Marques Brownlee on Building an Audience and Other Advice for Creators

TL;DR

Marques Brownlee attributes his YouTube success to consistency over 10 years and tech remaining interesting, saying his growth was a gradual upward slope from zero to a thousand videos rather than any single inflection point.

Key insights

• Channel growth was not driven by a single viral video or event; the trajectory is a consistent upward slope from zero to a thousand videos.
• Reputability compounds: viewers are more likely to subscribe to a tech reviewer with a million subscribers than one with a hundred because products cost ~$1,000 and buyers want a history to evaluate.
• The first products sent to him were laptop accessories and paid software keys, not phones; his first brand event was a Samsung event roughly six years in.