In the last 28 days, one of my clients surpassed the 1 billion views per month mark, and it felt amazing.
As a strategist, I'm always hesitant to share client data because I don't want to take credit for the work they've put into their own content. However, this comes at the
FUN FACT: YouTube actively promotes videos from smaller channels through it's Browse recommendations feed.
For a few months now, YouTube has been trying to help smaller channels get more views. You may have already seen this through videos in your browse feed that have only been
EXCITING NEWS: A new YouTube update will let Creators send people from their Shorts to their long-form videos.
A new announcement on the YouTube Help page is an absolute game changer. On August 10, 2023, YouTube said that by the end of September, creators will be able to link
YouTube Editors Salary Breakdown: Influential Factors, Payment Structures & Price Ranges
In this post, I'd like to provide some transparency on the current payment rates for YouTube editors based on the work they perform.
We'll break down the influential factors, payment
The first step to making our YouTube videos more interesting and optimizing for retention.
People don't watch movies and shorts the same way they watch long-form content. When it comes to movies and shorts, they tend to watch the whole thing, but when it comes to videos, they
EXCITING NEWS: A new YouTube Studio update enables Creators to analyze their retention charts by audience segments!
When I checked the YouTube dashboard, I discovered an initial roll-out that lets creators break down their retention charts by the following segments:
-
The number of YouTube channels that reach a certain milestone.
If you ever need a little motivation to keep making YouTube videos, here are some numbers to help you see the big picture.
1,700+ channels have over 10M subscribers
45,000+ channels have over 1M subscribers
450,000+
What makes a YouTube video interesting?
A lot of people don't understand why creators like Ryan Trahan can get millions of views on videos that seem simple, and that coming up with interesting content isn't a linear concept where MrBeast's videos are the ultimate type of
Long-form creators on YouTube need to know which metrics are important to pay attention to and which ones aren’t. Here’s a long list of the most common metrics that have been talked about so far and which ones I believe are important when trying to judge a piece of content in an
If YouTube wants to help their creators understand retention better, we would need retention charts that are more detailed and can be broken down by audience type.
Here's my idea for a design.
End screens on YouTube can be used to A/B test thumbnails, kickstart new channels, and even guarantee viewership for certain branded videos.
Here are three ways to use YouTube end screens besides getting people to find your usual content.
Important: As you upload videos to
One of the most important biases in data from recommendation algorithms like YouTube's algorithm is called "survivorship bias."
I'll give you the simplest explanation, which you can then use to better understand your data sets. Please keep in mind that this is a simplified
EXCITING NEWS: YouTube reveals 4 new tools to help creators make better content.
At their ‘Made on YouTube’ event on September 21, YouTube shared some exciting news about their upcoming tools for creators. Here's a list of the most interesting new tools coming out in 2024:
1.
Here is a very short guide for people who want their brand deals on YouTube to have less of an effect on their audience retention charts.
Note: This is a simplified explanation of something more complicated.
Step 1: Put your ad inside a segment instead of adding it as a
10 Thumbnail Formats For Your Next YouTube Video
In this post, I'm sharing 10 thumbnail formats that have already proven multiple times to be great for creating videos with millions of views.
Make sure also to check out the video on YouTube which has 25 of them. 🧵
The peak-end rule is my favorite psychological bias that can be used to make YouTube videos more memorable. It is a model that predicts how an event, like a video, will be remembered, not as a whole but as a series of separate snapshots. If it's used right, it can help increase
20 Different Roles on a YouTube Team
A YouTube content creator's main team used to be the creator, the channel manager, the editor, and the thumbnail designer. But today’s teams can be a lot more complex.
Here are 20 roles that many of the most popular YouTube channels hire
If you want to know how people interact with your content, you need to know how YouTube’s retention charts are made. What you see in your retention charts isn’t a true picture of how your audience feels as they watch your content. Instead, it’s an average of how your audience
When "retention editing" takes away the depth of a story, that's not retention editing. That's called bad editing. Editing for retention means optimizing your video to increase enjoyability, memorability, and longevity of that video. Retention should always be good for the story.
