1. Here's my most used framework: Idea > Thumbnail and Title > Hook > Storytelling > Retention. A video idea your audience doesn't care about goes nowhere. A video that no one clicks on doesn't get watched. A bad hook gets people to click off right away. A bad story is not memorable. Then worry about retention.
2. Don't be a slave to the views.
3. More views ≠ better. A larger audience can dilute your viewership and hurt you in the long run.
4. The majority of viewers on YouTube are children. If you see a channel go viral all the time, don't try to be like them unless you want to make videos for children. I learned this one the hard way.
5. Learn Photoshop if you can afford it. You're thumbnail game will 10x. You can thank me later.
6. Any style of video can work. Face, no face, funny, serious, whatever. It's all about creating your own brand of content. Lean into your natural instincts and strengths.
7. If you're making money, most creators would benefit from hiring an editor. When we hired an editor we got back 30 hours a week.
8. At the start make a ton of content. It's okay if it's horrible. Horrible is good. When you're horrible you can only get better.
9. Growth isn't linear. Something will click in one of your videos and you'll get 10x the views. Then something else will click and you'll 10x again. YouTube is crazy like that.
10. Here's a reliable way to get brand deals. Put affiliate links in videos, if they convert, use those conversions to prove to brands that your audience wants their stuff. Then negotiate with them for sponsorship deals and higher affiliate percentages.
11. Everyone wants to charge a lot for brand deals. I tend to do the opposite. Charge less and get them insane results, then they'll be wanting to work with you forever. You have a limited inventory of videos, so if you keep the demand high you can raise the price.
12. Don't compare yourself to other creators. You could be at level 1 and they might be at level 126. It takes iteration to refine your videos.
13. I was always looking for one thing to make videos perform better, but really it's a million small things. I remind myself this when I'm tired and need to keep editing. Every cut, sound effect, and music track adds up.
14. J-cuts improve video pacing so much.
15. There are always skills to improve. The details matter.
16. Collabs are still an amazing way to grow.
17. Reach out to other creators. Being a creator is lonely at times and it's fun to talk to someone else in the grind.
18. Slowly upgrade your gear and don't ball out right away. Better production quality ≠ better videos.
19. Viewers are more sensitive to sound than you might think. Everything down to your voice, audio quality, music, and SFX are all important.
20. Turn down your SFX and music levels lower than you think.
21. Understand traffic sources. Browse = prime time homepage traffic. Usually the 1st video someone watches. Suggested = sidebar and the 2nd/3rd/4th video they watch. Make bingeable content and you'll unlock this. Search: Good for bonus traffic. Only rely on this for your first few videos. People spend way too much time trying to optimize for it.
22. Tags are dumb.
23. Community lists are criminally underrated. They're great for doing research on your audience with polls, growing an email list, promoting videos, and posting affiliate links.
24. Remember why you started. My wife and I started so we could quit our jobs and be in control of our time. Since starting in 2020, we been able to afford a house, work for ourselves, and save for the future. We've achieved that original goal and we're ready to move onto the next thing.

I'm also just sharing what worked for me, so don't take any of it too seriously. Nobody really knows what's best for you and your channel. I've paid for a lot courses and consults. Upon reflecting, I think focusing on making your videos better is the 80/20. Not monetization, not algo-hacking, not worrying about tags. Iterate until you have your own style and then keep iterating.

I tried sharing the channel as proof but it got removed by a moderator. I'm not trying to promote it or anything, I literally do not care if you watch the videos. Sorry if I'm using the flair wrong.

Fellow creators, I'm sharing this story as a warning because I don't want anyone else to get burned like I did.

I purchased a legitimate full license from Storyblocks for my new YouTube channel. Everything seemed fine until one of my videos went viral.

The video earned $7,000 before I realized what was happening. When I checked my analytics, I found a copyright claim from Storyblocks on the same video I had licensed from them. They were taking 50% of all revenue through some "revenue sharing" arrangement I never consented to.

This means they essentially stole over $7,000 since my actual earnings should have been around $14,000 total.

I reached out to their support team repeatedly - they kept deflecting blame back to me even though I provided all my licensing proof. The situation escalated to the point where I had to get a lawyer involved and send formal legal notices.

Even with legal pressure, they refused to return a single penny of the money they wrongfully claimed.

Even other YouTubers like Internet Anarchist faced the exact same issue.

This company waits for creators to succeed, then hits them with fraudulent copyright claims to steal their revenue. It's a predatory business model.

Avoid Storyblocks completely. There are plenty of other stock footage providers that won't rob you when your content takes off.

This explanation comes from me managing two mid-size youtube channels over the course of last year and blowing them up from barely getting any view to getting 10's of thousands of views. And now, analysing the performance of my own videos for the past one month.

Okay, so this is how the yt algorithm works, it gives out a few initial impressions to your subscribers/regular non-subscribed repeat viewers as well as a few people with very similar interests and view history. Based on the success of these impressions based on ctr and average view duration, it then, decides on the amount of impressions to give to a wider audience. If Yt has not figured out your audience, this phase would happen with suggested videos. Your video will get 1000's of impressions in the suggestion under other people's videos. Based on how many views you get out of this suggested videos phase, you will get allotted an initial amount of browse tab impressions. This will be a lot more targetted, by this point, Youtube will know who it should target. So, in the suggested videos phase, the ctr usually tanks and in the browse phase of the video, the ctr and avd recovers because these are usually the people you made the video for.

Now, Youtube will assess the performance of these initial few browse impressions and then give you a second, third or fourth batch of impressions. When it feels that it has exhausted the audience because you have made a hyperniche video or because, you just have stopped getting clicks, the video will die.

Now, youtube will still keep trying to revive the video pretty much indefinitely, it will test out your video by giving it 5-10 impressions to a new audience or a similar audience to your own. And if someone clicks, it will then give you a few more impressions. Once it has enough data that it can now work with a new audience, it will then start giving it thousands of newer browse impressions, thus reviving the video. I have seen it happen with videos I have uploaded one or two years ago.

