Three years ago, Nikita Nagornyy started thinking of ways of making artistic gymnastics more popular in Russia. He came up with an idea of making a vlog. While his videos had not yet led to sold-out arenas at national competitions, they are quite popular and inspire some kids to take up gymnastics. TeamRussia portal talked to Nagornyy about the process of creating popular content for YouTube.
Q: How did you come with an idea of creating a [YouTube] channel?
A: There are big artistic gymnastics competitions held regularly in our country – Russian Championships and Russian Cup. An international competition, Voronin Cup, used to take place in Olympiyskiy before it was closed for renovations. The entrance to these events is usually free but, let’s be honest – there aren’t many spectators. I had been thinking – what was the reason for gymnastics not being so popular here? At competitions abroad, there’s an incredible number of people, the arenas normally are completely full. I’m talking about competitions at the level of World Cups, European Championships and so on. There’s always a crowd and a great show – music, lights, sound… Nowadays, such things started here as well and people are starting to come but there are still not many of them. And so, at Voronin Cup, I had an idea – why not try creating my own YouTube channel to popularize artistic gymnastics? At that moment, YouTube was having a blast, many new vloggers appeared that got a million views or 100,000 subscribers in a year. And I thought – that’s an open space where I can show the behind the scenes of our sport and attract people in this way.
Q: How did it all start?
A: Of course, I didn’t expect it to become interesting for many people right away. I created a channel and started filming – that was right before the Rio Olympics. We went to the European Championships, I uploaded the video. Right away, it gathered 20,000 views, so that means 20,000 people watched it! That was when I realized people were interested in gymnastics, after all. You just have to work creatively and hard. I was reporting from the Olympic Games from Brazil, talked about the Olympic village, how everything works there, how we were treated. This helped. I started connecting with successful vloggers in order to tell about gymnastics on their channels. I had two goals – making the sport more popular and promoting my personal brand. Now I understand that I probably hit the ceiling with the “gymnastics” audience I acquired. In order to attract new viewers, I need to do what’s trending now.
Q: How to create interesting content?
A: At first, I did everything on my own – the filming and the editing. It wasn’t easy but I really liked it. There was a fire inside me, I enjoyed the process. It was a kind of relaxation after practices and competitions. Some watch movies, some play video games, and I liked doing vlogs, that was my hobby, at least, in the first year. Then the serious training loads started, I had a lot on my plate, personal life, business projects, I was sorely lacking time. I started working with a videographer who, at first, only did the editing, but later started filming as well. At some point, I realized that the vlog turned from a hobby to a professional project. I felt like I owed to my subscribers and had to roll out new content all the time. So, I took a break and then used my friend’s help who arranged professional filming and editing. Over time, we automated and simplified the process. My friend Aleksey Stolyarov and I filmed sports-related content – he tried gymnastics, while I did experiments in the regular gym, that is, we swapped training programs and it ended up being quite interesting! Then, I taught bloggers how to do a backflip in 20 minutes, I filmed a video about how we visited the President after the Olympic Games – these videos gained half a million views! I still don’t have a million-view video but I’m actively working on it, trying to sense what people are interested in. We also have additional projects. For example, a very popular one – “Vam Slabo?!”. I think a successful channel model should have 3-4 different characters because a viewer usually likes just one and this way, it’s possible to attract different audiences. I think the secret of the popularity of our content is, first, that we’re showing what’s popular in sports, and, second, – unique and exclusive things that a viewer won’t see anywhere else. For example, what happens at an athlete’s home or at practices – how he prepares and how he then competes. You can rarely see such things on TV.
Q: What would an athlete need to take into consideration before launching a channel?
A: First of all, creating content takes time. Second, regular updating is very important. When you start doing it, you gain subscribers and views fast but later, if you leave YouTube for 3-4 months, people forget you quickly. When I temporarily neglected the channel because I was busy, I lost half of my audience right away, there would be 2-4 times fewer views. And the most important thing – look for something new! I haven’t yet found something which I’d enjoy as much as earlier – except for vlogs.
Q: How did your YouTube channel help you open a gym?
A: There was a period when I closed my channel down and announced it officially. In response, I got more than a thousand messages saying I shouldn’t do it. The subscribers wrote that many kids watch it as a series, parents said that it’s better to watch our videos than cartoons because this way, kids see real life. And I realized that I had to continue. The feedback that I got from parents was what prompted the decision to open a gym. Out of all Moscow neighborhoods, I chose one that had almost no gymnastics classes and opened my “Academy of Champions” there. We are trying to give kids an opportunity to do serious gymnastics and achieve great results. We have classes for kids from a year and a half. The classes help them to form the core correctly and strengthen the muscles and the ligaments, they instill athletic discipline. Our little ones even compete! It’s a bit funny to watch but still. I actually started gymnasts at 6 years old and only a year later, I started doing what our kids are doing at 3 years old. It is a long-term project and a very important one for me. And, as I said, the idea was born thanks to the people who sent me messages on YouTube.
Q: Why is it needed?
A: I don’t think every athlete should develop social media. For some, it’s distracting, and for some, it’s not needed at all. I think the most important thing in this process is drawing the audience towards this sport. I know that it’s hard to gain a large number of subscribers doing just gymnastics but it’s possible and necessary to try. In the future, this can help with the rest as well. Social media are a great promotional instrument. For example, you can ask any question in the stories and there will definitely be followers who will answer it!
Photo: E. Mikhaylova, Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
Support Gymnovosti on Patreon from only $1 a month and help us bring to you even more awesome gymnastics coverage!
Buy cool gymnastics-themed t-shirts, hoodies, pillows, phone cases, and more at our store on Teepublic!
