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One of the things I started doing when I had more free time working from home was setting up a YouTube channel (as all millennials do). Sadly however the reality of getting to 1000 subscribers was a lot more difficult than I was led to believe.
On average it takes 15.5 months to get to 1000 subscribers on YouTube. This will consist of uploading 164 videos. These videos will need to target keywords that have enough traffic to bring in views but are not too competitive that you cannot rank for these search terms.
Some channels can get to 100 subscribers faster at 9 months with others taking 22 months or longer to hit the 1000 subscriber threshold.
So why does it take so long to get to 1000 subscribers and beyond? And is there anything you can do to speed up the process of getting to 1000 subscribers? Keep reading to find out more.
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How long does it take to get to 1000 subscribers on Youtube?
1000 subscribers are the golden number for a lot of us budding YouTubers. After all, it is (presently) the point at which we can start applying for monetization and is the point in which YouTube supposedly starts getting easier.
I mean let’s face it, only 0.4% of channels on YouTube get all the views
On top of this, it shows us the proof of concept that our YouTube channel actually works and people are genuinely interested in what we have to say.
Now through a lot of research and painful rejection I’ve managed to find out all the numbers you need to help get to 1000 subscribers:
- On average it takes uploading video consistently for 15.5 months to get to 1000 subscribers (source: Vid IQ)
- Another study by Tubebuddy found that it takes the average YouTuber 164 videos to hit 1000 subscribers – this would work out to around 3 videos per week for a year straight
- According to data from Tubefilter it can take 22 months to get to 1000 subscribers on YouTube.
- A good average for most people would be between one and two years to build up your first 1000 subscribers uploading consistently.
How long will it take me to get to 100 subscribers?
I know what your thinking, you’ve been at it for a year or two straight and have barely crossed the 100 subscriber mark so how are these numbers realistic to hit 1000 subscribers.
The truth is that whilst these numbers are good ballparks, they do not take into consideration the true nature of 1000 subscribers.
You see a lot of these results for hitting 1000 subscribers come from people who have confirmation bias – they have hit 1000 subscribers in that timeframe and so believe that this is possible.
This will skew the results and sometimes make hitting 1000 subscribers seem possible a lot earlier than it is.
On top of this, the timelines we laid out earlier don’t take into account the number of mistakes you will make. YouTube requires you to acquire several different skills along the way and so you need to learn how to do things from thumbnail to active SEO.
I think then, the following statement should be a mantra you should follow:
HItting 1000 subscribers on YouTube will be possible for most channels so long as the channel:
- Uploads 164 videos on a regular schedule ( at least once per week)
- These 164 videos are targeted at search terms that are searchable
- These search terms are not too competitive with competitors to go after
- Your channel is not in a niche that is too competitive
- You publish on a constant basis for a year or two
- You use effective thumbnails and titles to get the readers’ attention.
Once you have uploaded 164 videos over the space of two years following all of these methods then it might be worth seeking help to further grow your YouTube channel.
Why it’s important to have realistic expectations
So I know what your thinking, now you’ve followed all the tips I’ve laid out above and are still not getting 1000 subscribers.
In times like this I like to watch Roberto Blake’s video ( linked below) talking all about some of the largest YouTubers on the platform and how after 100 videos they were nowhere near where they are now:
- Mr. Beast uploaded 100 videos to get to 730 subscribers
- MKBHD uploaded 100 videos to get to 74 subscribers
It takes a lot of quantity out there to get to the quality you want to be at and so if you are still getting frustrated, remember that 99% of the people on YouTube who fail to hit 1000 subscribers give up too early.
How to improve your chances of hitting 1000 subscribers?
So how can you dramatically increase your chances of hitting 1000 subscribers? I found that doing the following worked for me:
Look at the competition
One of the best things you can do to increase your chances of success is to look at similar YouTube channels to yourself.
For example, let’s say you are in the knitting niche, have a look at 5 or 6 other knitting channels.
Ideally, try to find channels that have 50,000 subscribers or less as these channels will have enough videos on them but won’t have the advantage of a massive audience to make whatever content they push out an automatic success.
You will then want to search their channels for their most popular videos that have been uploaded in the past couple of months or so and see if you can make a video that will improve upon what they have done.
Ask your viewers to subscribe early on
So this is a challenge I faced in my first few videos.
I thought that asking my viewers to subscribe at the end of the video would be enough to get their attention.
The truth is around 90% of your subscribers will drop off during the course of your video.
As such then it’s important to get your viewers to subscribe earlier on.
The best way to do this would be:
- Have subscribe animations laced through the start of your video
- Have a subscribe tile in the bottom right-hand corner of your video
- After the first point in the content of your video, ask your viewers to subscribe then
Use autosuggest to your advantage
Another trick that not enough people use in my opinion is using the autosuggest feature on YouTube.
