← The Think Media Podcast
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- [00:00]
A
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 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. So what's the state of vlogging today? A lot of people are saying that it's dead. But is that true? The creator economy is going to 4x in the next seven years and grow to an over $800 billion industry.
- [00:49]
B
But vlogging's back and it's totally different. It's almost always easiest in the beginning. And this new era of YouTube that we're in, I call it the TV era, is right now. And you're going to want to take advantage of it. In the 90s and the 2000s, obviously people are still watching TV. They just don't realize that the TV has now turned into YouTube. And that's where really the foundation of all the new opportunities are. And it's just a whole different ball game, new rules, new strategies. But the one big thing is longer works better. When it comes to content on the television in the living room, it's probably one of the most popular questions that you probably get all the time, how long should my videos be now? I actually tell people there is a.
- [01:33]
A
Number, and it's, I'm sitting down with Benji, a creator who's generated seven figures in brand deals, built multiple channels, and survived every era of YouTube over the last 17 years. So maybe vlogging isn't dead, it's just changed. We're going to be walking through seven big themes in today's episode. But, Benji, let's kick it off. What's the state of vlogging right now?
- [01:57]
B
Well, vlogging's back, first off. So excited because, you know, my wife and I, we've been vlogging since 2011, and that was the old way of vlogging behind the scenes, kind of like extra content beyond what you were known for on your main channel. And that kind of evolved to what we know as vlogging. Right? Think Casey Neistat, lots of edits. And that got just so competitive. It died, I guess. You could say, but vlogging's back, and it's totally different. That's why I'm pumped up, because it really opens up the window of opportunity, and the timing couldn't be any better. But I wonder if it's because of the timing that vlogging is back. And so what I would say is, if you tried vlogging in the past and didn't work for whatever reason, or maybe you're a seasoned creator, have an influence, and, you know, vlogging didn't work out, I would say if you do it the right way, you could see a lot of success. And I'm pumped because even my wife and I, we're having. Like you said, we've survived all the different eras. Right now, we're thriving with vlogging, but we're doing it the new way, and it's been amazing.
- [03:04]
A
So I want to hear about the new way in just a second. But we got these kind of seven big ideas, and one of them is that YouTube has moved into the living room. What does that mean?
- [03:12]
B
Well, think about how YouTube started. Everyone's watching on their laptops, maybe their desktop computers, and the screen just got smaller and smaller. So desktop laptop, maybe a tablet. And then eventually, we all know, got to the phone. The problem was we were optimizing for that viewing experience. So even when we wrote YouTube Secrets, we always said, hey, look at your thumbnails on the screen, your phone, shrink it down, because it won't be as big as your editing tool, which would be a desktop computer, big screens. And so we all were teaching, and we were technically, like, applying those principles to our content strategies. And then the TV comes into play. And so when we say it's moving into the living room, it's like a whole new planet is coming next to earth, right? And there's a whole nother opportunity. There's still opportunity in the old ways, whether a short form, long form podcasts, but when it comes to longer form videos, and it's all able to, you know, be executed in this new, longer format of vlogging because of the television. That's why we say we're moving it to the living room. The other thing about moving into the living room, it's a more relaxed viewing experience. I say it's the couch viewer, right? I even say the chore viewer. So maybe you're not on the couch. Maybe you're doing chores. You're just letting things play on the tv the way television was for. For all of us in the 90s and the 2000s. Obviously people are still watching TV. They just don't realize that the TV has now turned into YouTube. And that's where really the foundation of all the new opportunities are. And it's just a whole different ball game, new rules, new strategies. But the one big thing is longer works better when it comes to content on the television in the living room.
- [05:08]
A
Yeah, it is fascinating. YouTube vlogs behave like TV shows. And when I study and you just look at some of the biggest creators, it could be a Ryan trahan or a Mr. Beast. It could be the people that are pulling views on like the video essay format. I'm seeing like the quote unquote ideal length of videos being like 28 minutes, 33 minutes, 43 minutes, which is this episodic time length of like the Office or of a 44 minute show on Apple TV Plus. And so do you have an ideal time limit or what do you aim for when you're editing a blog?
