🚀 A Break Down of A Viral Video

How to YouTube #12

Hey YouTubers,

3 weeks ago, we posted this video.

It hit 1m views in 13 days, one of the fastest videos to do so on Ali’s channel.

A lot of that was down to the timing and packaging of the video. Around New Year’s eve, that’s a simple click for a lot of Ali’s audience.

But I was having a closer look at it to see what else we did well. And one thing was the hook.

Here’s a transcript:

• Hey friends welcome back to the channel

• So what does it mean to make a given year the best year of your life? I think it's kind of three things.

• Firstly, it's that we are making progress towards the things that truly matter to us.

• Secondly, that our life is broadly in balance so we're not screwing up one area of our life for the sake of another.

• Thirdly, that while working towards the things that matter to us, we are managing to enjoy ourselves and enjoying every day on its own merit rather than purely seeing it as a means to an end.

• So this video I want to go over three of my favorite methods…

What I noticed on reflection was the time to value in this video.

Often when you click on these annual planning videos, you expect some kind of inspirational montage or a personal ramble on how the year has gone for them and what they’re going to do differently.

Or you expect them to give you some kind of pitch for their annual planning system. And it goes on too long before you actually learn something new.

But what Ali does here, and what is a core element of a lot of Ali’s videos, is deliver value as quickly as possible.

As soon as you click on this video, Ali immediately addresses the question of how do you actually make 2024 the best year ever.

But, he also does so in a way that feels insightful and cuts to the heart of the topic.

It establishes credibility.

This is a big win for a hook.

Your brain goes “oh he’s clearly thought about this, and he’s not wasting my time either, he seems legit.”

Time to value.

Oddly, it’s something we often under-appreciate on this channel.

With all this talk about “hooking” the viewer in and trying to juice watch time with retention hacks, we sometimes forget about giving the viewer value as quickly as we can.

I like giving the viewer what they came for, not trying to only reveal the answer at the end. It also helps you establish trust over the long term, and we’re long term YouTubers over here.

Also, as with Ali’s video above, you might end up hooking the viewer more than you might think. After sharing something immediately useful, viewers tend to think “well that was interesting, I wonder what else they’ve got to say".”

I often watch videos where I’m thinking “ugh just get to the point.”

I don’t want to have to work extra hard just to learn something, I just want to be given the value.

With Ali’s videos, and most likely lots of yours, that’s what people often come for.

To learn.

So what can you do to reduce your time to value in your next video?

Have an epic week!

Tintin 🧑‍💻

P.s. it’s much easier for me to reply to comments on Substack than to replies to this email, so if you want to get in touch that’s a better option for me!

The YouTube Tin

🐦 X account to follow: I have no idea who Wono is, but he has some great breakdowns of how YouTube works.

🎥 Long video: Derrel Eves is an OG YouTube strategist and he still shares lots of insanely useful things today. I watched the first 60 minutes of this and loved it.

🚀 My own channel: I have a low lift YouTube channel so I can share more interesting things that I’m learning about YouTube to help you guys out. This latest video is about thumbnails.