50+ YouTube video ideas (with examples)

Thinking about creating videos for YouTube? Smart move. Billions of YouTube users devour the platform’s video content every day. But where exactly should you start? And what YouTube content will engage subscribers and loyal fans?

It depends on what you have to share. Perhaps you’d like to help business owners create a website or promote their brand. Or, maybe you want to share your hobby with other enthusiasts. You can even monetize your videos by reviewing products and unboxing sponsored products.

Don’t worry if you’re not 100% sure what you want to create your YouTube channel around yet. The following 50+ YouTube video ideas will move you in the right direction.

In one of the first videos you upload to YouTube, introduce yourself (if you’re a solopreneur) or your team. Consumers strongly connect to businesses when they see the faces and hear the voices of the people running things.

Want to show people your freelance setup? Or your agency’s snack fridge? How about a glance into a brainstorming session? Or a walk through your hotel during a business trip? Give viewers an up-close look at your company’s day-to-day. You can also use this opportunity to walk through decision-making processes - like the meeting where you came up with your YouTube channel name, for example.

Software companies often use these videos to simplify high-tech solutions for prospective users. Often animated, explainer videos bring personality and clarity to otherwise challenging or boring topics. Cisco’s video on secure remote work shows how to make technical information interesting.

Video reviews and testimonials effectively draw new customers to a business. Whether you embed them on your site or share on social media, upload your videos to YouTube to organize them in one place.

If you own a business or make your own products, use YouTube to announce your latest creations to the world. A short YouTube video will give customers and prospects a good look at your new releases and drum up excitement. Check out Wix’s YouTube announcement for the branded app builder.

Don’t be afraid to mix up the content you share on your business’s YouTube channel. To start a YouTube channel that provides value to your viewers, post educational videos that share key information and insights while subtly promoting your brand.

7. Webinars

8. Whiteboard presentations

9. Productivity hacks

10. Coding or design tutorials

11. Business startup tips

Webinars—a seminar conducted over the web—are a popular virtual lead generation tool for businesses. In addition to posting on your website, live stream your webinars on YouTube.

In a whiteboard video, someone teaches a specific subject classroom-style. Easily created using either a physical or virtual whiteboard, use these instructional videos to boost your YouTube SEO. This “Whiteboard Friday” video from Moz, for instance, ranks within the top five Google search results for “featured snippets.”

Many writers use blog posts to teach people productivity or time management tips. Supplement your blog posts with an explanatory YouTube video.

YouTube users like learning design and development skills through video tutorials. Create useful hand-on and screen share videos for this audience to become a successful YouTuber. Look at this Wix tutorial as an example.

Many new business owners turn to YouTube to learn how to start a business, like how to create an invoice, what a profit and loss statement is, and what’s needed to hire the first employee. YouTube videos can provide general business insights, tips, and tools to those needing quick and straight-forward answers.

12. Event promotions

13. Highlight reels

14. Individual presentations

Many companies promote their events with a social media post or email campaign, but did you know you can promote them on YouTube as well? Create a YouTube video to show what the experience will actually be like—an effective way to convince people to buy tickets. For example, look at this quick teaser video promoting the 2021 TED Countdown Global Livestream.

Some people want to relive events while others want to see what they missed out on. Creating a highlight video from an event or conference can promote your brand and lead to sales.

Your event likely contained individual presentations or sessions that fired people up. Rather than publish your entire event on YouTube, share a few select presentations to get people thinking about the next one. What about Vimeo? That's an option too if you prefer a platform with more privacy settings for work-related videos.

15. Introduction video

16. A day in the life

17. Facts about me

18. What's in my bag?

19. What's on my phone?

20. My favorite....

21. Shopping haul and unboxing

22. My personal story

Rather than jumping right into vlogging or influencer marketing, earn viewer trust and give them a reason to subscribe with an introduction video.