- [05:44]
B
It's a great question because it's probably one of the most popular questions that you probably get all the time. How long should my videos be? And I always said, and you've probably said similar things, as long as it needs to be, right? So if you're teaching something needs to be as long as you need to teach that point or say you just have a certain amount of content, don't fluff it up just to make it longer. Okay, and so what happened again, going, not just the old way of vlogging, just like pre2020 we were making these videos shorter and shorter and shorter. And what happened? It turned into TikToks short form content. Now I actually tell people there is a number and it's 30, 30 minutes. And there's two reasons for this. 30 minutes is the length of a show, right? Think TV and we're in the living room watching this content. So 30 minutes for whatever reason I found in my content just works. Okay, there's another reason. 30 minutes is how we kind of plan out our whole day. So the psychology of a 30 minute piece of content on the television I believe is creating success. And you know, one of the things that we're going to talk about later is my top performing videos are all 30 plus minutes long. That wasn't by like intentional, you know, strategy. I tried to always execute at the highest levels when I'm vlogging and, and it just so happened after all of 2025, when I look at the best performing videos, they were all 30 minutes plus. I don't think that was just a coincidence. There is a reason for that. Because like you said, we have this psychology of watching shows on YouTube when it's the living room and we're on the couch. And so I don't know about you, but I never send numbers before because I didn't want people to have this arbitrary number to shoot for. Because maybe you can't do a 30 minute video, right? Maybe it only needs to be three minutes. Now I actually say 30 is a target. Not everyone can do it. But if you can create a 30 minute show, or in this case a vlog, I find that there's there's some, like, benefits to it.
- [07:51]
A
Hey, quick pause before we get back into the podcast. If you're posting on YouTube but not getting the views or subscribers you want, this will help. Go to mycreatorquiz.com It's a free two minute assessment that reveals what type of creator you are, where you're stuck, and what to do next to grow. You'll get instant clarity, a simple plan, and it's totally free. So just go to mycreatorquiz.com to take the free 2 minute assessment or click the link in the show notes. All right, let's jump back into the episode. So I want to hit the next six of these kind of big ideas, but for listeners, just so they can visualize the type of content you're creating, how would you describe your vlogs when they think 30 minutes? What are you talking about? So what is like a typical episode on your vlog channel?
- [08:39]
B
Like, yeah, so when I'm vlogging, I have a family channel with my wife, but the channel where I play the new vlog method is my food vlog channel. And you know, we all remember just doing all kinds of crazy stuff or the old way of vlogging. Now I'm really focused in on whatever it is I'm interested in or doing that day. So a good example would be going to Costco. I just went to Costco yesterday and of course wanted to talk about the holiday deals. Okay. The discounts coming up. So I don't just simply vlog my whole day. I'm just vlogging my whole experience at Costco, I'm focusing on that topic. And then I'm really focused in on the deals that are, you know, available to me for that week. And so my whole vlog is about that. See, before we would cut out all the fluff. It's funny, it's all the fluff, which is really my opinions, my thoughts, my feelings that we're leaving in. So it takes it from maybe like a 7, 10 minute vlog to a 30 minute vlog. Because if I'm interest focused on my vlogs, then I can just talk about everything I'm thinking and other people that's interested in that want to know those thoughts. So that's how I get to 30 minutes and again, focus on a specific topic at the moment versus just having the whole day be the vlog itself.
- [09:57]
A
I think the big insight there is that fluff previously could have maybe applied to the fact that you are taking your family to Disneyland, but you went to Waffle House first, which is like a side quest. And maybe in story, if they're following you as a family, the whole day matters. But if it's interest based, it's in a way, it's not fluff. You're expanding out still one topic, one interest. Someone's clicking on the video to see the Costco deals. It's a Costco theme, and then it's your ideas, thoughts or whatever, but you're putting it in a container instead of having just a bunch of random content and bloated length with things that the viewer might not have clicked on. Is that true?
- [10:37]
B
Absolutely. And so the fluff, because you know, the old way of just creating content, and you know, some of the people like Mr. Beast, they do this. It's all the most exciting parts. It's all about entertainment. It's all about, you know, high engagement, high production. This new way, it's focused on this topic, so it allows you put all the in between moments as long as it's related to that topic. So it's super focused, even though it's longer. And I mean, I'm sure you're obsessed with certain hobbies and you can talk about it for hours. All you're doing is translating the conversations around obsessions, hobbies, passions, whatever it might be, into video. And that's really in this new era that we're living in. And that's what's different about my vlogs. I'm just on the thing I'm obsessed about and I'm sharing it with other people obsessed about. In this case, it'd be Costco deals.
- [11:31]
A
I'm excited because there's gonna be a lot more nuances than that as we go further. But there's a second big reason why vlogging is a massive opportunity right now. There's a vlogging revival happening on YouTube and people need to get in on it. Is short form has fried our brains now we want depth and there's a level of short form fatigue. There's a little bit of brain rotation, backlash. You know, YouTube shorts are getting over 100 billion views every day, so it doesn't mean that consumption is down. But I think short form is actually leaving people fried a little bit. It's like somewhat harmful to our brains. And yes, we, you know, get distracted for a while when we're scrolling, but there's no meaningful connection there. And so there's this drift back to longer content. Are you seeing a shift happening with this?
