Launch week: the Season Pass & Fundamentals Week are 50% off — ends in 6d 10h 53m — See the sale
BRENT OZARUnlimited

News & Opinion

We Hit 50,000 YouTube Subscribers! Let’s Run a Contest.

By Brent Ozar · September 25, 2025 · 176 comments

This is kinda amazing to me: our YouTube channel has broken the 50,000 subscriber mark!

We hit 50,000 YouTube subscribers!

That’s wild to me because I don’t put “please like and subscribe” type stuff in the videos, and I don’t try to build viral content. I just show up every week and publish answers to y’all’s questions from PollGab. And yet, our subscriber growth is slow and steady over time, growing by about 10% per year:

Subscriber growth over time

To celebrate, let’s give away 5 Fundamentals & Mastering Bundles! To enter, leave a comment with a link to your favorite YouTube channel (other than ours) – I love finding new unusual stuff to watch. On Sunday, I’ll pick 3 random winners, plus 2 winners with the YouTube channels I haven’t seen before that strike me as the most interesting.

I suppose I should inspire you with a few of my favorites that you might not have discovered yet:

When you submit your comment, it may not show up right away because comments with multiple links require moderation around here to prevent spam. I’ll moderate & approve ’em daily though.

Free, 3× a week

Get my new posts by email

Three posts a week, plus a Monday roundup of the best database news from around the web.

Keep digging

Contest: My Favorite Caption Wins a Live Class Season Pass GDPR: Why We Stopped Selling Stuff to Europe Jeremiah & Kendra are Heading Out

176 comments

  12. Brent, you dislike math?

    If so, here comes the greatest math channel I have subscribed for years. The interviewer and the guest professors talk about math concepts you will probably never use but may change your views on this subject and you will get fascinated.

    https://youtube.com/@numberphile

  23. I like watching videos of people fixing broken stuff. My favourite is the Tronicsfix channel where Steve troubleshoots and fixes broken electronics (game consoles, computers, tools and other electronic devices). It’s very therapeutic and educational. Always fun learning new things, be it databases or how to solder a broken HDMI port ?.

    https://youtube.com/@tronicsfix

  29. It’s hard to pick one, but I think I’d recommend the one that makes me feel better and gives me hope (and also, I’m a donator):
    https://www.youtube.com/@MossyEarth

    And thanks for making me scroll through my YT channels, I found some to de-subscribe, I think I made some subscriptions by accident.. 😉

    If someone want to look into more channels: Here are the other from my Top 9 (English speaking), where I could not pick one before the other. They are about various topics, but most of them are educational:
    https://www.youtube.com/@halfasinteresting
    https://www.youtube.com/@kurzgesagt
    https://www.youtube.com/@TheB1M
    https://www.youtube.com/@PlayingForChange
    https://www.youtube.com/@extrahistory
    https://www.youtube.com/@watchdust
    https://www.youtube.com/@AltShiftX
    https://www.youtube.com/@theoceancleanup

  40. There are a few channels I follow related to off road recovery and building vehicle. My current favorite is
    https://www.youtube.com/@RobbyLayton

    I still love builderdude35. He started that channel as a kid and it helped him to get into MIT but I guess life happened and the channel has no update anymore but has still god info. https://www.youtube.com/@Builderdude35

    If you like piano music try https://www.youtube.com/@Gamazda Lover her interpretation of popular songs.

  44. Congratulations Brent on this milestone! You’ve provided an asset that all of us are looking for in an honest format. That’s what drives your longevity and makes people stick around.

    That’s also what drives my favourite Youtube Channel:
    https://www.youtube.com/@CrackingTheCryptic

    These guys just show us how to solve puzzles but they also provide the puzzles so we can attempt them first.

