How to Make Your Own YouTube Closures Without Spending

How to Create YouTube Intros & End Cards - Free and Easy

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

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Part 1: Intros

Elements of an Intro

Top Intro Sites

Creating an Intro in Filmora

Part 2: End Cards

Elements of an End Card

How To Make an End Card

Elements of an Intro

Intros should only last about five seconds, and that can be cut down to two or three if you have a larger following.

When your intro video is longer than five seconds viewers are more likely to click away. The first 15 seconds of a video is when viewers are most likely to decide to click on one of the recommended videos, or go back to their search results and choose something else. The odds of them leaving within these first 15 seconds are greater if you do not get right to the main point of your video. That is why long intro sequences are bad for your watch time.

Whether it is better to put your intro at the very beginning of your video, or after you introduce your topic, will depend on your viewers. You may want to try it both ways and then look at your retention report (found in your YouTube Creator Studio under Analytics) to see which works best for you.

Top Intro Sites

There are a few different sites where you can download animated intros, customized to include your username or logo. Here are two of the best:

FlixPress.com

This is probably the most popular intro site. There are a lot of great animated intros available for under $5, or even for free.

IntroMaker.net

This is another site with really professional looking intros for $5. They only have two free options, though.

Creating an Intro in Filmora

You can create a simple intro card in Filmora.

1. Choose your background. You may want to use a short clip as your intro, or you may just want a colored background.
2. Drag your clip or background into the video track of your timeline and trim it down to five seconds.
3. If you have a logo, import it into Filmora and drag it into your picture-in-picture track.
4. With your logo selected, click on the Green Screen icon. In the pop-up, select the background of your logo to make it transparent. For this to work your logo cannot be the same color as its background.
5. Click on the editing icon with your logo selected and choose an animation.
6. Go to the Text/Titles menu and choose an animated title that suits your channel. Drag it into your text track and edit it to include your name.
7. The last piece of your intro is sound. You can choose a song from Filmora’s library and cut it down to five seconds, or import your sound effect.
8. Export your video and save it for use in all of your other videos.

Part 2: End Cards

When your video ends, YouTube will recommend a selection of videos users may want to watch next. Often, these recommendations will not include more of your videos.

To keep viewers on your channel, you can create your End Card which recommends other content you have created.

Elements of an End Card

An end card includes clips from two or three of your videos, muted, and shrunk down to thumbnail-size. Using spotlight annotations you can make these thumbnails click-able.

It is also important that your end card includes multiple calls to action. A call to action is meant to spur a viewer to some kind of action. Writing ‘Check out this video’ above one of your thumbnails is a call to action.

You should also have a subscribe link somewhere in your end card, ideally a very noticeable button with a proven call to action like ‘Subscribe Now!’.

Some creators will leave their end cards at that and play music overtop, but it can be even more effective to include a voiceover where you ask viewers to subscribe and watch your other videos.

How To Make an End Card

1. Choose a static background. You may want to download an end card template or create one in a drawing program. If you do, make sure to include calls to action like ‘Watch more!’ and ‘Subscribe’.
2. Drag your background into your timeline at the end of your video.
3. Import two or three of your previous videos and drag them into your picture in picture tracks. Each clip should be on its track.
4. Trim the clips in your picture in picture track down to the same length as your end card.
5. Shrink your clips down to thumbnail-size by dragging their corners in the preview window.
6. Position your clips so they are spaced evenly by dragging them in the preview screen.
7. Mute your clips.
8. If your background does not include any calls to action, choose a title from the Text/Titles menu in Filmora and create at least two – one asking viewers to subscribe, and one asking them to watch your suggested videos.
9. Export your video from Filmora and upload it to YouTube.
10. Go to your Video Manager and select Annotations in the drop-down menu next to your video.
11. Go to your end card in the previewer, as that is where you want to add your annotations.
12. Click Add Annotation and add a spotlight annotation to your video. Stretch it over one of your thumbnails and then check the Link box under your Annotation’s timing. Insert a link to the video you are previewing.
13. Repeat for any other thumbnails. For your subscribe button, change where it said ‘Video’ to ‘Subscribe’ and enter your channel URL.
14. Click Apply Changes.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Essential Game Streamers for Your Watchlist

Top 10 Gaming YouTubers You Should Know in 2024

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Playing a video game is a thrilling experience because it makes us feel the joys of winning and the sorrows of losing. But, the main reason why gaming has become so popular is that it offers entertainment unlike any other. The development of broadcasting and screen capturing software has made sharing gaming videos online possible, and in a little over a decade of YouTube’s existence, the platform is one of the best sources of gaming videos of all types.

