The art of digital channel management in 2026 and beyond
Spirit Studios’ Peter Cowley on how to manage a YouTube channel
Indies may be getting digital commissions away with broadcasters, but what happens to that content once it launches on platforms such as YouTube? At the moment, broadcasters tend to manage their own channels. But Peter Cowley, co-founder of Spirit Studios, argues that it’s time for producers to level up and learn how to act as publishers themselves.
“Anyone engaging in content on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok or even their own website, needs the skills to be able to publish and do community management to grow those audiences,” says Cowley. “It is a completely different skillset to the ones which traditional producers have.”
There’s a growing knowledge gap in the market around digital channel management for platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Spotify Video and Apple Video, says Cowley. And honing these skills isn’t an Homeric feat.
Digital channel management is an umbrella term for activities ranging from the oversight of comments on videos or interactive chats (community management), to the testing of thumbnail images for maximum impact (audience optimisation). Companies can learn how to do this work for themselves or outsource to outfits such as Spirit Studios, who manage the channels for a stable of producers.
“Managing how people find you is sometimes 50% of the challenge in self-publishing on these platforms,” adds Cowley. “The content itself is 50% and discovery is 50%.”
In this week’s Indie Hustle, Cowley outlines various models for successful channel management and the YouTube channel features he swears by.
Read on to learn:
Why having a plan after hitting ‘upload’ is essential
All the elements that go into the art of channel management
The perks of working with a multi-channel network (MCN) operator
Two YouTube features every channel should experiment with
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