    As a hockey official in Canada, this account shows weekly rule situations during the seasons in a humorous yet factual method.
    https://www.youtube.com/@ruleoftheweek

  49. Here are my top 3:
    Smarter Every Day. An engineer who likes to understand and explain exactly how things work: everything from spaghetti to laminar flow to carburetors to the Saturn V rocket! https://www.youtube.com/@smartereveryday
    Mark Rober. An ex-NASA engineer who likes to explain science to kids. Oh, and he was a featured speaker at MIT’s graduation. And he likes to build squirrel obstacle courses. And rockets that actually go into space. https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRober
    Big Stack D. Just some random guy in Australia who takes things apart and melts them down. https://www.youtube.com/@bigstackD

  51. Congrats, Brent! You have been my gateway drug to the SQL Server world (and now also Postgres).

    One my favorite YouTube channel is Rick Beato – https://youtube.com/@rickbeato – amazing interviews with all-time greatest musicians, nice videos about everything music

  56. Programmers are also human, a lot of fun videos with situations that should be familiar to all of us. https://www.youtube.com/@programmersarealsohuman5909

    Technology Connections, long form videos on specific topics with a very dry sense of humor. https://www.youtube.com/@TechnologyConnections

    Juan Browne at blancolirio. Mostly aviation focused, but he had a great series on the Oroville Dam rebuild and a lot of other topics too. http://www.youtube.com/@blancolirio

  58. I was originally going to drop just a couple, but quickly realized when I checked my subscriptions, that there’s a reason why I only have a few.

    First, I’ll go with the obvious one. Since I can’t pick your channel, I have to give props to Erik Darling (https://www.youtube.com/@ErikDarlingData).

    My next one is not about learning cybersecurity as much as it is seeing how these guys operate and watching them get punished for their bad behavior. I really like Pierogi and Scammer Payback (https://www.youtube.com/@ScammerPayback).

    My last ones are gaming related. First are mainly Fallout 76: AngryTurtle (http://youtube.com/@AngryTurtle) and MrWestTek (https://www.youtube.com/@MrWestTek).

    The last one is a friend of mine who streams several different games, and if you hear my potty mouth in any of them, I apologize. https://www.youtube.com/@warthogvx9

  74. Here’s another channel I enjoy from *another* Brent. This guy has done what in tech have probably thought about. He moved away from Austin, bought an abandoned mine town in California, and has been slowly exploring it, documenting its history, and restoring it, with the hopes of making it a destination for guests to stay and learn.

    https://www.youtube.com/ghosttownliving

  76. Congrats Brent! My favorite YT channel is Tasting History — a guy finds recipes from hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of years ago, recreates them to the best of his ability, and then taste tests them, while giving a brief history lesson about the context of the original recipe. Really cool stuff and very well produced!
    https://www.youtube.com/@TastingHistory

  80. Congrats on hitting 50,000 subs!

    I highly recommend Drew Binsky’s channel. He’s hands down the most interesting travel vlogger to watch. He has visited all 197 countries and currently is embarking on a mission to meet every leader, President, or head-of-state. He is all about getting immersed in the culture of the places he visits and will show you things you likely have never seen anywhere else. He’s humble and values authentic human connection with everyone he meets. Really cool stuff!

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0Ize0RLIbGdH5x4wI45G-A

  81. Brent, Congratz on your Youtube subscription milestone! You put out great content, and I have learned tons and tons of stuff from you!
    Outside of the database world, I love going to garage sales on the weekends! Here is one guy I follow. He is a reseller, but I like the way his mind thinks! https://www.youtube.com/@CommonwealthPicker

  82. Some channels I like:

    – batinthesun: awesome geeky short films, beautifully produced. Ex: Batman vs Darth Vader, Wonder Woman vs Wolverine!
    https://www.youtube.com/@batinthesun

    – Chris and Jack : comedic sketches of all shapes and sizes. Sci-Fi, Heists, animation, movie tropes, absurdist bits, and plenty of fun new experiments. But above all else, friendship.
    https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisandJack

    – ElectroBOOM: about electricity and the like, but really, really crazy. I just can’t explain it, you have to see it.
    https://www.youtube.com/@ElectroBOOM