Gaming YouTube channels, such as Jacksepticeye or Vanoss Gaming have millions of subscribers which makes them quite influential. So in this article, we will take a look at some of the top gaming YouTubers and rank them based on their popularity and the number of subscribers their channels have.

Top 10 Gaming YouTubers You Should Know

• VanossGaming
• Markiplier [Mark Edward Fischbach]
• Jacksepticeye [Seán William McLoughlin]
• DanTDM [Daniel Middleton]
• CaptainSparklez [Jordan Maron]
• The Game Theorists [Matthew Patrick]
• Game Grumps [Ross O’Donovan]
• I AM WILDCAT [Tyler Wine]
• H20Delirious [Jonathan Smith]
• PopularMMOs

1. VanossGaming [Evan Fong]

Evan Fong a 26-year-old from Toronto, Canada is the proud owner of one of the most influential gaming channels on YouTube. He is also labeled as one of the highest-paid YouTubers with a net worth of $15.5, second only to his colleague Daniel Middleton. The VanossGaming channel currently has over 23 million subscribers that give Evan a lot of influence on YouTube.

His videos cover all genres of popular video games, such as Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty and they often feature him and his friends making jokes about the gameplay. The VanossGaming channel was created in 2011 and it currently has over 9 billion total views. Last year Evan launched the Rynx channel which focuses on music, but it is still far from being as influential as the channel that made Even famous.

2. Markiplier [Mark Edward Fischbach]

Even though Mark Fischbach is one of the top gaming YouTubers, his channel Markiplier also features comedy videos. With 20.5 million subscribers and a net worth of some $12.5 million, Mark is unquestionably one of the most influential gamers and YouTubers in the world today.

He mostly produces ‘Let’s Play’ gaming videos and he frequently covers horror and indie games like Slender: The Eight Pages or Surgeon Simulator, but he occasionally covers mainstream games like Minecraft. Mark is also famous for hosting live streams in which he collects donations for charitable causes. The Markiplier channel was created in May 2012 and a few years later, in 2014 it was ranked #61 on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels.

3. Jacksepticeye [Seán William McLoughlin]

Seán William McLoughlin is YouTube’s ‘most energetic YouTube commentator’ who currently lives in Brighton, England. He emphasizes his Irish origin by starting all of his videos by saying “Top of the mornin’ to ya laddies! My name is Jacksepticeye!, with a strong Irish accent.

Seán started creating Let’s Play gaming videos in 2012 and just a year later PewDiePie one of the most famous YouTubers ever mentioned him in one of his videos, and the Jacksepticeye channel got over 10.000 new subscribers in less than four days. At the moment, this YouTube channel has 9.4 billion total views and 19 million subscribers. He also appeared on Disney’s Polaris: Player Select show and RTÉ One’s The Late Late Show.

4. DanTDM [Daniel Middleton]

Besides being one of the top gaming YouTubers, Daniel Middleton, the 26-year-old man behind the DanTDM channel is also one of the richest gamers on YouTube with a net worth of $16.5 million. The videos Daniel uploads to his channel focus on different modes of Minecraft, and at first, the majority of his audience were children from 5 to 10 years old.

Daniel started his channel in 2012 under the name The Diamond Minecraft, but he changed it to DanTDM in 2016, since he started uploading videos of other video games such as Roblox games or Tomodachi Life. Currently, the DanTDM channel has 19 million subscribers same as his fellow YouTuber and compatriot Jacksepticeye.

5. CaptainSparklez [Jordan Maron]

A 26-year-old YouTuber, video game developer, and music producer from Los Angles, California, named Jordan Maron has been running the CaptainSparklez channel since 2010. Jordan mostly plays Minecraft in his videos, but he also uploads animations and mod and command block reviews.

His CaptainSparklez channel has over 10 million subscribers, while his other YouTube channels Maron Music, Jordan Maron, and CaptainSparklez2 have significantly fewer subscribers. Jordan often produces Minecraft-themed music video parodies, but in recent years he has also been creating original music for these videos. In 2015 he appeared as CaptainSparklez in the TV series Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything and the following year he made an appearance on the Bad Internet TV series.

6. The Game Theorists [Matthew Patrick]

Unlike most top gaming YouTubers, Matthew Patrick the man behind this brilliant channel is more focused on education and cultural aspects of video games. As the channel’s name suggests videos often feature several hosts that speak about different aspects of games.

