The strategy is a three-circle Venn diagram. Start with a specific audience (the nerds of a niche, or people facing a specific problem), make the video simple enough that someone with only a general interest can follow it, then put it inside a mainstream format that's already working. A video that sits where all three circles overlap can go viral without losing the core fans. It's the formula I taught in a live session inside my coaching program, and the one I titled this video "This YouTube Strategy Made Over $500k" after.
- Creators tend to pick one of two extremes: super specific content for a tiny audience (a lot of how-to videos live here), or content for everybody.
- Circle one is the nerds of the niche. That's where the real value comes from, so you start there.
- Circle two is general interest: people watching from afar who aren't really into the niche but think "oh, this is cool."
- Circle three is a mainstream format you ride on, the way Doctor Mike reacts to TikToks, TV shows and anime as a doctor.
- When I recorded this, Doctor Mike had 10 million subscribers from stacking all three.
- On one of my history channels, a history buff brings the expertise and we inject the mainstream idea, like inside ancient Egypt or World War II.
The Two Audiences Creators Usually Pick (and Why Both Stall)
This post is the written version of a clip from one of the live sessions inside my coaching program. I was drawing a Venn diagram on screen while students chimed in, so I'll rebuild the diagram here in words.
What I usually see is people trying to satisfy one of two groups.
The first group is the nerds of the niche, or people facing a very specific problem. This is where a lot of how-to videos come in. "How to set up your calendar." How to set up some specific software you use for work. You're talking to a very specific, very niche audience.
The second is the parallel opposite. They make content for everybody.
They either go super specific and super niche, or they make content for everybody.
What you want instead is to start with the specific audience and stack two more circles on top of it. If you're still deciding how narrow to go, I cover that in how niche should your YouTube channel be.
Circle 1: The Nerds of the Niche
Start here. This is the specific audience you make the content for, and it's what everything else stems from. It's where you bring really strong value into the niche.
One of the niches we were looking at in the session was NASCAR. The nerds are the NASCAR fanatics. They're going to watch everything in NASCAR.
The best channels I see are the ones that really know the sport, the player, the niche or the history. If a Formula One fan watches a Formula One video, they shouldn't be getting mad because the narrator can't pronounce the names or doesn't know what they're talking about. The video has to hold up for the super fan.
Circle 2: General Interest
The second circle is the group watching from afar. They're not really in the niche. They see a video and think, "oh, this is cool, I didn't know this about NASCAR."
They don't watch every race. But they'll click "why do NASCAR tires turn red."
I'm like this with Formula One. I don't watch every single race. But when I see a video on the billion dollar industry of Formula One and how it makes money, I think that's actually pretty interesting.
So the video is made for the fans, and it's also explained in a way a toddler can understand. The saying we use is to make it so simple that:
Circle 3: A Mainstream Format
The third circle is where you pull out the part of the niche that people outside it really care about, and pair it with a mainstream format or trend.
For NASCAR, something like the logistics of NASCAR, the same way people cover the logistics and the business of Formula One.
| Circle | Who it's for | NASCAR example from the session |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Nerds of the niche | Fanatics who watch everything | People who follow every race |
| 2. General interest | People watching from afar | "Why do NASCAR tires turn red?" |
| 3. Mainstream format | The mainstream audience | The logistics of NASCAR |
When you stack the three, you get content that can go viral and that people are actually interested in. It's also the content that can make real money. In the session I threw out a range from $10,000 up to $100,000 a month for channels that get this right.
The first two circles alone are a decent niche. But a channel that only serves the fans and the curious is never really going to break out. The mainstream format is what takes it wide.
Example: How Doctor Mike Stacks All Three
One of the people who does this really well is Doctor Mike.
| Circle | His version |
|---|---|
| 1. Nerds of the niche | Med students and people going through residency |
| 2. General interest | People at a desk job who will never become a doctor but wonder what that life is like |
| 3. Mainstream format | Reacting to TikToks, trends, TV shows (House MD) and anime scenes (Demon Slayer) |
With just the first two, he has a decent niche. What he stacks on top is the mainstream part. He's basically the doctor doing commentary on social media and pop culture. "Does this doctor seem legit?" on a show, that kind of thing.
Usually you'll see a creator pick just one of those formats. Only reacting to TikToks, or only doing shows. He taps into all of them, which is how he had 10 million subscribers when I recorded this.
Example: A Space Show and E.T.
Another one I brought up was one of Neil deGrasse Tyson's shows. He talks about really nerdy, cutting edge space discoveries for the hardcore crowd, and he also makes it for people who are just curious about space.
The way I remembered it in the session, for one of their early breakthrough episodes they talked about cutting edge science and technology, brought in the person behind the voice of E.T., and got into how that voice was manufactured for the movie. They tied the science to a movie everybody knows.
How We Use It on My Own Channels
On one of my channels we work with a guy who's a history buff. That's what he does all day. He is circle one.
The hardest part of working with him was circle two, getting the content made for general people to be interested in.
Circle three is what we bring. We come up with the ideas, which is the mainstream format. When I recorded this, the things crushing were "inside ancient Egypt," and World War II and Nazi Germany topics. So we take what's working right now and pair it with somebody who really knows their stuff.
That means we don't necessarily have to be the expert ourselves. And because the content is made for everybody, someone can know nothing about ancient Egypt, or none of the technical details of World War II, and still watch it and get something out of it.
If you produce around these three circles, you can do really well on YouTube. For finding the mainstream idea in the first place, see how to find viral YouTube video ideas. And once you find a format that hits, repeat it, which I explain in why your YouTube videos aren't going viral.
Video Chapters
- 0:00Intro
- 0:22The two audiences creators usually pick
- 1:20The Venn diagram: start with the nerds of the niche
- 2:06Circle 2: general interest (NASCAR example)
- 2:54Circle 3: stack a mainstream angle
- 4:42Example: Doctor Mike
- 6:46His mainstream formats: TikToks, shows and anime
- 8:02Example: a space show and E.T.
- 8:51How we do it on my history channel
- 10:24Wrap-up
FAQ
What is the YouTube strategy Devon Canup says made over $500K?
It is a three-circle method: make the video for the nerds of a niche, keep it simple enough for general-interest viewers, and put it inside a mainstream format or trend. The $500K figure is from the video's title, and Devon does not break the number down in the clip.
How niche should a YouTube video be?
Devon says to start with a specific audience (the nerds of the niche) but not stop there. His NASCAR example pairs content for fanatics with a general-interest question like "why do NASCAR tires turn red" and a mainstream angle like the logistics of NASCAR.
How does Doctor Mike use this strategy?
In Devon's breakdown, Doctor Mike serves med students and residents, people curious about what being a doctor is like, and a mainstream audience through reactions to TikToks, TV shows and anime. Devon noted he had 10 million subscribers at the time of recording.
Do I need to be an expert in my niche to run a YouTube channel?
No. On one of Devon's history channels, a history buff provides the expertise and Devon's team supplies the mainstream ideas, such as "inside ancient Egypt" or World War II topics.
What does "a golden retriever speaking Spanish can understand it" mean?
It is Devon's saying for the general-interest circle. The video should be accurate enough for super fans but explained so simply that someone with no background in the niche can follow it.
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