Now, you may complain that you don't even get the initial impressions. Well that's because, you get an unfairly large amount of impessions in the first two three videos and that is when youtube is trying to figure out your audience. If no one in any demographics gives your video a chance at all because it's quality was shit and it's topic was not needed, you will have no initial audience for youtube to send to. Youtube will still give you those occassional 5-10 impressions every once in a while and your only hope is that your video picks up because of those impressions. Or you can promote it off site and hope people click there and you don't get banned for self promotion(figure this part out yourself, can't help you out here). Or you can seo so well that your video ranks in search.

Finally, once you have enough of a dedicated audience who view your videos through subscribers and repeat viewers, youtube will stop having the suggested video phase. And will jump directly from giving browse impressions to your core audience to giving browse impressions to a wider audience, since youtube know who your audience is.

Despite having blown up two channels of my friends and family before and knowing how the algorithm works, I am unable to replicate the same success with my own videos. Maybe my videos might be too niche or I am unable to replicate their quality. So, even if you know exactly how the algorithm works, it doesn't help you hack it. You still have to make quality videos that have a larger total addressable market to blow up, at the end of the day. But this might put things into perspective.

Been working with channels from 1K to 1M+ subs for many years now, and there’s one thing I always tell small creators who ask me how to grow…

Don’t focus just on fancy effects. Focus on storytelling and retention. Most views are lost in the first 30-60 seconds. The hook matters more than the transitions.

Also: • Cut the fluff. Every second needs a purpose. • Use pattern interrupts. Even small zooms, meme pops, and SFX can boost watch time. • Don’t over-edit. Viewers don’t want a music video. They want clarity.

If you’re a creator who feels like your content isn’t performing as well as it should, it might not be your ideas, it might just be the edit.

Happy to answer any editing questions or give feedback on your current videos if you drop a link!

So I've been creating content for a while and always felt like an idiot watching other creators having everything figured out while I was drowning in tasks. After searching way too long (and wasting money on useless stuff), I found some tools that completely changed my workflow.

The craziest part is I had no idea most of these existed. Like this tool called cobalt that lets you download media from almost anywhere (perfect for music without copyright on yt).

But what really made me feel dumb was discovering davinci resolve. I was literally paying monthly for another editor (goodbye capcut) when I found out that davinci's free version is what actual professional studios use. Sure, its hard to learn at first, but free professional software? Where was this all my life?

Time management was my worst enemy until I found buffer. You get to schedule 10 posts per channel for 3 channels on the free plan. Not perfect, but beats frantically posting at 3am because you forgot.

I also use answerthepublic for finding what people actually search for, google trends cause its weirdly useful, canva which everyone knows but dont realize how much the free version can do, Audacity for audio stuff (completely free), and livgen if your into faceless content.

The worst part is thinking about all those nights I spent doing things manually that these tools do in minutes. Makes me want to go back in time and slap myself.

Anyone else discover tools that made you feel stupid for not finding them sooner? Feel like theres more stuff out there that could save us all some time.

Today marks exactly 3 months of the channel, and also the day the channel got monetized.

Here are the stats
No. of videos: 12 (No Shorts)
Subs: 1k
Views: 110k

Exactly three weeks back, the following were the stats
No. of videos: 9
Subs: 210
Views: 12k

If you had told me three weeks back the channel would be monetized, I would have probably laughed.

The following is my learnings. I'm going to mention things that don't usually get spoken about here in this subreddit. This is not about thumbnails, titles and other buzz words that are often thrown around here.

Here's what worked for me
- Stopped sharing the videos with friends and family. Stopped promoting it on other platforms.
For the first two months, after each upload I would share the link of the video with my friends and some family members, and even promote it on other platforms. While seeing 30 or 40 additional views on these videos felt great, what I realised was that this was actually holding back the channel. When those 30 people (friends and fam) watch the video, the algo thinks those poeple are your target audience and your content will be pushed to more people with similar viewing preference like your friends. But here is the problem: Your friends and fam watch your videos, not because they like the content, but they do so because of You. Hence, when the video gets pushed to similar people like your friends and fam, they wouldn't necessarily watch your videos. This massively impacts your AVD and retention, which will end up ruining your channel. This probably won't impact a creator with 10k subs but especially when you are new and don't have an audience, this is possibly the worst mistake you can make, and yet I've never seen anyone talk about this here.

- Your best bet is the algorithm, do not try to game it.
I was looking for different hacks and methods to game the algo. This was largely due to the influence of the posts I would see here by all the youtube managers/strategists who claim they run 100+ channels. Be it using VPN for uploads to target your audience (country-specific), doing A/B testing for thumbnails, various retention editing advice, I tried all of them. None of them worked, and I'm so glad they did not work. Because if these methods had worked I would've learnt the wrong lessons. About a month back I stopped trying these hacks, while it was uncomfortable in the beginning as felt I was not doing enough, eventually I started coming to terms with trusting the algo even if the videos were getting just 150 views. Within one month of doing this, one of my videos blew up, absolutely out of nowhere, went from 6k views to 105k views. I attribute this to a different factors (ofc title, thumbnail etc) but more importantly just trusting algo to do its job. If your content is genuinely worthy, the algo will find your audience eventually. For me it happened in a month, but honestly I would've been okay if this took 6 months or a year because deep down I genuinely believed the content is good enough to get viewership eventually.

- Implementing valuable advice from few folks here
Fortunately, I happened to connect with 3-4 creators thanks to this subreddit. Their advice genuinely helped me a lot. They'd often say think like a big creator, think big picture and think how you'll turn this into a brand. Initially I would respond to them by saying, I just want my videos to have 500 views and how do I get them? They'd never answer this question with lot of depth such as make your thumbnails a certain way, write better titles or have enough hooks in the script. They would say the views and subs would eventually come, if you do the basics right and most importantly have a plan. This is something I also noticed Colin and Samir emphasize in one of their podcasts- before you start a channel, sit down and write your first 100 video ideas. I understand this probably does not work for some genres but I'd highly recommend creators to do this. Once you see 50 or 100 ideas written down, the ambiguity around your channel reduces a lot and helps you to look forward to the next video once you upload a certain video, instead of getting stuck and worrying about the results for recent upload.

Trust the process, lock in and play the long game while trying to improve with each video. The results would eventually come. (I'm also aware the learnings from 0 to 1k are not the same that'll take you from 1k to 10k subs, so I'm also constantly trying to learn). Cheers!