- [12:18]
B
Oh, absolutely. And I've never really been a big fan of short form content for myself. And so I just thought, hey, old fogey, I'm not into like the new trends, but I'm so glad that I stuck with what I do because again, because of the tv, it was perfect positioning. But when we talk about short form, like you said, still relevant, a lot of consumption there, it's not going to go away. The term that I learned from the young people, brain rot, okay, that means different things to different people. So that brain rot just represents that fatigue that people have and just endless scrolling. And what happens is when you're interested in something you didn't have an option to go deeper in because it's short form, the video ends, whatever the limitation of the platform may be, like YouTube shorts with 60 seconds, so you go to longer videos, it's just a contrast to that. I think this all started too, because short form just represents everything we were teaching, everything you had to do, and the competitive nature of high production. So faster edits, more choppy, crazier, you know, you know, gimmicks, you know, super crazy challenges. Think about Mr. Beast and how he influenced all that. And so it just got shorter and shorter and more punchy and punchy and entertaining. Bam. You got TikTok. Okay, but people want that, like 30 minute tutorial. And so as everyone's competing for that shorter attention span type of viewer, there was this not only demand, there was a need for that. And so that's why I really believe that long form is winning. Because so many creators went to short form because there was opportunities there, right? Not just on TikTok, but of course, reels and YouTube shorts, brand deals. We're starting to lean towards that way. And for long, long form, number one, there was this perception that was difficult. But two, maybe they didn't think the opportunities were there. It's crazy because there's actually a lot of opportunities, but I just believe it's a combination among Multiple things. The brain rot, of course, and short form fatigue, but also the television. And nobody wants to watch shorts and pick another piece of content or try to swipe through it on that television in your living room. So longer form videos are just winning in that arena where short form can't even compete.
- [14:41]
A
I think there's two things that 99% of creators don't understand going into 2026. And the first thing is that when it comes to trends, there's always trends and then there's the counter trend. That's the way you can usually spot what's next, is that the counter trend is what happens. So it's like there's a level of shorts blowing up, people getting excited about that. But then we also actually physically, neurologically get fatigued and we're like, I'm watching all the short form, but I don't even remember what I watched yesterday. And we're actually wanting to slow down, let our nervous systems calm down a little bit, or go deeper to your point. So it's just the fact, if there's a trend you want to spot what's next, look at the counter trend. But I think the other thing people don't understand is that things stop working, but sometimes they start working again. It's not that it's like a whole new thing. It actually is a return. It looks different, but it's that return. Like, okay, something stopped working. You know, maybe it was old way of vlogging trend. Shorts was hot for a while, but now it's kind of back to vlogging in a new way and it's that counter trend. So sometimes I think people just forget they're always trying to do something new. Maybe you need to go to something old and do it in a new way. Which brings us to number three. A lot of people think that fame is required. That the only reason people would care about a vlogger is. Is the old point to you mentioning that lots of the early youtubers got famous or known even in a micro niche of They're a beauty YouTuber. They are, you know, comedy. They got big in a niche and then they had their vlog channel and people watched it because they just wanted more of that person who was famous or micro famous. But you're saying that fame is not required. Why can anybody get into the game of vlogging even if they're not known or starting from scratch?
- [16:33]
B
Well, the whole idea of subscribers made sense in the early days because YouTube was just still new, right? So whoever was famous that was novel until it wasn't anymore. So think about how many more people had a million followers on TikTok or a million subscribers. Because YouTube shorts you could easily go viral, so it didn't really have the same kind of weight. The second thing that happened was algorithm was getting better at just suggesting what you're interested in versus just who you're subscribed to. Because it made sense. What if that person you're subscribed to is putting out content that's not entertaining? What happens, you stop watching their content versus the algorithm. It's not like had this philosophical moment. It's all like, huh. When I watch these random like gardening videos, even though he's not subscribed to them, he watches more content supply you with content you're interested in. So if you take the combination of there was this like lower value in terms of subscribers, like it didn't matter anymore. And the algorithm is really suggesting content you're interested in. Now it's all about the video. We kind of always said that. But now it really doesn't matter about the subscribers you have. Because I think we as a society actually is bigger than just like YouTube. We, we know that YouTube, social media and just like our devices are tools to find the content we're interested in. And before there was like empty spaces where you wish there was content. Now it's all filled up. There's just people, you know, like starting YouTube channels, they don't know anything about optimizing the video. And that's why you all have a guy. I mean that. One of my favorite examples on YouTube right now is a guy teaching you how to walk up a hill correctly. Okay? It's like a 12 minute video of a guy walking up the hill. And he's not doing different angles, he's not like editing anything. It's just a camera on a tripod shooting him on a hill, just walking up and down the same hill, right? It seems like it shouldn't work, but for someone that's interested in walking up a hill, you know, like I have a friend, his name is Austin, he's got trouble with his knees. So he kind of love that and he wants a whole thing. It's not about the subscribers there. It's about, he's talking about something that you're interested in. And if it's something that you need or you need help with, or you're just trying to find a solution to your problem, that is going to win and it doesn't matter if that channel has zero subscribers. I still think there's a place for it. And that's why even with 0 subscribers, in fact, right now I'm seeing newer channels have this huge like benefit just because it's a clean channel with clean data. But also it's just the viewer doesn't care as much about the subscribers. So if the video is really good, the algorithm will suggest it and it's giving everybody a chance versus before, the subscriber count had a lot more weight and it doesn't have that same weight now.
