What REALLY is a Small Youtuber? | Mary Akemon 

Great video! As someone near 100k, I feel like a medium sized RU-vidr. Because almost 100,000 people have gone 'yeah I think I'll watch more videos of this guy', and regardless of how many of those people are actively engaged, they still are very aware I exist. And 100k is more people that can fit in any football stadium in the UK, which is a tad mental. So regardless of the fact there are a LOT bigger RU-vidrs, you can't ignore the fact that you can pack out a football stadium. Basically, if you can fill a football stadium with subscribers, you're hardly small. You've got nearly 2k subs Mary. You couldn't fit all those people in your house! 2,000 people is a lot of people. On a scale of 1 to famous. You're not 'famous' but you're at the very least SUPER POPULAR! Fame is a scale.

I agree Mary. I used to think that once you got over 50,000 subscribers you were a big RU-vidr. Now, I think it is 100,000 for the reasons you said. Of course I have friends who have over 100,000 subs and they feel that they are small RU-vidrs.

I think it is CRAZY when people describe anyone with over 100k subscribers as small. That's the point when you will start to be considered for big brand deals, book deals and can start to RU-vid full time. This is why at SitC the cut off point is 10k. If you're under 10k subscribers you don't get access to any of RU-vid's resources apart from publicly available files. I've gotten a fair bit of pushback about this (mainly from people who sit between the 10k and the 100k bracket - in which I fall myself, mind you), but there is something very different about one's motivations, mentalities and community when you're that size; especially when you've been that size for a while. I'm looking forward to the smaller youtubers panel at SitC, Mary, aren't you? :P

Kinda like in Horton hears a Who, a youtuber's a youtuber, no matter how small ^_^

I definitely understand that it's all subjective, and that people with 100k will look at those with a million+ and consider themselves small; I mean I look at you and think you're so much bigger than me, and oh how I wish I had 1000+ subs! But then I think back to having less than 100 subscribers, and just how I wished I could reach that as I'd surely be happy then :P But I really like your definition of you stop being small when RU-vid acknowledges you like that, it's a good way of putting it without immediately bringing in brands/monetary definitions as that's so different based on the content you make, and frequency of uploads etc. Basically good video!

Yes yes yes yes yse YES! Preach! Snaps! I feel you 100% I feel that passion! As someone who's been making videos on RU-vid for 10 years and still oh so small, I feel that frustration every time I on this website.

YEEESSSSSS!!!! I agree so strongly with everything you said!!!

Love this love this! I've been a "smaller RU-vidr" on RU-vid for almost 10 years now, so I FEEL/UNDERSTAND YOUR PASSION. :)

I also think it's important to consider how many actual views per video RU-vidrs are getting. There are a lot of people with 100k subscribers who get less than 10,000 views per vid, whereas someone with under 100k might get way more views on their videos. Also, for me I definitely have a lot of "hate subscribers" who only subscribe to post nasty comments and dislike my videos. Not to say I'm a teeny tiny youtuber but it definitely affects my experience on RU-vid.

I believe that a smaller channel is any channel under 100k. I dont really agree with the 30k deal, since I have 33k and still REALLY struggle with views, growth, and recognition.

This was v well put together, Man. I totally feel you on a lot of levels. Tbh I just don't know whether to call myself a "RU-vidr" or a "smaller RU-vidr"

100% Completely Agree! 100k + is not a smaller RU-vidr

In my book, I see 50K and below as "smaller RU-vidrs" now, which is kind of insane to think about. But there's tiers of smaller RU-vid, but I don't know how helpful it would be to have terms for those tiers. There's also some channels with a million subscribers that are getting less interaction than smaller RU-vidrs below 100K or even 50K. Smaller RU-vid has become kind of like a feeling rather than a technical community of people. Things that feel small RU-vid are kind of just things that were what RU-vid was circa 2007-2008. Great video, Mary!

This was very well articulate and put together and I totally agree

Amen.

