4 Years Later.
In this post I will talk about the growth of my website and YouTube channel in 2020. I aim to write a round-up post like this every year so that I can give you a status update for this website and it’s future.
Growth Stats for 2020
This year, I hit 6 million views on YouTube and this website is now up to 2.5 million views. But if we look at 2020 more carefully, I actually had a lot less growth compared to last year in terms of daily website views and new YT subscribers. Daily views on this website are down 25% from last year and new YT subs are down 50%.
The reasons for that are pretty obvious – I didn’t cover the new SAO game or any other well-known game on this website this year. Plus I just continued to play God Eater 3 on YouTube.
I did a guide for Sakura Wars this year which didn’t sell too well in the west. Not to mention I was a lot slower than I usually am when making guides, so the stuff I wrote already missed the first run crowd. I also didn’t do any YT videos for it or shill my guides at all so um, yes.
When I present these statistics and information to you like this, it can become easy to take one look at the huge decrease in numbers and say that I didn’t do enough this year or I did something wrong. In fact, any content creator who is trying to make something out of themselves would think something along those lines and change their gameplan for the future.
But that’s just the numbers, and the numbers don’t tell the full story.
2020 was actually the most fulfilling year I’ve had since I’ve started making videos and guides. I feel like I was able to perfect my video style and nail down my approach to guides, which is something I’ve been struggling with for years. I started streaming regularly(?) to YouTube for the first time this year, and 2020 was also the first time I’ve ever done a collaborative project with a whole game’s community.
This year also marks the first time that this website’s hosting costs have been fully covered by donations which something I am extremely grateful for.
I also did a lot of behind the scenes work on this site such as improving the way it works and looks. I also redesigned my logo alongside a very subtle general re-branding.
So in spite of all of the negative stats this year, I learned so much about myself, my viewers and how I want to continue making content. But above everything else, I actually had fun with what I was doing.
2020 and the Future
I have been doing a lot of thinking this year. I don’t know if you read my 3 Years Later post, but in 2019 I was going through a lot and at one point, I was actually 2 clicks away from deleting this website and everything I’ve ever done online.
I’ll spare you the details, but I feel pretty good right now and I can think about things clearly, so this website isn’t in any immediate danger of suddenly disappearing or anything.
I can’t really talk about any long-term plans because I don’t know what the far future holds, but I plan to continue making YouTube videos indefinitely. This website will be also around for another 2 years, at the very least. I’m not sure what games I’ll cover next, but we will see what 2021 has in store.
To put it simply, I like making guides and videos and I like helping people. Even if I don’t always see positive growth, I want to continue doing this in my own way because it makes me happy.
I’ve been doing YouTube for 5 years now and running this website for 4. I spend quite a lot of time watching social reception to different kinds of content and I have a good understanding of how to make content that appeals to people.
But in spite of that, I want to make what I want to make. I don’t want to bend myself to what I think you want from me. I just want to do me and be proud of myself in my own way.
If you’ve watched some of my videos or read some of my guides, you probably already know what to expect from BK Brent. I’m just gonna continue doing that because that’s what I want to do.
That’s all I can really say right now.
See me in 2021.
Thank you for reading.