A lot of us try to think that we know what our audience would be interested in and the types of videos that they would be interested in.
Why make things hard on yourself and not just see what people are searching for.
This will give you direct insight into the mind of your viewers streamlining the process of coming up with videos that people will be interested in.
Ensure you have strong titles and thumbnails
You can have the best video in the world but if no one is clicking on them or reading your titles then you are going to be in trouble.
Good thumbnails need to be eye-catching and full of color, take a solid look at the content you post and your thumbnails, if you don’t think it would stand out on a screen then avoid them
If you have text on your thumbnail ensure that it is relevant.
For my thumbnails, I like to use Canva which has a bunch of templated but also allows you to adjust things like brightness contrast and glow, really giving your thumbnail the added pop it needs. You can check out my thumbnails below which perform quite well:
Now thumbnails are nothing without catchy titles, so ensure that your title contains the keywords you are going after, as well as a caption on the end to entice people to read more.
Now ensure that you are enticing people and not just using clickbait to get them to click on your video – if you promise your viewers something that is not delivered on in the video you will have a lot of dislikes.
Think of fan-made movie trailers on YouTube that positions themselves as the official trailer.
Consider tools
After a year or two of following the steps laid out above you should have hit 1000 subscribers.
That being said there will be some outliers who unfortunately just struggle with their channels for longer than we would all hope.
If this is you, you might consider looking into tools like Tubebuddy or vid IQ.
both of which do the same things that you can do on YouTube but just give you more data to go after.
For example, you can find keywords to go after by using the autosuggest feature on YouTube however Tubebuddy and Vid IQ both give you an idea of how competitive the search terms are using their algorithms.
If you are already using tools like this (and let’s face it, a lot of you will be – they are super popular) then consider investing in a coach.
Now I hate fake gurus as much as the next of you, with a lot of people on YouTube trying to sell you the fake dream of building massive YouTube channels when they have only created one channel themselves.
That being said there are a few good guys out there.
First I would recommend Roberto Blake who has been in the YouTube game for a while and offers a few different services on his site you can check out here – bear in mind that I’m not an affiliate just want to spread some love to the guy who helps me a lot.
Seconds I would recommend the guys over at income school/channel makers whose course, project 24 is consistently being updated with the latest knowledge around succeeding in youtube.
Consider gear
So there is a reason I put this last.
Gear should be one of the last things you look to invest in on your Youtube journey with all the other points being where I would first start.
That being said if you have a small base of subscribers that is just not growing this could be due to production issues such as poor audio quality or camera quality that may in fact be holding your channel back.
The two main things I would invest in them regardless of your studio or where you should video from would be lighting, cameras, and a microphone.
- For lighting options, you can check out my recommended gear page which goes into more details as to why I recommend the lights I do.
- For a camera, I have just invested in the Sony A6400 (link takes you to Amazon) which make a night and day difference when compared to shooting Youtube video from my phone giving the appearance of a much more polished Youtube channel
- For audio, I would invest in the Blue Yeti Microphone ( link takes you to Amazon) which is the industry STandard used for youtube which can be used for multiple purposes.
How long does it take to grow further than 1000 subscribers?
So If you’ve hit 1000 subscribers ( you lucky devil you) then the next step on the horizon will be getting to 10,000, 100,000, and 1,000,000 subscribers.
To help put this in perspective I’ve put together a table below:
| Number of subscribers | Number of videos | Time if posting 3 times per week |
| 1 | 5 | 2 weeks |
| 10 | 25 | 5 weeks |
| 100 | 100 | 10 weeks |
| 1000 | 164 | 1 year |
| 10000 | 418 | 5 years |
| 100,000 | 1171 | 7 years |
| 1,000,000 | 3873 | 10 years |
Views to subscriber ratio
Now one of the things that a lot of the stats don’t take into consideration is the view to subscriber ratio.
Now, this can vary drastically depending on the channel that you are on but a good rule of thumb to aim for is around 8% of views convert into subscribers.
This sounds ideal, but once again to ensure you set yourself realistic expectations you will want to look at a ratio much lower than this.
Once again to help I’ve put these on a table
| View to subscriber percentage | Subscribers per 100 views | How many views needed to get to 1000 subscribers |
| 0.1% | 0 | 1,000,000 |
| 1% | 1 | 100,000 |
| 5% | 5 | 20,000 |
| 10% | 10 | 10,000 |
Now whilst YouTube is a fantastic option for a lot of you I can appreciate it is incredibly difficult so if you are interested in other ways to make money when working remotely check out my list of over 100 jobs you can do working from home.
Finally, a lot of people reading my blog want to know what products I recommend for a home office/remote working. You can find out my recommendations here and learn how I make money whilst working remotely on the side here.