing the game, not the actual game itself. You see what I mean? So, then you're able to put yourself in a position to where if something happens to this video game, like the game dies, you still have an audience of maybe 100,000 people that love you for being yourself.

So, then when you transition to a new game, everyone comes with you, and you can keep [music] your audience. Because one of the biggest things I learned about YouTube, if you want to get to the big numbers like 10 million subscribers, YouTube is a game of momentum. So, if you can get to 100,000 subscribers, that's [music] great. That's awesome. But now you have to keep those 100,000 people entertained, and you have to keep them watching every single day or every single week when you post new videos.

Because otherwise, if you get to 100,000 subscribers, but your videos are getting no views, you have no audience, my friend. You have no personality. Your audience is not loyal to you. It's kind of like when your mom is talking to you and it just goes through one ear and out the other. You don't want that to happen to your audience. They need to listen to you, trust you, and like you as a person. So, that's something you need to build over time.

It takes a lot of effort. It takes a lot of trust. It takes a lot of communication. And that's something we talk about very deeply inside Blueprint University. So, I highly recommend checking that out. Link in the top of the description. Another thing I recommend checking out is if you actually want to work one-on-one with my team, and we can help you diagnose this process along with many other problems you're going to have throughout your YouTube career, we actually offer more of a one-on-one solution where we can actually help you become a better creator.

That is called Blueprint Premium. That is also in the description. You can actually work with me directly and my team directly to fix those things. So, highly, highly recommend that as well. >> Question number four. Why do most gaming creators fail before they even get traction? Is it simply because they choose the wrong format to focus on, or is it because they're focusing on all formats at the same time? >> I think it's a mixture of both.

Picking the right format is very important. When I say format, I mean long-form live streaming or short-form content. You want to pick the right format. But you also don't want to do all of them. Because if you do all of them, you spread yourself thin. And if you do all of them, they all require different types of audiences. People that watch long-form videos might watch live streams, but people that watch long-form videos might ever never watch short-form videos.

So, sometimes they're different audiences, and if you try to grow for multiple audiences at once, you're probably not going to get very much traction. And I know a lot of creators that are like, "Well, what if I make a long-form video? And then what if I clip my long-form video into shorts? And then what if that short takes off and gets 10 million views? And that's going to funnel back to my long-form video. Yes. [music] In reality, that plan sounds great.

When you actually try to accomplish it, that's not really what happens. I've made hundreds of shorts throughout my career. I've made thousands of long-form videos. It doesn't work that way. It really doesn't. I mean, maybe it works that way. You know, I got a good friend that does 200 million views a month on short-form content, and he's struggling to grow long-form. He gets 200 million people watching him every month, and he can't grow his long-form.

Like, that doesn't really make any sense, right? So, they're two different types of content, they're different types of audiences. Let's say you have a friend that only likes watching movies. What happens when you try to get that friend to watch a TV show of six different [music] seasons? It's one of those things where people just enjoy different things, simple as that. But, my answer to you is First thing you want to do is you want to figure out what format is everyone [music] doing in this game.

So, if you pick a game, and everyone's doing live streaming, it might be a smart idea to do some live streaming. But, the thing is, I'm a big believer that live streaming and long-form go hand in hand, right? So, I call it two L's, live streaming long-form. Those are two things I would put together. However, I would not put together long-form and short-form, [music] totally different styles of content. Now, when you start to grow your channel, and your channel gets big, and you have enough money to hire an editor, then [music] I think it makes sense to diversify and start doing short-form and start doing other content.

Or starting with short-form and then transitioning to long-form in the future. [music] It kind of just depends on how you want to do it, but the big thing is just focus. Perfect one format of content. So, if you want to start with long-form, just do long-form. That's [music] it. And then, once you start making some money, once you start getting an audience of, you know, 50,000, maybe 100,000 people, then you can diversify [music] into other opportunities.

The problem with creators that are struggling to grow is their focus is too split, and it's so incredibly hard to grow a channel when you're focusing on multiple things at once. It's already hard enough to be a creator as it is, period, and you don't need to split your focus. When I started YouTube, the only thing I did was long-form content. That's it. Now, fast forward 14 years later, the only thing I do is long-form content.

I don't do anything else. I don't really make short. Do I have shorts on my channel? Yes. Do we focus on them? No. I have not filmed a short-form video in probably three or four months. We don't really focus on them. We don't do live streams. All we do is long-form. That's it. That's what I've been doing for 14 [music] years. We are incredibly focused on long-form because we think it's the best opportunity for us, and we've also built our entire team and everything we do around long-form [music] content.

If you can't focus, you ain't going to grow. Question number five. How should gaming creators think about collabing with other gaming creators? [music] Is this something they're underestimating or overestimating? Definitely underestimating. I think collaborations are incredible for so many different reasons. I mean, first off, if you can collab with someone, obviously, you guys are kind of mixing your audiences. So, if you have 20,000 subscribers, and you collaborate with a guy that has 30,000, right?

Like, you're getting a lot of growth from that. Both of you guys are getting a lot of growth from that. On top of that, the second reason is that now you have someone to film content with. And typically, content is better when you have multiple personalities in it. Think of your YouTube content like a movie. When's the last time you watched a movie and there was only one person in the entire film? I can't think of a film.