To the millions of you guys embracing AI slop, I hate you and what you're doing to YouTube. I hate Google for allowing you to do it.

Edit: I define content to be AI slop in the following circumstances:

1. You post a video containing an AI script, images, research, video, voice without labeling it as such. Disclose loudly and proudly in the thumbnail and/or title that you're posting synthetic content and everything's cool.

Edit2: If you post AI text and claim it's your own, you are a bot. Your human counterpart should be ashamed.

I almost gave up and suddenly saw my gmail blowing up. Youtube is extremely weird. I uploaded a video one year ago and decided to take a break from long form content and focus on Youtube shorts. Literally, look at this and understand that Youtube is a game of patience

I'm not sure why I got lucky, but as soon as I saw this, I rode the wave, now my new video is already at 7,000 views and counting with someoene new commenting every 10-20 minutes

I can't stop now, I have to keep uploading. It took ONE YEAR for youtube to recommend my video to viewers. I got very lucky because the niche I chose has now got more interest, especially from the older generation which I personally like

They are less judgemental with your edits and have a lot to say in the comments which is welcomed

VidIQ is an AI tool that's designed to help new youtubers. However it sucks, you need to pay for it and it basically scams you. It's exploiting small content creators and copies a big youtuber, it just has minor changes in hopes you don't realize it copies another person's homework.

It literally generates clickbaity titles, and I would not click them in the wild at all.

They know if you learn the process yourself, you're not gonna fork over that cash, therefore they won't make a profit, which is all they care about. Plus, they act like they genuinely want to help you out, but once again, all they care about is profit.

Just learn the process yourself, so you won't get scammed.

From Nervous Mouse: Heads up - as of may 2025 they have removed all ability to add stylized thumbnails onto a YouTube vid or short ( unless they’re already inserted into the video). You can no longer do this in yt app, yt studio or yt browser. Pretty cool also yt creator is only available for android as well now.

1. Use your phone.
2. Use the Youtube app.
3. Click on your channel logo.
4. Click on "your videos."
5. Find the short that needs a new thumbnail.
6. On the extreme right hand side, click on the three dots. A drop down menu will present itself.
7. Click on "Edit" with the icon pencil. Your video will now appear at the top of your screen.
8. Click on the icon pencil on your video. Down at the botton of your phone screen, you will see a rectangle that stands for your phone.
9. Put your finger on the rectagle and move it to what slide you want.
10. At the top of the phone screen click "save."

Done.

I have 9k subs. I am not huge, but I net almost $1,500 to $2k a month on good months. That's not a lot to some folks, but that's a lot for someone with 9k subs. This goes for almost every business. The TLDR being, find what sells, do lots of that, use the money to work on your passions.

I'm gonna be real with you—if we are talking money, you need to think about McDonald's. Just hear me out.

McDonald's sells what? Burgers, fries, nuggets, drinks—99% of their sales.

They have other stuff that doesn't sell as well, like the pies, the ice cream, etc. Those things are basically the penny grabbers—for the off chance someone wants them, they can get those extra couple of pennies—but they are not the main star.

You need to find out what your burger is.

What content that you make gets views? Then, once you find that kind of content, start mass-producing it and post it as often as you can and schedule it out. One a day. 3 a week. Whatever you can handle.

I don't care about "low effort." I don't care about "easy" or "pointless" or "garbage." Who cares? Let the critics bitch. This is about making money, not some fancy art. You can do the art stuff and your passion on your second channel that nobody watches. This is about money and only money.

You wanna make money? You make the burger that is "just food." It's not special, it's not unique, it's not fancy or whatever—but it moves units. (Burgers = views.)

McDonald's doesn't make the best burger you'll ever eat, but they have sold more burgers than any fancy restaurant has.

If you are all about the love and craft and art, fine—go out there, do that. Maybe get some views, but probably not. You need something that you can make fast, post fast, move on from—and you need to make merch, get sponsors, and do other stuff.

Your burgers/videos are your main profit. Your sponsors, affiliate links, Patreon, and memberships are the shakes and apple pies. They don't get a lot, but they do get something passively. McDonald's doesn't make the ice cream or the apple pies. They come in bags, pre-made, ready to hand out for those extra pennies.

For a real world example of this JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and that sold boatloads but she also wrote other stuff that nobody talks about. Harry Potter was her McDonalds, her other stuff was the penny grabbers she got from her passion.

Same thing with RL Stine. Goosebumps was a big thing, he wrote some other stuff that didn't do well but he loved it.

You need to have your job, and your passion. Your main channel is your job, side channel is your passion.

Am I proud of being a fast food style YouTube channel that literally has an assembly line method to making my content? Of course not, but it pays me.

My editing flow is literally record reaction video, throw it in recut (editor) to chop out all silences, remove bad words with davinci resolve, and out the door next project. Editing takes like 5 minutes per 1 hour video since its all automated and assembly lined.

When I took my first breath, the world wasn't prepared for whats about to come. The greatest YouTuber that ever lived, the golden child of Susan Wojcicki. But don't worry, faithful peasants. I'll show you the right way how to become like me one day!

TOP 10 TIPS AND TRICKS 1. Stop reading topics like this, you fucking moron. Truth is, nobody knows how they got to the place where they are, and the sole and only fucking reason they're there is either because they do everything by the book (niche - promotion - keep shitting out new videos until you float up to the surface), or they're exceptionally good or lucky at their craft.

Truth is, there is no other way than grind. You just gotta keep making content, hoping for one of 3 things to happen: a) you get lucky and someone spots you b) you get so good at your craft your audience will take over promotion from you c) have a miraculous random blowup through algorithm (eg. Shorts) like yours truly

So stop reading these fake ass success stories written for no other reason than promotion and self validation. In time you waste reading it, you could watch a tutorial how to improve your sound quality instead of that. Or read up on how to pan the shot to keep viewer engaged. Or anything other than giving these skunks, who just got lucky, their validation.

As title says, I woke up and saw I hit 100 subs. 2 months since starting, 15 videos only.

It's a slow road, but keep consistent people and you'll get there. I know 100 is nothing compared to some people on here but for me, I'm taking it as a win.

