How to find YouTube video ideas

A good idea has three things at once. Demand: people already want it. Fit: it suits your channel and the people who watch you. Edge: you can make it better, clearer or more interesting than what's already out there.

Most creators only check the last one. They think of something they'd enjoy making, then hope people want it. Flip the order. Find demand first, then check fit and edge.

• Demand

  Question to ask

  Have videos on this topic beaten their channel's usual views?

  Where to check

  Outliers, search suggestions

• Fit

  Question to ask

  Would my current viewers click this?

  Where to check

  Your own best videos, comments

• Edge

  Question to ask

  Can I add something the existing videos miss?

  Where to check

  Comments under rival videos

An outlier is a video that got far more views than its channel normally gets. A channel that usually gets 3,000 views and suddenly gets 60,000 has found a topic, angle or package that people wanted.

Outliers are better proof than view counts alone. A big channel's video with a million views tells you the channel is big. A small channel's video with twenty times its normal views tells you the idea is strong.

1. 1

   List 10 to 20 channels in your niche

   Include channels your size and a bit bigger, not only the giants.

2. 2

   Find each channel's usual views

   Use the median views of recent videos, so one hit doesn't skew it.

3. 3

   Mark videos at 3× or more

   Those are the ideas worth studying.

4. 4

   Write down the pattern

   What was the topic, the angle and the promise in the title? That's what you borrow, never the video itself.

Read the full method in what outlier videos are and how to use them.

Type the start of a topic into YouTube's search bar and read the suggestions. They come from what people actually search for. Try adding words like "how to", "best", "vs", "for beginners" or "why" to see different kinds of questions.

Search ideas suit new channels well, because people find them without knowing you. They also keep bringing views for months.

Viewers tell you what they want. Look for comments that start with "Can you make…", "What about…", "How do you…" or "I still don't get…".

Do the same under popular videos in your niche. Questions the creator didn't answer are ready-made ideas, with an audience already waiting.

Your own hits are the safest source of ideas, because you know your viewers liked them. For each of your top videos, ask:

• What's the obvious part two?
• Can I do the same idea for a different group, place, budget or skill level?
• Which question did viewers ask in the comments?
• Can I go deeper on one moment people rewatched?

In YouTube Studio, sort your videos by views and by average view duration. A video that held attention well but got few impressions may deserve a new version with a stronger title and thumbnail.

News, launches, seasons and events bring short bursts of demand. They can give a small channel a big break, but only when the trend fits what you already make.

Watch for channels in your niche whose new videos are getting views much faster than usual. That's often the first sign a topic is taking off.

Forums, Reddit, Q&A sites and online communities are full of questions nobody has made a good video about. Look for questions that come up again and again, with long threads and no clear answer.

Many hits are two proven ideas joined together: a popular format with a topic from your niche. "I tried X for 30 days", "Cheap vs expensive", "Every X ranked" and "Beginner vs pro" are formats viewers already understand. Your niche gives them something new.

AI tools can give you dozens of ideas in seconds. On their own they're guesses. Treat them as a long list to check against real data: do videos on this topic actually beat their channel's usual views?

Once you have 10 to 20 ideas, score each from 1 to 5 on three questions, then make the highest total first.

1. 1

   Demand

   How strong is the proof? An idea with several outliers scores higher than one with a single search phrase.

2. 2

   Fit

   Would the people who already watch you click it? An idea far from your usual topics is a riskier bet.

3. 3

   Edge

   Can you add something new: a better explanation, a test, a story, real results?

Then do the final check: write the title and sketch the thumbnail. If you wouldn't click it yourself, the idea isn't ready. See how to write YouTube titles.

Good ideas come at random times. Keep one list, add to it whenever something comes up, and score it once a week. You'll never face a blank page again, and you'll always make the best idea on the list, not just the newest one.