- [19:29]
A
Yeah, so it sounds like it's like social media is dead, subscribers are dead. It's now interest media. And it's what people are, niche cultures, niche topics that people are interested in. So in your case, you're latching on to something like Costco. And you know, because we're friends and I know your content well, you also go deep in like Asian grocery stores or certain dishes. That food is a super broad niche and all humans eat food. But there's so many subcategories and from the various levels of passion, whether it's wanting to go shopping with somebody or see the deals or whatever, bottom line, someone could start from scratch with clean data. But the big key is that they're tapping into a specific interest. Fame's not required, but strategy is.
- [20:17]
B
Yeah, in fact, so my wife Judy of It's Judy's Life, we have a family vlog channel. She always says, I don't use his new vlog method. I'm still doing it my way. But truthfully, sometimes we do use my new vlog method. Those videos tend to actually perform better. But it's not because I'm better than my wife. It's because the new strategy taps into the interest people have. So guess what you find on those vlogs that I'm applying the new vlog method to our family vlog channel. It finds audiences that's not subscribed to us because the whole strategy is on the topic and the thing that people are interested in. So I know this not only because I see in the analytics non subscribers are watching and more non subscribers are finding your content in the comments. It's like, oh, thank you so much for this video. I'm so glad I found your channel. I always see more of that on those because again, the algorithm says, oh, this is good for this interest. I'm going to serve this to whoever. It doesn't matter if this goes by. A good example is for travel content. See, before we would just like vlog our whole day and it'd be very similar to what we do at home. But like, say we're gonna go to a cruise. Okay, I'm super focused on the type of cruise, the name of the boat, what, like, is it a seven day thing? All those are going into play in terms of the title and thumbnail and of course even the vlog itself. So anything that's not related to that, we're just not putting into the vlog. So again, hitting the interest and the person interested in that cruise line and that boat and that seven day trip, they actually don't care that we've been vloggers for 20 years and we got a huge audience. They're like, I want to know more about this cruise I'm going to go on. And that's a good example of an interest based strategy versus, you know, like, I have a big audience and they'll watch whatever I'm doing.
- [22:10]
A
Yeah. So listeners have to consider and be asking themselves. I think the old mindset is this idea that like you built an audience and then your audience watches everything that you put out. Well, true for some people, that's the fame method. Even if it's like a niche fame, it's like, no, I just want all your ideas or anything you talk about. I think this new skill set, and I think established creators that don't develop this skill set are in big trouble. And that is the ability to reach new people. I think a lot of people make the mistake too. If they're established on YouTube. They don't realize that like audiences die out. And it's like, well, maybe that is obvious, but it's like you feel entitled to your audience. Well, you're, you know, just like you or me. You might watch a creator for a while, but it's not even that you stop liking them. You just, you're, you changed, you like to you like new stuff.
- [22:57]
B
My biggest pet Peeve is when YouTubers or creators say the algorithm is like throttling me down. They're not showing my subscribers. No, it would be in their best interest if you had good content. Put your content in front of them. Your content's not good enough for what they're interested in now. And so you're right. People age out or they move on to different things. And I think like forever this is the way it's going to be. Because our relationship to technology, platforms and content is totally different than when, the beginning, when it was like this cool thing. Right. Still cool. But there's a lot of cool people out there now, Right. That are doing amazing things that you don't know anything about, but they're creating the exact thing that your old subscribers want right now. And that's why your content isn't getting views. You're not serving what they need.
- [23:46]
A
Yeah. So you have to have the skill set of reaching new people. I mean, that might seem obvious, but I've seen creators that have 100 subscribers. 200 subscribers are like, I don't want to post something that upsets my current audience. I'm like, well, honor your audience. But if you got 200 people watching you and you're also trying to go part time or full time, you're going to need a lot more people. So you need the skillset of reaching some new people. Tap into some interests. Okay, so number four, and you mentioned this, but vlogs aren't dead. But the old way of vlogging is dead. Like, what is sort of the big difference? Just to break it down simply between old way and new way in simple terms.
