Which format should you choose when starting a YouTube channel?
When you start out you often wonder which format to choose for your videos. Should it be vlogs, interviews or something completely different?
Many are inspired by various travel shows on TV and want to start their own travel vlog too. I think that's good. You should absolutely be ambitious, but at the same time you have to be realistic and think about which format you actually have the energy to keep doing for a longer period of time.
Play the long game
When it comes to YouTube, but also other social media, it's about playing the long game. It's not enough to upload a few videos and expect to become a millionaire in a few weeks. It takes hard work for months and often even years.
Travel vlogs are also expensive to produce. Imagine having to publish a new video every week. Then it gets pretty expensive to travel all the time and pay for the production. In the beginning, the reality is often that you don't earn very much money – on the contrary, you have to invest quite a lot out of your own pocket.
Start with simpler formats
That's why I think it's better to start with simpler formats that you can actually produce and publish every week. It can for example be a vlog where you have something to tell, or short news videos about current events.
Or you can do like me and mix different formats: vlogs, storytelling, interviews and reaction videos. The important thing is that the production is relatively cheap and simple to carry out.
One mistake I made myself was putting all the money into advanced videos where I needed to travel to for example Estonia and Belgium to film material. It's absolutely fun to make those kinds of videos, but it gets both expensive and difficult to travel abroad all the time when you need new material. And you don't just need one new long video every week – ideally also four or five shorter videos for TikTok, Instagram and other platforms.
My advice is therefore to make it easy for yourself in the beginning. Produce simpler and shorter videos that you have time to edit and publish every week. When you get better, find your audience and start earning money you can gradually invest in more expensive formats and more trips.
The most important thing is not to make the most advanced video from the start, but to find a format that you can keep going with over time.