Loading summary
Transcript97 lines
- [00:00]
Sean Cannell
Hey, before we jump into the show, I wanted to give you a heads up that my free YouTube strategy class is available right now on demand@thinkmasterclass.com on the class, I reveal the one YouTube strategy we use at Think Media to generate over 330,000 views every single day. So if you're new to YouTube, this will help you start right and avoid mistakes. And if you're a YouTube pro, this training will help you multiply your growth. This class is 100% free, and you can watch it now on demand@thinkmasterclass.com now, let's jump into today's show. All right, so we're going to talk about YouTube advice that people should avoid in 2025. And we're going to do it in, like, an overrated, underrated, properly rated format. There's all kinds of different features, shorts, YouTube shopping, long form versus short form, community tabs, as well as a bunch of unhinged topics that you're going to be throwing at me. I'm here with Nathan and Craig, content creators at Think Media, and we're on the Think Media podcast. So I'm excited to dive into it.
- [01:05]
Nathan
Hey, well, why don't I hit the first one here? First one on our list is overrated again, format here. Overrated, underrated or properly rated?
- [01:14]
Sean Cannell
Yes.
- [01:15]
Nathan
We're going to go first with a YouTube channel trailer. What are your thoughts?
- [01:20]
Sean Cannell
I think that YouTube channel trailers are overrated, meaning sitting down to script it, film it, upload it, as if, like, that's going to help your channel grow. Um, now I will say, though, it is underrated to leave the unsubscribed video or the next video people see blank. And so here's what you can do in your YouTube settings. You can select a video for people that are not subscribed to your channel to see. And that's where you would normally put the channel trailer. But I think you should just put a video there. That's your best first impression. And then you can select a video in that same space on your YouTube homepage that once they're subscribed, they see kind of like your maybe second best. And I think that people. People haven't thought that through. So in my opinion, it's kind of like if eventually getting a subscriber is like getting married, your unsubscribe video is like a speed date. Your second video is like a nice date. And then it's like, oh, yeah, you know what? I want to actually elevate the relationship. Not that clicking subscribe is that Serious. But what is like a good first impression video? I don't know if you guys have thoughts.
- [02:24]
Nathan
Yeah, that's great. I agree. I think it's overrated. I'd say if I was starting a channel I probably what I would do is look at the best performing video I've had and then make that the channel trailer. If I was. If I needed to put one in that slot for now. But otherwise I wouldn't. I wouldn't take dedicated time out of my day to try to produce a like a really polished like this is what this channel is going to be about. I don't think it's worth your time.
- [02:47]
Craig
I don't think I've ever created a channel trailer. I do think some channels could probably benefit, especially if you're getting channel focus. It is a nice to have, but it's not probably the first thing I'm going to do.
- [02:58]
Sean Cannell
It's a great point. It's a nice to have but not top priority.
- [03:00]
Nathan
Yeah, for sure. Nate, what's the next one?
- [03:02]
Craig
Yeah, so I have like a camera related one, the Osmo Pocket 3. Overrated or underrated?
- [03:07]
Sean Cannell
I think the Osmo Pocket 3, that camera has a lot of hype around it. It's very popular. If you search it on Google Trends it is like 10 times more influential than any other camera. So it still makes me think that. I think it's probably then pop properly rated. I don't think it's underrated because there's so much hype. I think that maybe some people maybe overhype it too much. It has limitations. But I actually still think I might even still say underrated because it's such a powerful tool. And we did a video on the new format of logging is changing the game. Benji Travis on the podcast and it really is. I was just texting with Lewis Howes the other day and he was thinking about starting a vlog and I was like, bro, I just bought the Osmo Pocket 3 combo. I sent him a picture and he's like, what's it going to look like? I think about how Ali Abdall also who's not a vlogger. So now I'm thinking about kind of like entrepreneurs or podcasters. And it's just the ultimate tool to kind of have with you better than your phone in a lot of ways.
- [04:12]
Nathan
Yeah, it's so easy to use and.
- [04:14]
Sean Cannell
And then the fact you can hit flip vertical like and by the way, this is me talking about only seeing the stuff you guys have done and so many other great videos on YouTube where it was a purchase I just made because I'm so pumped about it. Yeah, for sure.
- [04:29]
Nathan
You have thoughts on it?