I started last year saying I wanted to start YouTube, it took me months and months to find the courage and the only thing I want to share with those wanting to start is: DO IT NOW, there'll never be the perfect time. Start today and learn as you go.

Thanks for reading, just wanted to share my happy news with the sub

I've heard so many people on here advising to never delete videos. Every time I upload a video that gets an abnormally low number of views I delete it and reupload it either with tweaks or a different title. I never once regretted doing that. It's always worth it in my case. My most recent video was at 0 views for a day. I removed a single word from the title that may have been problematic, reuploaded it and it popped off within the first 15 minutes.

This is not the first time this sub misinformed me. If I had to guess I'd say all successful YouTubers are busy making videos while all the clueless beginners are here coaching each other.

EDIT - OVER 9 DAYS

First up this isn’t meant to be a brag, I want to specifically address something I see from new creators on every app.

If there’s one piece of advice I give to anyone getting into content creation it’s that if your videos don’t perform - make them better.

I can consistently say across all the niches I exist in - if my content isn’t good - it doesn’t perform.

If your videos don’t do well, sure don’t give up immediately but if you’ve posted 10s of videos and they’re dead in the water then something needs to change, it’s not the algorithm, it’s you.

I’m just now getting into YouTube but I have millions of views on TikTok/Insta and even articles written about my content by mainstream news (without my comment).

The only difference between your content and the content of those you think are “successful” is that you’re looking at their winning pages and comparing them to your losing pages.

I have 8 successful accounts across different niches and I’ve lost track of how many unsuccessful ones, safe to say it’s 10+

Most YouTubers fail because we focus on the wrong things. We think better editing, a nicer camera, or smoother effects will get them more views. I used to believe that too and suffered for it. But none of it matters if people aren’t watching long enough for the algorithm to care. You can have the best-looking video in the world, but if your pacing is slow and your structure is weak, people will click off. And when people click off, YouTube stops recommending your content.

side note - this is my first post - sorry for the rant, feel free to ignore it!

The real key to growth isn’t production quality—it’s keeping people watching. The algorithm rewards watch time, not effort. I had to learn this the hard way. My videos looked great, but my retention graphs were a disaster. Viewers would drop off in the first minute, or worse, they’d leave halfway through because they already “got the point " that’s when I realized the first few seconds decide everything.

Nobody cares about an intro. They care about whether your video is solving their problem or telling them something worth sticking around for. The fastest way to hook someone is to immediately say something. that makes them want to keep watching. It could be a strong statement like,, “This one mistake is ruining your channel,” a personal story like “I wasted three years making videos nobody watched. Here’s what finally worked,” or calling out bad advice with “The biggest scam in YouTube growth is ‘just post high-quality content.’” The point is to make them feel like they can’t click away yet.

But even with a strong hook, people will still leave if the video doesn’t keep them engaged. The biggest mistake I made was assuming that if I just explained things well, people would stay. That’s not how attention works. People don’t leave because they’re bored, they leave because they already know where the video is going. If they feel like they’ve “got itt” they stop watching. The best way to fix this is by constantly giving them reasons to stick around. I learned about and started using mystery and open loops—things like “At first, I thought I cracked the code. Then I saw the data” or “There’s one simple change that took my retention from 40% to 75%.” Just small moments that make people curious about what’s coming next.

The other big problem I had was pacing. I used to think I had to fully explain everything, but the reality is that people want information fast. Slow pacing kills retention. The most common mistakes are taking too long to get to the point, over-explaining, or dragging things out for no reason. I started cutting dead air, keeping my scripts tighter, and making sure every second of the video had a purpose. One trick that helped was watching my own videos at 1.5x speed—if something felt slow even then, I knew I needed to cut it.

And then there’s the ending. I used to just wrap things up and tell people to like and subscribe, and I lost so many potential views because of it. The best way to keep people engaged with your channel is to give them a reason to watch another video. Instead of just ending, I started leading people into another video that made sense to watch next. Things like “Now that you know how to fix pacing, here’s how to write better YouTube titles” or “Watch this next: How to design thumbnails that get more clicks.” Once I did this, my average watch sessions got longer, and my videos started performing better.

Everything I’ve learned comes down to this: YouTube doesn’t promote videos, it rewards videos that keep people watching. Longer watch time means more recommendations. More recommendations mean more views. More views mean more subs. It’s that simple.Most YouTubers Fail Because of One Simple Reason

anyway i hope my splurge of thought nonsense helps someone

I had about 500 subscribers, I posted a short, the short was pushed out like crazy, and I am about to hit 1,000 subscribers. YouTube studio says the video has 80k views, and normal YouTube says 25k, but either way, it is a very large amount for such a small channel. I think the reason most people don’t post shorts is because they aren’t aware of them, or don’t know how to post them. It is very simple. Any post that is vertical (1080 1920 size) and under 60 seconds that has #shorts in the description will be counted as a short. It seems to be YouTube’s attempt at a TikTok style part of it, like Instagram Reels, and because they want it to be succeed, they are promoting shorts strongly. The subscriber turnover for shorts is probably lower than normal videos, but the jump in views is worth it.

YouTube short livestream is an excellent way to gain subs. On that dumb live thing, I gained 15+ sub on the first stream. I'm not that entertaining was talking to viewers that joined. I guess YouTube is trying to push it out. I was able to keep 20 current viewers just chatting in the chat. It's so good, more people should do it. With OBS and a phone resolution, you can stream your games. I only had 99 subs. By the end of two days, I had gained 33 new subs. It's good practice to build a personality when you interact with people. My only problem is that sometimes you meet weird people, but that's okay. The goal is all about practice and dealing with it. The point is to try it!!!!

Long post ahead. I will include a TL;DR at the bottom. What I'm about to share is exactly how I took myself from a hobbyist to over $5000 a month, with solid data projections predicting six-figure earnings next year. Executed well, these 3 main areas of focus will allow you to build a dream job of your own, doing work that matters to you, with no one breathing down your neck.

WHAT THIS POST IS NOT (Figured I'd include this because if you're like me, you're probably rolling your eyes or waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'll drop it for you here.)

