Content Production Strategies Influencing Subscriber Growth on YouTube Channels

Abstract

The study titled “Content Production Strategies Influencing Subscriber Growth on YouTube Channels” aims to explore content production strategies that effectively increase subscriber numbers. This qualitative research employed in-depth interviews with five YouTubers, each with over 200,000 subscribers, who produce content in lifestyle, vlogging, and game show categories. Data collection focused on questions aligned with relevant concepts and theories by analyzing the results through the lens of the Diffusion of Innovations theory, storytelling concepts, brand-building concepts, engagement concepts, content marketing concepts, and social media concepts. The research findings indicate that the key content strategies influencing an increase in YouTube subscribers can be summarized as follows: 1) establishing a distinct identity or character for the creator or channel to enhance audience familiarity, 2) producing easily accessible content on a consistent schedule to maintain continuous viewer engagement, 3) designing compelling thumbnails and creating attention-grabbing video titles as an initial hook for viewers, 4) analyzing audience data through YouTube’s internal analytics to understand viewer behavior and preferences for more targeted content development, 5) fostering interaction with viewers by responding to comments and building a community, thereby encouraging loyalty and long-term following, and 6) utilizing hashtags (#) and linking with other platforms to broaden visibility and attract new audiences. The findings from this study provide actionable insights for developing content strategies that lead to success on YouTube. Furthermore, they serve as a foundational reference for further studies on content production strategies across other digital platforms.