I mean, I'm sure there's a couple movies out there, but every single movie has multiple characters, it has multiple personalities. So, if you can collaborate with people, you are mixing multiple personalities and multiple people into your videos, which ultimately makes your videos better. And then, the third reason is once you start collaborating with creators in your niche, you start to build friendships, which is really, really exciting because then you can share things with this creator, and you could be like, "Hey, did this thumbnail work for you?" Or, "Hey, what was your retention on that video?

I saw you post this video last week, it went viral. Why was your retention so good? Like, what do you think you did to make your retention so good?" So, you start to establish these relationships with multiple creators, and you eventually form this little circle group. And this is exactly what I did. Some of my best friends and closest friends I have today are very big content creators, and we're constantly bouncing off ideas with each other.

We're constantly saying like, "Hey, check this out." Or, "Hey, what did you do with this editor guy?" Or, "What did you do with this thumbnail?" Or, "What did you do with this?" You know, you kind of form a little ecosystem of friendships, but also people that you can rely on for expertise and [music] advice. And growing with people, growing together, is one of the most exciting ways to grow a YouTube channel, in my opinion.

So, I think collaborating is a very good thing you can focus on. I would just say my little bit of advice is don't ever collaborate with someone specifically just to get views because a lot of creators nowadays, they want [music] friendships, they want relationships. I don't collab with people just to get views. I collaborate with people that I enjoy being around. I don't really care [music] how many views they get. Typically, most of the time, I'm actually collaborating with people that are smaller than me [music] instead of bigger because typically, the bigger guys have more demands, they have more this, more of that, whatever it is.

So, it's easier for me to just collaborate with someone smaller, and even though he might [music] bring less to the table, it's a more exciting relationship, and it's more fun. That's kind of where I stand. I think everyone should focus [music] on collaborations. I think collaborations is what makes the world go round. You guys better leave a like on this video cuz I'm spitting some fire here. I guarantee you you're not going to get YouTube advice like this anywhere else. >> What are the real signals that tell you a gaming channel is finally starting to work?

And how would you know that it's time to stop experimenting and just go all in? Well, to answer the second part of the question, you should go all in when you start. If you're not going to go all in, you ain't ever going to make anything out of this. There's no like, "Oh, I'm going to like kind of work on it." Like, no, you have to go all in. Now, how do you know when your channel's actually starting to work? I mean, the simple answer is the numbers, right?

Like, you're getting more views, you're making some money, you're getting some subscriber growth. Now, one of the big things that I encourage small creators to focus on, and this is something we talk about in Blueprint Premium whenever I'm coaching a bunch of our creators, is I talk about measuring your growth in percentages instead of just looking at the numbers. Let's say you go from 100 subscribers to 1,000 subscribers.

That's a pretty decent jump, but that's actually like a 10x growth. That's like 100 plus percent growth. Like, that is insane, right? Now, a lot of creators look at that, and they'll be like, "Man, I only have 1,000 subscribers. Like, that sucks. Like, I only have 1,000 subscribers." But, do you realize how much you just grew? Like, that is a insane amount of growth, right? So, you really want to measure things in percentages, in my opinion, cuz it makes you feel like things are actually moving.

Because as a content creator, sometimes things are just so slow. You post a video, it gets two views. [music] You post a video, it gets three views. You post a video, it gets two views. You post another video, it gets six views. Yeah! Six views. And then, you post another video, it gets three views. I know the feeling. That's how exactly how it was when I started my YouTube channel. I remember the day after I posted like 20 or 30 videos, I finally got a video that got 50 views, and I was like, "Yo, this is insane.

This video has 50 views. I don't even know 50 people. Like, this is crazy." I think you'll know when it's working, obviously. Like, you'll see the viewership go up, you'll see the subscribers, [music] you'll start to get that first YouTube check. I remember my first YouTube check was like 156 bucks, um, and it was a really cool to see that come in the mail. And I think the other thing is like, you also have to give things time.

A lot of creators, they work hard at something for six months, and then they're like, "It's not working." Like, bro, it took me three and a half years to get my first viral video. after like 574 uploads of long-form content. So, I think you need to adjust your expectations of how difficult something is going to be because if you post 100 videos, and you expect one of them to go viral, you need to 5x [music] that expectation.

You need to post 500 videos, 600, 700 videos before you expect one to go viral. That's how difficult it is to be a YouTuber. [music] I'm just being realistic. Now, you might get lucky. You might hit a trend perfectly, and you might post 82 videos, and then one goes viral, maybe. It's certainly possible. I'm just explaining to you what happened to me and what happened to all of my other creator friends. Typically, we posted anywhere from between, uh, 400 to 800 videos before we got our first video to a million [music] views.

And this is all long-form videos. I'm not talking about shorts, straight long-form, 20 to 30-minute videos. And that is also [music] with constant iteration of thumbnails, titles, intros, improvement on personality, advancements on editing, better filming [music] techniques, all of the above. We're constantly improving the content. So, it's one of those things where it takes time. You got to adjust your expectations.

Usually, when you try to do something really cool in life, it's usually 10 times harder than whatever you think it is. So, yeah, that's kind of my spiel. Again, if you guys want to join Blueprint, check out the link in the description. We have a link to our free courses that you can go check out on our website, and we have a link to coaching where you can actually work with my team, and we can help you grow. [music] So, subscribe.

We'll see you next week.