- [04:30]
Craig
Well, I was a fan of the original Osmo Action Osmo Pocket which was tiny. And then this one, just like every upgrade I would have wanted. I do think there is a lot of people who think that's the end all, be all. But sometimes a ZV10 might be the better bet. Like I had multiple comments like oh, you don't need this camera, just get an Osmo Pocket 3. Which it's like, it has its limitations. I think it's great for a blogger if you're traveling, but if you're doing more sit down interview style or you're kind of unless you're on the go, it doesn't make sense to necessarily get one. But as like a filmmaker, I still find that little tool very handy to have a tiny gimbal to carry with you getting random shots. It's incredibly useful for sure.
- [05:14]
Nathan
Well, let's go to the next one. Next one is feature. It's the YouTube shopping feature which allows eligible creators to promote and sell products directly from YouTube. What do you think?
- [05:25]
Sean Cannell
Originally my answer would be YouTube shopping is overrated. But now my answer is YouTube shopping is severely underrated. So we're going to do a deep episode about that actually because originally, you know, YouTube shopping is YouTube's way of doing affiliate marketing and probably through shorts is their main way of pushing it. Although it's relevant to live and other things and it's a competitor to TikTok shopping. Amazon Inspire is a vertical video thing that Amazon has connected to products and I think a lot of creators were frustrated because it felt like YouTube was kind of like they stopped allowing clickable links in the description and pinned comments on shorts. Kind of like forcing their shopping feature. At Think Media we love Amazon Associates. It would seem that YouTube and Amazon are like enemies because there's not not enemies in a sense that you can't use Amazon Associates. But it's not part of YouTube shopping and thus on a short getting someone even to associates is like almost impossible. But getting into shopping is what's native and integrated well as we've been exploring. In fact today we just tracked $68.11. We made it think media from selling a Sony a7.3 which we have not talked about in a short. But the same principle is true. If they click your link, there's some kind of cookie duration, meaning the more YouTube shopping links you have out there on the more vertical videos and someone clicks it and let me prove it this way. That was our biggest commission by far, $68. But we also made a dollar and 32 cents on some hand soap. We made, you know, $2 on some USB cables. And more linearly, you did a video, you did a video about the SD card. Best SD card for ZVE10 mark 2. And that Lexar card went through YouTube shopping. Now again it's like a buck but like, you know, I'll take a buck. Yeah, I'll take a dollar. And so I think what I'm starting to see, this is even out of the box gangster stuff. Like I wrote a book called YouTube Secrets Second Edition. Well you can't link to Amazon but it was also on books, a million in Barnes and Noble. And I was like, wait a minute, in my talking head shorts I could YouTube shopping my book and it could just be there and people could click it.
- [07:40]
Nathan
Free marketing for your own products.
- [07:41]
Sean Cannell
Yeah, it's true. If you had a product like that. And I actually am like, but wait, I don't think we're getting any checks from books. I mean I have to get 30% on my own. How does. And maybe just wonder like who's selling our books. So we don't get any commissions like what's happening. But I digress. So I think it's interesting is, is there's a play to maybe really triple down on tactics on shorts and we're just kind of getting into that world. But then the fact that, but then the fact of vertical video itself, that asset could be used potentially on TikTok shopping. Does the product exist over there as well? It could be used maybe. Is Meta going to have an opportunity like this? And they could also be uploaded as like an on site commissions Amazon video product review that's attached to the product pages and if people are new to that. Let me invite you to the show notes to listen to my multi part series with Kathleen Koble. All about being an Amazon influencer, which is a lot easier to get approved for than most people think. And so then that just becomes like a wave of a vertical video strategy. So again we're just into it a little bit and we're starting to see early results. This is like two weeks since we've kind of like started doing this and it's cool to see those sales coming through. So I'm very optimistic and I think it's underrated.
- [08:57]
Craig
Yeah, I would say it's probably only going to get better too depending on what shops are coming. So that's, I also think it's incredibly low barrier to entry where you just take your phone and I'm reviewing this mic, check it out, and then it gets seen by thousands of people in three minutes. And then the potential for someone to click and buy is, yeah, it's only.
- [09:16]
Nathan
Going to get better. YouTube, I imagine, does not want to send viewers to. If they're wanting to solve the problem of people purchasing items, kind of impulse buys right there in the moment, watching a short video, they want to be the solution and to generate the revenue. So I can imagine this is only going to get better. They don't want people going to Amazon in order to make those purchases. They'd love to funnel sales through the YouTube platform.
