Consulting and promotion of the news channel: 109.8 million and +115.9 thousand subscribers in 6 months

Initial state of the channel:

• Maximum 444 thousand views per month
• Irregular posting (1-3 videos per week)
• Lack of a clear strategy in headings and tags
• Low audience engagement

The channel owner set us an ambitious task: significantly increase coverage and turn the project into the country’s leading news media without the ability to invest significant budgets in advertising.

Project features: The channel focused on short videos with a political and entertainment focus, which was an unconventional solution for a news resource in the region.

Work format: consulting and support in promoting a news channel on YouTube
The distinctive feature of the project is the format of The client initially had formed a team, and they turned to us as contractors with the task:

• develop a strategy,
• to build effective work within the team,
• and conduct training for specialists.

Especially for such cases, when the client already internal team, and the task is building processes, training employees, and scaling up, we offer consulting services for maintaining and promoting a YouTube channel.

Consulting format – This:

• Creation individual strategy implementation of the project,
• accounting business goals for the customer,
• detailed analysis and adjustment of workinternal team,
• a step-by-step action plan,
• And individual training with the implementation of the strategy into daily work.

For this client, it was chosen a consulting format was chosen, as it turned out to be most appropriate and exactly matched the request.

Task

Client: YouTube News Channel (under NDA)

Term of work: 6 months (01.10.2024 – 01.04.2025)

Main goals:

• Conduct a comprehensive channel audit and identify factors limiting growth
• Develop a strategy for quickly scaling your audience without advertising budgets
• To transform the channel into the country’s leading news media in the short video format
• Create a system of sustainable organic growth

A niche: political and entertainment content in short video format

Target audience: Kyrgyz-speaking viewers 25–55 years old

Geography: Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, other CIS countries, and the diaspora abroad

Project Feature: The lack of monetization through the YouTube partner program created an additional challenge – it was necessary to find other sources of motivation for the team and measure success beyond the direct financial result.

Uniqueness of the task: to transform a local news channel into a powerful media resource in a country where YouTube culture is just developing, using exclusively organic promotion methods.

What is involved in the process? Consulting and support in running YouTube, YouTube Shorts

1. Personal consultation and weekly calls
   Analysis of scripts, filming, editing, engagement, traffic flow, management results, and identification of areas for improvement.

2. Preparation of technical specifications and registration of accounts
   Preparation of technical specifications for a photo shoot and design of accounts in various social networks, taking into account the requirements and specifics of each platform.

3. Development and preparation of content
   Selection of 15 topics for video shooting, development of a content pla,n and assistance in selecting content and topics for recording videos.

4. Optimization and improvement of existing content
   Tutorials on how to upload videos correctly, provide examples of how to optimize videos correctly, and help improve existing videos.

5. Market and competitor analysis
   Account analytics, competitive niche analysis, YouTube channel audit, identification of growth points, trend analysis, and recommendations for hype content.

6. Development and implementation of the design concept
   Create a new account design, including channel header and video covers.

7. Maintenance and testing of new content formats
   Assistance in launching and testing new content formats on the channel (YouTube video + #Shorts, live broadcasts, Stories, etc.).

8. Monitoring and analysis of account performance
   Weekly monitoring of YouTube Analytics, analysis of optimizations of new videos on the channel, and offering recommendations based on the data received.

9. Improving monetization and development strategy
   Assistance in improving channel monetization, developing an account development strategy,and  offering recommendations for improving results.

10. Preparation of reports
    Conclusion for a month of work, including analysis of results and suggestions for improvement.

