Small youtuber recs?

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alittledizzy
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Anyone want to rec any channels that don't have massive subscriber counts? I find myself subbing to more and more small channels lately.

- Presley Alexander - Brilliantly smart lgbtq eleven year old who does vlogs, science/education videos, is way into fandoms, discusses sexuality and current events with more clarity than most adults could dream of having, and has the best parents ever. She’s studying to take the GED test and taking college coding courses at the moment, so every video makes me feel a little more dumb but I love watching her grow.

- Amy Lynn Thompson - Lifestyle/homeware/makeup videos, but her personality is just so laid back and fun that I watch every single video no matter what.

- Keira Rose - British vegan with sometimes very colorful hair. I started watching her regularly because she had pet rats, though she recent lost a lot of them (to natural causes) within a short period of time so I think she’s going to let the one she has now be her last. At this point I’m very fond of her personality so the rats aren’t the only draw.

- Gone to the Snow Dogs/Snow Dogs Vlogs - A married couple with three huskies. The first channel features exclusively dog related videos, the second is their vlog channel (which obviously does also feature the dogs heavily, but also Jess and Jamie.
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What a brilliant idea!
Do 47 000 subs still count as a "small youtuber" number? If so, I'm recommending Leena from Justkissmyfrog. She's 26/27 (not entirely sure), and works in London probably in a publishing industry (again, not entirely sure). She's what you could call a booktuber, but she's also so much more. I don't even know how to 'sell' her to anybody. I just know that I relate to her thoughts on life on a regular basis, usually find her opinions on various topics very insightful and well thought-out and I'm a little bit in love with her ability to articulate her thoughts in an intelligent yet nonchalant manner. Oh, and the series that she's currently doing on her channel where she makes one video every day in Lent answering one viewer question in each of them... UGH, so good.

She's my brain-crush. Is that gross? I love the way her brain works.
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Great idea, I am going to check those channels out and see if I like them Here are smaller channels I am subscribed to:

- Rebecca Shoptaw: short films (the recent ones are all queer ones), writer/director/showrunner of the Middlemarch series, which is worth watching and the characters use "they/them" pronouns as if it was the most normal thing in the world (which it should be)

- GayWrites: doesn't upload that often but has a lot of educational videos, mostly talks about LGBTQ* topics

- NotJustBlonde / NotJustBland: quite open about her insecurities, which is refreshing, also makes music (covers and writes her own stuff)

- uppercaseCHASE1: talks about trans* topics from the point of view of a ftm guy, reviews prosthetics for transguys, does mention genitals, sex, etc. a lot, which might put you off at first but give him a chance, he's great

- jimmy0010: amazing humour, currently renovates a house and documents parts of it, which is hilarious, can also be serious when he is talking about something that's important to him (fun fact: I discovered him through a post in this forum)

- Kat Napiorkowska: short films mainly about mental health that are very accurate (judging by the comments and partly my own experience), even though she doesn't suffer from most of these conditions herself (she definitely has OCD, I don't know if something else as well), I really like her style

- TheNotAdam: talks about LGBTQ* issues and politics, also has a series called "Ask A Bi Guy" and I love him for it

- TheRealAlexBertie: talks about LGBTQ* topics from the point of view of a ftm guy, documents his transition

I just realised that only one of them is a cishet and I am not even 100% sure that Kat is straight, I sense a pattern
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alittledizzy
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hunnyftw wrote:What a brilliant idea!
Do 47 000 subs still count as a "small youtuber" number? If so, I'm recommending Leena from Justkissmyfrog. She's 26/27 (not entirely sure), and works in London probably in a publishing industry (again, not entirely sure). She's what you could call a booktuber, but she's also so much more. I don't even know how to 'sell' her to anybody. I just know that I relate to her thoughts on life on a regular basis, usually find her opinions on various topics very insightful and well thought-out and I'm a little bit in love with her ability to articulate her thoughts in an intelligent yet nonchalant manner. Oh, and the series that she's currently doing on her channel where she makes one video every day in Lent answering one viewer question in each of them... UGH, so good.