- [09:37]
Sean Cannell
And I'd also say that I think it's. Yeah, Streamline. I haven't personally, personally purchased anything that way. But there is something so gangster about the places where, like, if I see a product, I want to get it. I have Apple pay and I'm able to go like three clicks off of Instagram or something and check out. That's actually the power of Amazon because everyone has it. So Amazon prime, one click what you know. And so as that becomes more integrated, where Maybe in your YouTube ecosystem, your credit card's attached, you already have premium, maybe Apple pay, that that friction of E commerce is a big deal. And that's where a lot of people I think kind of fail at affiliate marketing is when they like make shorts but try to get them to Amazon. There's too much friction. Yeah. So if you can really have that be streamlined and to your point, I think it'll always be improved. Leaning into it now and then. The other thing I'd say is, you know, we're obviously so heavy tech. You're both tech experts, think media is tech. And so it's logical for us to think about SD cards, microphones. But actually 100% of people listening to this. YouTube shopping is so expansive. Skincare, food, groceries, pantry, clothing. And so that really necessitates similar to TikTok shorts.
- [10:49]
Nathan
Yeah, it does.
- [10:50]
Sean Cannell
You know, not that people don't look for that other stuff in long form, but like shorts, it could be like an impulse buy, like, oh, that sweater's so cute, or that fall decor, these different things. So, yeah, I think the future is bright for YouTube shopping.
- [11:00]
Nathan
That's great. Right?
- [11:01]
Craig
I agree. All right, so the next one I teed up is very similar. YouTube shorts in general. Are they overrated or underrated?
- [11:09]
Sean Cannell
Get ready for get the gloves on. I don't know what the debate's going to look like here. It's. This is the most polarizing YouTube feature. People are so upset, they have so many conclusions. You've heard a lot of people say YouTube shorts have ruined my channel. They say YouTube shorts destroyed my channel. The algorithm, um, and then, and then there's some people like that YouTube shorts is like almost a scam because YouTube pays so little for them. So the fact they have you creating that content but it's like not in your best interest. And how also how deep is it? They're like, they're snackable but there's no connection, there's no depth. So do you really get subscribers? Do you really build your personal brand? I can't even. I have rarely, maybe almost never Click subscribe on YouTube Shorts. I like them, I think they're entertaining. I don't know necessarily who the creator is that's posting them, but it's not leading necessarily to a connection and relationships. There's a lot of like hate on them. But I would actually like, let's all have our ratings. I'll tell you mine, I'm still going with underrated. What's yours?
- [12:16]
Craig
I would say probably right now I'd probably lean towards overrated. The thing I think is, well, from if you psychological standpoint, what are shorts doing to us as a society? You know, less attention spans. I also think too now that they're rolling out three minute shorts. Yeah, I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm very curious to see what happens from that because I do think the death of like the two to three minute video, it's like I don't see any videos that are around those. And YouTube used to be full of quick four minute videos that you just love and you'd share, but now I guess that's living on shorts. So I don't really know. But I do think they're, they're both great. So I guess maybe I'd shift it to properly.
- [12:58]
Nathan
Yeah. Properly. Yeah, yeah. I was thinking properly rated as well. And I think it depends on the channel. I personally am a big fan of creators who are leveraging a shorts only channel and then a long form channel because what we've even separate. Separate what? I've seen a lot in the data too, even in our analytics and my personal analytics are that your shorts audience is often different than your long form audience. So there could be some. I know one creator, a tech creator. I think his name is Jevin Dovey. If I'm pronouncing his name Correctly, he did a really long form test about posting shorts on his main channel and then a separate channel and saw way better results for his platform growth and community engagement and building by separating the two. And saw a huge dip in viewership in his long form videos when he was posting the shorts to his long form channel. So I think it depends on the type of creator you are. You need to kind of discern for yourself, but maybe properly rated at the moment. But I am curious what's going to happen with the 3 minutes length increase.
- [13:56]
Sean Cannell
And so here's my take. The reason I think they're underrated is because I think there's so much smoke and controversy around them that they're still.
- [14:04]
Craig
Like, they're still very new.
- [14:05]
Sean Cannell
They're still new. If you read headlines or you read somebody's report and there's so much conflicting advice, it might make people miss out on an opportunity.
- [14:14]
Craig
Oh, yeah.