Progress of work

• Conducted a comprehensive audit of the channel
• We studied successful news Shorts channels from Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe
• Key issues identified: low publication frequency, weak titles, non-optimized tags
• Created a plan to increase posting frequency up to 5-12 videos daily
• Developed a system of trigger titles
• Developed GPTs that, based on the video topic, gave out a clickable title for the beginning of the video
• We have prepared a system of tags and hashtags
• Trained the team in new principles of content creation
• Launched an intensive publication schedule from December 1st
• We have implemented a rapid response system to the news
• Reworked all video metadata
• Conducted A/B testing of formats
• Created templates for different types of news
• Developed a library of visual elements
• We have established continuous monitoring and adjustment of the strategy

Work on the project

Stage 1: Comprehensive audit and identification of growth points

Our cooperation with the client began with a detailed acquaintance:

• Conducted an initial call to understand business goals and get to know the team
• We studied the current work process and defined the desired results
• Took a time out for deep research into the client’s niche and situation

The conducted audit of the YouTube channel revealed several key problems:

• Critically low publication frequency— 1–3 videos per week is not enough for algorithmic support
• Weak, unoptimized titles without emotional triggers and keywords
• Lack of work with tags and hashtags— videos were not included in thematic collections
• Poorly thought-out structure of the first 3–5 seconds of the video, which resulted in low retention
• Random approach to topic selection without analyzing demand and virality potential

Based on the results of the study, we:

• Described the optimal business process for the channel team
• Formulated recommendations for restructuring work processes
• Conducted a detailed analysis of competitors
• Created a step-by-step work plan for the first month

Key insight: An analysis of successful news Shorts channels from Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe showed that in this format, it is not so much the depth of content development that is critically important, but frequency of publications and emotional component in the first seconds of the video.

Step 2: Develop a new content strategy

For effective interaction with the client, we have created a convenient working environment:

• We set up a work board on the miro.com service to visualize all processes
• We organized a telegram chat with thematic threads: scripts, filming, editing, channel management, idea bank, weekly plan
• Established regular weekly calls lasting 1-1.5 hours

Based on the analysis we conducted, we developed a fundamentally new strategy:

Revolution in posting frequency:

• Instead of 1–3 videos a week – 5-12 videos DAILY
• Distribution of publications during the day, taking into account peaks of audience activity
• Creating a content calendar based on the news cycle and popular events

Reworking the approach to headings:

• Incorporating emotional triggers at the beginning of the headline
• Using specific numbers and facts
• Adding elements of surprise and intrigue
• Including keywords relevant to your local audience

Optimization of the first seconds of the video:

• Instant immersion into the essence of the news without long intros
• Using visual and audio triggers to maintain attention
• Implementing the “information hook” technique in the first 3 seconds

Technical optimization:

• Developing a system of tags and hashtags for each type of content
• Implement cross-links between videos to increase viewing sessions
• Optimizing descriptions for local search queries

Stage 3: Implementation and first results

During our weekly calls, we:

• Provided training materials on content production and script writing
• Set specific tasks for the team with clear deadlines
• We duplicated all materials in the chat for ease of access.
• Created tutorials for complex processes

Since December 1, 2024, the channel team has begun implementing a new strategy:

• The frequency of posting has increased sharply— 7 videos were released on the first day
• A rapid response system for news has been implemented— the time from event to publication has been reduced to 1–2 hours
• All metadata elements have been reworked— from titles to tags
• Team training has been completed according to the new principles of content creation

We closely monitored the completion of tasks and provided detailed feedback:

• We analyzed every published video
• Suggested specific improvements
• Noted successful solutions for use in future videos

Example of a trigger header: Instead of the neutral “President’s speech on economic issues,” they began to use the emotional “URGENT! 5 shocking statements by the president that will change your life tomorrow!”

Step 4: Scaling Success

Having seen the first positive results, we proceeded to further optimize the strategy:

• Conducted A/B testing on various formats of headings and visual design
• Implemented an analytics system to quickly identify the most successful formats
• Developed templates for different types of news (politics, economics, events)
• Created a library of visual elements for quick editing of new videos

In the process of consistent work, the client’s team gradually improved their skills:

• Each week brought noticeable progress in the quality of content.
• The time it takes to produce one video has been reduced
• The team’s self-confidence grew
• Independence in making creative decisions was developed