She's my brain-crush. Is that gross? I love the way her brain works.
I watched two videos and immediately subscribed. Ty for the rec!
nephilimcat wrote:I just realised that only one of them is a cishet and I am not even 100% sure that Kat is straight, I sense a pattern
I'm still in the process of checking out the channels you posted, but wanting to follow more non-cishet youtubers is a lot of why I asked. I know there are amazing lgbtqia channels out there; it's just so frustrating when they're smaller and never the ones that show up in my suggestion box or the sidebar.
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alittledizzy wrote:
nephilimcat wrote:I just realised that only one of them is a cishet and I am not even 100% sure that Kat is straight, I sense a pattern
I'm still in the process of checking out the channels you posted, but wanting to follow more non-cishet youtubers is a lot of why I asked. I know there are amazing lgbtqia channels out there; it's just so frustrating when they're smaller and never the ones that show up in my suggestion box or the sidebar.
That's true, I discovered most of them because of collabs or because I googled something LGBTQ* related and their videos popped up. It's frustrating that it's so difficult to find good smaller channels. But when you are subscribed to some of them, it gets easier because they sometimes collab or mention each other.
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Omg I love that someone mentioned Alex because I recently got into watching his videos and he's so great and all.

Anyways my recs for smaller Youtubers

Ash Hardell: talks a lot about LGBT+ issues but also a bit about other social issues

Jake Edwards: he's a singer and he also talks about gender and sexuality but also fun other things here and there

(I don't know if they count as small, probably not but) MilesChronicles: just a lot of funny gay stuff

(yup none of them are cishet)
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hunnyftw wrote:What a brilliant idea!
Do 47 000 subs still count as a "small youtuber" number? If so, I'm recommending Leena from Justkissmyfrog. She's 26/27 (not entirely sure), and works in London probably in a publishing industry (again, not entirely sure). She's what you could call a booktuber, but she's also so much more. I don't even know how to 'sell' her to anybody. I just know that I relate to her thoughts on life on a regular basis, usually find her opinions on various topics very insightful and well thought-out and I'm a little bit in love with her ability to articulate her thoughts in an intelligent yet nonchalant manner. Oh, and the series that she's currently doing on her channel where she makes one video every day in Lent answering one viewer question in each of them... UGH, so good.

She's my brain-crush. Is that gross? I love the way her brain works.
The only reason I have heard of this great lady is because she wrote a slam poem roasting Jack Howard and the whole 'YouTube is dead" shtick.
It's already been mentioned on IDB somewhere, but here it is again. I'm not subscribed because I barely watch anybody other than deppy these days, but I love to rewatch this particular video every so often, because it's so magnificent.
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Thank you all for the recommendations, I'll definitely check some of them out. And nephilimcat is totally right that jimmy0010 rocks
alittledizzy wrote:I watched two videos and immediately subscribed. Ty for the rec!
Yes! My job is done here. Hope you'll enjoy her other videos :)
mysterylovescompany wrote: The only reason I have heard of this great lady is because she wrote a slam poem roasting Jack Howard and the whole 'YouTube is dead" shtick.
Oh yeah, I've seen that one and like it very much. Of course I do.
I also appreciated this poem about Brexit.
To be honest, I liked it mainly because at the time I was deeply frustrated with Britain's decision and anything that was critical of 'you lot' satisfied me. I'm from Eastern Europe, many of my fellow citizens work in Britain so I'm a tiny bit biased ;)
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000dia000
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I like the idea of looking at "smaller" youtubers, because I find that those who have large fanbases can be a bit off putting, and it's nice finding somebody before they become intimidating. Also, going through some of my favourite "small" youtube channels, I've discovered that some aren't so small any more and have blown up considerably :wtf: so I kind of labelled these by sub count and kept them under 500K
<100K
AreTheyGay pretty much the name says for itself, interesting video essays on certain characters that are shipped together, I find them entertaining, even ships I'm not in a fandom for, and therefore do not understand, the videos are kind of fun to go through.
Adrian Bliss who needs no introduction, I don't know if he's a "small youtuber" considering he won a Bonca, etc but he doesn't have 100K yet so probably counts (?)
<200K
TRONICBOX
popular music, edited into an 80's style, what more can be said?

