What's up creators, welcome back to creator insider
I think you were gonna lead off the video, but I don't care watch to the end
I'm gonna teach you how to pull lots views. You're that professional here. So
no problem there. So I first this is mr. Beast in case you were one of the few people on YouTube who doesn't know
Mr. Bg1 peoples and I'm Todd. I work on the product team for the home page and recommendations at YouTube. And so
I first heard mr. Beast
Last year at our North American creator summit now. I didn't actually meet you at the time
But all the creators were running around there saying oh my god, she got to talk to mr. Beast
He's got this binder with all these chars. He's cracky algorithm
And since I work in the algorithm, I just knew I had to talk to you
So fortunately we got connected at vid summit and you know
Now we're gonna like share your secrets on how to be a successful creator on YouTube. You've had quite the ride
So when did you start uploading to YouTube? Oh, we got to do the board and stuff first. Okay
Well, I started in on this channel or my channel 2013. I've been doing uh, social thirteen years old
And when I first started I got a hundred thousand subscribers with an iPhone and this is an iPhone 5 that record in 30fps
terrible quality
so as you guys know like equipments never an excuse because like people
Were constantly roasting me for the quality when I first blew up. I was like, I don't have money
I don't know what to do
But then um, you know, I just reinvested every dollar I made and over like the last you know
Whatever eight years just slowly grew into whatever I do now, so
Now you've been on the platform about seven years
What do you what would you say to creators that are getting started?
I mean
do you think that it's still possible to start a channel on YouTube in 2020 and be successful or
Is it it's funny you saying that - because I know you know the answer to it
Um, yes, it's obviously it is and the thing is though, you know with the videos
I was making when I was a smaller creator
I genuinely felt like ah, you know the algorithm hates me or this is unfair
But I just wasn't making content that deserve to give views
I don't know a nice way to put it. So I'm glad I'm talking about myself. Does anyone else?
I feel bad but the video sucked like I mean you just look at the retention graphs people would click off at the beginning
people didn't know sometimes that they're clicking on and like if I wasn't retaining a viewer just why would it make sense for you to
Promote it like why would you promote a 10 minute video that people watch on average a minute and a half?
It just doesn't make sense
So honestly, I forgot the original question was oh, yes
I've seen people literally start a channel and within a month hit a hundred thousand subscribers. I've seen it
I personally know someone who had a channel 100 subscribers and me and my mom boys
You know other youtubers that I feel like have a good understanding of how YouTube works
we just help them optimize the video and I don't like to say the name of the channels because then I feel like I'm taking
Credit for their success, but literally 100 subscribers
You got 3 million views on a video and that was with no artificial push. They did like 50 views, you know
5,000 10,000 50,000 it just stair-stepped up every day
And so it's 1 million percent possible
But it's very hard right off the bat to know what makes a good video how to hold a view or how to get them
to click and stuff like that people are naturally entertaining and
Retaining a view is just much easier for them and some people like me. You just need a long time to develop
So what was it that you and you were coaching some of these other channels? Mm-hmm?
What were some of the things that you identified as opportunities for improvement?
A lot of it is just like you can just tell when a video shouldn't go viral at the beginning of the video
Just tell like literally the simplest thing just tell them why they should watch it
You know if you're putting a million Orbeez in a pool don't start the video with you shopping for you know
your mom's birthday present at the beginning the video just say
We're gonna put a million Orbeez in this pool
And then that right there is should you know be at least slightly sufficient tell people
You know what to expect maybe do a little preview at the front exactly
So for most people it's just that they're just not hooking viewers and the video ideas just aren't that entertaining there anything that you've seen?
In common to the creators that you've you've seen to be successful
No
I mean did YouTube so big so do you think that there's any common?
misconceptions that creators have about YouTube a lot of people blame the algorithm
But typically you can I mean you just look at the data and point to it
I mean, I don't I don't really have to dig too deep in that one
Yeah, so you you you're known for digging to the data. What it what are some of the key metrics that you look at well
so funny haven't you asked me this cuz I should be asking you but since I'm the one being interviewed, um
I mean when you really boil it down to the people who are watching just think about it
Like what? What do you think YouTube wants like to me?
I think YouTube just wants people to click on a video and watch it right. I mean, that's how they get their ad revenue
That's how they keep it, you know viewers happy and stuff like that
I mean, I'm sure comments like stuff like that
But at the end of the day they want you to click watch a video
Click watch a video and just do that as long as possible
So to me what's important is?
Click-through rate getting people click on your video and then average
Reiteration average you percentage or just relative retention and you?