- [24:25]
B
Yeah. So the old way of vlogging is. First off, let's go back to how vlogging was birthed. Okay. So in the beginning of YouTube in 2008, everything kind of was a vlog. It's a video blog, okay? That's all it was a video version of the thing that people used to write down. And so people started doing talking head videos and talking about different topics until it started getting really interesting, where people were getting super famous. So when you get famous for any topic, right, you create fans, and those fans want more content, behind the scenes content. That's how my wife's channel was birthed. She wanted to create more content. Her audience wanted more, you know, beyond the makeup tutorial or the hairdo look. Right. And so this secondary channel was just that and eventually became anything she wanted. She had such a huge audience. They wanted to watch all this stuff and they were willing to watch it. And that is the birth of the old way of vlog. We didn't call it the old way back then. That was just what it was. But it was your whole day and people cared because they cared about you. And it created like a new celebrity that we just thought was exciting until more people started doing it and it got more competitive. And think Casey neistand Jones shots. And so that old way not only got competitive, it got old. People just didn't care about it. They cared about the new thing at that time. Guess what there. I think there's a reason why the old way of vlogging kind of died right when short form was being birthed. Right. Musically, TikTok reels and all that kind of thing. That was the new thing. The new way of vlogging is kind of combining the utility of YouTube with the vlogging. So now the new way of vlogging is really just focus on the one topic. So rather than vlogging my whole day and hoping someone cares or is entertained by my editing, now I'm just talking about that one topic that someone's interested in. And the cool thing is this, the algorithm, so sophisticated and there's a big enough audience and matches that vid, that vlog, where I'm just focused on that topic to that viewer. And that is the difference. Instead of vlogging about my whole day and making me the star, I'm vlogging about one part of my day about something I'm interested in that someone else is also interested in. And then when you do that, you can kind of expand that out because what we always call it nerding out, right? You and I can literally talk about YouTube for three hours straight and not break a sweat. That's what you got to do. You have to create that content that you talk to your friend, family member on the weekend for hours and hours and hours for YouTube but has nothing to do with you brushing your teeth, the workout you're gonna do later, the errands you're gonna run, or you learn morning to night kind of experience. It's just about the one thing. And before we thought, oh, that that couldn't work until it did work. And it's because of this new era we're in where people want that nerd out obsessed kind of like couch viewing experience type of content.
- [27:25]
A
So let's do a checklist. So on this next point is just going a little bit deeper. Do you teach a formula like a 1, 2, 3 that people can essentially like, okay, this is what I would plug and play into it. And I like what you mentioned because you said you're not including your workout if your thing is about Costco. But anything works for vlogging, you might include. It could be your workout and something niche about a workout. Working out in your 40s, maybe like you're on TRT and you're talking about your peptides and you're doing your workout and you're isolating out these behind the scenes or whatever it is, or you're talking about ice fishing and you got the whole thing. I'm getting ready, I'm doing it. What did I catch? So it's topical, you're niching it Down. And it isn't necessarily. It doesn't mean you have to include your kids and your family in the early day. You're niching it down. So what is. What are the elements? If someone's listening and they're like, so what would I vlog about? How would I put some handles on it?
- [28:20]
B
Yeah, so the handles are really important. Or I say, like, some guardrails. The problem with just picking any kind of topic, there's kind of no relationship. And what we're trying to do is not only coach the algorithm to know what audience we're trying to target, but we're also trying to create an audience that ultimately and ironically become subscribers and will care about your next upload. So I call it the three T's of vlogging. Okay, you want to pick a theme for your channel. This is what you want to be known for. This, like, tells you who you're trying to target. Then you're going to have a topic and takeaway for your vlog. Okay, so this is where the new way of vlogging really comes to play. And the third T is you're going to tell stories. You're going to tell stories that emphasize a topic and takeaway that you're trying to focus on. And again, like, further enhances the theme of your channel. The theme of your channel is really important, though, and that's where the handlebars or the guardrails come in. Because if you just pick any random topic in your life, it's still kind of this similar problem. It could still work if it's a really good rant about that topic. But if you want to, like, put your channel in jet fuel and really launch it, then what you're going to do is pick a theme for your channel. You could say, this is how we would say, a niche for your channel. But theme is more broad. So what I would say is, I love food and I want to share my passion for food. I don't want to be known as a guy that just loves to shop for food and cook for food. And there's a lot that can go on there. And I'm trying to reach an audience of, you know, parents that are also into food. That's my theme. So I go down to topic and takeaway. So when I'm thinking about what's my next vlog going to be, it's going to be under that umbrella of my food passion. Way bigger than before, where I was like a recipe tutorial guy. Very Food Networky, and nothing wrong with that. It can still work in this new vlog method, but I want to broaden it because as humans we're interested in different things. But I'm not doing a workout vlog as one of my topics. I'm not gonna talk about YouTube inside of this. I'm just focused on my food. So picking your theme is interesting because you should pick something that that's fun to you and then the third T, which probably won't get into it. But of course, you know, you can go check it out at the link below if you want to get into my course. We tell stories to just emphasize or share our opinion on the topic and takeaway of that vlog. So that's what I call the three T's and that's really the framework to help anybody. By the way, you can just take that and already be ahead of 90% of creators out there that are trying to vlog because they're vlogging the old way versus this new focus way for this interest based viewing behavior.
