A shoutout to some of YouTube's "hidden gems"
Showcasing some of my favourite "smaller" YouTube channels
YouTube is my most visited website and has been for the past 16 years, ever since I started following channels regularly. Throughout that time the site has changed a lot, for better or worse (mostly worse), as well as its creators. They come and go. My preferences in content has also changed a lot. Today I want to highlight some of my current favourite YouTube channels.
Obviously I could list of big channels with high production value, like Lemmino, but I want to highlight the smaller channels that I think deserves more attention.
But what is a “small” channel?
Back when I started watching YouTube having a million subscribers meant that you were one of the top subscribed channels on the whole site. Nowadays having a million subs makes you just a normal successful channel. Crazy as it seems I am putting the cap on 1 million subs for my list.
I am going to try to include one video recommendation for each channel, even though it’s really tough to limit it to just one for many of them.
In no particular order here are some channels I want to highlight.
Chinese Cooking Demystified
“Cooking YouTube” may be one of the categories that has suffered the most from the “Mr. Beastification” of YouTube. Uninspired, repetitive videos with over the top, god awful thumbnails.
That’s why it’s so nice to see channels like this. No bullshit, just love for the game. The channel strikes a perfect balance between actual recipes and history, making it both useful and entertaining. China, with its firewall and language barrier, makes it hard for outsiders to discover and learn about Chinese cuisine. This channel bridges that gap and gives both historical and present day IRL context to different techniques and as to why the food is the way it is today.
At the time of writing this they are just shy of 1 million subs. They are way bigger than I thought they would be, but I’m also “glad” they’re below 1 million so I could include them in this list :)
Livakivi
I was initially drawn into this channel through his language learning progress videos, however I quickly came to find his other content enjoyable as well. He makes videos about whatever he feels like, keeping what I think is the spirit of YouTube.
Be it renovating a house, trying out new things or giving a progress update on his language learning, I always tune in and come out entertained and inspired. In a way he’s the kind of person I want to be: someone that is passionate about many things and just goes out and does it. He seems like a multi-talented guy.
Junferno
I don’t know what to call this channel. A programming channel? A comedy channel?
Nonetheless it strikes a good balance between witty jokes and programming content. I guess his style just fits my kind of humor while also taking on interesting topics. I especially like his video on the internationalization of keyboards.
I’m always curious to see how he will create a version of bad apple relevant to the topic at hand when opening a video.
Emplemon
His voice may be “annoying” but his content is all but that. Starting of as a YouTube pooper he moved on to making documentary style videos. However, unlike other documentary-style channels it’s not anything over the top. You jump into a video not knowing if you are interested in the topic and coming out feeling interested. He somehow makes topics I would initially think of as boring, interesting.
Kevin Fang
If you like to see how things go tits up in IT then you’ve come to the right place. It’s both interesting from a technical perspective but also in terms of entertainment. There’s just something about seeing how one little mistake makes everything go poof and the aftermath of it.
Chris Spargo
It was a sad day when Tom Scott stopped posting on YouTube. Someone was bound to fill the hole however. Chris Spargo is exactly that. I don’t think I need to say much. At the moment his videos are UK-focused, unlike Tom Scott. Who knew the I could be interested in anything in the UK though?
I think it goes to show that you don’t need fancy editing or the biggest production value to make entertaining content, as long as the story is interesting enough.
Asianometry
I’d admit that this channel is not for everyone. The narration can feel monotone and the content kind of dry. Nonetheless I think the topics he tackles are interesting and his research seems to be well done.
Although his name contains “Asia” in it, he does not only make videos about Asia.
Johnny Kyunghwo
Another cooking rendition to the list, this channel focuses on fermentation. I won’t say the channel itself it anything special but I do find fermentation enticing, and I quite like fermented foods. It may be obvious to you but he has made me realize that most things are fermentable and that the process is pretty much the same for everything.
Ordinary Things
As of writing this he just passed 1 million subs. I’m choosing to include him anyway.
Do you like feeling shit about the state of the world but also want to have a laugh at it, then this channel is for you.
This channel may be a bit doomer-ish and is kinda a part of the over-exaggeration trend of YouTube that I don’t like. Nonetheless I can’t help but find the videos entertaining and I can’t deny they’re good. He also manages to sprinkle in just the right amount of humor in there.
CHUPPL
While we’re talking about new-age YouTube, this channels falls into the same category as ordinary things. A channel I don’t want to like, but do. It feels “manufactured” with a team behind it but again I can’t deny the content is good.
The channel is essentially investigative journalism, and they’re doing a good job at it. It makes for good entertainment.
CodeAesthetic
I wasn’t sure whether or not to include this channel here, as it seems to have gone dormant. In hopes that he will start posting videos again though I want to mention him.
He takes on programming on a “deeper” level and lays out his thoughts and opinions really well. I always feel like a “better programmer” after watching his videos.
big boss
This was also a channel I wasn’t too sure about putting on here. Why? Well his videos can be quite repetitive, and I don’t necessarily find all the topics he talks about that interesting.
However he fills the hole that internet historian has left behind. A kind of “documentary” on the absolute chaos of certain things. I like the dooming feeling of “it can’t get worse than this, right?” while watching the videos, and it turning out exactly that way.
While writing this post internet historian actually posted a new video. Go figure!
Britmonkey
Another channel for the doomer. I guess you coould call this a “political commentary” channel? I don’t have much to say other than that I find it entertaining and once again I like watching content that makes me lose hope in the world.
He does have a couple of documentary-style videos as well if you’re not feeling up for a guy ranting about politics.
Reducible
Do you like beautiful videos about algorithms? Do you like 3blue1brown? This is your guy. He doesn’t seem to post anymore though :(
b001
Neat Python programming tips and tricks with a sprinkle of algorithm explainer content. He has also stopped posting it seems, so I’m not gonna say much more about him.
Keo Tsang
This is a channel I’m not sure I would recommend anymore. I used to like his vlog style videos with his fancy editing, however it has kind of fallen off and he has succumbed to titles that please the YouTube algorithm. I think the point of failure was when he got a job and moved to Japan. It’s very repetitive and I can’t say I find watching a guy drive around in his car entertaining.
He is clearly a talented guy though so he gets a spot. Hopefully he can innovate in the future.
Final words
I don’t know what my goal with this post was. I think a part of it is to document my current preferences for my own sake. It certainly would be interesting to see in a couple of years how I feel about this list and whether anything has changed. Knowing me I’m going to be embarrassed of my past self. But I also hope that whoever reads this, if anyone, check out the channels and find something they like.