I’m moving to the United States to continue working with the most influential creator on YouTube! I want to say thanks to all of those who’ve been supportive and all the amazing people who’ve helped make this possible! 🥰
*there’s still a complicated visa process to go through*
In the past months, people have been saying many things about storytelling and retention on YouTube.
This is my take:
The notion that retention is the opposite of storytelling simply isn't true. While storytelling focuses more on taking the viewer through a journey, retention
I have some exciting news to share!
Since December, I've been thinking about starting a research company whose goal would be to create new understandings about audience engagement. After planning for months, we're finally going to start this business! 🥳
I've also been working
One of the main things that keep people interest in YouTube content is curiosity. However, such a broad term makes it difficult to create actionable decisions. What we can do, however, is to break it down into four attributes that help us make actionable decisions.
Attribute
#1
:
10 More Thumbnail Formats For Your Next YouTube Video
Once more, I'm sharing 10 thumbnail formats that have already proven multiple times to be great for creating videos with millions of views.🧵
Make sure to also check my first post for 10 additional thumbnail formats!
Let’s talk about "shortening attention spans" on YouTube.
Many creators are making important decisions based on claims that attention spans are shortening. However, these so-called “facts" from research papers are less solid when you start looking into them.
There are three
If you're wondering whether the number of times people click on your YouTube video (CTR) or how long they watch it (AVD) is more important, I'd like to show you an important way to look at this so you can see why I typically value the watch experience more than how it's being
While most creators wait for YouTube’s Thumbnail A/B testing tool, I'd like to show you a way to test your thumbnails through your end screens. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown on how you can use your end screens to test your thumbnails.
Step 1: Upload the same video twice as
UPDATE: YouTube Extends the Promotion of Videos from Smaller Channels in Browse Recommendation Feed from 1 Day to 3 Days
Since last year, YouTube has been helping smaller channels get more views. You may have already seen this in your browse feed by the platform suggesting
Embrace your accent when creating content on YouTube.
Several creators have talked to me about their accents and asked if they should worry about it or change it.
Even when it comes to retention, your accent is not the problem. More important than whether or not you have an
Building a YouTube channel isn't about the small wins you have every day; it's a journey that has many lessons along the way.
Here are 7 tips that have helped channels with 10 million or more subscribers. 🧵
When people tweet about viral content on YouTube, it is very important to understand how selection biases affect the tweets. A well-respected person recently tweeted about a video called "We Sent Garlic Bread to the Edge of Space, Then Ate It" and said, "If a video has gone viral
If you want to do well on YouTube, you need to understand some important principles. Here are some important principles that will help your YouTube channel grow.
Note: Some creators may not always stick to these principles, but that doesn't make them any less true. But as
Covid hasn’t made things easy for us, but after a year of waiting, we’re finally together! 🥰
(I don’t typically share personal stuff, but this moment means a lot to me 🥰)
I want to share some general direction for people trying to optimize content on YouTube or other platforms.
There are generally three types of content optimization strategies. Make sure anybody you work with is familiar with these strategy categories so they target the right
So.. I woke up in the train while a guy was robbing me off my equipement. Luckily some amazing dude saw this happen, said he was a friend of mine and threatened to beat the guy up if he didn’t leave me alone and give my stuff back. Whoever you are, thanks a shit ton!
A/B testing for thumbnails is finally coming. However, I'm concerned about the information displayed on the teaser pictures posted online.
While watch time shows the amount of watch time each thumbnails generated, it's missing some crucial information. Here's my recommendations:
I've got about two weeks of YouTube retention-focused tweets (26 tips) to help people understand the mindset behind retention chart analysis. These tweets aren't advice on how to grow your channel but should help get started with retention analysis. 🥰
4 questions to ask yourself before using a viral idea for your own YouTube channel.
Creators often get an idea from a viral video, but they don't get nearly as many views as they had hoped. Most of the time, this is because they didn't do enough research to find out if the video
2022 has been an incredible year! I'm so thankful for all the fantastic opportunities I've had, including meeting some incredible people - from working with the biggest creators to getting married and having a baby on the way. Here's to more of the same next year! 🍾
FREE SPREADSHEET: YouTube Correlation Checker
I’ve made an easy-to-use Google spreadsheet (sheets link below) for figuring out if two YouTube metrics are related to each other. Maybe you’re wondering if a higher CTR leads to more views or if impressions align with new viewers?