- [14:14]
Sean Cannell
Miss out on experimenting, miss out on being creative. You heard one video say one thing about they don't work and they're going to hurt you, which is worth considering. But then. But what if that's wrong? Like, what if that information's wrong?
- [14:26]
Nathan
Absolutely.
- [14:27]
Sean Cannell
And So I think YouTube shopping is very new. And so I'm not even a big fan of shorts. I'm not even trying to defend shorts. I just think that YouTube has got big pockets. They don't like TikTok, they don't like any of the other platforms. They want to take the cake. They are dominant and I believe they will continue to be. So it's also like, where's this all going? If you have separate channels, probably pretty good. But if it messes the algorithm up right now, but will it long term? And the creator, who. I've just seen it so many times in the cycles of my career that if you're like essentially planting seeds on YouTube that things can then happen a year or two or three down the road, where then like your library of shorts, all of a sudden everything switches. Could be the other way too. You're like, yeah, sure enough, I tanked my channel and I actually don't think. But, you know, who knows? People have different experiences. People can let us know in the comments, but it's like, you know what I mean? It's like you're. If you're leaning into shorts and if you're leaning into them with an underrated mindset, that underdog mindset, you're innovative and you're creative. And then all of a sudden, why everybody was sitting on the sidelines complaining about shorts and you're like, I don't know, man. I'm just going to be in the trenches. I'm going to like innovate, create and test things. You're going to take the cake for those that are just like critics, skeptics. So that's why I would say underrated.
- [15:40]
Craig
Yeah. So always try to experiment with everything that YouTube's given us and play around with it, I think. Yeah, I like that.
- [15:46]
Nathan
Okay. Speaking of experimentation, check this one out. Okay. Premiering an upload.
- [15:52]
Sean Cannell
Yeah.
- [15:52]
Nathan
Or a just standard scheduled upload. Those two differences. The way you can publish a YouTube video premiere, not a live stream, but premiering. What do you think? Overrated. Underrated.
- [16:03]
Sean Cannell
Do you ever wish that YouTube came with a cheat code? Well, it kind of does. It's called Vidiq and it's packed with AI tools to help you grow your channel faster. Think of it like having a YouTube expert in your corner giving you personalized tips and tricks to improve your videos so that ultimately you can get more views and subscribers. And the best part is you can try it out for 30 days for just $1. If you want to grab this offer, just go to vidiq.com think or click the link in the show notes. All right, let's get back into the episode. I think it's properly rated. I think it's maybe underrated because like people have so forgotten they don't even know it exists.
- [16:43]
Nathan
Yes.
- [16:44]
Sean Cannell
Like, so like people are like some. And so what the big idea here is you can upload a video and when you make it go live, it just goes live. If you click Premiere, it gets notified to your subscribers and may show up in feeds. And people can set a reminder, they can start like liking it ahead of time, I think, and, and then they could be there for the premiere at which you cannot skip around in the video. The video plays through and the. Let's, let's define the point of a premiere. It's actually supposed to be like a film premiere. The time when you, the creator, join everybody else for the red carpet event in the chat. And like you don't have to be in the video like you're going live, but you are like, yeah, I'm so excited. And chat about the video. If it's short, you don't have much time to do it. But if it was long, if you were making, I'd say this, if you were like James Janney, who makes these like really cool mini documentaries, he just did a two part series on like Wall Street Bets and then the second part was on Bed, Bath and Beyond. So like GameStop. This part two is like bed, Bath and Beyond killer episodes. I would premiere those and. And he builds up. He also. He posts like one or two videos a year. Maybe like one video a year. He's making like these deeper dive. And he puts like a completion timer on his YouTube cover of how soon the next video is. Is. And it's always. It's a whole process. So then it's like there's community stuff, community tab, 12 days until the next drop. All this kind of stuff. So that is a premiere. And I'm not even sure if he does premiere his videos, but like. And then they're about an hour, so then the whole time. And you could probably get a lot of people a lot of momentum because they're ready to watch it when it comes out in a way that's like the mindset of what a premiere is. I think what's weird is some people just check the box for no reason. They don't show up. Like there's almost like nobody in the chat. Or if there is, the creator's not there. And we also had a question come in that said Sean. My wife and I, I think they do a travel channel. We're just so exhausted. For five years we've premiered our video every time. And we get up at 5:30 in the morning and we're always there to connect with our audience. And people have connected us, but we're just so tired. And if we stop doing it, is our channel gonna die or is our audience gonna hate us?