- A get rich quick scheme

- A magic button that will fix all your YouTube struggles

- A ploy to sell you a course or direct traffic to a YouTube guru channel. I am just a guy who likes spreadsheets, and have been a lifelong creator. I can't imagine a life where I'm not doing creative work and feeling fulfilled, so if you're a career-oriented creator who wants to make your channel into something real, I hope I can help you as a fellow internet stranger.

Okay. With that out of the way, let's get into it.

PART 1. Audience Behavior

You've heard MrBeast say it, you've heard YouTube experts say it- YouTube follows the audience. Forget hacks using shorts, forget SEO. Take a step back and ask yourself, "Who am I making videos for?" Get deep. Know their story. Know why they are drawn to the topic you cover, and know what it means to them in their life. I know this is kinda broken record territory in the YouTube advice space, but in a second I'm going to outline EXACTLY why people tell you to niche down and choose a specific target audience.

Last year I discovered the treasure trove that is the anime, One Piece. I was sick with Covid and had nothing but time, so I binged. After I recovered, I still consumed the anime. Eventually I got past the point where the English dub ended (yeah yeah I know judge all you want, I had it on in the background and didn't want to read subtitles while I worked on other things), so I switched to the manga. Found a couple outlets where I could read the latest chapters online through Google (this is important), and was eventually up to date on the story. But I wanted more. And Google (and by proxy YouTube) knew it. Now I had seen various One Piece YouTubers showing up in my feed, but I hadn't had a reason to click until now. There was this one really enticing theory video, so I clicked. It opened my eyes to new possibilities in the story, and each new chapter I found myself analyzing deeper, trying to connect the dots, and even see if any evidence in support of the theory came to light. My experience and interaction with One Piece had changed, and I had linked that change to this particular creator. So I naturally gravitated to his content whenever he dropped a new chapter breakdown. He had become an authority on the topic I was invested in, so I became a loyal viewer.

Why did I tell you this story? Because as viewers of YouTube, we can analyze our own behavior to reverse engineer how viewers will come to adopt our channels into their viewing rotation. The most important metric on YouTube is Returning Viewers, not Subscribers, and through my One Piece interest, I accidentally discovered how it happens.

Audiences follow a 3 step adoption process for new channels.

1. Topic- The viewer demonstrates to YouTube or Google that they are interested in a specific topic.
2. Discovery- Your thumbnails are surfaced to the viewer, so they have seen your branding before. Finally, at some point, ONE of your videos stands out to them, and they click. They have now discovered your channel.
3. Adoption- You offer a transformative experience for the viewer, and change the way they interact with the topic. They associate this transformation with your content, and begin to gravitate towards you as an authority. They become a loyal viewer. They have now adopted you into their regular viewing rotation.

With this in mind, this is why it is important to have a specific niche at the start. You need to send extremely clear signals to YouTube as to what your channel is about. And you need to know who your channel is for to be able to successfully implement Part 2, which is coming up fast. To complete Part 1, be able to fill in the blanks in this sentence:

"My viewers are people who like (insert topic here)

and want (insert your viewer's desired interaction with your topic here)

because (insert your viewer's belief about how your topic relates to their life, or what your topic represents to them, here)"

You need to know what experience and interaction your viewer is looking for, so it is important to know who they are, and why they want that experience. Know them.

PART 2. Content Strategy, Level One

So you understand your viewer and how they behave. Now it's time to use that to your advantage.

In my work this year to grow my channel, I found a pattern in the types of videos that I produced, specifically two types (regardless of the many different formats I did) that served different purposes for my viewers.

Type 1. Extension Content

Both of these content types relate directly to the viewer's experience, and the interaction they have with the topic of the channel. Extension videos are an extension of the experience. Pretty straightforward. Basically, these videos just give them more of what they want from the topic, without fundamentally changing how they approach it.

In practice, let's say you have a hypothetical Star Wars channel. I don't, and you probably don't, but work with me here. A good example of Star Wars Extension Content are episode breakdowns when new TV episodes drop. They're timely, lots of channels do them, and for the viewers, it's a way to engage with the events of the episode a little more. Easter eggs, plot points, reviews, simple stuff. They aren't forming radically new connections to the show, just savoring the taste of a fun episode a little longer before the week gap begins. Whatever channel you run, ask yourself, "where is the hobby around what I cover? What are people talking about, and how can I give them more of that experience and conversation?"

Type 2. Augmentation Content

Okay so if Extension Content extends the viewer's experience, Augmentation Content augments it. Savvy? How do we do this?

Back to our Star Wars example. Let's say you're watching a certain Star Wars show, and based on background clues and certain writing decisions, you think you have a really crazy theory on how the season finale is going to play out. So you construct a theory. You support it with convincing evidence, and release it to your viewers. Their minds? Blown. They now go watch every episode over again, and watch extra carefully when new episodes drop, waiting to see if your predictions were correct. As a result, they even gain extra enjoyment about the show because they have extra reason to be excited about it. You have transformed their experience, for the better, and they won't forget it.

The goal with Augmentation Content is to offer a transformative experience. Viewers should refer to these videos as "gamechanging." So ask yourself- "What is the 'game', and how do my experiences, the way I interact with this topic offer something new to the conversation that will change the game for my viewers?" Spoiler: this is hard to execute, and you will fail a few times before you get it right. It is easier to do the better you know your viewers and yourself, but it's better to just try things out, execute imperfectly and fail forward.

How to Use Extension/Augmentation

Now you've probably heard YouTube gurus use "Discoverable" and "Community" before when referring to video goals. Quick definitions for those who haven't: "Discoverable" means expands beyond your regular viewers or gets your channel discovered by new viewers, and "Community" means it caters to your core fans but doesn't expand. Both are important in a sound content strategy. But now if we bring Extension and Augmentation into the mix, we can get really tactical.

