- Making gains, man.
That's what we're all here for.
- This is Sam Sulek.
He's a 21-year-old bodybuilder,
and he's getting those gains in more ways than one.
In March of this year, he had around 8,000 subscribers,
and today he's sitting at a ridiculous 1.8 million.
Okay, hold on, that's not right.
It was right when I filmed that,
but now, two days later, I'm editing
and he's at 1.9 million.
So he gained like 100,000 subscribers in two days.
His growth has been so rabid and exponential
that over 1 million of those actually subscribed
in the past two months.
So what makes Sam so special?
Is it because he's freaking huge?
No.
Well, he is, but that's not the reason.
If you go to Sam's channel
and you start looking through his content,
the first thing you'll notice is, (gasps)
his thumbnails are just screen caps from his videos.
The next thing you'll notice is,
every single one of these videos is over 30 minutes,
and some are even over an hour, and that view count.
(blows raspberry) (graphics rustling)
(graphics beeps) (helicopter whirring)
So what's the deal?
Is the production value out of this world?
Is the editing so awesome that viewers just can't look away?
Nope. (cricket chirps)
No matter which one you watch,
you'll find out that his videos have basically no editing.
There are so few cuts
that it just feels like you're hanging out
with the guy in his car, headed to the gym,
checking his progress, and then heading home.
In theory, it honestly, it sounds kind of lame.
So who would watch this
besides viewers that are into fitness
with a whole lot of patience?
Yeah, those viewers do exist, but 1.8 million?
I don't think so.
I knew something was up, so I watched some of his videos
and I noticed something,
and then I read some of his comments
and it validated everything I was thinking.
This guy is real.
He's just a genuine dude going about his day.
And I guess that's such a rare commodity on YouTube
that viewers can't get enough.
Sure, a lot of his audience might be there
for the information,
but a significant portion of them are just there to relax.
Just to throw the video on in the background
and listen to a real person, do real person things.
To talk about what matters to them.
And honestly, what's the conversational difference
between that and listening to a friend?
It doesn't matter if you're interested
in what they're talking about, you listen and you connect.
And in that moment you're not alone.
So what makes Sam special is what makes Sam, Sam.
He's passionate, he's amusing, he's vulgar sometimes,
but the key that makes viewers so comfortable with him
is that he doesn't turn his personality up to 11
when he is on camera.
You can really feel that you'd be dealing
with the exact same Sam,
if you saw him at the gas station or the grocery store.
So it's no surprise that the videos
that have the most views on his channel
aren't the ones where he is working out.
It's the videos where he is talking the most.
So how does he do it?
Besides the fact that he's a really cool dude?
Well, it all comes down to a single strategy.
Sure, his authenticity is important,
but nobody would ever get the chance to know Sam
without consistency.
He uploads every single day,
and his community has learned that
that's something that they can depend on,
and apparently, invest some time into.
For example, if you search for Sam on TikTok,
only one of these is Sam.
(video whooshes) This one.
(graphics beeps) All these others
are fan accounts,
and these fan accounts are pulling in some serious numbers.
I've never seen anything like it,
and neither is YouTube.
Because thanks to Sam,
the fitness niche is exploding like never before.
So we should all be taking notes
because with consistency and authenticity,
any creator in any niche could do the same.
Okay, so cool.
We've got this really special channel
that has been killing it with minimal effort
on the production side,
but there have always been those rare channels
where the personality is also the niche, right?
Well, yeah, but will it be so rare anymore?
Take this guy for instance.
- Don't wear yourself out to the point
that you're no good to anybody, including yourself.
- On the surface, "Dry Creek Wrangler School"
is a channel that provides information about horses.
But if you dig a little deeper,
you'll find that a majority of these videos
focus on something a little different.
It seems that the channel began with a specific purpose,
but there was a significant change when Dwayne here
hit record, sat down in front of his barn
and started sharing some unedited wisdom.
At that moment, viewers just couldn't get enough.
And it seems that with every video
where Dwayne has something to say,
viewers will just pull up a chair
and listen without even a single cut
to interrupt the experience.
The channel has a sense of solitude
and tranquility that many may never get
to experience in their lives,
and being fronted by a man who is so authentic
and confident in his message,
it really does offer something that many people are missing.
A lesson and a direction, and a genuine connection.
So it seems authenticity is on the rise,
and even Mr. Beast, who let's be honest,
has benefited from his over the top content,
has seen some better performance in his thumbnails
by toning things down a little bit.
So it kind of begs the question,
is everything we've been learning about YouTube wrong?
Do we no longer need cuts, and edits, and great thumbnails?
Can we all just flip on a camera and go about our day
and gain millions of subscribers?
(exhales) Come on.
There's no right answer to this.
It depends on the individual.
Your subscriber account won't depend
on how many cuts you have in your video.
It will depend, however, on how well your viewer
can connect with you and what you're passionate about.
So whatever you can do to enhance that,
that's the correct decision.
Besides, if I'm like super energetic
and I'm looking for a good time,
you think I'm gonna click on this video?
There's something on YouTube for every kind of viewer.
So I guess you have to ask yourself,
who is your ideal viewer?
Who do you think would watch you for you
and what you're passionate about?
It took me a long time to figure that out for myself,
but eventually, I did.
And this is that story.
It was a struggle, but I found my place, and you will too.
You can learn a lot about YouTube,
but eventually we all have to learn
the most valuable lesson,
and that's just be yourself.
Be yourself. (object thuds)