- [18:55]
Nathan
You'll be fine.
- [18:56]
Sean Cannell
I was like, no, I mean, just don't premiere them. Just like make the videos go live. And so here' what I would also say. I would say, like, I. I wouldn't say. I'd prefer, I would, but I. Maybe I would prefer that we premiere videos on Think Media. Nate could be there because you're in Florida. Like, that's eight for you. We premiere at five our time. Eight your time. And I don't even mean prefer. I would say I just don't want to do it if nobody's there, right? But I don't want to be there. I don't want that my morning to start that way. I don't want if that's the time that you do it. And not even that it's that big of a deal. So we've almost talked about it at length. But it's nice for people to know about the future, the feature. It's nice.
- [19:32]
Craig
I like your Analogy, because it's like anything that's an event and ideally long form. Right. If you premiere a three minute video, what's the point of that? I think that's where probably there's some confusion as you see this premiere feature. But if it's an event, something you've been waiting for, you've been working on a documentary, a film for a year, there's some hype to come with that. And having that special event I think could be nice.
- [19:55]
Nathan
I think at the end of the day it provides you an opportunity to engage your community in real time, which often YouTube does not have that ability. It's often after the fact. The video has been produced and published and now people are engaging in the comments. But this is a unique feature that allows you in real time to engage with the community at the same time who are all watching the same piece of content and the creator can be present as well. So I think it is an interesting format. I'd say it's probably properly rated at the time, but I'd be curious to see what additions they add to the premier premiere. Future premiere feature in the future.
- [20:26]
Craig
Oh, I like that. All right, so the next one is tags.
- [20:29]
Sean Cannell
Yeah.
- [20:30]
Craig
What's your thoughts?
- [20:32]
Sean Cannell
I think tags are underrated.
- [20:33]
Craig
Yeah, I agree.
- [20:35]
Sean Cannell
And so hear me out because let's establish the facts about tags. So tags are not hashtags, but they're the tags in your video. You have 500 characters that you can add tags to your video. YouTube's clear, they have almost like no weight in terms of influencing the performance of your video. And they oftentimes are for correcting misspellings, which by the way, is a missed. I don't even think most people use them. Right. If that's the case, if people misspell your name, if people misspell your brand name, if they misspell a camera name. Because like we get into some weird niches too. We're like, okay, the Sony, Sony ZV E10 Mark 2, Mark number 2 or the 2 eyes. The 2 or the Mark 2 eyes. And so in a way, M2, there's all the variations. And so those are. That's not really misspellings, but it's variations. You can't put all variations in your title. You can maybe include them in your description a little bit. And again, is that going to make or break the video? Where there's interesting certain topics, where that's. That, that's important, I think, and overlooked and therefore underrated. But I think, you know our ethic. I think media Is the tag process of coming up with keywords and long tail keywords is the influential part of why tags matter. So it's like not the tags themselves, but if you know your tags before you make the video, you have an advantage because using like a tool like Vidiq, if you post a video and we rank videos all the time, you both rank videos all the time on Think Media. And we're like, okay, we're number one for this or that camera or this comparison. And we look at our one way to measure that is right there in the tags that Vidiq lets us see. With Vidiq vision, we see we're number three for this keyword phrase. We're number four for that keyword phrase. It wasn't because we added the right tags that we ranked. It was because it's a great video, great packaging and everything else. But I don't think creators do enough planning to know what keywords am I even trying to rank for. What is the spelling? Like, how is it said? How should the title be said? What should the topic be? How should that inform the video? And that's why we say research before you press record. So to the degree of them being underrated is. I think it's more like a holistic process thing. That's what we talk about in Video Ranking Academy. And it's. They're not some magic tags that make a video rank. Yeah, but understanding YouTube in its entirety is really a skill set to master. And the thinking behind tags will influence everything.
- [23:05]
Craig
I love that. Craig, what are your thoughts on tags?
- [23:07]
Nathan
I mean, I use tags all the time every time I upload a video. And really what I do is I put myself in the mindset of the viewer. What if I'm doing a video about a camera or a light or whatever it is if I'm looking for content around related products. So like, what's if we do a video about best camera for YouTube? Well, what's the best Canon camera? What's the best Sony camera? So I'm just always trying to put my mindset in what is the viewer potentially searching for. And a lot of the tags that I add to videos are based around what I might think or we use research and evidence based to what are people actually searching for for videos. And then I'll include those in the tags as variations. So I think, I mean, I'd say underrated because I think a lot of people don't maximize even the character limit. You can have about 500 characters, I believe, and so might as well get as close as you can to that and utilize all the space that YouTube gives you. If it's a feature that YouTube allows you to use, I'd probably recommend at least looking into it if not using that feature.
