How to Consistently Come Up with YouTube Ideas That Actually Work

Here’s the hard truth most creators—and teams—don’t want to hear.

If your ideas are average, your videos will be too.

You can hire a top editor, script with flair, even pour budget into studio-level production. But if the idea itself doesn’t hook anyone, none of that matters. It’s like serving world-class food in a restaurant nobody walks into.

And the worst part? We know it. We feel it. Yet we still rush past the ideation phase.

Most creators—especially those in business or startup content—spend days on filming and editing. And barely twenty minutes choosing what the video should even be.

But here’s the shift: The best YouTube teams don’t just create more. They create smarter. They treat idea development like product development. Strategic. Repeatable. Systemic.

That’s what this piece is all about.

A complete system—refined from some of YouTube’s fastest-growing channels—to help you generate outlier ideas consistently. Ideas that hook your core fans, pull in casual viewers, and convert brand-new audiences too.

Let’s dive in.

What Makes a Great YouTube Idea?

Not every topic is a YouTube idea.

Saying “I want to make a video about procrastination” is like saying you want to start a company about “wellness.” You’ve named a space, not an offering.

A true YouTube idea has four parts. And you need all four before you greenlight anything:

1. Topic – The broad subject (e.g. “procrastination”).

2. Angle – Your unique take (e.g. “How to cure procrastination with neuroscience”).

3. Title & Thumbnail – The packaging. If you can’t imagine a clickable title or compelling thumbnail, stop. That’s a red flag.

4. Structure – The skeleton. What are the key beats? How will the idea unfold?

Try this right now: take your last idea and check all four. If any are fuzzy, it’s not ready. Full stop.

For example, “Workspace vlog” is vague. But:

Topic: Productivity
Angle: Minimalist founder redesigns his desk for max output
Title: “I Redesigned My Workspace to 10x Productivity”
Structure: intro problem, step-by-step redesign, results

That’s a YouTube-ready idea.

The 80% Rule: Strategy Before Creativity

Before you start brainstorming wildly, you need guardrails.

Here’s the first one: The 80% Rule.

Eighty percent of your videos should sit inside your audience’s core interest zone. They should feel like episodes of the same show.

Think: specialty restaurant, not food court.

If one week you post startup advice, next week fitness routines, and the week after a vlog about your dog, good luck building an audience the algorithm understands.

This doesn’t mean all your videos are identical. But they should rhyme. If someone liked your last three uploads, they should want to click the next.

Audit your last ten videos. If there’s no through-line of interest, tighten your niche.

The CCN Fit: Core, Casual, New

Here’s the second guardrail: CCN Fit. Championed by strategists like Paddy Galloway.

Every idea should serve all three viewer types:

Core – Your superfans. They watch anything you post.

Casual – They’ve seen you before. They dip in and out.

New – First-timers. No context. The idea alone must hook them.

Let’s say you film “My New YouTube Studio Tour.” Your core fans might care. But casuals? Newcomers? Probably not.

Now flip it: “I Built the World’s Most Expensive YouTube Studio.” Suddenly, it’s got scale, curiosity, and relevance, without losing the original fans.

The best-performing videos sit in that intersection. They feel true to your brand, but carry broad appeal. That’s what makes them outliers.

The Idea Funnel: How to Get to Gold

Now let’s talk execution. Generating one great idea isn’t luck. It’s a process. And we call it the Idea Funnel.

Step 1: Brainstorm Broadly

You start wide. Really wide.

Set a timer. Dump 50–100 raw ideas. Don’t judge them. Don’t refine. Just write.

Where do these ideas come from?

A. Internal Sources

Look at your past top performers. What’s already worked?

Repeat: do the same format again.
Twist: flip a detail, change a variable.
Staircase: scale it up. Bigger challenge. Longer timeframe. Higher stakes.

A creator called Noah Kagan once asked millionaires how they made their money. It hit 1.1 M views. They almost didn’t repeat it.

But when he did it twenty times, with twists and escalations, their average views jumped from 10k to 500k+.

Lesson: Mine your own hits. Most creators don’t.

B. External Sources

Study outlier videos in your niche. Or even better - adjacent niches.

Find titles or formats that over-performed, then adapt them. Don’t copy. Remix.

If a fitness video called “Transform Your Body in 6 Months” blew up, a finance channel might do “Transform Your Finances in 6 Months.” Same hook, different angle.

Start an “Outlier Ideas” playlist. Every time you see a video that pops, save it. Review before every brainstorm.

C. Innovation

Sometimes, the best ideas come from nowhere. A personal story. A throwaway line in a podcast. A half-formed joke in the pub.

Give yourself space for these. Go on walks. Change location. Read outside your industry.

When in doubt, ask: What’s a video I wish existed?

Step 2: Eliminate With Criteria

Now filter.

Here’s what we use at Humble&Brag to vet ideas:

1. Fit – Does it align with your niche and audience?

2. Feasibility – Can you realistically make it?

3. Viewer Potential – Could this break your average view count?

4. Packaging – Can you imagine a great title & thumbnail?

5. Excitement – Are you excited to make it?

If an idea doesn’t tick most of these, it doesn’t make the cut.

From 50 raw ideas, you might land on five.

Step 3: Develop the Winners

For each top idea, create a one-page mini blueprint:

• Title options – Write 3–5 variations. Test punchiness.

• Thumbnail concept – Sketch it or pull a reference image.

• Tagline – One sentence summary. Elevator pitch.

• Structure – Key beats. Intro, journey, climax, payoff.

• Justification – 2–3 reasons this idea should work.

This sheet becomes your idea’s “pitch deck.” Use it to align your team—or just clarify your own thinking.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even with a solid system, there are traps. Here are the big ones:

1. Settling Early – The first idea is rarely the best. Keep going.

2. Chasing Trends Blindly – Adapting trends = smart. Copy-pasting = chaos.

3. Staying in Your Echo Chamber – Look outside your niche. That’s where freshness lives.

4. Fear of Repetition – Your audience wants more of what works. Don’t overthink it.

5. Over-Literal Thinking – Don’t get stuck on the specifics. Generalise and iterate.

6. Ignoring Data or Gut – Use both. One is compass, the other is map.

7. No Criteria – If you say yes to everything, you’ve got no filter. Choose ruthlessly.

Lastly - Make This a Habit

You don’t need magic. You need a system.

Define your strategy. Set your criteria. Run the funnel.

Because when you treat ideation as seriously as production, you stop hoping for hits and start engineering them.

If you’ve read this far, here’s your challenge: Take an hour this week. Do one idea sprint. 50 raw ideas. Then filter. Then pick one to develop fully.

You don’t need to film it yet. Just go through the process.

Because once you’ve got a pipeline of CCN-ready, 80%-aligned, high-potential ideas - you’re no longer playing catch-up. You’re building momentum.

And momentum is the one thing the algorithm can’t fake.

So, thanks for reading and happy ideation 👋 🚀