No need for a camera to follow you around 24/7. Anyone can create day-in-the-life videos using selfie mode or a tripod. Give subscribers a look inside your world—perhaps a funny part of your day or or maybe your rock-solid routine to guarantee every day is better than the last.

Influencers and vloggers don’t casually use YouTube—they post to strategically grow large and dedicated fan bases. If you want a large following, then open up and help viewers know you personally.

“What’s in my bag?” videos are a fun way for people to discover more about you (like how you always have dog treats on hand). Promote companies’ products and make money on YouTube with them, like this example with Alexa Chung for Harper's Bazaar UK. Just remember to call out any sponsorships ahead of time.

This YouTube video reveals more about you as a vlogger or influencer. You can provide helpful tips on which apps to use and how to organize them as well.

Place to winter holiday? Lipstick brand? Halloween movie? If people avidly follow you on YouTube and other platforms, they’ll love these personalized preferences and recommendations.

Young influencers typically document their luxury shopping hauls, but this growing trend has room for more practical takes, too, like budget back-to-school shopping for parents. Look at Unbox Therapy, an entire channel dedicated to showcasing products, for inspiration.

Do you have a relatable story? Share it with your YouTube subscribers to build a new connection.

23. Product tutorials

24. Best of

25. Product comparison

Written tutorials and setup guides can be as unintelligible as IKEA instructions. Visually breaking down the process can help people troubleshoot common issues. Here’s one with a design hack—one IKEA cart, three ways.

Mobile games. Business software. DSLR cameras. Pick your tech expertise and then film “best of” round-ups to help subscribers find the right one.

If two or three popular solutions are on the market, your subscribers want to know your take. A product comparison video shows off the pros and cons of each product, while also demonstrating your preferred option.

26. Top news

27. Political commentary

28. Social commentary

29. Interviews

This YouTube channel idea has staying power, thanks to the never-ending news cycle. Just make sure you pick an in-demand niche like sports or science.

It doesn’t need to be an election year for a political news channel to be relevant. Come prepared with tough skin on this highly divisive topic, as you’ll get people from all perspectives chiming in on your content.

If topics like celebrity news and upcoming entertainment releases are your cup of tea, then a social commentary channel might be up your alley.

If you can connect and conduct Q&As with people your subscribers want to hear from, then get into interview segments. First We Feast, for instance, dedicates an entire segment of its channel to its interview show “Hot Ones”.

30. Concepts and theories

31 Opinion and response videos

32. Mythbusting

33. Science and nature

34. History videos

Do you often muse about topics that others find entertaining or mind-blowing? If that’s the case, YouTube might be the perfect platform to share your theories or break down complicated concepts. That’s exactly what the highly successful The Try Guys channel does.

This coin has two sides: The people who create opinion videos and those who directly respond to them. Either option makes for an excellent YouTube video.

Do you enjoy deconstructing flawed arguments, beliefs, or even myths? Perhaps you’d like the challenge of being a YouTube mythbuster.

Science and nature captivate people. Use your videography skills to find an avid fan base craving your awe-inspiring content. While you may not be on National Geographic’s level, you can check out their content for inspiration.

You don’t need to be a history professor to share interesting stories or facts from the past—especially if you can have fun with it.

35. Beauty how-tos

36. Life hacks

37. Home improvement

38. Cooking videos

39. Do's and Don'ts

These beauty videos teach people how to look good and feel confident in their skin. If you’re a makeup, fashion, or hairstyling expert, this could be a great option. For example, this ‘Best Moisturizers’ round-up from K-beauty channel Beauty Within.

DIY videos help people fix everyday problems or once-in-a-lifetime issues. If you know easy-to-implement or creative solutions, you could devote an entire YouTube channel to them.

Consumers don’t just want help improving their lives or bodies. From masterful gardening to interior decorating, an audience wants to learn what you know about your home. Take Marie Kondo for example—600K+ subscribers tune-in to her channel to learn her tidying secrets.

