Quirky Is The New Mainstream

By Steve Higgins
August 14, 2016 4:49 PM

This article is more than seven years old and was last updated in August 2021.

Today I took part in a panel on niche content at the biggest YouTube event in the UK, Summer In The City.

Steve Higgins YouTuber
Last week my Partner Manager at YouTube, Jules, sent me an email saying "I'm putting together a panel called 'Quirky Is The New Mainstream' at Summer In The City on Sunday, would you be interested?"

I emailed back saying, "I'd love to have come along to watch but I will only be at SitC on Friday."

He replied saying, "no, I meant... do you want to be on the panel?"  So of course I said yes.

I wasn't alone on the panel which was chaired by Jules.  I was joined by luxury fashion vlogger Sophie Shohet, maps expert Jay Foreman, and my personal favourite the Vaping Biker.

We each talked about why we started our niche channels, or in my case, how I randomly fell into it.  We discussed the difficulties of collaborating when you're not part of a network of similar channels and we gave advice to other Creators in the audience who are looking to grow their niche channels.

It was really nice to be asked to be a part of the panel and it also meant I got free access to the event all weekend and got to spend more time hanging out with my lovely friends from the London Small YouTubers Network.
Summer In The City Sketch

I love this! An illustration of our panel courtesy of w0rldmeetsgirl.
Summer In The City Agenda

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