It’s not unusual to see YouTube or Twitch creators who have released content for years and still have only a few thousand followers, while a channel with very similar content can seemingly explode overnight. YouTuberLudwigwas curious about this phenomenon and wanted to see if the secret behind creating a successful channel is based more on luck or skill.
Building a thriving channel on YouTube or Twitch is a very appealing idea for millions of people around the world. It is an opportunity for people who don’t necessarily have talent in a traditional medium to gain a form of celebrity and financial stability. Yet it’s easy for people to dismiss the success ofcreators like Pokimane, Ludwig, or xQc as pure luck, without taking into account the long work hours spent both on and off the camera learning about and perfecting their craft.
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Obviously, Ludwig couldn’t use his name, voice, or face on the new channel, called Online Lore. He hired a voice actor from Fiverr to read the script he had written and then had an editor put the video together. His chosen subject was fellow content creator,Twitch streamer Mizkif. He then promoted the new video on Mizkif’s subreddit and visited the streamer’s channel to spam the video’s link. Ludwig then grabbed Mizkif’s attention with a $50 donation and an ego-stroking message that prompted Mizkif to watch the video during his stream. Mizkif’s response was, “You don’t even have other videos, dude… You know what you’re doing.” He then shared the video’s link, his chat went nuts, and Ludwig’s video went from 22 views to over 1,000 within just a few minutes.
The results ofLudwig’s experiment on YouTubeare not one size fits all. There is a difference between skill and experience, and Ludwig certainly relied on the skills gained from years of experience to ensure that the video he posted was a success. But most people don’t come to the table with innate skill or prior experience. There’s also the question of the video’s content, which specifically targeted the ego of a content creator and used that to propel the view count. A wily move, no doubt, but what about people who want to stream games and not make documentary-style videos that can grab the subject’s attention to gain views? Either way, people looking to get started onYouTubeor Twitch can perhaps use some of the information in Ludwig’s Online Lore video to gain pointers on how to be successful.