Even though Matthew Patrick’s approach to gaming videos is somewhat unorthodox, his YouTube channel still has over 10 million subscribers. Since 2009, when the channel was initially created, The Game Theorists hosted a number of separate shows such as The SCIENCE or DeadLock. Some of the episodes of these shows are only available on channels hosted by other YouTubers, and you can find only a few episodes on The Game Theorists channel. Besides being a popular Internet personality, Matthew Patrick is also an accomplished writer, actor, and producer who graduated Summa Cum Laude from Duke University.

7. Game Grumps [Ross O’Donovan]

This comedy web series was started by Arin Hanson and Jon ‘JonTron’ Jafari in 2012, and a year later, Dan Avidan joined because Jafari went on to start his own ‘JonTron’ series. Currently, the Game Grumps YouTube channel has 4.5 million subscribers which makes it one of the most influential authorities on gaming.

Most episodes feature two hosts playing a video game, while commenting on the gameplay, stating their opinions, and often talking about unrelated subjects. The web series doesn’t cover a particular gaming genre, and most games the hosts play on the show are suggested by fans. The channel features special holiday-themed episodes that cover holiday editions of video games. Also in some episodes, Arin and Dan play the games alone, even though they frequently have guests on the show.

8. I AM WILDCAT [Tyler Wine]

Since 2011, when this popular gaming channel was created, it has amassed 6.2 million subscribers and over a billion total views. The 26-year old Indiana-based YouTuber named Tyler Wine became popular for his distinctive commentating style which often includes humor and sometimes even cursing.

In the early days of his career as a YouTube commentator, Tyler was mostly producing videos centered around Call of Duty but as he was securing his place among the top gaming YouTubers his videos started featuring Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto, or Garry’s Mode. Tyler has been uploading LetsPlay videos since 2012 to his WILDCATLetPlays channel that currently has a little over 200.000 subscribers. He uploaded videos to his channels weekly or once every two weeks in the past, but now he uploads videos to YouTube almost every day.

9. H20Delirious [Jonathan Smith]

The man behind the H20Delirious channel has managed to remain anonymous for more than a decade. This LetsPlay gaming channel was created in May 2007 and since then the channel’s owner has identified himself as just Jonathon. He even released prank videos in 2015 and 2017 in which he pretended to reveal his true identity.

However, Jonathon is a part of the VanossGaming crew and his H20Delirious channel has over 10 million subscribers which easily places him among the top gaming YouTubers. He creates LetsPlay videos for popular games like Fallout 4, Hitman, Fortnite, or Grand Theft Auto. The 31-old American’s trademark is his psychotic laughter and he is probably the owner of one of the oldest gaming channels on YouTube.

10. PopularMMOs

With more than 14 million subscribers and a net worth of approximately $7 million Patrick Brown, the guy who runs the PopularMMOs channel is one of the most successful gaming YouTubers. The channel was created in 2012 and since then it has hosted Minecraft Mob Battles, LetsPlay videos in epic mode, Arena Battles, and Minecraft Modes VS Maps videos.

Patrick’s wife Jennifer Flagg is also passionate about Minecraft and she has her own gaming channel on YouTube, called GamingWithJen. The couple frequently works on videos together and they’ve developed a series of characters like Captain Cookie or Jelly Bean that often appear in the videos. Patrick’s popular series include Hide & Seek Challenge, World of Warcraft, and The Crafting Dead.

Read More to Get: How to Reverse Search a Video >>

Conclusion

Being a top gaming YouTuber is a full-time job, that can generate a healthy income. The gaming industry is on the rise because a growing number of people enjoy watching videos that show them how to overcome difficulties they encounter in a game. The gamers and Internet personalities we included in this article are extremely influential and their videos reach millions of people around the globe. Do you think their popularity is going to continue to rise? We’d love to hear who’s is your favorite gaming YouTuber, so feel free to let us know in the comments.

If you are looking for the best Female Gamers on YouTube, check our article: Top 10 Female Gamers on YouTube

FAQ: Find More about Gaming YouTubers

1. Who is the most popular gaming Youtuber?

PewDiePie is very popular who has 105M subscribers. Besides, Vanoss Gaming, DanTDM, and The Game Theorists are also prevalent among youngsters.

2. How do you become a famous YouTube gamer?

The very first step is to choose the area you are good at. It can be commentary channels or tutorial channels, but it must be the channel you can handle effortlessly. After building your channel, don’t forget to take the feedbacks or comments seriously, and you can try to cooperate with other YouTubers.

3. What equipment do you need to be a YouTube gamer?

Actually, you don’t need too much equipment. All you need is a computer, a camera, a microphone, video editing software like Wondershare Filmora .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett