🌁 The First 1m View Video of 2024

How to YouTube #26

Apr 22, 2024

Hey YouTubers,

This video just crossed 1m views on Ali’s channel.

It’s the first video we’ve posted in 2024 to hit that beautiful milestone. And there are a few lessons we can learn from it.

The video is the fastest to hit 1m views this year despite having:

A far from ‘optimised’ intro. Ali takes a while to get to the point.
Far from novel tips. The five pieces of advice in this video are to stop wasting time on 1) social media, 2) the news, 3) watching TV, 4) cleaning, and the last point is to make use of the spare minutes in your day.
No real script. The amount of scripting generally correlates to the amount of help Ali needs talking about a topic. With this video, Ali didn’t need much help because it’s stuff he’s very familiar with, so he “speaks from the heart” using a simple bullet point list.
32% retention. That’s normal for Ali’s channel but still not what some would consider high enough.

None of this is meant to diminish the value of the video. In fact, I think this video is extremely important. Yes, it’s common advice, but everyone needs reminders and if they’re framed well they can still be interesting.

But all this to say, the real reason the video did well is because of the topic. Or the “idea”. We’ve posted 22 videos this year, and we put love and care into every single one.

The differentiator in this case was the fact that a large number of Ali’s audience, and a wider audience on YouTube, feel like they’re wasting their life. The topic hit at the right moment with the right audience.

Ali then had to sufficiently deliver on the promise of the title and thumbnail for the video to do well.

The contents of the video were what the audience were after, but the title and thumbnail was what sold them on watching it.

The Takeaway

For better or for worse, what videos are actually about is by far the most important factor in determining it’s success. The framing of what it’s about is also extremely important, but as I’ve said before, no matter how hard Ali might try to make a review of the Kindle Scribe interesting, it’s unlikely to do as well as this video.

So the biggest lever you can pull to boost your channel is to choose better videos.

Not just make better titles and thumbnails, but make titles and thumbnails about more interesting topics to start with. This can be hard to action, but it means spending more time researching, more time on packaging in general and more time really understanding your audience. It can feel annoying, but it’s the reality of YouTube today.

My fear with every one of these emails I send is that I cause more overwhelm than I do support, so please bear in mind that even more important than choosing good videos is actually posting videos in the first place.

If focusing too much on the title and thumbnail causes you to stop posting completely, then something has gone wrong!

Ultimately, YouTube is about good content, and good content wins long term. But you can make life a lot easier for yourself by making videos about things that your audience actually want to watch.

Have a great week making videos!

Tintin 🧑‍💻

🧑‍🎨 The YouTube Tin

Here are a few more ways I can help you progress:

🍿 My YouTube Channel: Join a whopping 600 other subscribers following my YouTube channel where I share unfiltered content about how to build a YouTube based business (I’m currently pausing uploads whilst working on another project).
🐦 I also write on X posting more tips and behind the scenes content.

🛠️ My Favourite Tools

1of10.com - Useful tool that helps you find outlier video ideas. It’s become a regular part of my workflow but it is expensive, so I only recommend it if you have spare money to invest.
Thumbnail Test - This is the best A/B testing tool for titles and thumbnails on the market. I recommend reading my full post on A/B testing here before subscribing so you can decide whether you need to or not.
Thumbnail Preview - 1of10 also have a great free chrome extension to help you preview your thumbnails on YouTube itself.