Rebrand a 15 year old channel, or start fresh ?

[rugged delta]

Hey everyone ! Glad to be apart of this community. As an OG YouTuber who started back in October 2007 (Windows Notepad and Windows Movie Maker days lmao 😂) and was successful during those times with building an audience, there was a gap between 2011 and 2020 where I had unfortunately stopped uploading due to other priorities. My channel consists of mainly how-to tutorials (outdated) and gameplays which are still uploaded, with total channel views at about 550,000 and about 416 subscribers. Again, the tutorials are now outdated but the gameplays are still attractive for people who want the nostalgia.

In recent years, I had decided to start uploading once again, but this time focusing my niche on mental health/positivity/educational type of content, which connects with my viewers on a more personal and relatable level (I am also thinking of interviewing people for even more engagement).

My question is — do I continue my current 15 year old channel and upload new and revised content consistently without losing all the hard work (subscribers, views and watch time, etc…) — or — should I just start from scratch, so the old videos don’t interfere with my new content ? I know a lot of the old subscribers may now be inactive but I did post an introductory video about the new content shift after the big gap in between. I don’t know if the algorithm will be confused on what my channel is all about and I worry that it will effect incoming viewers because of the different types of content I have, therefore causing my viewership to fall. Hope to hear your thoughts on this.

Thank you all in advance !

My channel: https://youtube.com/@TheSaifMentality

[noble tinsel]

I'd like to know this as well, as in if there is any value in creating a brand new channel or just uploading on a dead channel

[tawdry violet]

so here’s the thing

youtube doesn’t really like it when a channel suddenly goes from one niche to another

and neither do viewers

you’ll probably see a huge decrease in views and then a slow increase

so you may as well make a new channel

[uneven cloak]

I hear this question a lot, but I don't know that it matters. I think the yt advisors say start new, but there's lots of channels that have an old content shift when you scroll way back.
I think the main priority it to start uploading consistently and on brand for your target audience.