What should you vlog about next? Here are our top video ideas for your YouTube channel. (It's a long list, so you can click on your favorite category below to jump the section that's most relevant to you.)
In this Post:
- Video Ideas for Everyone
- Food & Recipe Ideas
- Tech Ideas
- Political Ideas
- Beauty Ideas
- Business & Career Ideas
- Friendship & Relationship Ideas
- Movie & TV Ideas
- Travel Ideas
- Tutorial Ideas
- Lifestyle Ideas
- Holiday Ideas
- Nostalgia & Childhood Ideas
- Cinematography & Photography Ideas
- Fun & Games Ideas
- How to Find Your Own Ideas
YOUTUBE VIDEO IDEAS FOR EVERYONE
1. Live Like an Influencer
Try another YouTuber’s tutorial, follow their advice, post like they do on Instagram, vlog like they do, etc.
2. Do a Tutorial
Teach people something that you know how to do. It can be simple (how to make coffee) or something more advanced (buy a textbook and teach the key concepts.)
3. Live Like It's Opposite Day
Mix up your usual routine for a day or a week: If you don’t work out, try working out; if you live on Postmates, try cooking; if you love makeup, try going makeup-free; if you’re introvert, try going to meetups.
4. Host a Subscriber Q&A
Ask your subscribers and social media followers to ask you questions that you can answer in a video.
5. Interview Someone Unexpected
Interview someone on the street, a family member, a business owner, etc on a topic they might not usually talk about.
6. Share a A Day in Your Life
Share your daily routine, your office or vlogging setup, your typical schedule, etc.
7. Listen to Conventional Wisdom
Find an old book or magazine and follow its advice for a day.
8. Review Something
Try and review a product, service, app, or even review a YouTuber or an Instagram account
9. Talk about Your Favorites
Share your must-have items for daily life, vlogging, work, etc.
10. Try a Trending Challenge
Search YouTube for "challenge" and filter the results to this week only to see what’s popular right now. Give it a try!
11. Explain How You Got to Where You're At
Talk about what you used to be like, jobs you used to have, mistakes you made, how you became a YouTuber, what the journey was like, etc.
12. Say “Yes" to Everything for a Day
Respond to every email, tweet, or comment. Say yes when someone asks you to try something new.
13. Give a Tour of Your Life
Show off your office, your bedroom, your hometown
14. Talk about The Hard Stuff
Share a challenge that you faced and how you overcame it (being poor, finding a job, learning how to handle anxiety, getting better at dealing with negative comments, etc.)
VlogNerd Tip:
To find out what's popular on YouTube right now, do a search for a topic area or keyword (like "challenge") on YouTube. Sort by view count and filter by an upload date of "this week."
FOOD & RECIPE IDEAS
15. Try a Vintage Recipe
Find a vintage recipe and make it. Go to the thrift store and find an old book or magazine.
16. Taste Test Celebrity Eats
Cook a recipe from a celebrity cookbook.
17. Host Your Own "Hot Ones" Challenge
Try something extremely spicy.
18. Build a Meal with Convenience Store Ingredients
Put together a complete meal using only convenience store ingredients.
19. Do a Blind Taste Test
Try to identify the soda (or other food item) by taste.
20. Compare Cheap vs. Expensive Stuff
Taste test a discount or expensive version of food (wine, chocolate, cookies, cheese, steak, etc.)
21. Get Creative with the Classics
Challenge a friend to make the craziest version of a classic recipe (grilled cheese, pizza, etc.)
22. Eat Cheap
Eat for an entire day on less than $5 (or pick another amount).
23. Try Cooking & Baking Hacks
Find a baking or cooking hacks article and test & rate the hacks.
24. Taste Test Fast Food
Get a burger (or pizza or other common item) from every fast food restaurant in town and taste test and try to guess where it’s from.
TECH VIDEO IDEAS
25. Compare Now & Then
Buy an old version of a tech item (video game console, iPhone, etc.) and compare it to the modern version.
26. Review Trending Tech Devices
Go to Amazon, B&H, the App Store, etc. and find the best selling or highest rated items. Buy them, try them, review them.
27. Compare & Contrast Two Similar Items
Compare two popular versions of a technology items and rate them on various features.
28. Share Strange Tech
Try a very weird technology item (like a cooking gadget or a bathroom gadget) and see how you like it.
29. Find the Best [Gear] for [Task]
Share your favorite gear for different tasks and groups of people.
