I BLEW UP a YouTube Channel in 7 Days to Prove it's NOT Luck

This video chronicles the creation of a new YouTube Shorts channel with the ambitious goal of going viral within seven days. The creator strategically selects a niche focused on SpongeBob fan theories, leveraging AI voiceovers to create mini-episodes. They emphasize the importance of an established YouTube account, a relevant channel name like "Bikini Bottom Stories," and quickly designed channel assets. The process highlights the iterative nature of content creation, starting with a script based on TikTok trends, generating AI voiceovers, sourcing clips from TikTok and YouTube, and finally adding sound effects and captions, a process that took under two hours for the first short.

The initial short garnered over 12,000 views and 100 subscribers in its first 24 hours, exceeding expectations and demonstrating the effectiveness of unique content. The creator advises patience, allowing the first short time to gain traction before uploading the second, a strategy learned from previous successes. The second short, focusing on the popular Krabby Patty formula and featuring a longer runtime (49 seconds) and a more engaging hook, showed significantly stronger performance, experiencing exponential growth and reaching over 43,000 views by day 12.

Despite the promising initial success, the channel encountered a setback when the second short received an age restriction, drastically halting its growth and forcing it into the YouTube Kids category. Although the creator appealed the decision, it was rejected, ultimately limiting the second short's reach to over 200,000 views. The creator concludes that while this is a substantial number, it fell short of their personal goal of millions of views, framing the experience as a valuable learning opportunity about niche selection, retention techniques, and the critical importance of clearly denoting content intended for or potentially misconstrued as for children.

• The creator aims to prove that going viral on YouTube Shorts is achievable through strategy, not luck, by launching a new channel and documenting its growth over seven days.
• The chosen niche is SpongeBob fan theories, utilizing AI voiceovers to create short-form episodes, with the goal of appealing to fans and achieving virality.
• Key steps in content creation include scriptwriting based on existing trends, generating AI voiceovers, sourcing video clips from platforms like TikTok and YouTube, editing with transitions and sound effects, and adding captions.
• The first short garnered over 12,000 views and 100 subscribers within 24 hours, with a high average view duration of 36 seconds on a 41-second video, demonstrating initial success.
• A critical setback occurred when the second short received an age restriction, limiting its reach to YouTube Kids and causing its performance to flatline, despite initially showing exponential growth and reaching over 200,000 views.

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Niche Selection: SpongeBob Fan Theories [00:14]

• The creator identifies SpongeBob fan theories as a chosen niche, noting existing viral content on platforms like TikTok.
• Research on YouTube indicates demand for both long-form and short-form content within this niche.
• The strategy involves combining existing viral fan theories with AI-generated SpongeBob voiceovers to create unique mini-episodes.
• This approach is informed by previous success using AI voiceovers for a different niche.

I think we can create our own Niche which is taking the existing viral fan theories and then using AI voiceovers of SpongeBob to create our own mini episodes and this is all an efforts to entertain fans to make us go viral.

Channel Setup and Branding [01:18]

• An existing, aged YouTube channel is preferred for its potential to gain views, with a minimum age of one week being essential.
• The channel is renamed "Bikini Bottom Stories" to align with the SpongeBob theme.
• Channel assets, including a banner and profile picture, are created quickly, aiming for a 15-minute turnaround.
• The creator emphasizes that starting from zero is a humbling experience and that success is built on knowledge and experimentation, not special tricks.

Don't think I have some special tricks that I don't tell you about this whole thing of making money from YouTube shorts is on a fair playing Ground it's just whether you have the experience and knowledge to grow your channel and you can only gain this by trying different experiments just like this.

First Short Creation and Upload [02:34]

• The process of creating the first short involves writing a script based on a TikTok fan theory, adapting it to SpongeBob's perspective.
• Video editing includes generating an AI SpongeBob voiceover, sourcing clips from TikTok (noted as underrated for faceless content), cutting clips, adding SpongeBob-style transitions, sound effects, and captions.
• This entire process took just under 2 hours, acknowledged as a long time but necessary for a new niche and first short.
• Uploading involves a relevant title, description with "# shorts," marking content as not made for kids, and adding relevant tags.