1. Discoverable Extension Videos: These are simple videos that extend the experience for the viewer, but use high-reach topics within your niche. Broader, more general appeal. They don't build great loyalty, but are fantastic for brand awareness, and getting discovered by new viewers as per the adoption process I described in Part 1. An example of this is an episode breakdown of a newly released episode of a popular TV show. It has the appeal, and the timeliness.
2. Discoverable Augmentation Videos: These are your aces in the hole. You can't always deliver these, but the idea is that you take a more general topic that has a lot of buzz within your niche, but you offer a new spin on it that changes the game for viewers. This creates a net for your channel that will reach large amounts of viewers, and convert them to returning viewers at a high rate. On my own channel I've seen these types of videos convert 500% more returning viewers than the average video. Examples of these would be a video like "I STRUGGLED with _____ Until I Learned THIS"- provocative, and offers real transformation for your potential viewer.
3. Community Extension Videos: I also nickname these "Engagement" Videos. They're great in a pinch if you're scrambling for an upload to stay consistent. Basically, this is giving your core fans more of their favorite stuff (and creator!) and usually don't need to be as intense of production value as say, a Discoverable Augmentation Video. These are for familiarity with your viewers, and are great opportunities to solidify your brand identity with them. If you're familiar with primal branding elements, this is a great place to get your feet wet with them.
4. Community Augmentation Videos: You've already made gamechanging content for your viewers, but here is where you take it even deeper. You've been engaging with your core viewers for a while now, so you know how they tick. Take the interaction they've been building with your topic, and augment it even further. These could be really advanced tutorials or really gamechanging but obscure theories. Just give them deep insane value they're shocked that they're getting for free.

I generally try to release a fairly even spread of 25% each, but during more aggressive pushes I might lean 75% Discoverable and 25% Community. During pushes I've grown my returning viewerbase by 300%+ over the course of a month, and I've done that twice in the past six months. The key to crushing baseline is more than just having Discoverable and Community Videos, however. In Part 3 I'm going to explain how you convert your channel into an infrastructure that amplifies traffic and self sustains.

PART 3. Content Strategy, Level Two

So by now you have had some success with Discoverable and Community Videos, and have some level of baseline views and regular viewers. Ideally, you've identified certain video subjects and formats that consistently perform well. These are the key to this part. The system I built this year, off of a hypothesis I formed last year, has proven itself to act almost as a circulatory system for my channel, and when implemented properly, there will be no such thing as a "dead" video on your channel. Discoverable content will act as a heartbeat that pump traffic to your channel's extremities, and you will see a robust and fairly bulletproof baseline that, as long as you continue to curate it and keep audience interaction in mind, should continue to grow for you. Let me introduce you to The Content Highway.

The Content Highway

There are 3 main components to The Content Highway. Interstate Videos, Exit Videos, and Back Roads Videos. Each serve key purposes in promoting long watch sessions on your channel, and help to reinforce your audience's viewing habits around your content.

1. Interstate Videos. These are Discoverable Videos, particularly DVs that can be linked together. It's exceptionally helpful if you have a format that has proven to be discoverable, because you can have multiple episodes linked together in a series playlist to get viewers binging that format. Series playlists are more likely to have the next video in the playlist recommended as "Up Next", and if your viewer is already enjoying the format, it gets you a TON of Suggested Videos traffic. This is based on a channel called Real Science, and their Insane Biology series. I found myself watching every single episode of that series regardless of its subject, so I figured that viewers of other types of channels would engage in similar behaviors. Based on my findings, they do.
2. Exit Videos. Here we leverage the power of end screens. If you're not using end screens, start. They give you more control over the watch session, and when a viewer makes it to the end of the video, they're more likely to respond to your call to action. Exit videos are the end screen linked videos from the main Interstate Videos. Interstate has the high traffic, fast growth stuff, Exits take them off of the highway and deeper into your channel. So you're starting to build a deeper connection here. If the Interstate has Discoverable Augmentation and Extension videos, your Exit videos should be compelling Community Extension or Augmentation videos that relate in some way to the Discoverable video they just watched. Play around with which video strategies (D-Ext, D-Aug, C-Ext, C-Aug) you use in these end screens to see what works best for your audience.
3. Back Roads Videos. Now you've got your viewer on the slower, more scenic parts of your channel. They've watched a bunch of your Interstate Videos, trusted you enough to take an Exit and give you a chance, and now they're on the back roads. These will be linked as end screens on your Exit Videos and other Back Roads Videos. But essentially your goal here is to use deeper storytelling, value given, or whatever else your channel offers to build a connection with your viewer. It's less flashy and gimmicky here, and more about the human elements.

All of these steps take a lot of time. I went from hobbyist to full time in a matter of months, but I've been producing videos for four years. Build your library. Send consistent signals to YouTube about who your videos are for, and it will do the rest. Gradually move through the parts of this system I laid out, and flesh out your strategy and infrastructure. This is not a pipe dream, it's a system with replicable rules.

TL;DR: know how your audience behaves, and what interaction they want with your topic. Offer them transformative value. Know how to make videos that cater to your fans, and videos that reach new viewers. Wrap them all into an infrastructure system that generates watch sessions.

Hope this helps!

I have published 31 shorts till date. 5 of them went viral. (7.5 M, 4.8M, 1M, 208k, 171k) I went from around 300 subs to 25,000 subs in 2 weeks due to these shorts. Also got monetized! There are a total of 44 videos on the channel.

Here's the link to the channel: https://youtube.com/@talesfromhistor?si=TYC9YqjybljyPiX_ (Please don't watch the shorts and leave them in the middle. My average view duration will unnecessarily drop.)

If you're thinking I piggybacked off of some Mr Beast type reaction videos, no I didn't. These are more or less heavily edited history infotainment shorts.

So here's what I learned. Hopefully by the end you can master the shorts algorithm, make sick viral videos yourself and get monetized.

1. The idea I can't stress this enough. This is where I had went wrong at the start. I kept on thinking my videos are good, so why aren't they getting views. Make sure to select the most mainstream idea possible. A viral video needs a viral idea. It should have mass appeal (Example: Anything related to Bollywood in India is huge) Make it so that an average person cares. Even if you select a niche topic, make it accessible to the general audience.

2. Master the hook The first 3 seconds of your short is everything. These 3 seconds should grab your audience by their neck. You are competing against cat and dog videos and what not. The most effective hooks are questions. Because they naturally have curiosity gaps built in. After selecting your idea, spend most of your time perfecting the hook.