POLITICAL VIDEO IDEAS
30. Talk about Voting!
Talk about why voting is important to you and some of the issues you care about most.
31. Interview a Politician
Call up a local/state politician or advocacy group and ask to interview them on your channel about an important cause.
32. Explain an Issue
Find a popular/controversial political topic and explain the background of the issue and the points/views of people on both sides of the issue.
33. Embrace the Other Side
Have a discussion with someone who has different political beliefs than you do.
34. Share Causes That Matter
Talk about a cause that matters to you and tell your viewers how they can help or get involved.
BEAUTY VIDEO IDEAS
35. Challenge Yourself to a Drug Store Full Face
Full face with drug store makeup only.
36. Share What's #WorthIt
What are your favorite splurge items that are totally worth it?
37. Play Beauty Routine Roulette
Choose from morning, nighttime, work, fitness, etc. and then pick beauty type like makeup, hair, or skincare.
38. Talk about the Best [Item]
Buy a single item from many brands (e.g. blush from a drug store) and review them all.
39. Follow Another Beauty Guru's Tutorial
Follow someone else’s hair or makeup tutorial.
40. Be Different... for a Day
Wear your makeup completely different for a day.
41. Don't Wear Makeup for a Day
Wear no makeup for a day. See how you feel!
42. My [Person] Does My Makeup
Let your significant other (or best friend or mom) pick a makeup look/tutorial for you to try.
43. Try a Minimalist Routine
Complete makeup look or hairstyle using only a few items.
44. Do a Waterproof/Sweatproof Challenge
Try waterproof makeup and see whether it truly lasts.
BUSINESS & CAREER VIDEO IDEAS
45. Share Your Path to Success
Talk about what you studied in school, the jobs you have, and how you got to where you are today. Discuss what worked and what didn't.
46. The Best Advice You've Ever Received
What was the best career advice you've ever received? How did it help you?
47. The Worst Advice You've Ever Heard
Talk about bad advice you've heard or read about and talk about why it's not true.
48. How Has Life Changed with Your Success
Now that you're successful, how do you spend your money and time? What's worth it and what isn't?
49. Talk about Your Mistakes
Talk about the biggest mistakes you've made and how you recovered.
50. Explain How to Get Started
What should someone do first if they want a career like yours.
51. Disagree with an Influencer
Choose a popular influencer and disagree with the advice they give.
52. List Your Favorites
List your favorite books, blogs, products, people to follow, etc.
53. Tell Us What You Would Do Differently
What classes do you wish you would've studied in college? Do you regret quitting a job? Not making a move? What wold you do differently now?
54. Talk About How You Work
Show and discuss your workday routine (what time do you wake up, how many hours you work, what you do at night, etc.)
FRIENDSHIP & RELATIONSHIP VIDEO IDEAS
55. Take a Quiz
Quiz each other with an online quiz or app.
56. Try the Perfect Day Challenge
Plan the perfect outing/date/adventure for each other. (You can set a price limit!)
57. Trade Phones for a Day
Respond to texts, use social media, etc. as each other.
58. Trade Lives for a Day
Do their routine, wear clothes like them, eat what they eat, etc.
59. Let Your [Person] Choose Your Clothes
Buy each other outfits and try them on.
60. Talk about How You Met
Tell your “how we met” story.
61. [Person A] vs. [Person B]
Who knows you better? (significant other, friends, coworkers, parents, siblings, etc.)
MOVIE & TV VIDEO IDEAS
62. Review Something Unexpected
Review something you wouldn't normally review, like the worst movies of all time (look at IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes), a movie outside your typical genre (look at this list of Netflix movies), etc.
63. Share Some Crazy Theories
Search Tumblr and reddit for absurd or unexpected theories and try to prove them true.
64. Talk Old Media when New Stuff is Trending: Classic Films like [Popular Film]
Take a new/popular/trendy movie and share a list of other films that fans of the popular one might like. You can also do this with films that influenced another one.
65. G.O.A.T.
Share your personal list of the greatest films of all time. (You can do this within a specific genre, starring a specific actors, etc.)
66. Rank Every [Actor/Director/Theme] [Movie/Episode]
Rank every film by a particular person or movies from within a franchise or episodes of a TV show in order.
TRAVEL VIDEO IDEAS
67. Make an Insider’s Guide
Your favorite destinations in a city/state that only the locals know about.
68. Put Together a Tourist Guide
Try touristy things in your hometown/state (look at TripAdvisor for ideas).
