Latest Sightings, the pioneering wildlife community started by a schoolboy, this week became the first South African YouTube channel to reach a billion views. ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK speaks to its founder.
Latest Sightings founder Nadav Ossendryver is happy to share his strategic thinking with anyone who listens. His advice for someone starting out on YouTube is clear:
“Don’t look at subscriber or view count in the first year. I only grew to around 100 subscribers in the first year. If I had taken that as a sign that no one liked the content, I would have stopped! But growing an audience and a community takes time.
“Make videos about subjects that you can’t live life without. I love the game reserve. When I am in the city, I am always dying to head back to the park to look for great wildlife sightings. That’s why I find it easy to work around that subject on social media.
“My biggest suggestion is that people starting out their channel should find that ‘game reserve feeling’ of their life, because then they will naturally create content that is interesting to like-minded people.”