- [31:00]
A
That's strong. And I actually want to recap that. But one of the things you mentioned, you do have a free class actually to go deeper on the whole new format@vloggeracademy.com we'll make sure that's linked in the show notes and you could go watch after this video that deep dive masterclass to master this new format of vlogging. But you're talking about theme topic and tell stories. You know, recently we did a YouTube update like a deep dive on the shifts. And a couple of the shifts were the personal brand is the only differentiator left. And in an age of AI when information is common. I love the third one, which is tell stories because anybody could just regurgitate a ChatGPT script. But nobody has your stories, nobody has your experience, nobody has your anecdotes, your ups, your downs, your wins, your losses, even your trauma. So when you just bring your stories into it, you bring your personal brand into it. And that's going to be different than, you know, some AI video that just communicates some information about a list of the recent Costco deals or all these nuances of you walking through the aisles of like an Asian grocery store. Because you're human, you have this whole set of experience so that tell stories things very interesting. And you're not trying to reach everybody like you're trying to reach other enthusiasts that want to hang out, relax and do chores or sit on the couch, talk about the same enthusiast, sub, niche and topic. So again, theme topic, tell stories that's the new format. And if you want to go deeper on those specific things, check out for vloggeracademy.com that's a free masterclass that Benji has. We have two more points out of the seven, and I want to go into this a little bit. Real beats perfect. Now, a lot of people think that, okay, if I'm going to start a YouTube channel, I have to be an expert, or if I'm just a beginner, am I ready to start? Or I have to be perfectly polished. What are the types of, like, gear setup, editing requirements? Like, how easy is it to get into vlogging right now? And what expectations should people have in terms of, like, how quick they could start this?
- [33:13]
B
I would say two things to this. A practical reason why I say people want real versus perfect is for people that are trying to start a vlog channel or become a creator, they get let perfection get in the way of progress. You're the one that oftentimes says that. And I tell them, like, they just want you, okay? They don't want this, like, perfect version of you or a production version of you or like the edited version. They literally just want you. And the way I convince people of this is like, when you're out and about, right? Whether you're working in the office or you're, you know, like, talking to people in your business or even just, you know, having dinner with your family, do you edit yourself? Do you think about what you're going to say? Are you scripted, you know, before you show up at the dining room table? Or do you just talk and then people listen? And then let's take the situation of you're talking about the topic or the theme of your vlog channel to somebody else. It oftentimes happens very naturally. Do you think about what you're going to say? I was like, what the hook? What is going to be the takeaway? No, you just freaking rant. And so what I tell people is like, that's the real you and that's the one that's going to be the most genuine and come off the best on camera. The second reason is because, you know, we talked about how their short form, fatigue and TikTok just basically created brain rot. I actually believe that kind of happened to the audience. For people that are perfect, they just want the person next door, right? The friend I hang out with on the weekends or, you know, just like the lifelong best friend that I can just shoot the, you know, whatever with. And that is actually kind of novel right now. Okay, now more and more people are doing this. And that is just the. That's what's not only in demand, but it's lacking in supply. I always say, like YouTube secrets and other, you know, experts out there have kind of created this need for it because we were teaching people, hey, this is exactly what you say at the beginning of your video. This is exactly what you do. You got to have this kind of framework, whatever. Still really important to have. Because even in my new vlog method, I take those in, but I let myself be imperfect. Meaning, guess what? Sometimes I like, don't say the word perfectly. You know, sometimes going to edit it out, but I don't mind. I let it all be in there. Because when I'm hanging out with you and this kind of, you know, unusual. We're actual friends in real life, right. I don't think about what I'm going to say and I don't even worry if I made a mistake in saying it. It's funny because even if you don't make a mistake, it's funny how the viewers always find mistakes in what you're saying when you're trying to be perfect. So why don't you just be honest? And that's what people are craving, and that's who's winning. So the way you are with people that are interested in those topics that you're going to record about and put it out in a vlog, that's the way you should be on camera. And that is the winning formula right now on YouTube, especially because guess what? When you're yourself, you can actually record more content, which is one of the key differences with my strategy because we're taking advantage of this demand for longer videos. And it's harder to create a longer video with a perfect presentation versus just being yourself and recording something that you would naturally talk about for 30 minutes anyways.