I've just uploaded my first YouTube video! Weekly uploads incoming with in-depth YouTube advice.
Here's 8 Ways To Use RED Arrows In Your Thumbnails
Link:
I'm also uploading the entire video here because I don't want to force people to go to YouTube.
I want to share this special picture with everybody. Half a year ago, I found out that I am becoming a father soon. A few more months until this little boy is born. Thanks for all the recent support, the last few months have been truly special!
IT'S HAPPENING! WE GOT INVITED TO THAILAND! 🔥🔥🔥
Here's a little trailer we made for you guys!
Going to represent Europe together with
@LiquidzLive
,
@yaotzin_twitch
&
@TwitchBryaaNz
🇪🇺
Thanks for all the support over the last couple of weeks! Stellar Four, here we go! 🏆🎉
I thought it'd be interesting to break down the 9 stages of being a content creator on YouTube, from someone who just started uploading to the most impactful creators.
Stage 1: Expression
This is where most of us begin. At this point, all you do is make videos about things
Again, 10 More Thumbnail Formats For Your Next YouTube
Let's add another 10 thumbnail formats to the list of proven compositions that are great for creating videos with millions of views.🧵
It was really interesting how people felt about my suggestions for the A/B testing tool. Here is a photoshopped picture of what I had in mind for the A/B Thumbnail Tester before and after I changed it.
Regardless of which one people believe is better, I love the debate about
BREAKDOWN: The Problem With CTR and AVD as Metrics
There's always been something off about CTR and AVD as metrics on YouTube.
Because of this, I made a video to show why those metrics can be so misleading.
Hope this breakdown makes it easier to understand my take on these
There are 9 important areas to pay attention to if you want to get your YouTube audience more engaged:
1. Repetition: The first principle of optimizing for retention that everyone should follow is to get rid of any parts of your content that are repeated. Repetition is boring,
8 Comedy Principles To Improve YouTube Retention
Comedic effect is great for changing the tone of your video or to give the viewer a moment to breathe when everything is also so serious or tense. However, it can quickly result in retention dips as it doesn’t always directly
The Rise of ACTUAL Long-Form YouTube Videos & What Could Go Wrong
In the past few months, there have been more and more creators increasing the length of their content. But, there’s one thing they’re forgetting..
The current situation.
While creator used to focus on making 8
EXCLUSIVE: YouTube is testing a new feature that allows viewers to opt for recommendations based on thumbnail colors.
While I don’t know the exact details, there might be a reason to focus on creating thumbnails around specific colors such as red, blue, and green. This is
Adding subtitles, so the viewer has more stuff to focus on isn't a great way to keep retention on YouTube. It might even hurt retention. Only add subtitles when it's essential for the scene, or the scene struggles without.
Happy 30th birthday to me! 🥳
In all seriousness, this is a special moment for me. It's a time to look back at some of the most impactful moments in my life. Here are four pictures that show these moments.
Thank you for being part of my journey.
I analyzed the Click-Through Rates (CTRs) of 4208 long-form videos on YouTube ranging between 10,000 and 100 million views.
Key Takeaway: While there were some small correlations on a few channels (ranging from -0.33 to 0.35), nothing showed that we can use CTR comparisons to
Creator Advice: Complicated Words
When writing your YouTube scripts, it's best to avoid using complicated words. These words will make your content less accessible to a wider audience.
Wider audiences include both native speakers and non-native speakers, which often don't have
ANNOUNCEMENT: Free YouTube Retention Masterclass
On February 13th at 1 pm ET, I'm going to host my very first FREE YouTube retention masterclass, where I'll go over some of the most common mistakes for small and large creators.
The only thing you'll need to do is sign up, as
Creator Advice: Content Loudness
It's a common issue that creators struggle with knowing whether their edit is too loud or too soft in volume. That's where the content loudness stat can help you.
