6 creators share their secret sauce for reaching 10 million subscribers

Liza is a Shorts first creator from Mexico City, who grew her channel to 10M in approximately 2 years while still in college.

She has a large Gen Z audience that enjoys her unique sense of humor in the content she creates. Thanks to the YouTube Shorts fund, Liza was able to help her family and pay for her college studies. Liza is migrating to long-format content this year by incorporating VOD and live streams into her channel.

Inspiration for content is all around

Liza finds ideas for her Shorts in various ways, from funny songs and memes, to real events she has personally experienced or by analyzing what people around her are going through and turning it into something other people can relate to. Creating a connection with the audience is essential, “putting myself on their side and thinking of some funny and interactive video that hasn't been seen much on social media so that even they can feel part of the video,” Liza says.

What are some challenges you’ve faced in going from short to long-format content?

Time and editing. As I made long videos, I learned to plan them better. Unlike the short ones, in the long ones you have to put more time, dedication and planning, and even write a script to know in which order it’s going to be recorded and what’s going to be recorded, as this helps to make a long YouTube video more efficient and things turn out even better.

Ami is an OG creator who has evolved his content throughout the years that he has been on the platform.

Ami started his journey as a creator with VOD, but recently leaned into Shorts to reach the Gen Z audience. In his secondary channel, Go Ami Go!, Ami has reached 10M subscribers thanks to Shorts. Ami has 5 total channels that add up to over 31M subscribers.

Know the audience you want to reach

“Gen Z is what has moved the internet world forever and will be the generation that will continue to keep the world of internet entertainment alive,” Ami says. For him, making content for this generation was a natural fit.

Tell us about all your channels.

Ami Rodriguez is my main channel, where I started my career as a YouTuber in 2009; today, it has almost 19 million subscribers, and I upload Shorts every day from Monday to Friday. I unbox toys, make games and tell small stories.

Go Ami Go! is my secondary vlogging channel where I show events and adventures from my real life. It now has 12 million subscribers. I upload Shorts from Monday to Friday where I try food that produces cavities and tell fantastic stories.

Los Shorts de Ami is my third channel where I dedicate myself to uploading Shorts with the same schedule– Monday to Friday. Here I do sketch with real-life stories at school, with friends and family.

Jimmy started as a long-form creator and was one of the first in Mexico to embrace the potential of Shorts.

This new format helped him reach a huge new audience. He has been a featured creator at the first México VidCon and hosted the 2022 Eliot Awards.

Create content on your own time

I literally dedicate more time than what some people dedicate to an ordinary job. Sometimes it’s 8 hours, sometimes a little less, but in general it’s a little over 8 hours, and I work every day of the week. It’s a great passion for me, so I don’t have fixed days. Although, sometimes I give myself a couple of days to rest and relax and start again, I think that’s something I have been learning along the way. Rest is an important part of the process.

Can you describe your road to 10 million YouTube subscribers?

I began creating content on YouTube about 10 years ago. I started doing social experiments on a channel called "Urban Messengers." I started partly as a hobby and with the initiative to create a better society. I made approximately 149 videos, and I really enjoyed it, but there was a time when I no longer knew what content to do since I had developed too many social experiments, and it was getting more and more complex; that's when I came up with the “Pongámoslo a prueba” channel. I started with this channel about 4 years ago with the idea of testing the most viral infomercials and videos on the internet.

Susy Mouriz always dreamed of being a YouTube creator. In June 2021, she started posting Shorts and her channel exploded.

In 2022, her channel grew to 7.7M subscribers and she hit 10M by early 2023. She is the biggest Panamanian YouTuber and the only one with a diamond award. She is one of the most emblematic short format creators.

Shorts is a very important tool

Susy loves using YouTube Shorts to show her creativity in under 60 seconds. “The important thing to keep in mind when uploading Shorts is that you must be constant, it’s something that has worked a lot for me on the platform.” Contrary to what a lot of people believe, Susy thinks that an expensive camera and good editing isn’t enough to make you a successful creator. She says “what’s really important is to be yourself, then you will find people who identify with you, think like you, and that will join you on your crazy adventures. There you will have created a community through your Shorts videos.”

You’ve been creating content for a long time now. How do you find inspiration?

I have been creating content on YouTube for over 6 years and it has been an incredible adventure. I never thought millions would love my content on this huge platform. More than anything, I always try to be inspired by particular situations that happen to me in my daily life, situations that not everyone has had to experience and reliving it in a comical way is the best. Also, it’s important to set goals and to be able to achieve them, it’s a motivator that encourages me every day to continue creating.

Nando and Mariana are part of the Yolo Aventuras emblematic team.

They both started posting content on YouTube in 2019.Since Yolo Aventuras exploded with Shorts last year, they both have embarked on building their channels: Mariana with her love for music,fashion and beauty, and Nando with his love for gaming. They both hit 10M in early 2023.

Be yourself and be vulnerable

Mariana believes being herself has been key to growing her audience. “I really like to show my day to day; the challenges, the jokes, and above all, my personality. I always say that a person can have the best physique, but if they have no attitude, they have nothing, she says "I always try to keep those who watch me in the loop with what happens to me with both, happy things and the sad ones, my achievements and defeats.”

On the other hand, Nando is very risky and likes to do extreme things. He also likes cereal, and that’s why he spent a week eating cereal. “And video games! I played 24 different video games in real life for 24 hours, so just be yourself.”

What have you learned about creating content on the road to achieving 10 million subscribers?

Mariana: “I feel that the most important thing in this YouTube career is to be super consistent. Don’t abandon your audience; always be uploading shorts, long videos, and the format where they feel that you are there. It’s also important to have quality content: good camera resolution, lighting, editing, and good music, but above all, it’s important to generate content that makes people have fun and allows them to connect.”

Nando: “I’m very shy and afraid to do some things, but when I have a camera and I’m recording a YouTube video, I’m the bravest person in the world. Recording turns me into another person. It brings out that bravado, and charisma, and it even brings out the jokes that I wouldn’t normally come up with. Being a YouTube creator has changed my life.”