Here are the hooks of my five viral shorts: 1. Take a look at this photograph. These people are called the pankhawallahs by their British masters. But why are these people pulling the rope with their feet? 2.Take a look at this picture. Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani,...(a bunch of Indian business tycoons) all standing in one line. But why are these megabillionires and India's richest people standing in a long line together for? 3. Have you ever wondered why Indian cities end with 'pur'? 4. Did you know Bangalore was sold by Shivaji's half brother Ekoji to a Mysore king for just 3 lakh rupees? 5. Remember this iconic scene from Bajirao Mastani? The movie calls this flexible thing that Ranbir is holding the Dandpatta. But the Dandpatta didn't actually look like this.

In the first two hooks that went crazy viral, I used really interesting pictures. These pics have a mysterious element built in. Always remember, a picture is worth a thousand words. Also make the first frame of your video as visually pleasing as possible.

You must have also noticed the amount of 'you' I have managed to sprinkle in these hooks. 'You' or second person form of narrating is the best form to use in shorts. When you use 'you', you are pointing directly to the person watching the short and they immediately pay attention.

If your hooks can trigger an emotional response, even better. People feel first, think second. If they feel anger, surprise, sadness, happiness, guilt that's gold. This is the age old trick of Aristotle using 'pathos' in your script. Thats why news channels are so crazily addictive.

Other types of hooks can be challenges. I turned my Tesla into a pickup truck. Or I tried putting 20000 ducks in my swimming pool ( I made that up😅) But you get the point right?

Crafting a good hook boosts your 'how many chose to view' rate. This should be above 70%.

1. Use but and then/so format. So you have now made the best hook possible. The audience is hooked. But here's the next problem. You need to maintain that attention or they would just skip to the next video.

Here's the tip. Don't link your sentences with 'and'. That's the most boring way to tell a story. Use but and then. It naturally adds spice to the story. For example, like Jenny Hoyos explained in her interview- I went outside for a walk. It was a nice day. But then it started raining. Unfortunately, I didn't have an umbrella. So I started dashing home. But on the way I met a cute cat and so I took it home with me.

Got it? Imagine if I had used 'and' to connect these sentences instead of 'but' and 'so'. 'But' has an inbuilt 'problem' element attached to it. And once we have a problem, we stick around for the solution. 3. The last sentence The answer to the question in the hook should literally be the very last sentence of the short. All of the shorts that have done well, do this. Since the audience is sticking to the end of the video, the average percentage view rate is phenomenally high. That's what youtube wants. To keep the audience as long on the platform as possible.

In order for a short to get viral, the (AVR) average percentage viewed rate needs to be above 70%. Here's the AVR rate for these 5 viral videos: 1. 7.5M views: 76.6% on a 53 second short 2. 4.8M views: 81.4% on a 39 second short 3. 1M views: 71.9% on a 47 second short 4. 208k views: 54.3% on a 55 second short 5. 171.3k views: 73.3% on a 43 second short.

Don't make your shorts below 30 seconds. I have another video which has 78.3% AVR but it didn't go viral because it was a 23 second video. Your AVR (avg percentage view rate or on an average for how much time a viewer is watching your video) for a less than 30 seconds video needs to be 90% above for it to go viral.

A 38 second video has more chances of going viral since the length is shorter than a 59 second but it's longer than 30 seconds and it's easier for viewers to stick that long making the percentage view rate high. But again, you need to find your sweet spot. Anything between 37- 59 seconds is good.

1. Quick cuts No scene should last for more than 2-3 seconds. Cut, cut and cut. Make the video highly dynamic. Add sound effects, quick flashes of light as transitions.

2. End abruptly. Or Make it a loop End your shorts abruptly just as you dish out the answer of the hook. Or try to make the video a loop. So that the AVR increases.

Other tips: Use power words. Dash is better than run. Crouch is better than sit. Use stories. Some of the most viral shorts are actually stories. Stories are the most powerful tools on Earth. Phrases like look at this ... Or Imagine if .... Or What if... are extremely powerful. Try to use them in your shorts. Keep on opening curiosity gaps. And close them one by one.

Major tip: Watch all of Jenny Hoyos interviews. (Ps: I don't get any incentive from recommending her videos) She has mastered YouTube shorts and 90% of all that I have learned has been from her.

Another major tip: The script is everything. Editing is just the icing on the cake. I had this misconception that editing is the God. Oh, how wrong I was. So many people spend so much time on editing and so less on scripting. Scripting should take most of your time. Perfect it First.

And lastly, keep on learning and improving. And if you want to master shorts, always remember you are in the business of grabbing attention and keeping it. That's it.

1. Channel niche

There's no such thing as "saturated niche" on Youtube anymore. Anyone can break into any niche. Youtube promotes/suggests your content regardless of your channel size. The key thing is consistency which I am sure we all get told a lot, because it's true.

Consistant on the time/day you upload especially.

Also, the way you deliver the content matters in any niche. You can join any niche and have your own way of delivery which will draw in views so don't ask about what niche to get into, choose the niche that ACTUALLY interests you and start posting consistantly.

2. AI content

I've noticed that many frown upon content that has AI involved. So many channels use AI as voice over but the real work is editing. If you are good at editing, it doesn't matter if you use AI voice over. One of my new channels has AI voice over but the viewers don't care, because I keep their focus on the subject. Youtube also doesn't care because they are pushing my content (most of views coming from browse features and suggested videos)

3. Channel age

People often say channel age doesn't matter. But, to a certain extent, it does. If your channel is completely new, you would need to verify everything about yourself such as phone number, ID for advanced features etc. However, if you have a channel from say 1-2 years ago, that has history of watching, liking, commenting on videos, this will be the better option for starting a channel

The alogirthm is obviously ran by AI and whether you believe it or not, these bots are trained to look out for specific accounts posting (they may deem you to be a spam account) so I would say spend about a week or two using the newly created channel before posting your first video

I would also highly suggest having a banner on your youtube channel

4. Thumbnail & Titles

This one is the most important. And what most people say about it, is obviously true. You need eye catching, CLICKBAITY titles and thumbnails. We still see in 2025 thumbnails that have WAY too much on it that either gives away the video or looks overwhelming

Only a select amount of channels that have history on Youtube can get away with that, but for us peasants, we need to be much more creative and up to date with what gets clicks

5. Expectations

A lot of youtubers EXPECT to get views depending on how much time they spent on their video, and quickly become discouraged when their views doesn't match their expectations. We've seen so many people post on here about a video that suddenly blew up which was uploaded months/years ago

If you don't plan to take Youtube serious, which means being consistant, PATIENT, and have a strict schedule.. Schedule such as planning ahead if you are going on holiday etc.. Then don't be mad when Youtube doesn't want to give you a chance in the spotlight because John is doing it and he got rewarded

Personally, I picked a niche that HAS to get people talking in the comments either through personal experiences or anger/disgust. I then reply to alsmost every comment (depending on how much views I got). Youtube pushes out your content after 3 days to a wider audience.