Tom Rosenthal the best music ever, 11/10 times will make you cry. His music videos is used by Bertie Gilbert, Adrian Bliss, and recently Tomska in their videos.
Internet Historian
Interesting premise, but not sure about the content and it's audience, I can see this channel clowing up, but also becoming annoying.
< 300K
SuperMega
gaming channel, similar bants to deppy
<400K
kaptainkristian
after blowing up, does analytical videos on cartoons
8 Bit Universe
turns any music you can think of into 8-bit music
thebrainscoop
natural history channel, I find that this channel is particularly great for digestible content, rather than just videos that are too long/too complicated for a single sitting
<500K
KisaMake
fun Japanese guy, may or may not be insane, does really good cosplay and makeup tutorials
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captainspacecoat
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I love this thread! Makes me realise I don't watch enough smaller youtubers, I'll definitely check some of these out. Here are a few that I watch that may or may not be your cup of tea:

LivingRosa - a lesbian couple and their daughter who daily vlog on weekends. They're a very sweet couple who met online years ago, lived long-distance for a while before finally meeting up, getting married in 2014 and now they have a little girl and are pregnant with twins. I know family vlogs aren't everyone's favourite thing to watch, but Mandi and Tara are really goofy and sweet, and I find them comforting and inspirational to watch (weirdly, I find most straight family vlogs off-putting and exploitative of their children, but I feel like this channel exists to show LGBT+ kids it's possible to have a happy family, which is nice).

CHRISTIANA - a singer/vlogger with one of the most gorgeous voices I've ever heard. Her voice is phenomenal, I hope she makes it out there because she's so so so talented. My personal favourite of hers is 'Water Me- FKA Twigs cover', it's stunning. She's also bi and talks about that sometimes.

DropDeadKxy - another amazing singer/musician. She mostly does covers of shoegaze/alternative music and she's really talented, I would definitely recommend.

Jessie Cave - vlogger/sketch maker. She doesn't upload very often but I think she's really funny, her sense of humour really matches mine. Her 'Untitled Vlog' series especially gets me, she has great comedic timing and manages to make mundane, specific, everyday things hilarious. I've not watched many of her sketches though, so I'm not sure what those are like. She also played Lavender Brown in Harry Potter, fun fact.

Ophelia Dagger - one of Jimmy0010's best friends, is very funny. This is more of a recent subscription for me and I haven't watched many of her videos, but I think she's hilarious so far. Her video 'Tell Her I'm Sorry' was sweet and nostalgic and quite sad, but also really funny. I don't think she's really into youtube anymore as she doesn't upload often, but from what I've seen, her videos are definitely worth watching.

Also nephilimcat I love notjustblonde too, her recent video on her 2nd channel 'am i missing something lol' was too real, it really resonated with me.
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alittledizzy
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Ahhh I love this thread so much. Immediately just subscribed to Are they Gay, Internet Historian, thebrainschool, and Living Rosa. Still going through a lot of the other ones watching videos.

(Also I have seen Chels - OpheliaDagger - with Jimmy so much and somehow never knew she had her own channel??)
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alittledizzy wrote:Ahhh I love this thread so much. Immediately just subscribed to Are they Gay, Internet Historian, thebrainschool, and Living Rosa. Still going through a lot of the other ones watching videos.

(Also I have seen Chels - OpheliaDagger - with Jimmy so much and somehow never knew she had her own channel??)
Yay! With LivingRosa, I recommend watching their 2014 and 2015 recap videos to start with - I think they'll be uploading a 2016 recap video soon as well :D
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is itsamemyleo small? he's another ""filmmaker"" but his stuff is enjoyable , doesn't post a lot but is in the same friend group as OpheliaDagger and such
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alittledizzy wrote:Anyone want to rec any channels that don't have massive subscriber counts? I find myself subbing to more and more small channels lately.

- Presley Alexander - Brilliantly smart lgbtq eleven year old who does vlogs, science/education videos, is way into fandoms, discusses sexuality and current events with more clarity than most adults could dream of having, and has the best parents ever. She’s studying to take the GED test and taking college coding courses at the moment, so every video makes me feel a little more dumb but I love watching her grow.

I love Presley she's just so awesome. I discovered her through this site. Have you watched her interview with john green? I thought that she posed a lot of unique and interesting questions
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alittledizzy
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captainspacecoat, I want to file a complaint. I'm basically in love with Mandi and Tara from LivingRosa now. I've been rewatching 2-3 old videos a day since I subscribed to them. They have over 500 videos. I'm telling myself that it's not feasible to just start with day one and watch it like a tv show, yet I'm tempted.
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alittledizzy wrote:captainspacecoat, I want to file a complaint. I'm basically in love with Mandi and Tara from LivingRosa now. I've been rewatching 2-3 old videos a day since I subscribed to them. They have over 500 videos. I'm telling myself that it's not feasible to just start with day one and watch it like a tv show, yet I'm tempted.
Yay!!! PMed you about it so we don't clog up the thread
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!!!!
How could I forget about this channel? It has 300K subscribers, and went dead for a few months, but it's running again. It does videos on strange things and internet trends, surely makes you feel out of the loop, it's truly amazing:
Channel : This Exists
:cactus:
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Two Words. Bill Schieb.
He's awesome. I mean, I only subscribed to him because the songs that he has released so far is awesome *insert Rewind here* So... yeah. Check his channel out, and he's about to release an EP which I sadly can't get because I have no money, but I'll probably buy it when I do have. Let's ignore the fact that I already have three of the songs included on the EP because, you know, Youtube.
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I love hannah hoffman, evan edinger and alexander stewart, and they are all fairly small youtubers
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Joe Birdsong.