Know having them watch it
If people are clicking your video more than they click other videos and they're watching it longer then they watch other videos, you know
I just as
Simplistic as that is that's like what YouTube wants and I think that's how you just, you know be successful
Yes, so I think you hit it right on in terms of what we look at
where our goals with the algorithm are to try to find view find videos each viewer is gonna
you know engage with but then
another thing that we've been
getting more into
Is what we call satisfaction. And so this is this is kind of recognizing the fact that yes
We optimize and try to you know have watch time as one of the key metrics we look at you know
But we also know that not all watch time is equally valuable to the person watching, you know, you can spend you know
15 minutes watching something and feel like man. I just kind of wasted my time
I should have you know gone to bed earlier or did something else, you know?
or maybe it was like really inspiring and and it changes your life somehow and we want to be able to capture that difference and
So the way we do that is with surveys
And so I knew you're about to say that yeah
So I would add that to what you're saying beyond like clicking on the video and then watching as much as possible
We also want you know, if we randomly survey if you were after they've watched
What would they say would they say this is one of the best videos I've ever watched on YouTube or just kind of average?
so I
Encourage creators to think about what's gonna be satisfied not just take the most time
So why don't you tell us a little bit about like your creative process? How does it all start with a mr. Beast video?
Well, obviously everything starts with an idea and for me. I like to make my videos a little longer
So that's a big part of what ideas we do
So we just you know, the biggest thing is is, you know, obviously a clickable thumbnail and title
Interesting stuff yada yada, but is this something that people will genuinely want to watch?
And this might be a little tangent but one thing is a lot of creators think click-through rate is just like the title and thumbnail
And did they click it? But a lot of it too is did they enjoy your last video?
You know what?
I mean like as if someone watches a video of yours and they loved it
You can bet the next time you recommended their chance of clicking is a lot higher, you know
So it's like is it something that could be entertaining for a long time?
Is it something that if they watched this next time, you know, they see a video mine
Will they be excited like I love that last one?
so I want to watch the next one like those two type of things and then obviously, you know
Is it just interesting and clickable? And so that for you know ideation that's obviously the first and foremost
Is there anything that you think is is?
unique to how you film or your editing process then well, um well
I guess we start with filming for me
Um, and it might not always show trust me I and I know I might sound like it's an old
Ah, I swear I'm still learning stuff every day when filming though
I like to try to just put it like I feel like a lot of creators have a mindset
It's like how can I get the most views with the least amount of time and I'm not saying that's wrong, you know
Just obviously I have that mindset sometimes too
But I try to when filming put in as much work, even if it's like a 15 second part of the video
Even if that one little part will take like 10 hours, you know, but like hypothetically right?
But that that 15 seconds is like wow, like that's great
Like I I feel like viewers genuinely noticed when you go the extra mile and so with filming it's just like trying to make sure
We're doing everything we can no matter how expensive is no matter how much time it takes to make the best video possible
So they have the best experience and they want to you know
Obviously watch more videos because that's what you want the viewers to do and then with editing just no dull moments
You know have a good hook at the beginning
Some minor tips I could give is like, you know
If I do a video like last leaf circle wins ten grand
Obviously people are gonna watch the end because they want to see who won the money
So have it you can apply that to your videos if somehow you can have a payoff at the end then
you know more people are gonna watch the end just to see what happened and
Just obviously don't cut out all the whole moments
Try not to over explain things, but camera just sits on me, and I'm just talking for 20 seconds
It doesn't hold retention as well. As you know, maybe me talking and other footage popping up
There's things like that
If you just you know, there's literally in your analytics and most you probably know this audience retention
You can see where people click off just literally go through your last 50 videos
Write down where everyone clicked off and then just don't do those things again
How do you keep things fresh and engaging over time you uploaded?
Videos last year somewhere, uh, probably lower probably 70 to 80. Okay? Yeah. Um again, I'm not perfect
So I don't do a great job of it
But you know
I like to end a series or a challenge on a high note
Like you can just kind of tell when people are getting a little tired of it or you know
I just gave away a million dollars. Let's take handoff if it's now if I do last do Blake wins ten grand
It's just not really the same effect
But some I'm still gonna maybe occasionally do it, but it's just like they keep things fresh
Just again, it's hard because so many of them are different like it's there for a night creator
You know, I'm not trying to tell him to switch games every month because then that might kill their career, but for me me
I just like to you know juice stop. Don't milk a series too hard, you know what I mean?
Keep it fresh and always try to introduce things here and there and then if it if it works well
Take it run with it for a little bit and introduce about something else new
Because if I just did lastly videos non-stop for the next three years like no one will watch me everyone back
We've seen it. You know what I mean?
Yeah, and you mentioned to me that you actually spend a lot of your time on brainstorming. Mm-hmm. Yeah ideas
So, is that like a regular thing?