- [24:00]
Craig
Yeah, I think it's worth filling out. And I like your idea too. It's like it's about excellence in your video and what you're doing. And so there's also like tools like Vidiq or I've used rapid tags where you just literally put your title and it spits out tags and it's better than nothing.
- [24:14]
Sean Cannell
No doubt.
- [24:15]
Craig
So just go ahead and put copy paste in. And to me, I think also why I like tags is like because they were more powerful a few years ago and I've seen success with that. So I feel like there's still some magic with it.
- [24:28]
Sean Cannell
I totally agree. And there's some tweaks like I remember because we talk in Slack on our team and there was a video we posted recently where there was a word from, you know, hopefully I'm good at our system called Video Ranking Academy since I came up with it. And the way I think about our 7R system, I remember looking at a title and I was like it's missing one word. And I changed the word because it was. And I can't remember, it might have been like not best camera but best Sony camera. It was equivalent of that and versus like YouTube channel versus whatever kind of repositioning it. And I retitled the video and then also changed the tags and in 20 minutes the video started ranking incognito window, you know, verifiably.
- [25:10]
Craig
And that is a very small effort and putting it together, a video researching is infinitely harder to do. I'd rather spend two seconds, two minutes on a tag.
- [25:19]
Sean Cannell
Yeah, so what it wasn't showing up on first page of search without those small tweaks and it was after interesting. So you know, and if listeners are curious about going deeper on that too, think masterclass.com is the place to go. I've got a one hour class. People can go deeper. We are obsessed with that kind of stuff and it's really best for search based channels, education channels, but even entertainment channels I think could think more ranked videos to have a little bit more stability in their views, monetization opportunities. So if anyone wants to check that out, one hour free class thinkmasterclass.com link in the show notes as well. But I'll end with this before the next one is. I did just talk to Renee Richie who works for YouTube. You know, was thinking about all the factors of these things and I said, you know, critics will say Casey Neistat doesn't do tags. He doesn't have, there's zero tags in his videos. And in fact sometimes his videos might be like I'm done is the title right? You know, it's a two word title.
- [26:16]
Craig
Like not very searchable.
- [26:17]
Sean Cannell
Yeah, no way or something. And he goes number one, Casey Neistat is a unicorn. And he said people are there. It doesn't matter what he posts. He is what you're watching. He could talk about almost anything he's going to do an interesting way. You're already a fan. There's also people mistake of what he does today versus what he did when he started. And he started on very much trending and searchable topics, whether it was about the iPads, battery, ipods, battery life, taxi cabs in New York, not just creative videos but like trending topics, searchable topics and fast forward to today. Here's the big takeaway from a YouTube employee. If you're a new channel, you want to give YouTube the best metadata possible. So taking shortcuts on your title, description and tags just isn't smart. You might get to a place where you have enough influence where it might can make up for some of those things. But YouTube is trying to figure out what your video is about and what you actually say in the video. And Google has crazy AIs that scans visually and verbally. What said. And a lot of those things are even more influential.
- [27:21]
Craig
Right.
- [27:21]
Sean Cannell
Bottom line is if you're looking to master this stuff, go full time, make money like you want to be a master at all the details. And I think tags are just part of the details.
- [27:30]
Nathan
Well, let's do a couple more before we wrap the next one. Here is regular upload schedules for your channel. So regular posting time, same posting time each week, each day.
- [27:40]
Sean Cannell
What are your thoughts properly rated? I don't think it's underrated, man. It's, it's, it's maybe it's underrated. It's underrated for the creative who maybe lacks self discipline and you need a schedule that's good.
- [27:55]
Nathan
Like, like accountability.
- [27:56]
Sean Cannell
For sure it's accountability if it's not, because you might say, well, is it really okay? Is it going to benefit the audience or is the audience even going to realize it? I don't necessarily think so for most, but is it going to benefit you? Because if you don't have structure, like what if you want to change your life, it's nice to have A regular time. You go to the gym to work out. If you want to grow your YouTube channel, it's nice to have a regular schedule. And I think what's overrated is like stressing out if you miss a week. But I think if you're like, I'm shooting for every Tuesday, the magic is it's not what we do occasionally that changes our lives. It's what we do consistently. And so that's a routine, that's a pattern, that's a habit. I also think that it's properly rated. You know, I watch, like, Phil DeFranco, who's got a news show. It's a Monday through Thursday news show. And I think an upload schedule matters a lot. And it's not even overrated, but it's like it's just properly rated because the nature of the content, the nature of what it is you're doing. But maybe what I would end with, I'm curious your takes, is that I actually think it's overrated in today's YouTube landscape for a couple reasons. One, it almost doesn't matter when you upload. A YouTube employee just told me that, like, it's overrated even the time of day you upload, although you should do the best, even the first 24 hours or first seven days is overrated. If you're doing YouTube right, there should be a lifespan. And videos can take off on week two. We see. It's weird. And there was this whole study we did where we had videos popping off on day 180, 180 days after posting. So that gets. And then the way people consume YouTube, it's sometimes a very small percentage of your audience that kind of like watches everything. Yeah, it's people that they watch, the ones that make it to their homepage. And that might take some time for it to happen. Which would speak to why being consistent is good. Because then some of the best of the best rise of your videos. But that upload time or upload schedule, like, my audience is really depending on me to be there Tuesday. It's like they'll check in maybe on their own time when the algorithm brings it to them. But I'm curious, your take?
- [30:05]
Craig
Yeah, I think if you're starting out, it's probably underrated for the same principles of being consistent. But also, there's so many channels that, like, people who dedicate to upload every day for like 30 days, that just kickstarts their channel. And maybe they do go down to once a week or less. But that fundamental gear shift, I Think is can be definitely helpful for a lot of people.
- [30:27]
Nathan
Yeah, absolutely. I think I've seen personally, when I was more consistently posting on YouTube, I would get more consistently results showing up in search a little bit easier, I think. And I mean, I don't know if there's something there or not, but I think that when I would post more frequently, then either the videos were getting better or something's happening behind the scenes. And YouTube's rewarding a creator who's showing up more consistently on the platform. So I don't think necessarily the time of day matters all that much. I think consistency is what matters.
- [30:56]
Sean Cannell
Good.
- [30:56]
Nathan
Yeah. Well, Nate, what's.
- [30:58]
Craig
I got one last one and I thought this was kind of fun. YouTube Premium. Overrated. Underrated.
- [31:03]
Sean Cannell
YouTube Premium is underrated. The people who are not paying for it. You have 15 bucks. Is that how much? I mean, it's gone. It's gone up. It was 10. So it's like 15, 16, 17.
- [31:17]
Craig
I believe you can get a family deal, though. It's like 26 or 27. And then like your whole family gets.
- [31:22]
Nathan
That's amazing.
- [31:23]
Sean Cannell
So ad free videos, man. It's like, yeah, like, what are you doing with your life? Like, what are you doing with your time? Like, you can afford the money to save not having to watch ads, especially on these long videos. Now, I will admit, and I won't even say what video, but we have a video that's an hour long on Think Media, and pretty much all we ever do is we let YouTube place the ads. So we check YouTube, place the ads. And I also know that just because you see the ad spots, it doesn't mean they'll always play, because YouTube is trying to optimize for viewer experience. But I remember when I opened up this video that we posted on Think Media and we checked that box, I was like, oh, my goodness. Because I think about Hulu. I'm like, bro, every 15 minutes on Hulu and then there's like six ads in a row. But I clicked this on this video, and in an hour there was like 40 ads. Now, I didn't see any complaints in the comments. So it's not that I think all 40 of those ads play. And what's also interesting, though, is, like, the revenue on that video is killing. So it speaks to the fact of, like, multiple ad spots. It's a whole separate strategy of, like, you could say, I don't. I hate ads. I don't like ads. I'm annoyed by them. If you're a creator, you want to make More. You could add more ads. I mean there's a lot of that. That's why YouTube Premium is underrated.
- [32:33]
Nathan
Yeah.
- [32:33]
Sean Cannell
Pay the money and stop complaining and the creators still get a cut. I think it's probably not as good.
- [32:41]
Nathan
I can't imagine it's as good if they're not watching ads.
- [32:43]
Sean Cannell
Yeah.
