YouTube Shorts can help you extend your reach on the platform, and some creators are hitting 10 million views on YouTube Shorts or more.
How?
You need to be in the right niche and have a strategy in place that you can follow to get more and more views. What we love about Shorts is that even creators who just upload their first video can get thousands of views.
The algorithm will push your Short within the first few hours of uploading, and often, there is a second “push” where you’ll see views increasing.
We’re going to share the niches that seem to perform very well with shorter content and tips on how to get 10 million views on Shorts.
Which Niches Get the Most Shorts Views?
Shorts are not a good option for ideas that you need to explain in great detail. You can use these short videos to encourage people to watch your long-form content, which is how many of the top creators leverage the power of short-form videos.
But if you’re in any of these niches, you’ll find viewers will gravitate toward your Shorts:
- Entertainment: You’ll find this niche is one of the most popular, especially pranks, challenges and celeb news. Short, funny and info-packed clips are great options for this niche.
- Food and Drink: Recipes are evergreen classics that you can create content around, or you can also create food and drink content that is centered around delightful-looking foods (think Nutella-filled, gooey foods that are divine).
- Video Games: Over 3 billion people worldwide are classified as active gamers. You can transcend languages and cultures with video game content.
- Crafting: Everything from knitting to woodworking, art and everything in between are good options for crafting.
- Animals: Do you have an adorable animal? Show them off on YouTube. People love cats, dogs, pigs, cows – anything animal-related.
- Tech: Science and tech are good niches for Shorts because people love being in-the-know with bite-sized content in these industries.
- News: Sports, celeb gossip and other news do very well, especially with younger audiences who love to keep tabs on celebrities.
You can even look through our YouTube video ideas to get some inspiration for your next Short. We never recommend stealing a competitor’s idea. Instead, you want to put your own twist on an idea and make it your own.
6 Tips to Get 10 Million Views on YouTube Shorts
You have a niche picked out, but how do you go from ideas to 10 million views on Shorts? We’re going to share quite a few tips that we’ve had great success with to drive more views to the Shorts that we create.
And the first is a lot harder than it sounds.
1. Focus on Creating Viral Videos
If you crack the code to go viral with every video you make, you won’t need our help getting more views. Going viral has a lot to do with:
- Luck
- Persistence
When you really get to know your audience, you’ll have an easier time going viral. You’ll want to have a hook that captures the person’s attention and a way for you to evoke emotions in the viewer.
The ideas below are great places to start if you want to go viral, but not all of them will work in your niche:
- Tutorials: Fast, concise and impressive. Show someone how to do something fast in your niche, such as fixing a flat tire in 20 seconds or less.
- Hacks: Show people a life hack that will change their lives, such as opening a banana like a monkey.
- Before and After: Have you experienced an amazing transformation of some kind? Show a before and after to your audience, such as losing 100 pounds or transforming your outdoor space into a flower-filled oasis.
You can also cover myths and tips, or create motivational videos.
2. Buy Views
If you have a goal to hit 10 million views on Shorts, why not buy some? Buying views can help trigger YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, leading to an abundance of organic views to your Shorts.
3. Use Trending Audio
Want an easy way to boost your Shorts views? Use trending audio. Head over to the audio library and look for trending tracks that will go well with your video.
Make sure that the audio fits. You still want to create high-quality content, so don’t just pick a random song because it’s trending.
4. Loop Your Shorts
Here’s a pro trick to skyrocket your Shorts views: loop your videos. A looping video repeats itself over and over again. They encourage people to rewatch your Shorts, and each rewatch will count as another view.
To create a looping video:
- Make it short
- Add a still frame to the beginning and end of the Short
- Skip the music (it will ruin the effect)
Some creators add a few seconds of video that would typically be at the beginning of the video to the end so that it loops together perfectly.
5. Use Analytics to Create More Popular Content
If you have an established channel, you can use your Analytics data to figure out what type of content your audience likes. You can use the data from your long-form videos or your Shorts videos – or both – for this purpose.
Create a list of your top-performing videos and analyze them. What do they have in common?
Once you have a better idea of the type of content your audience likes, you can create more of it.
6. Add Captions
Did you know that 80% of people watch videos on mute? If you’re not adding captions to your Shorts, these people will just scroll past your content. Adding captions is one of our top tips for getting more Shorts views. Why? Because your videos will be accessible to everyone – people who crank up the sound, and people who watch videos on mute.
You can use YouTube’s automatic captioning feature, but it may be better to use a third-party tool, like:
While convenient, YouTube’s automatic captions aren’t always accurate. Plus, these tools let you style your captions to fit your video’s aesthetic and catch people’s attention.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is It Hard to Get 10 Million Views on YouTube Shorts?
Yes, and no. According to Buffer, Shorts that are 50-60 seconds get around 4 million views on average. You’d need just a few Shorts to perform this well to hit the 10-million mark.
Does 10M Shorts Views Earn as Much as Long-form Videos?
No. YouTube Shorts pay far less than long-form videos. BUT it’s easier to get views on Shorts, and you can use them to direct viewers to your longer videos.
Do Views Matter on YouTube Shorts?
Yes, views do matter on YouTube Shorts. Your Shorts views will appear on your channel’s Analytics and can help you get monetized faster. In fact, 10 million Shorts views and 1,000 subscribers is what you’ll need to get your channel monetized.
How are Views Counted with Shorts?
With YouTube Shorts, views are counted the same way they are counted for long-form videos. When someone watches your Short for 30 seconds, it will count as a view. If your video is shorter than 30 seconds, then views will only count when people watch the entire video.