I wrote my script by downloading a script from a fan theory that I found on Tik Tok and this formed the basis of my script I had to be creative though because it had to be written in SpongeBob's perspective.

Day 2: Initial Performance Analysis [03:59]

• The first short achieved over 12,000 views in the first 24 hours, considered a best-case scenario.
• Over 100 subscribers were gained from these views, described as an average rate for unique content.
• The creator advises patience and suggests waiting for a short to "flatline" in views before uploading the next to maximize reach.
• This strategy of letting shorts "breathe" is a key aspect of their private coaching program.

We got just over 12,000 views which is the best case scenario for the first 24 hours on your first sh we still can't see our retention though because they come in after being live for 24 hours but more importantly we got over 100 subscribers from just 12,000 views which is actually average.

Day 3 & 6: Continued Performance and Second Short Creation [05:42]

• By day 3, the first short reached 16,000 views and continued to perform well, indicating no need to upload a second short yet.
• High retention was observed, with an average duration of 36 seconds on a 41-second short. The creator aims to create longer shorts in the future (closer to 59 seconds) to increase this metric.
• By day 6, the first short had flatlined, prompting the creation of the second short.
• The second script, focusing on the Krabby Patty formula, took just over 15 minutes to create.
• Editing for the second short was faster, completed in 1 hour and 30 minutes, using clips sourced from YouTube for specific episode scenes.

This metric alone is the sole reason why any YouTube short goes viral.

Second Short Creation and Upload Strategy [06:56]

• The creator expresses confidence in the second short, highlighting an engaging hook, a longer runtime (49 seconds), and a popular topic (Krabby Patty formula) as key factors for potential virality.
• The hook involves a believable dialogue segment that immediately confirms the fan theory's premise.
• The longer duration is intended to increase the average view duration (AVD) compared to the first short.
• The creator acknowledges the high stakes, as the entire video's success hinges on this upload.

Besides from the hook the short is much longer now it currently sits at 49 seconds and this will help us achieve a much higher avd compared to our first sh.

Day 7: Second Short Performance and Monetization Indicators [08:46]

• The second short is performing better than the first, with views starting to grow exponentially after the initial 24 hours.
• This breakout pattern is familiar from previous viral shorts, suggesting significant potential.
• While subscriber count is lower than the first short, the creator notes the potential for increased views to drive subscriber growth.
• The audience tab reveals a high percentage of viewers from the United States (50%), indicating a strong potential for a high RPM (Revenue Per Mille) upon monetization.

We got one push into the algorithm just like our first short but we are starting to see some great movement after the first 24 hours where our views are starting to go exponential.

Day 12: Continued Growth and Age Restriction Setback [10:28]

• The channel's work was completed within the first seven days, with the second short reaching 43,000 views and consistently being pushed into the algorithm.
• Exponential growth continued, with the average view duration increasing as views accumulated.
• A critical issue arose: the second short received an age restriction, forcing it into the YouTube Kids category and causing its views to flatline immediately after reaching 50,000.
• An appeal was submitted, as the content was not intended solely for children, drawing parallels to TikTok content for broader audiences.

The following day so our Channel just received the worst notification that you can receive on YouTube besides being completely removed and let me show you our content got an age restriction which means our content can only be found on YouTube Kids now.

Post-Appeal and Final Outcome [11:55]

• The appeal against the age restriction was rejected.
• The second short ultimately garnered over 200,000 views, but its reach was significantly hampered by the restriction.
• The creator considers this channel a "failure" in the context of their personal goal of millions of views within the first week, despite the substantial view count.
• Key lessons learned include the importance of clearly indicating content for children in the channel description to avoid age restrictions.

And honestly based on my intuition this was a short that had so much potential like getting that initial movement after the first 24 hours and then pushing on to over 50,000 views to me this channel has been a failure though some might consider 200,000 views in 7 days as a great result.