69. Best [Items] in [City]
Find an item that a city is famous for (coffee in Portland, clam chowder in Boston, pizza in New York) and try it at a bunch of different restaurants.
70. Free Things to Do in [Place]
Spend a day in a city without spending any money (or spending very little).
71. Follow a Guide
Buy a guidebook, check out Yelp or TripAdvisor, ask a hotel concierge, or ask a local and follow their advice (or top reviewed destinations) for a day
TUTORIAL VIDEO IDEAS
72. Do a Super Simple How To
Explain something really simple, like how to brush your teeth, how to make coffee, how to tie a tie, etc.
73. Answer Google
Start typing questions into Google and answer the questions that show up in autosuggest.
74. Use a Textbook
Buy some basic textbooks in a subject matter you care about and create a video series that explains the basic concepts.
75. X Ways to X
Test different tutorials on how to do things (how to make coffee, how to train for a 5k, anything!)
76. Take Someone from Beginner to Advanced
Show easy, intermediate, and advanced ways to do something.
LIFESTYLE VLOG IDEAS
77. Share Your Routines
Share your hair, makeup, fitness, skincare, cooking, traveling, or other routine.
78. [Media] that Changed Your Life
Share the books, movies, music, games that shaped your life.
79. Reflect on the Last Year
What did you learn last year? What are your goals for this year?
80. Recreate X's Look
Try to recreate popular YouTuber or Instagram photos, looks, etc.
81. List Your Personal Favorites
Share your current favorite outfits, jewelry, shoes, etc.
HOLIDAY VIDEO IDEAS
82. Make Pinterest IRL
Find a recipe or DIY project on Pinterest and try to do it yourself.
83. Explain Holiday History
Research and explain the history of popular traditions (e.g., Christmas trees, Fireworks) and share fun facts that you learn.
84. Celebrate like it's 1985
Find an old magazine or book that has tips on how to celebrate the holiday and follow the tips.
85. Put Together a Holiday Look
Share a holiday outfit or makeup tutorial.
86. Make a Gift List
Create a holiday gift guide. For multiple videos, you can create gift guides for different types of people.
NOSTALGIA & CHILDHOOD VLOG IDEAS
87. React to Your Old Vidoes
React to your old photos/videos/social media posts.
88. Do Your Makeup Like You Did in High School
Flashback to the old days and try to recreate the makeup look you went for years ago.
89. Review Your Favorite [X] From Childhood
Rewatch your favorite movies. music videos, YouTube videos, etc. from childhood and review them.
90. Talk About Who You Were in High School
Talk about what you were like in high school and how you’ve changed.
91. Share What You Wish You Would've Known in High School
List things you wish you would’ve known when you were younger.
92. Do a Q&A with Your [Family Member]
Ask your mom or another family member about her relationship, for advice, things she thought when she was your age, etc.
CINEMATOGRAPHY & VIDEO GEAR IDEAS
93. Try a Cheap Gear Challenge
Record a vlog using minimal equipment (keep it under a certain price.)
94. Compare Gear
Record footage or sound using gear at different price points and compare the results (microphones, cameras, lights, etc.)
95. React to Your Old Footage/Photos
Share some of your early work to show viewers how far you’ve come.
96. Share X Tips for Better [Videos, Photos, etc.]
Share tips for better photos or videos that ANYONE can use.
97. Break All the Rules
Show how to take great shots that break traditional cinematography or photography rules (like the rule of thirds, etc.)
FUN & GAMES VIDEO IDEAS
98. Explain the Rules of The Game
Explain the rules to board game that you love.
99. Try Modern Classics
Play a classic game like Pictionary or Charades using something fun as the source material (best movies of all time, Cards Against Humanity, memes)
100. Play Trivia
Play around of trivia with friends. Mix it up by focusing on a fun topic, movie trivia, YouTuber trivia, trivia about your life, etc.
101. Try Retro Gaming
Grab a friend and play a classic video game from your youth (The Sims, Mario Kart, NBA Jam, etc.)
102. Play Top Ranked Games
Download the highest rated games in the App Store and give them a try.
HOW TO FIND MORE IDEAS
103. Use YouTube Auto Suggest
Type a topic or a question into YouTube and look at the search suggestions.
104. Stalk Your Favorite YouTubers' Feeds
Visit your favorite YouTubers’ videos pages and sort by their most popular videos. Are there any ideas you can put your own spin on?
105. Try Google Trends
Visit Google’s Trending Searches page and look for topics you can vlog about.
What do you think? Did we miss anything? Hit us up @thevlognerd on Twitter.