Finding popular channels is harder than it sounds, because YouTube’s built-in search doesn’t make it easy to filter and sort channels.
This matters for:
Creators doing niche research before making videos.
Brands and marketers looking for influencers in a niche category.
Students and hobbyists who want to follow the best channels to learn from.
Fortunately TunePocket’s YouTube Channels Search tool makes this task much easier.
In this post, we’ll walk you through a real example:
We’ll find popular channels about strength training channels using TunePocket’s recently upgraded YouTube Channel Search.
The key is using the right filters and, most importantly, choosing Sort by views option so the results surface the most popular channels first.
Example goal
Find popular YouTube channels about:
Strength training programs and technique
Hypertrophy and muscle building
Gym-based training
We’ll start broad, then tighten the search using the search form options.
Step-by-step example: find popular strength training channels
Here’s what you need to do to find popular channels based on your interests:
1Open the YouTube Channel Search tool
Tool: TunePocket YouTube Channel Search
2Enter a broad niche search term
Search term: strength training
(Other good variations you can try later: hypertrophy training, weight lifting, barbell technique)
3Set Sort by to views
This is the key setting for finding the most popular channels.
Sort by: Views
4Optionally narrow the results with filters
Use these options only if you need them:
Channel topic
Pick the closest match to keep results focused
Viewer region / language
Influence how YouTube ranks results for that audience (biases, not hard filters)
Channel created on
Useful for finding newer creators, not most popular overall
5Run the search and examine the results
Focus on channels that clearly match strength training in the title and description, then download a shortlist.
search options explained
Below is a quick guide to each option in the upgraded search form. Use it as a checklist while you run searches in any niche.
- Search term
The keyword or phrase you want channels to match. For strength training, start broad, then run tighter variations like hypertrophy, strength program, or powerlifting technique.
- Sort by
How results are ranked. Use Views to find the biggest channels. Use other sort options when you care more about recency or specific discovery patterns.
-
Channel created on
Limits results to channels created within a recent window (last 7, 30, 90, or 365 days). This is useful when you want to spot newer creators in the niche, but it’s not the best choice when your goal is most popular overall.
-
Viewer region
Applies a YouTube-like ranking bias for viewers in a selected country. Helpful when you want to discover channels that YouTube tends to show to viewers in that region.
-
Viewer language
Similar to Viewer region, but tuned for language preference. Useful for finding creators who are more likely to be shown to audiences in that language.
-
Channel topic
Narrows results to a broad category (for example, Lifestyle, Sports, Knowledge, etc.). This helps keep searches focused when keywords might overlap across different communities.
What’s next? Tighten the search with smart variations
Once you have the big strength training channels, run a few narrower searches to find sub-niches.
Try these searches one by one (keep Sort by views on):
strength training for beginners
hypertrophy program
barbell technique
dumbbell workout
strength training women
powerbuilding
Common mistakes to avoid
Using the default sorting and assuming the first results are the biggest channels.
Searching only one phrase (most niches have multiple native terms).
Forgetting to sanity-check the description (some channels rank for adjacent topics).
Summary
If you want to quickly build a list of the most popular channels in strength training, start with the broad term, switch to Sort by views, and then run a few targeted variations of the main search.
