Do You Need a Response Channel?

Early on, YouTubers decided that as they got bigger - more views, more subscribers, more comments - they needed a place for all their less-than-entertaining videos. They needed a place for unedited vlogs, or video responses to others’ videos. I mean, c’mon, these Tubers couldn’t bore their audience with a video of them just talking to the camera…

So, the idea of the “response channel” was born. Response channels are secondary (or sometimes tertiary) accounts which YouTubers use when they want to make “throw away” videos, videos which are not expertly edited or shot, or scripted.

That said, even if you don’t have thousands of subscribers, you too may want a place separate from your main channel to host video responses or experimental videos.

YouTube allows you to register multiple channels with one email address. And registering is free. But before we run off and register twenty separate channels, let’s do a quick pros and cons:

PROS

• Having a response channel can feel freeing. Knowing you have an alternative outlet to your main channel makes taking risks with your videos a little easier.
• Response channels feel more intimate. Almost everyone’s response channel has less than a tenth of the subscriber count when compared to their main channel, allowing for you to actually reply to and manage the comments and PMs on your repsonse channel.

CONS

• As just mentioned, response channels usually have very low sub counts when compared to your main channel. When you’re used to thousands of views, barely breaking 100 views on a response can be depressing.
• One more log-in, password and profile to worry about updating, designing and keeping up with.

I have a response channel, but I don’t actively use it. I’ve become less worried about subscribers leaving or not watching because I make a vlog instead of my regular comedy skits. It used to bother me a lot, until, it just never happened. No one’s said they’ve unsubscribed because I’ve vlogged at them.

If you do start a secondary channel, use it to challenge yourself - push yourself and your video making into new territory.

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