What YouTube data teaches us
Outliers, niches, titles, thumbnails: analyses drawn from millions of videos, and how to use them.
11 min read
The fastest-growing YouTube niches right now (real subscriber data)
We tracked the subscriber count of 2,642 English YouTube channels day by day to see which niches are actually growing in late 2026: growth rate, share of channels growing 10%+ a month, RPM, and real channels exploding in each niche.
Read the article10 min read
How long should a YouTube video be? Data from 63,000 videos
The best YouTube video length in 2026, from 63,480 recent videos by 3,232 English channels: views, outlier rate and million-view videos for every length from 1 minute to 2 hours, by channel size and niche.
5 min read
YouTube Shorts vs long videos: which grows a small channel faster?
Shorts or long videos? Data from nearly 84,000 videos and 2,600 small channels: median views, viral rate and monthly subscriber growth for Shorts-only, mixed and long-only channels.
7 min read
Best time to post on YouTube in 2026: what 100,000 videos actually show
We compared 102,000 English long-form videos and 107,000 Shorts against their own channel's normal views. The best day, the best hour, and why timing matters far less than you've been told.
13 min read
How to get your first 1,000 subscribers on YouTube in 2026 (a data-backed plan)
A step-by-step plan to get your first 1,000 YouTube subscribers, built on data from 8,800 videos of small channels: which niches let newcomers break out, which video lengths work, how to find proven ideas, and the 12 mistakes that keep channels stuck at 100 subscribers.
15 min read
YouTube Partner Program requirements in 2026: the complete guide to getting monetized
Every YouTube Partner Program requirement in 2026: the two tiers (500 and 1,000 subscribers), watch hours vs Shorts views, the policies that get channels rejected, how long review takes, what you earn once accepted, and a realistic plan to get there.