- [32:43]
Nathan
Which is the way YouTube makes money now. Question for you. Follow up questions. What do you think the future could look like if There was a YouTube Premium but it was designed for creators and not necessarily the end user where your main benefit is maybe some. I think there's premium controls for when you're watching content, but also an ad free experience. What if there was a paid sort of subscription service on the YouTube front for creators on the back end? What do you think that could look like?
- [33:09]
Sean Cannell
Well, this might be controversial and people have got all kinds of opinions and I'm here for it. I and I also. This might be really stupid way of thinking but like I think the professional creator is not going to hesitate to pay for professional features. And if I jump platforms so on, on X they talk about the premium level. On Instagram, get a blue check mark. But also the premium level, premium features, better analytics. People are so mad. You're so dumb. If you pay for the higher level on Instagram just to pay for a blue check. Is your ego that fragile like you see all these posts? I refuse. I am going to make a stand that I am not going to pay for a blue if it's not earned. It's like, okay, well number one, you need to relax. Number two, I mean, and by the way, I respect, I guess, your values and principles, but it's like it's not fair. You're going to give people an advantage or something. Well, okay, it's not fair. But if you're a professional creator, pay $10 a month, dude, like pay. Stop spending money on just dumb stuff. Like I thought you were investing in your creator business. And I might go so far as like, even if it was a trick, if it was a cash grab from YouTube or Instagram, just with the potential, like I'm going to try to max out the features. So that's kind of a different way of taking it. Yeah, but it's like it just is a mindset. Like I. And as that's easy for me to say partly because we are also player coaches. We want to experience. YouTube's our main platform but we're active on all social media so we want to be guinea pigs. So I can't actually test Paying for like the premium Instagram without testing it. And so it's be another reason of doing that. So yeah, I don't know if they did something. My point is I would just, I would buy it.
- [34:53]
Nathan
Yeah.
- [34:53]
Sean Cannell
Whatever it is. Yeah. If you have better data, if you have better analytics, if you have better insights, if you had a better way of saving channels or being able to maybe DM other creators and they'd be interesting, a community or something like, yeah, let's go. And Maybe that's something YouTube could even implement. That'd be kind of cool.
- [35:09]
Nathan
Yeah, that's great.
- [35:10]
Craig
That's great. I think this might go on a little bit of tangent, but I was actually really curious if YouTube would replace the subscribe button, like with a channel membership. Like you would actually subscribe to a channel and you'd pay that creator. It kind of disrupt everything we know about subscribing. But how much more important would the subscriber be now? How much more value? What are your guys thoughts?
- [35:30]
Sean Cannell
Meaning like a low cost, like maybe.
- [35:33]
Craig
$2 a month thing that you pay to subscribe to a newsletter. Right.
- [35:38]
Sean Cannell
Especially also because subscribers are kind of having like in a way less and less influence. And subscribers are especially, like I heard a YouTube employee put it this way, subscribers are the people who've like ever been there. It almost would be like if we're here in like Las Vegas recording this, you go to a restaurant on the strip that's really famous, but you go there like there's nobody here and yet they're like, you know, 4 million people love this restaurant. You're like, it's literally empty. Which is a good picture of YouTube subscribers, especially the longer your channel's been. It's like just because you have subscribers, it doesn't mean it's active viewers or unique viewers. So I wouldn't be surprised if YouTube had that evolution. I think there's other channels streaming wise, right? Maybe Kik and Twitch and things that there is kind of more of a. Like the fandom is down to invest in creators. Some of that is on YouTube. And that would be. Man, that would be so cool for like a dollar or two. Because that's skin in the game, but like not a ton. I also wonder, I mean, a dollar a month, you know, $2 a month, that's 24 bucks a year is kind of steep. But if it was even just like $1 just to subscribe.
- [36:48]
Nathan
Just to subscribe, that'd be really interesting.
- [36:49]
Sean Cannell
It's a paywall for the level of engagement and a way to like, tip.
- [36:54]
Craig
The creator if we have 3 million.
- [36:58]
Sean Cannell
But unfortunately, those would be the past, like our active audience. Like so. Yeah, that's interesting.
- [37:04]
Nathan
Yeah, it is, it is.
- [37:05]
Sean Cannell
But we want to know, what do you think are the overrated and underrated features on YouTube? If you are watching the YouTube version of the video podcast, drop your feedback or questions in the comments for our next version of this and topics you'd want us to talk about. If you're on audio, don't forget to, like, rate, share, subscribe wherever you're watching. And this is the Think Media podcast. We'll catch you in the next one.