39 subscribers, holla. :) I think you made some great points and I pretty much agree. I don't think the numbers matter much at all, but the first play button plaque is a pretty good line to draw if we're drawing lines. But for me, success is making connections with new internet friends, and that's totally happening for me already. I feel wildly successful and grateful for all my new friends.

I was literally thinking about this the other day! I was watching small youtuber recommendation videos and realised if I did my own I wouldn't know where to draw the line for a 'small youtuber' because it's so subjectiveve :/ Getting reccognition from youtube at 100K is a good point, and I think that's probably a sensible figure. It's so tricky to define due to different youtube viewing habits aswell. I watch a lot of small youtubers, some with even less subs than myself, so would probably have a lower threshold than my friends who only watch lots of big youtubers.

I can't remember who made it, but I saw a video recently about their favourite smaller youtubers, but I didn't watch it because 1) Plenty of the people in the thumbnail had over 100,000 subs and 2) I had already heard of plenty of them. I would say that around 30,000 or less is definitely a smaller youtuber. I wish they would get more recognition!

I agree!!!! yeas shout out to my fellow small you tubers !!!!

I feel like there should be more categories. I am often involved in the smaller RU-vidr discussions but I eventually stopped commenting because I even felt excluded from that conversation... 10k subs? Jesus. to me that is a pretty decent amount. if anything the people near 1mil or over are no longer RU-vidrs but TV show hosts.

For me I recognize different 'tiers'. 0 - 1,000. 1,001-10,000. 10,001 - 100,000. 100,001 - 1,00,000. Million plus. I'm in that second tier at 4,700. I have a friend that started out with fewer than me and now has something like 650,000. He no longer has to have a day job.

i've never really thought about it but i think i define small youtubers as less than around 30k. i know 10k is the point where you have access to more things and blah blah, but generally with the "small youtube community" i think it's less than 30k from what i've noticed. but to say 30k-150k is medium and then 150k+ is big is weird too because that puts 150k and 10mil in the same category and that's strange haha. i dunnooo guess it is all down to how people personally feel but yeah i'd say 30. long comment

I think, usually, I think of smaller youtubers as 30k> and medium is like 100k-30k. Idrk.

I think it does really depend on the person and the youtubers that they're watching. If someone is primarily watching creators with over a million subs, they're going to think 100k is small. I watch some "big" ones, but mostly the youtubers I watch are less than 100k. So I tend to think of a small youtuber as someone with less than 15,000 or so. I definitely agree that it's kind of disheartening as a tiny creator to hear people with 100k referred to as "small."

Thank You for not making a height joke. I would've unsubscribed.

Thisssss. Truth!!!

Different rankings. utube's 10K means u can use Utube space facility anywhere. 100K means recognition of silver play button. 1M means gold p b. 10M means diamond p b. socialblade's (approx.) a small channel may get c- a channel of 80K may get b- a channel of 300K may get b+ 43M may get a++ If too many hit 10M then smaller channels will suffer a collective downgrading.

I generally think of anyone with less than 50/30k subscribers to be smaller RU-vidrs, depending on how much of their audience regularly watches their videos. That being said, it's hard to group someone with 50 thousand subscribers in with someone who has like

Yeah, 100k subscribers is when I think of someone as a medium youtuber. Like, why don't people use that phrase more? Small/Little RU-vid =

I usually define small RU-vidr as someone who has less than 10,000 subscribers.

lol me and @tunedindrake on RU-vid have been debating this recently glad u made this video on it , we think 30k or less is small and these 100k people r way bigger than a small youtuber

SCHOOL IT, MARY yus

yup yup yup yup

At the rate Alex Day's subscriber count is falling, he'll soon be eligible to be on the small youtuber panel.

yehyehyeh goodgoodgood

Start giving *reactions* on Indian movie trailers. I'm not kidding. It's a _Easy money_ . RU-vid-search it if u don't blv. 😉