1. Start from proof, not a blank page
Brainstorming from nothing gives you ideas you like. Proof gives you ideas viewers already chose. The strongest proof is a video in your niche that beat its own channel’s usual views by three times or more: an outlier. Our guide to finding outlier videos on YouTube shows how to spot them, step by step.
Proof hides in a few other places too:
- Your own best videos. The ones that beat your usual deserve a follow-up, a newer version or a remake.
- Comments. The questions viewers keep asking under your videos, and under your niche’s biggest ones, are titles waiting to be written.
- News in your niche. A new tool, update or price change that many channels start covering at the same time.
2. Check that people search for it
Type the words of your idea into YouTube’s search box and read the suggestions that drop down. They come from what people actually type. A simple rule: if most of the ten suggestions keep your words, people search for it. If none do, your words aren’t your viewers’ words, so try saying it the way they would.
Example: when we checked, “telegram bot tutorial” brought up ten suggestions, and nine of them kept all three words: people search for it. A phrase nobody types brings up few suggestions, or suggestions for something else.
Search isn’t the only way videos get found, but an idea people search for keeps bringing in views long after its first week.
3. Check the timing
Some ideas are evergreen: people search for them all year. Others have a window. When a new tool or update lands, the first videos on it get the views, and the later ones fight a crowd. Before you film, count how many channels in your niche covered the idea in the last two weeks:
- A few, and more each week: good timing. Make it now.
- None at all: either you’re early or nobody wants it. Step 2 tells you which.
- Dozens: you’re late, unless your video adds something the others don’t.
4. Check that a channel your size did it
A huge channel’s outlier can ride its reach: its viewers would have watched almost anything it posted. Look for a channel near your size that also beat its usual with the idea. If one did, the idea works for channels like yours, not only for the biggest.
5. Pick the one you haven’t made lately
If your viewers saw the same idea from you last month, many will skip it. Choose the strongest idea you haven’t made in the last few weeks, or a new angle on one that worked: a newer version, a harder test, a different result.
Turn the idea into a video people click
- Write several titles for the same idea, each a different way in: the result, a question, a how-to. Keep the promise the same in all of them, then pick the one that sounds like you.
- Make the thumbnail about one thing, readable at a glance on a phone. YouTube recommends 1280 × 720 pixels.
- Put the words people search for in the title and in the first line of the description.
- Know the views to expect, so you can tell afterwards whether it worked. Our guide to how many views is good on YouTube shows how to judge them against your usual.
A quick checklist
| Question | Good sign |
|---|---|
| Did videos on this idea beat their channel’s usual? | 3x or more, on more than one channel |
| Do people search for it? | Most of YouTube’s suggestions keep your words |
| Is the timing right? | A few channels on it lately, not dozens |
| Did a channel your size do it? | Yes, above its own usual |
| Have you made it lately? | No |
Let MakeThisNext run the checks
MakeThisNext runs these checks every morning on the channels in your niche and picks one video idea for you to make, with five titles, a thumbnail, the description and tags, and the views to expect by day.
Questions
How do YouTubers come up with video ideas?
Most work from proof rather than a blank page: what’s beating channels’ usual views in their niche, what viewers ask in the comments, and what did well on their own channel before.
What kind of YouTube videos get the most views?
Videos with one clear promise that viewers already want: a result shown, a problem solved, a question answered. Which subjects carry that promise depends on your niche, which is why proof from your niche beats any list of ideas.
Is it OK to use someone else’s video idea?
Yes. Nobody owns an idea; a creator’s script, footage and thumbnail are theirs. Make your own version, with your example and your result.
How many video ideas should I have ready?
Three to five checked ideas is plenty. Ideas go stale as other channels cover them, so run the checks again before each video.