    – Luca Alves: the daily life of a cruise ship crew member. always interesting videos
    https://www.youtube.com/@oluca_alves

    – Manual do Mundo: brazilian channer about interesting and fun way to learn about the world around us.
    https://www.youtube.com/@manualdomundo

    – Veritasium: videos about science, education, and anything else we find interesting.
    https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium

    – 3Blue1Brown : a variety of topics in math, or adjacent fields like physics and CS, all with an emphasis on visualizing the core ideas.
    https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown

    – Porta dos Fundos: brazilian comedy channel
    https://www.youtube.com/@portadosfundos

  93. While primarily an audio podcast, this channel has both “Solve This Murder” and “Escape This Podcast” – for an audio version of escape rooms and murder mysteries. Relatively light-hearted and at least for the “escape” side they post the files so you can run the games at home if you so desire.

    https://www.youtube.com/@consumethismedia

  100. I highly recommend the JCS – Criminal Psychology. The channel features authentic footage of suspects being interrogated, accompanied by detailed commentary that explains the psychological tactics used by detectives and the subtle behaviors of the suspects

    https://www.youtube.com/@JCS/videos

  123. https://www.youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550

    One of my favourites, just a guy building stuff from scratch. No narration, just the sounds of the primitive tools he’s using and the background sound of the rainforest. He includes explanations of exactly what he is doing in the captions of the videos, definitely worth turning on.

  125. https://www.youtube.com/@BWF

    BWF TV is the official live channel of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), where we bring to you live, catch-up and delayed streaming of the major events on our calendar such as the HSBC BWF World Tour and the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships.

  150. There are so many channels I follow that it’s hard to pick my favourites, but here are three that I rarely miss.
    https://www.youtube.com/@bernadettebanner – Historical sewing, patterning, and Costume analysis.
    https://www.youtube.com/@OverlySarcasticProductions – Sarcastic, yet informative, summaries of classic and not-so-classic literature and mythology, as well as major historical events.
    https://www.youtube.com/@paganmusic – Damh the Bard – is a modern-day, international award winning, Bard. Since March 2020 he has been live streaming live house concerts once a month. It’s a real chance to relax and unwind.

  152. My favourite YouTube channel (at least this month) is: https://www.youtube.com/@TwoFeetOutdoors .

    Matt takes his kayak out on the waters in and around New York City and explores. The first sentence of his channel description is: “Me and my two feet exploring the outdoors and sharing my love of nature with the world.” It’s part urban exploring, part nature exploring, and very much entertaining.

  153. #1:
    Lazy game reviews
    https://www.youtube.com/@LGR

    and the side channel LGR Blerbs
    https://www.youtube.com/@LGRBlerbs

    Reviews of retro games and retro hardware that take me back to the past. Nowadays more on the hardware side, but does games once in a while still, on top of all the other random stuff like VLOGs from conventions. I find Clint’s videos also calming, due to his voice and demeanor.

    #2:
    You Suck At Cooking
    https://www.youtube.com/@yousuckatcooking

    Funny videos about cooking. Nice and short too, good for a giggle e.g. while trying to hide from work in the office bathroom. And, you can actually learn something!

  154. Surprising Brent that you don’t have more subscribers but PLEASE remember there are plenty of people like myself that watch your videos that don’t subscribe to anything. The YouTube algorithm tends to put your stuff up on the top of my feed anyway.

    I see plenty of people with subscribers that shouldn’t have a single subscriber. You are one of the people I recommend watching but I wish I could make a list of people’s post that people should avoid.

    1. The channel chronicles real life situations they’ve seen and experienced (in humorous ways) as EMTs and fire fighters, and even posts updates on some of the people later

  159. If you’d like to know the answers to the following questions, then I recommend https://www.youtube.com/@CasualNavigation.

    Why does rice sink ships?
    Why is the bottom of ships painted red?
    What happens when you flush the toilet on a cruise ship?
    Why do ships carry less in the winter?