You are so very welcome.
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alittledizzy
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jesp wrote:Joe Birdsong.

You are so very welcome.
I've spent the past year thinking he stopped making videos shortly after I subscribed to him, and had no idea he had a gaming channel he was active on. (So yes, thank you.)
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nephilimcat wrote:Great idea, I am going to check those channels out and see if I like them Here are smaller channels I am subscribed to:

- jimmy0010: amazing humour, currently renovates a house and documents parts of it, which is hilarious, can also be serious when he is talking about something that's important to him (fun fact: I discovered him through a post in this forum)

- TheNotAdam: talks about LGBTQ* issues and politics, also has a series called "Ask A Bi Guy" and I love him for it

I also rec jimmy!

And I subbed TheNotAdam from this rec and saw this in which he says,"I've seen and appreciated first hand how creators do more than just build brands and companies on YouTube--they create families that uplift, inspire, and empower." I think that is what Deppy have done. So calling them Dad or Daddy doesn't have to be sexual. Dan seems more like a mum to me.

"Rub those freckles all over me!" --Daniel Howell
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alittledizzy
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a) If you're not watching Living Rosa, scroll up and subscribe to them. They are a married lesbian couple who just brought their new twins home from the hospital and every video is heartwarming. (Even for someone like me that isn't into family stuff.)

b) Emily Hayward - I just subscribed to her last week but I'm already kind of in love with her. She's got less than 700 subscribers but she's got a really great screen presence and she's basically vlogging her life through cancer and treatments.

c) BigCatDerek - Derek works with CARE, a big cat rescue out of Texas. He does cute little videos randomly and a weekly 30-40 minute walk around the compound where he shows off all the animals and interacts with them (as much as you can interact with massive murder-kitties, which is through fencing) and they're so vocal and happy and there's a website that tells you how each one came to be at the rescue. They've also got some non-big-cat animal, and a couple of small-cat animals that think they're big cats.
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I'm loving this thread. I'm gonna check out everyone's recs. I need to branch out more. I'm basically just watching D&P, R&L, Markiplier... that's it. But I do have a few that I watch regularly that are smaller, but I love.

HowToADHD just hit 100k like last month? I love her, she's so helpful with advice for ADHD that not only help me with my diagnosis, but help me be a better parent because I can't pass on tools to my kids if I don't have them either.

DoItOnADime 450K. I realize now she isn't as small as I thought, but I've been watching her off and on for years. Home organization and cleaning videos on a super small budget. Good for inspo to get my butt in gear and get things better in my house

Ask A Mortician 180k A mortician who answers questions about death and the death industry. Super interesting.

Life Where I'm From 440k Another one that isn't as small as I thought. A family that lives in japan. Mom born in japan, dad from canada. The videos are in english, made by the dad. We started watching as a family to see how kids are different all over the world. He also has a channel (48k) where he talks about more "grown up" things like the homelessness problem in japan, being disabled in japan. More like little documentries that the kinda vlog style with the kids.

Cosmic Kids Yoga 144k Yoga videos for kids. The teacher is super engaging even through a screen.

Almost all of mine are kid/parent channels. It's almost like I'm a mom to two kids or something haha
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MythicalPinkTrashCan wrote: Ask A Mortician 180k A mortician who answers questions about death and the death industry. Super interesting.
I love her so much, she's a delight! Her book is also incredible and I'm waiting for her second book, preorder ready!!!

I thought I had more channels to rec but turns out most of the people I regularly watch have a lot of subs/have grown a lot in the last years I've been watching so this is my only rec:

Do Stuff -Their videos are like really cool films, kind of travel vloggy but in a cool way. Production value is top notch. The people who make the videos used to be the PA and video editing intern of Eatyourkimchi when they liked in Korea, they seem to be bffs now and they're really cute!
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