Case Study 01 / YouTube Strategy

NICKMERCS channel profile picture

NICKMERCS

YouTube strategist

November 2022 — February 2024

Growing a YouTube channel when the creator’s priority is livestreaming.

01 / 08

The brief

How do you grow a YouTube channel when the creator is focused on livestreaming?

02 / 08

The strategy

Three ways to create momentum.

01

Stronger packaging

Sharper titles and thumbnails gave each upload a clearer reason to click.

02

Double down quickly

When a topic surfaced naturally on stream, we turned it into YouTube content quickly.

03

Publish with consistency

A near-daily cadence created more opportunities to learn—and more chances to break out.

03 / 08

Shorts / Distribution

Presence before profit.

The goal was visibility—not direct revenue.

The first major initiative was posting Shorts consistently. Monetization was limited at the time, but Shorts kept Nick present in viewers’ feeds.

They also turned moments from livestreams into additional distribution across YouTube and other platforms without requiring Nick to develop separate concepts.

04 / 08

Trend response / Only Up

Run the trend until it’s dry.

When a topic showed signs of momentum, we moved quickly. The first Only Up video created a clear signal—and we followed it.

Four NICKMERCS Only Up uploads showing 143,000, 155,000, 170,000, and 378,000 views
One breakout signal / Four above-average uploads
350K+ views on the first upload

All four substantially outperformed the channel’s typical uploads at the time.

05 / 08

Cadence / Experimentation

Keep swinging.

NICKMERCS Hogwarts Legacy upload with 270,000 views
NICKMERCS proximity chat upload with 362,000 views
06 / 08

The starting point

Before the climb.

When I joined in late 2022, the channel was averaging a little over two million views a month, with most uploads landing well below their potential.

~2M monthly views when I joined A real starting point, not a polished retrospective.
07 / 08

The outcome

68% more views in 2023 than 2022

1.9M views in December 2022—my second month with the team.
4M+ monthly views throughout the remainder of 2023.

The channel grew despite content breaks and Nick spending much of the year focused on Apex Legends.

08 / 08

End of study

Volume created more chances to win.

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