Yeah, at the end of the day like the ideas a big part of the video, you know, it's not even just from clay
Yeah, but whether or not people watch it, you know if you're spending 24 hours in a corner
That's just not as entertaining as spending 24 hours in a jail cell
And at the end of day like the only difference there is the idea. It's not the content
It's like it's what you formulated beforehand
So yeah, like I like to spend an hour a day, you know, I swindled recently we have a lot of ideas
But if you spend an hour a day thinking of ideal, it's pretty hard to not expect your talent to do better, you know
I'll let you just not executing them properly. But all right. So you're uploading a lot of videos
How um, how do you keep from burning out?
like if there's something that like I genuinely just don't want to get out of bed and do that's a problem in the end of
The day it's just keeping it enjoyable. So I have Chris and Chandler. If you've seen my videos, they're really fun to be around
so like
You know spent work for 24 hours in a desert by myself would be miserable but spending 24 hours with my boys
And is hanging out and stuff like that makes it so much more fun
So for me dude, this might not apply to like 90% of you, but for me creating an environment
That's fun that I get excited for and then you know
Outsourcing things that just make me not want to get out of bed. I don't know a different way to phrase it
That's what has helped. You know long term make me stay motivated
So two years ago is when I got brought Chris on and finally got a little bit of help but for like the first six
Seven years. It was all me if we are getting a little devious
it was pretty hard like
Because like all throughout high school people would tell me I was too obsessed and tell me like you shouldn't spend so much time on
this my mom and I fought constantly cuz like I just wanted to make videos instead of doing schoolwork and
When I dropped out of college, she kicked me out, you know, my mom's like really sweet and she cares about me
but she's I go to college or leave and I was like
I guess I have to leave so it was just it was a lot of ups and downs and every part of the way
To me cuz I just knew that this is what I wanted to do
I just I couldn't see a life where I wasn't a youtuber it was either I'm a youtuber and happy or I'm
sad that those are like the only two outcomes so I just kept making videos and persevering and a big thing is I I
Tried to connect with other youtubers because a lot of what I know and what I've gone over I wouldn't know without other youtubers
I I would constantly spam like a dozen youtubers a day and like the first few people that I finally got
Contact with that learned so much off of and they help me understand how to make an entertaining video and stuff like that
Leave that in so how do you think about
Mr. Beast in your channel now as a business has that shifted in a big way?
It's a lot what we're doing now, if you really this definitely won't apply to too many people
But it's just big logistical nightmare, you know, like I want to put a basketball court in a cloud
I want to play basketball in the clouds. So it'd be cool. They lifted a court in a cloud
so it looks like we're playing on cloud like
Yeah, I don't even I don't know like what do you get for helicopter?
So it's just like right now the company were more of a logistics company then well, you know
So it's just been pretty pretty crazy. The videos just kept getting bigger and stuff. Um heavy have you used the new
Studio, I guess it's out of beta. Yeah
Have you used it? How do you feel about it? You got any I mean?
Honestly, I'm sure once I get used to it I like it I'm constantly just trying to figure out where things are
I know that's probably not what I should say, but I just can't find anything half the time
Yeah, we didn't we want to hear the honest feedback about it and fix the things that we can make better
What can we look forward to with?
Mr. Beeston, oh my god five years, but they don't care. Um
2020 is a year of team sees so if that interests you feel free to reach out with to me
It's probably gonna be in like, you know, September October far away, but just putting on your radar team sees
yeah, so we did teams trees team sees will probably be like
Plastic in the ocean. I honestly like I'm still trying to you know, figure out what will make the biggest impact
I don't know the details yet
I
honestly
I just want to keep making better and better and better videos
And that doesn't always mean money and that's something I'm coming to terms with especially after doing a million dollar giveaway there
You know time ever creativity. There are other ways to make a better video. So I just want to keep making better videos
Do you early fundraiser things and I I love YouTube. I want to be doing this for next 10 years
This is all I want to do. I don't want to do anything else my life. Do you have any thoughts on where?
YouTube might end up in five years
You you really want to know what idea? Okay. Well, I mean I
obviously, I don't know the exact metric but I think it's like 90% of the searches in the West or whatever go through Google and
Google obviously onto YouTube so obviously a lot of that will go to YouTube
And so I think you know YouTube's only gonna get bigger and bigger. It's a great place to be to be honest
I don't think there's that many more lucrative
Companies really out there than being a youtuber just just to be free, you know what I mean?
Well, it's been awesome having you on creator insider. I really appreciate you sharing your insights with other Creators and
Wish you the best of luck and with mr
B's channel this year and beyond leave a comment. If you have questions, we'll have time go in fight over much, right?
All right, I'll do it. Well you yes. All right. There you go. Hit him with your hard questions. All right. Thanks everyone and
Keep it real. This is fun. I love this. By the way. Thanks. Seriously, I love helping youtubers and it's kind of hard
Cuz a lot of people do ask me for advice, but if I ever see you somehow like feel free to ask me questions
I love this