As gourmet at-home cooking grows increasingly popular, cooking channels have become some of the most-watched on YouTube. Contribute your unique cooking specialty.

While explainer videos include actionable steps to complete a task, dos and don’ts focus on education. These videos fill-in consumers with everything they need to know before making a decision or action.

40. Workout guidance

41. Mental wellness tips

42. Nutrition

43. 30-day challenges

Workout tips not only help people get the most from their workouts, but they also keep people from hurting themselves. Personal trainers, gyms, and other physical wellness experts can use these videos as organic YouTube advertising.

Many wellness-focused YouTube videos offer physical training tips, but you can offer mental health advice as well. In a stressful world, platforms like Headspace pave the way in mindfulness content, offering guided meditation and other high-demand reflective practices.

Although some cooking and nutrition videos may crossover, the latter prioritizes educating viewers about health.

Many people participate in 30-day fitness and wellness challenges. Film your challenge and share your progress to inspire others on YouTube.

44. Movie reviews

45. Season recaps

46. Travel reviews

47. Restaurant reviews

48. Gaming videos

You don’t have to work as a professional movie critic to make reviews worth watching—especially if your interest lies in an under-appreciated genre. Devote your channel to a specific niche and watch the YouTube subscribers roll-in.

Are you a fan of a hugely popular show? Better yet, one that’s aired for over a decade with no signs of stopping? YouTube channels dedicated to episode and season recaps perform especially well with subscribers looking to devour as much information on the show as possible.

Just as consumers want help investing in a product, they also need help deciding on travel. Travel YouTube channels cover a variety of topics — top travel destinations, how to find good deals, the best hotels, airlines, car rental services, and so on. Here’s an example from Condé Nast Traveler YouTube channel showcasing “3 Of The Coolest New Hotels To Visit In 2021.”

Video reviews of restaurants, bars, or cafés show prospective diners what the food looks like and what the experience feels like.

Typically, you see two gaming channels types on YouTube: ones that round up and review games by topic (e.g. scariest, best characters, most surprising plot twists, etc) and those that dive into walk-throughs, speed-runs, and cheats for specific games. If you game, you can highly engage your audience on YouTube this way.

49. Music videos

50. Dancing videos

51. Singing videos

52. Comedy

53. Cute (fill in the blank) videos

54. Taste testing videos

55. Draw my life videos

While anyone can create their own music videos for YouTube, brands can use them to creatively attract new customers and turn existing ones into loyal fans.

Dance videos and trends don’t only go viral on TikTok. If you’re a skilled, passionate dancer, show off your moves or teach others your skills on a YouTube channel. You can always explore the TikTok YouTube channel for inspo.

The world discovered now-legendary musicians like Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen thanks to the videos they published on YouTube.Whether you aspire to pop stardom or you just like singing as a hobby, share your work on YouTube.

Everyone has their own sense of humor. Make someone laugh through stand up routines, comedy skits, hidden camera pranks, parody videos—the list goes on and on. Draw inspiration from the Funny or Die YouTube channel and its 3M+ subscribers.

Who doesn’t love a video that warms their heart or makes them chuckle? Just determine which cute videos you want to aggregate and publish. Cute animals? Cute couples? This popular type of content tends to generate many views.

You could go a couple routes with taste testing videos: You could film yourself tasting another country or region’s food, or if you’re a professional chef, you could film your responses to others’ food. For example, Buzzfeed’s Italian Grandmas Try Frozen Pasta humorously highlights the differences between authentic Italian food and frozen meals.

These storytelling videos combine a narrator sharing a personal anecdote while an artist illustrates the story on a sheet of paper or white board.

Find that sweet spot of content that you enjoy creating and that people clamor to get a hold of, and you could end up with a very successful YouTube channel.

To spread the word about your videos, embed them on your Wix website and on social media to introduce more people to your content, enhance your brand, and improve your SEO.