By right-clicking on a YouTube video, selecting "Stats for Nerds," and searching
If you want to get the most out of a YouTube strategist, don't ask them general questions like "how do I improve my content." When you ask these kinds of questions, you'll get a general answer. Instead, use specific questions. Here are 5 examples that people have used on me that
When we think about YouTube's simplified algorithm formula, we often think about “expected watch time per impression”. However, this way of thinking isn't always accurate..
Current Formula Limitations
Eight years ago, some software engineers at Google published a paper on the
Your knowledge of filmmaking can help you make better content on YouTube in important ways. Here are three resources that helped me get started on my journey to learn about storytelling, building characters, and making your story come alive through visuals.
Book: The Science Of
The Truth About CTR and AVD On YouTube
High Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Average View Duration (AVD) aren’t crucial for YouTube success. These metrics can be misleading and don't always correlate with increased views. Here's why:
YouTube tries to only show your video to people
There’s a huge difference between ‘improving retention’ vs ‘increasing retention’ on YouTube. In this post, I'll explain the differences by talking about what retention is, how selection bias affects how YouTube reports data, and what you can do to improve your retention.
Part
While this comparison focuses on softening our word choices, the abstractness of the sentences on the left is harmful to audience retention. When compared to the easy-to-understand sentences on the right, the vagueness of these sayings makes retention more difficult to achieve.🧠
@jeremiastomeyt
Retention has nothing to do with a creator laughing or not. Actually, it is easy to argue that a creator laughing creates an enjoyable experience that tons of viewers are seeking. It also makes the main persona more likeable, which directly contributes to higher retention.
I haven't held a Q&A thread about YouTube, YouTube data, or Audience Behavior (Retention, etc.) in over two years.
Feel free to ask me anything you'd like to know more about, and I'll do my best to respond to each and every one of them. ☺️
With just a few small changes, the "Channels your audience watches" section of the YouTube Studio dashboard can be so much more useful.
Here's my simple idea for making this section look better than it did before.
Exciting news! I've been aiming to step up from advice-giving on X, to becoming a genuine advocate for the strategy behind content.
Today marks the beginning of that journey with my first speaking opportunities on content strategy at VidCon Anaheim and ComicCon Bulgaria!🥳
Damn right,
@roe_tencent
just announced an International Ring Of Elysium LAN Invitational in Thailand! 👀
And there's even more reasons to stick with Ring Of Elysium, trust me! 👏
As most people know by now,
@Methodgg
and I have parted ways. I wish them the best of luck at
@IEM
and will be looking forward to my future journey. Exciting news coming soon!
Impossible YouTube Retention Charts
There are a lot of different shapes and sizes that YouTube retention charts can take. But every once in a while, they surprise us by taking a one-of-a-kind shape, like charts that show more than 100% retention.
Because of this, it is always
When analyzing your YouTube retention, you need to think about two types of percentages. Total retention loss and remaining audience retention loss. 5% in the middle is more significant than 5% during your first minute.
BREAKDOWN: Unaddressed YouTube Retention Topics For Large Creators
There are many areas of improvement related to YouTube retention that people don't often give enough attention to.
Here are 5 larger topics that I've addressed multiple times with creators who have over millions
Thank you
@TrustGaming
for supporting me for the past 8 months, you have been amazing! Unfortunately, I decided to go on another road than Twitch.
Hereby I’d also like to finally announce that I decided to completely quit streaming on Twitch. It’s been an amazing 4 years.
Bye!
I’ve been seeing a lot of discussions about retention rates on YouTube. Some people say that retention doesn't matter, while others say that retention rates need to go up. Neither of those is the right answer.
Let’s start by talking about the importance of retention.
Retention
Did you know.. YouTube Impressions
Impressions from End Screens are not counted on YouTube, but they can still generate views.
Also, for impressions to be counted, a thumbnail needs to be shown for more than 1 second, and at least 50% of the thumbnail needs to be visible.
I’m happy to announce that this weekend we’ll be able to announce the new roster! If any org would like to talk, this would be the best timing! DM’s are open! 😱
Retweets much appreciated! ❤️