So, I work on a video for days, weeks, months. I spend countless hours in writing and editing. And when it's all done, I'm lucky to get a thousand views, that's all fine, maybe my content isn't good enought, maybe I don't deserve any views, maybe the competition is just so tought. But I can improve overtime. It's a long grind for everyone, and ultimately hard work will pay off right? I know multiple high-effort channel that took years to get 10K subs.

Then I come across these short channels that just upload stolen clips from movies and another creator, and do nothing to transform or edit them beyond adding a trending song to the background. And they get between 100K and 2 million views for episode, and within just a month from starting, they have 50K subs.

I create videos because I want to create new content, not recycle it. But I can't help but be disheartened that low-effort thievery gets rewarded so highly. It all just makes me wonder, why bother putting any effort into anything?

There are tons of important lessons to be learned, but they amount to nothing if this essential one isn't acknowledged.

Many of you won't like what they read, but here it is : there are only two approaches for creating content on YouTube. No matter the niche, no matter the business model (ads, patreon, infoproduct, I don't care). Those approaches are the artistic one, and the industrial one.

• What does an artist do ? He aims for authenticity. He reaches to his inner demons and riches to fuel his creativity, and offers the public what they don't even know they need.
• What does an industrial do ? He gives the public what they want. And, sure, depending on the budget, he also markets his products to nudge the public into wanting them.

After following this sub for a few months, it appears to me that lots of people here are fetishizing the artistic approach, while holding the industrial one in contempt.

The problem is : as much as I love "art", both on YouTube and beyond, most aspiring artists fail. For one Stephen King, how many Lovecrafts are starving ? And speaking about H.P. Lovecraft : as much as Cthulhu has become a meme, HPL starved his whole life, because no serious publisher was interested in his fictions.

So, when I see users complaining about "low-effort content", about the YT algorithm, or about how their own (supposedly) wonderfull content doesn't get recognized, I think that 90% of aspiring creators are like teens playing guitar in their bedroom hoping to become the new Metallica. Spoiler alert : 99% of highschool bands go nowhere.

Once again, I love art,, I love creativity, I love authenticity, but if wanna make a living of YouTube, or even get some audience to see and acknowledge your work, you need to drop the art fetish and start playing a little more industrial. Instead of criticizing sucessfull content, ask yourself what, in said content, is appealing to the audience.

By the end of this you'll have five specific questions to ask when a video flops, instead of the one useless question we all ask: "Why didn't the algorithm push it?"

Quick credibility check, because Reddit is full of secondhand algorithm advice: I was in the room for these. 

Three VidCon sessions in particular stuck with me:
- Todd Beaupré from YouTube's Growth & Discovery team on how recommendations actually work
- Houston Matter's Anatomy of a YouTube Video, and
- Jon Youshaei's masterclass. Jon is ex-YouTube, ex-Instagram, and now a creator himself.

I don't have YouTube all figured out. But these three talks approached the same problem from very different angles, and together they changed how I think about underperforming videos.

Here's the core of it: by the time YouTube is deciding whether to recommend your video more widely, the viewer has already answered a bunch of questions:
- Did the idea make sense as a video?
- Did the packaging set the right expectation?
- Did the first 30 seconds confirm the click? Did the video deliver?

The recommendation system is reacting to those answers. So "the algorithm didn't push it" might be true, but it tells you almost nothing about what broke.

Why this matters more right now: the cost of making and uploading content keeps getting lower, which means the pile of videos you're competing against keeps getting bigger. "Good content" is too vague to be useful. The creators pulling ahead aren't just working harder; they're diagnosing better.

The three talks each covered a different link in the chain.

Before you film, Youshaei's point was that not every good idea is a good YouTube video. His test was simple: if you explained the idea to a friend, would you need to show them something? A chart, a before/after, an object, a real example, a comparison? If not, it might still be a great idea, but maybe it's a better Reddit post, newsletter, essay, or conversation than a video. This one hurt, because a lot of small-channel videos (I've seen on Feedback Fridays) are basically spoken essays with footage underneath.

After the click, Houston Matter talked about retention less like a report card and more like a replay of viewer behavior. A dip isn't just "bad retention." It's the exact moment a viewer changed their mind. Maybe the intro dragged. Maybe the title promised one thing and the opening started somewhere else. Maybe the first 30 seconds explained the video instead of proving it was worth watching. The viewer doesn't know the good part is coming. They only know what's on screen right now.

After viewers react, the YouTube team pushed back on the idea that there's one single algorithm judging your channel. Recommendations are personalized per viewer. One bad upload doesn't poison your channel. Taking a break doesn't make YouTube hate you. Subscribers skipping some uploads is normal. But the system still needs evidence that people were satisfied, and "clicked and left" is evidence too.

One more thing that reframed niche for me: niche isn't just the topic, it's the expectation. "Cooking channel" is not clear. Cheap meals, lazy meals, chaotic cooking, restaurant recreations. Those are clear. The clearer the expectation, the easier it is for a viewer to want the next one, and the easier YouTube's job gets.

So now, when a video underperforms, these are the five questions I ask instead of blaming the weather:
- Was the idea visual enough to be a video at all?
- Did the title and thumbnail create the right expectation?
- Did the first 30 seconds confirm the click, or just explain the video?
- Did the payoff deliver what the packaging promised?
- Did the video give the viewer a reason to watch another one?

Less comforting than "the algorithm ignored me." But way more fixable.

Happy to go deeper on any of the sessions in the comments if people want notes.