Not every creator in your niche deserves a spot on your radar. Tracking the wrong people is how you end up chasing content that was never relevant to your audience in the first place.
Here's the filter I use.
Track creators who share your audience, not just your topic
A finance creator and a lifestyle creator can both talk about saving money — but their audiences want completely different things. You want creators whose comment sections are full of the same type of person you're trying to reach. Same questions, same frustrations, same language.
Look for consistent mid-performers, not just viral outliers
Everyone notices the creator who randomly hits 2M views. But the real signal comes from creators who regularly pull 50K–300K — they've cracked something repeatable. Outlier virality is often luck. Consistent traction is a system.
Ignore creators who are way ahead of you in scale
If they have 2M followers and you have 5K, their content strategy is optimized for a completely different distribution dynamic. Their hooks, pacing, and CTAs are tuned for an audience that already trusts them. Trying to copy that at your stage will fall flat.
The shortlist rule
You only need 5–8 competitors in active rotation. Any more and you're consuming, not creating. Pick 3 who are slightly ahead of you, 3 who are at your level, and 1–2 who are experimenting wildly. That mix gives you aspiration, validation, and creative inspiration all at once.
Once you have your shortlist, the next job isn't to watch their videos — it's to read their comments. That's what we examine in the next article.