- [36:36]
A
Yeah. And I like your method because it gives people way more at bats because if you create a simple format and you know, we're going to make a little series here, so I encourage people to subscribe if you're getting value out of this episode on YouTube, smash like. And then subscribe to the audio podcast because we'll talk about more tactics in the future. But grab your smartphone, you know, get a vlogging camera, whichever one. But, like, you can pump out videos if you're doing something you're naturally passionate about, you're just talking to friends. What I picture is like, if you were doing something about a specific area, like maybe you love hiking, or if you were into real estate. And you showed people around. If somebody was driving with you and you lived in that city for a while, you just would be. I remember, oh, I love the YMCA over here. Oh, and that's a great donut shop. And if you just were in, somebody was sitting shotgun. It might be kind of all about, let me show you around town. But you would just be freestyling about, oh, I grew up here. These are the schools, or this what I know about the police department. And if again, if you were hiking, you're like, oh, I've done this hike so many different times. I love it. Different times of the year. You know, it's summer, it's a little bit hot, it's humid. But at winter, like if it's your thing, you're just riffing with a friend. Is that the idea? It's like this guy next door, you're riffing about these sub niche that you love and you're just being real.
- [37:53]
B
Totally. There's a whole nother aspect of this, another perspective of this that I think would help frame this so people understand why just being yourself and being real is really important. People aren't scrutinizing every little second because they're not paying attention to the video. They were, okay, like, even when I'm hanging out with you, sometimes I'm not looking at you when I talk. I'm just like looking at something off in the sense and not that we watch sunsets together. Okay. And so that like more organic, natural feeling conversation is kind of what is not just important to like consider when creating content. It's just the way people are watching. You know, we talk about this new living room environment of watching YouTube videos and watching on the couch. Sometimes we're getting up to get a snack, right? And we're just continuing to listen. That's another thing we didn't talk about in this interview, is the audio is really important, right? And why is the audio important? Because people just want to hear your thoughts. They don't want to see your thoughts, they just want to hear your thoughts. And so just talking naturally is really important. Versus before it was all about like, how does it look on the video?
- [39:02]
A
Yeah, and so hyper. Delivering perfect lines and then reshooting it and trying to hit the perfect line again.
- [39:08]
B
Nobody wants that in their living room anymore. They just want. That's why podcasts won, because podcasts were natural conversations. No one just thought it would equate to YouTube. So they. People thought podcast one because they're podcasts. No, podcast won because people Wanted that more natural feeling conversation and that was being put onto YouTube and then they could throw it up on the channel and you know, people are watching different devices. So I think we're still talking about being real. Yeah. Guess what? Being real is just being yourself, the way you are with other people that are interested in the same topics that you're talking about in your vlogs. And guess what? There's a billion people out there, and I guarantee you there's probably a million out there that want to hear your thoughts on this thing, if it's compelling and interesting or just like maybe a different perspective of the same thing everybody else has talked about.
- [39:59]
A
Okay, last one is really about consistency. Most people quit too early and that's exactly why creators who stay in the game now will own this new wave. What do you think about the fact that, you know, Some people say YouTube's on easy mode and while there is a chance to start a brand new channel, clean data, have videos blow up. What's the mindset people still need to have and what is the opportunity in the landscape of 2026 and beyond of why the window is open right now?
- [40:30]
B
Well, you and I both know whenever something starts blowing up and getting more views, other people want to be that person. Not just because they're becoming famous, because they're making money. And so I think this window of opportunity is not, it's not going to be super short, but it's not going to last forever because we've already seen that. You talked about the different errors I've survived. Guess what? I've seen, I've seen come in, things become trendy, become cool, everyone wants to do it, so it's very competitive and then it just dies out and then it's on to the next thing. Same thing with this new way of vlogging, right? And this longer form content. I don't think longer form content is going to go away, but what's going to happen is not only are more creators going to start doing this because I'm coaching them, we're coaching people to, you know, take advantage of this new era. But guess what? Celebrities are going to come into this. TV shows are going to come into play movies. I actually believe that, like people will launch their movies on YouTube one day and it's going to be a thing, okay? Because the money is there because of adsense, because of brand deals. You know, I was just telling somebody recently, I'm working with a company right now who generally sponsors short form creators, so they don't work with A lot of long form creators. So when they sponsor them, they basically get an ad. That's one of the little dirty secrets about short form creators getting sponsored. They're sponsoring you because they get a commercial out of it. You're basically a production company. Comes from beginning to end. But what happens, people just swipe through. You know how many times people watch my content and they can't swipe through because the brand is part of the creative. And so this brand, why they like working with me is because their product shows up throughout my video versus just the sponsor spot where I highlight their product. And why do I say that? You're seeing more and more long form content, getting brand deals again, like it's, it's starting to go the other direction. Just like it went towards short form, now it's going towards long form. And so as other people see see this, they're like, oh, I need