How YouTube creator Preston changed his style of videos and gained 3.5 million new subscribers in a year

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How YouTube creator Preston changed his style of videos and gained 3.5 million new subscribers in a year

Preston

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  • YouTube creator Preston Arsement switched up the type of content on his channel from strictly gaming videos to vlog-style content, and in the year since doing so, he's gained 3.5 million subscribers.
  • Arsement's channel was previously called "Prestonplayz," and after creating strictly gaming videos for 5-plus years, he decided to drop "playz," and switch up his content.
  • Arsement told Business Insider that he pays close attention to his video metrics on YouTube and what techniques work.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

YouTube creator Preston Arsement switched up the type of content on his channel from strictly gaming videos to vlog-style content, and in the year since doing so, he's gained 3.5 million subscribers.

Part of Arsement's continued success comes from his ability to read trends in the industry. This pertains not just to business opportunities but also his style of videos.

When he started his channel "Prestonplayz" nearly 10 years ago, Arsement filmed gaming videos and streamed himself playing "Call of Duty" and "Minecraft." Now, he creates kid-focused, vlog-style content like challenge videos and pranks and has renamed the channel "Preston."

Preston

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Arsement's most popular YouTube video, titled "5 WAYS TO PRANK YOUR LITTLE BROTHER'S MINECRAFT HOUSE," has 25 million views and was uploaded January 2019.

Although Arsement is playing Minecraft in the video, the overall style is more conversational and engaging than his previous gaming-style content.

He engages his followers by addressing them directly - holding the camera up to his face at the start and end of each video.

Preston

"[My channel] use to be Minecraft for 5-plus years straight," Arsement told Business Insider. "But, I knew that people were really interested in that real life content. I wanted to do something more than just play Minecraft, because I could make another Minecraft channel - the real life stuff is something I'm really interested in."

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There was a learning curve that came with switching up his content, and he quickly began paying attention to his channel's metrics, which helped him figure out what techniques worked and what didn't, he said.

"A real life video takes like 4 hours to film, 4 hours of prep work - definitely different than a gaming video," Arsement said. "But, at the same time, fun and very challenging."

Business Insider previously spoke with Reed Duchscher, the president of Night Media - where Arsement is a partner - about how certain keywords and phrases in the title of a video could drive views and subscribers.

Duchscher told Business Insider that using keywords like "24-hours," "slime," and "challenge" in a video's title is a popular technique for driving views - and a recent report from the Pew Research Center found that videos with the keywords like "prank" or "Fortnite" in the title receive five times the views as videos without those words.

Arsement began following this keyword formula in the past year, and has had success like with his video titled, "I Said Yes to My Little Brother for 24 Hours," with 17.8 million views.

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This new style of content has helped his channel grow tremendously. In July 2018, Arsement had 6.5 million YouTube subscribers, according to the YouTube data-tracking website Social Blade. Now he has over 10 million.

For more about the YouTube star Preston Arsement's business, check out the full interview on Business Insider Prime:

YouTube creator Preston Arsement has built a 24-person business and gained 10 million subscribers. He told us how.

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