# Find YouTube video ideas that already worked

> Type your topic or niche. We search this year's YouTube videos on it and rank them by views per subscriber, so the ideas that beat their channel's size come first.

This is a free tool on the web page at https://www.manifoldmcp.com/free-tools/youtube-video-ideas: 10 runs a day per visitor, no signup, run by a person in a browser. An agent can do the same job, and more, by connecting Manifold's MCP server at `https://mcp.manifoldmcp.com/mcp` (250 free credits a month). See [How to find content ideas on Reddit and YouTube](https://www.manifoldmcp.com/blog/how-to-find-content-ideas-on-reddit-and-youtube.md).

## How it works

1. Type your topic or niche, like "home espresso".
2. We search YouTube for this year's videos on it.
3. See them ranked by views per subscriber: the outliers are your ideas.

## Turn outliers into a content calendar

An outlier tells you what an audience wanted. With Manifold connected, your agent finds the outliers across several searches and channels, reads their transcripts and comments, works out why each took off, and plans your next ten videos from them.

| | Here | In your agent with Manifold |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Searches | One topic | As many topics and channels as you list |
| Why | The numbers | Transcripts, hooks and top comments of each outlier |
| Output | A list | Titles, hooks and outlines for your channel |
| Price | Free | 1 credit a search |

### Things to ask your agent

- Find YouTube videos about [topic] this year that got over 5x their channel's subscribers, and tell me why each worked.
- Read the transcripts of the top five outliers on [topic] and write me three video outlines.
- Which questions about [topic] do YouTube commenters ask that no top video answers?

## Questions

### What is an outlier video?

A video that got far more views than its channel usually gets, here measured as views per subscriber. When a small channel's video gets many times its subscribers in views, the topic carried it, not the channel.

### Why views per subscriber?

A big channel gets views on anything, so raw views mostly measure the channel. Views per subscriber shows which ideas reached people who did not already follow.

### Should I copy an outlier video?

Copy the question it answered, not the video. Make your own take on the same need, for your audience, and check the comments for what viewers still wanted.

### Is the YouTube video ideas tool free?

Yes. You get 10 searches a day here, with no signup. For more, connect Manifold to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor: the free plan gives your agent 250 credits every month, with no card.

## More free tools

- [YouTube channel stats](https://www.manifoldmcp.com/free-tools/youtube-channel-stats.md): Enter a YouTube channel and see its subscribers, views, upload rate and how its recent videos do.
- [YouTube transcript generator](https://www.manifoldmcp.com/free-tools/youtube-transcript-generator.md): Paste a YouTube link and get the video's transcript as text.
- [People Also Ask tool](https://www.manifoldmcp.com/free-tools/people-also-ask-tool.md): Type a keyword and get the People Also Ask questions Google shows for it, with the answers it picked.
- [All free tools](https://www.manifoldmcp.com/free-tools.md)