to get into it. They're going to start doing longer videos, they're going to start doing the new way of vlogging. And also that's just the way it is. You know, people are going to start going this way. So this short, you know, like window, you have to take advantage of it. But going back to the consistent thing, that's always been the case. You know, you And I wrote YouTube secrets and the seventh C. Is consistency, right? Or is it courageous? No, courage is the first one. Always get these consistency, right? Yep. It is so important to be consistent not just because the consistency is the reps. Right. And it's also giving the algorithm data. And you know, people like it when your show comes out every single Sunday. Or in my case, just like maybe once a week. My wife and I, by the way, we did Vlogtober, you know, a few months ago and that was every single day. And it was crazy. It like resurged our views. It wasn't just that we were, you know, getting a lot of views because there's more uploads. No, the view counts started going up. So there's something about that consistency that puts you in front of people. The other reason I say it is because if you're not consistent now, you're gonna regret it later because then you're gonna have to be even more consistent. So when we talk about this small window of opportunity, the consistency to take advantage of this moment and succeed is probably going to be less than what's going to be required later when there's more competition. There's already a ton of channels doing it and just like a lot more supply I'm not saying that it's going to necessarily get super hard in the future, but I can tell you this, it's almost always easiest in the beginning. And this new era of YouTube that we're in, I call it the TV era, is right now. And you're going to want to take advantage of it. So being consistent right now, because I don't know where you're at in your, you know, YouTube content creation experience, you might be a complete beginner. You have no context, you've never picked up the camera, you've never edited, you never uploaded. So you need to be consistent, right? Or say you're a seasoned creator, you've already got a audience. Guess what, there's going to be other creators that also hear about this through, you know, interviews like this. I'm like, I want to start a vlog. So it's whoever just like really figures this out and gets their reps in and becomes a vlogger in this new era that's going to win. So for me, the consistency, it's. There's a reason we, we talked about it in our book. That's why what I'm trying to do is trying to make it consistent. By the way, my new vlog method makes it so it's easier for you to be consistent because it's less demand for high production and more leaning into what you already do every single day. And you're not becoming a vlogger, right? You're just vlogging what you already are. Hence why being real is so important. So, yeah, I'm excited. I'm, you know, I'm actually working harder because I want to take advantage of it because there's been so many eras where I was like, ah, I can get to it later. And I kind of regretted not, you know, going harder in that era. So in this era, both my wife and I were totally taking advantage of it. And don't sleep on what's happening in 2026.
- [45:50]
A
I want to give some people some handles because I think, number one, if this episode's resonating with, you commit. And there is an idea in there, this might not be a pace you can sustain, but there's an idea that you mentioned that you recently did 31 days of uploads in a row. That's also a whole different mindset shift, because I think listeners might think that would be impossible for me. No, it won't. Not if you have handles and you have a system and you also. So the second thing is maybe commit and maybe commit to doing five days of uploads, 10 days of uploads, or 30 days, you'll learn so much. And if you're established creator, it can really activate your channel. Something about you want to build a lot of momentum in 2026. First commitment. Now, secondly, if you want to go deeper on this as we land the plane, you can check out Benji's free masterclass. That's@vloggeracademy.com and we'll link that in the show notes as well. So you could study a little bit deeper. And then number three, I think have the long term mindset, you know, consistency. What's so funny is again, people are like, man, I tried this, three weeks, even three months, and it didn't work. And they're mistaking the historical truth about YouTube. It doesn't matter if it was 20, 20, 10, 2015, 2020, nobody, like, okay, some people blow up overnight, but 99% of people have to put in the years of work. And I even think about, you know, Gary Vaynerchuk just relaunched his vlog. He launched a new channel of daily V on a brand new channel. And it's not blowing up overnight, of course. And he's Gary Vee with an editor with all this stuff going on for him. But we already know what Gary Vee's mindset is. He's like, bro, I'm not gonna expect it's only a couple weeks old. So sometimes I think, oh, is this working yet? Like, have a long haul mindset. But definitely stake your claim right now. Commit study and commit to a long haul mindset and then also subscribe because we're gonna have a part two of this and we're gonna go even deeper with some tactics. Benji, if people want to connect with you, follow you, where can they find you?
- [47:49]
B
Yeah, the best place to follow me is on Instagram at Benji Man TV. You can DM me if you have further questions on YouTube. You know, I say the algorithm will do it for me. The algorithm is so good that even if you've got 0 subscribers and starting a brand new channel, never done this before. If you follow this method and you just think about what someone's interested in that I'm also interested in, put out the right video. The YouTube magical algorithm that we're always like asking questions about will do the work for you. Focus on the video and the rest kind of like handles itself. I've seen it so many times. You probably know people are accidentally having viral videos because they're accidentally applying this. And those are the people that actually are the best examples of it because again, they're just focus on this one thing, they rant about it, you know, they, they're obsessed about it and it's, you see in the content and just because of that obsession, it's entertaining and engaging and they're winning. So imagine if you apply that. That's why the consistency is important, because you might be surprised how quickly you can con, you can succeed if you're just consistent.