In my previous video, I mentioned that because my channel had too much counter-revolutionary content, it was shut down by China’s national security. But that was not my first channel. My first two political commentary channels both met the YPP requirements within the first month, one through long videos and the other through short videos. The English channel Mr. Hunzi is the third political commentary channel through which I achieved YPP. I also have a tech channel and an English channel about Chinese culture. So I think I have some experience when it comes to passing YPP.
I always wanted to restart a Chinese-language channel. From the backend data, I could feel that using my real voice would create better cohesion, which is also the way the platform hopes creators express themselves. Showing my face would be even better. Unfortunately, I’m in China, and when I comment on Chinese political topics, I can’t escape my unique sarcastic style, which would bring me a lot of trouble. So I ultimately canceled my plan to restart a Chinese channel. This leads to the question of what kind of videos YouTube channels value. Let me summarize the standards briefly. First, the themes of your videos should be meaningful and have an audience. Second, your videos should not be repetitive. Showing your face, using your real voice, or employing unique editing techniques and visual presentation methods are all ways to avoid suspicion of repetition. The first two points are especially important. Third, after the platform pushes your videos, metrics like click-through rate, watch completion rate, and like rate should be excellent. Fourth, and most importantly, you bring more watch time to YouTube, which is the core task of being a YouTuber.
So what is the difference between my channel Mr. Hunzi and my previous channels where I showed my face, or those without showing my face but using my real voice? From the backend data, Mr. Hunzi is the channel with the highest watch completion rate and like rate among all my channels. Most videos on this channel achieve 50 percent completion, or even 65 percent, with like rates over 97 percent. However, the platform recommendations it receives and the speed of fan growth are not as good as those of my Chinese channels where I showed my face or used my real voice. The platform even once claimed my channel was an AI-generated, low-value repetitive channel and revoked my monetization eligibility. It was only after I submitted workflow proof that this was reversed. This is a serious side effect after the rise of AI. A large number of creators use AI to scan original channels, generate voiceovers, pair them with new visuals, and mass-produce videos, severely lowering the overall quality of the platform. My channel has suffered greatly from plagiarism, with plagiarists even copying my titles verbatim without understanding them. So for a channel like Mr. Hunzi to survive is extremely difficult. As a result, the platform now places great importance on showing faces and using real voices. Creating channels without showing your face is much harder now than it was a year ago.
But this does not mean that creators using AI voices or not showing their faces have no room to grow. If you use your own voice but do not show your face, and you pair it with great visuals, such as being a gaming streamer or a history narrator with simple animations, these are all creation methods encouraged by YouTube. If, like me, your English level does not reach native proficiency but you still want to make English videos, you can pair it with excellent animations or real-life footage. For a channel like Mr. Hunzi, which uses simple images to make videos, that approach does not work. The reason my channel was not demonetized by the platform is that I proved its originality, and my video playback data is strong, with high completion and like rates. Even so, the platform still dislikes this type of channel. So Mr. Hunzi is a channel with many flaws. Its only advantage is high audience recognition and loyalty. More importantly, thanks to everyone’s support, in the 11 months since its creation, the channel has achieved nearly 10 million views and over 600,000 hours of watch time. This is meaningful to the platform.
So if we return to the starting point of video creation, providing value to viewers, bringing traffic to the platform, and creating honestly, these three points complement each other and are indispensable. When discussing a topic, you need sufficient knowledge reserves and practical experience to create in-depth videos that truly help your audience or provide emotional value. On this basis, you bring more watch time to the platform, keeping viewers on it longer so the platform can access more ad resources and share revenue with you. This is a virtuous cycle.
At the beginning of the video, I said I had two video channels that passed YPP in one month, and Mr. Hunzi was one of them. It is also my fourth channel to pass YPP. But what I did not tell you is that I have created a total of 15 channels. Some consumed a lot of my time but achieved nothing. However, these failed channels improved my video production skills and gave me an intuitive understanding of the platform’s algorithm preferences. So in the subsequent channels, I chose a mature validation method. That is to find a topic you are good at and interested in, produce 10 videos, and release them at a fixed frequency. If the platform provides exposure opportunities and brings natural traffic and followers, then this video channel is meaningful. If after releasing 20 videos, the platform’s traffic increases significantly, then this channel has some explosive potential. As for whether it is worth trying a direction by making a dozen videos, which might be abandoned after failure, my answer is this: If a dozen videos can validate your entrepreneurial plan, it is almost the lowest-cost method among all startup projects. It costs no money, only your time. For a poor person, what else do you have besides time?
That said, let me explain why I repeatedly chose political commentary channels as my track. It is because this type of channel tests the creator’s depth and breadth of knowledge. It is a purer intellectual competition. Its product form is also very simple: videos that move and persuade the audience. Production costs are low, allowing for quick batch production without worrying about material shortages or high trial-and-error costs. Due to debt pressures, I also have to do other work, so I cannot choose channel types that require meticulous polishing. It must be a pure opinion-output channel, where making videos is as simple as posting on social media.
You can imagine that if you were making an earnings-focused channel like VoidHunzi, a car channel, or one teaching programming or drawing, how much energy would 20 videos take? If it fails, how high would the cost be? Of course, these types of channels have their advantages, which I will expand on in future videos.
As a YouTuber, your job is to strike a balance between yourself, the audience, and the platform. The content you create must be something you are interested in and skilled at, something you can output sustainably. This way, you won’t feel tired and can maintain long-term creative motivation. Your content must have a certain depth and breadth to bring knowledge to viewers or provide emotional value, so they are willing to watch your videos and subscribe to your channel. Of course, your videos must also align with the platform’s values, which is a very important prerequisite for surviving on the platform. At the same time, your channel needs to generate enough long watch time, which is the foundation for the platform to profit. Once these three conditions are met, you become a happy YouTuber, but this is just the beginning. This dynamic balance cannot always be maintained. For some reason, your carefully managed channel might be banned, throttled, or abandoned by the audience. These are all possibilities. However, if you have professional video creation skills, you do not need to worry too much. Everyone has many talents to explore. You just need to stay calm and start over. The next track might be even more exciting.