Logan Paul has the fastest growing channel on YouTube
and he's unlikely to slow down anytime soon.
Now, I originally wanted to cover him for this reason alone.
After all, you have to do something right charisma-wise to accrue millions of new fans every month.
But after digging in, I found out that not only is he doing well from a charisma perspective,
he is also crushing it on a business perspective so this is as much a charisma breakdown
as it is a business and sales breakdown so let's just start with the obvious —
Logan Paul is incredibly high-energy and silly in just about all situations.
Ay, yo. Good morning, Logang. What's pop?
Or should I say... Ay, yo. Good morning, little gang. What's pop?
What's pop, man?
Oh!
Alright, Brendan, how are ya?
I'm good. How are you?
Alright, Karen, how are ya? Ya yeet?
There's my boy! There's my boy! There's my—
Good morning. You give them a hi, Bobby. Oh, come. You good, bro?
...and you think he'd stop. No. Look at her right now.
Bro, stop. I see you. You got to chill, bro.
You have tape on you again? Come here. What's your deal?
What the heck, bro?
I spoke about this at length in the PewDiePie video
but the jump cuts and intense emotion keep the video incredibly engaging
since the human brain is trained to pay attention to people showing strong emotion
as well as anything that changes rapidly.
Logan is also a natural performer and comedian
who is willing to be goofy in public to get the shot.
(Beat plays as Logan moves)
Many people watch these stunts and think they're too much
and honestly, if you were to behave like this outside the context of a daily vlog,
it probably would be.
But even Logan acknowledges that he has to be over-the-top when the cameras on
because that is what is necessary to be a successful vlogger.
...so much louder when he vlogs.
No, I have to. I have to bring energy, bro. Like, I'm a j— vlogging—
So even though you might not be as intense as Logan is when the camera is on,
you can't dismiss the importance of high energy in your own life.
It leads to more spontaneity, a lighter sense of humor,
and it's just about the most important thing Logan does and that you can do
in terms of charisma but it's not as simple as it sounds.
In order to be high-energy, you need to build routines into your life that make you high-energy.
For instance, look how Logan starts each morning.
Ay, yo. Good morning, Logang. What's pop? Yeah! Okay guys—
Ay, yo. Good morning, Logang. What's pop?
You're just killing the vibe, ya 'ey. You ain't doing it right, ya 'ey.
Now, I realize that that intensity might seem like too much
but I've actually done something similar in my own life
and I can attest that it makes a huge difference in my overall mood.
So as crazy as it may sound, when you wake up in the morning,
find a way to make a bunch of noise, move your body and say something positive.
If you live in a cramped apartment and you can't be loud, do it in the car on the way to work.
If you keep that up for 30 to 60 seconds, I've found that it puts me
in an upbeat mood that tends to last for a good portion of the day.
I've heard other people recommend cold showers or loud music
but the same principle applies —
find a routine that gets you excited and make it a part of every morning.
You will be shocked how this can improve your entire day.
It, also, really, really helps to have a purpose for getting up in each morning
that makes you excited because as cliche as it sounds,
your energy and your work ethic really depend on finding work that you love.
As Logan points out...
...happy nad relaxed place right now... What you guys notice about me,
I work really, really hard but eh, no, I don't want to say that.
...I-I do but I enjoy it — that's the thing.
For me, luckily, I have found what I love to do, like, genuinely love to do...
...I heard you guys as always. Keep pushing and find what it is that you love
so every day you can wake up knowing you want to work hard but you don't have to work.
But to focus on just these things would be to miss the point
because there are plenty of daily vloggers who are high-energy
and funny and who don't have nearly the reach of Logan
because what makes Logan different is his background.
You see he started on Vine and you need to understand how Vine is different from YouTube
to understand the unique skills that Viners developed.
First off, vines are only six seconds long
which means that you need to know how to make a point
or even tell an entire story in six seconds like this.
Hey, babe?
What's up?
Are we, like, official?
(R. Kelly's I Believe I Can Fly plays)
Additionally, many Vine stars got popular by constantly cross-promoting one another
whereas YouTubers might collaborate on a video in order to share subscribers,
the Viners built an entire ecosystem by sharing content.
Logan brought his brother, a boy band, his dog and even his pet parrot into the limelight.
Lastly, since Vine didn't provide advertising revenue,
Viners has got really good at integrating products into their content in order to earn money.
For instance, in this next clip, Logan linked to a Hanes advertisement
about staying cool under pressure.
Ole.
Ole!
I'm cool. We're good.
So when Vine died and all of these people moved to YouTube,
they began creating a different kind of content that was true to their roots.
First off, they started getting hooks
that might constitute an entire Vine within the first 30 seconds of their video.
Check it out.
Ay, yo. Good morning, little g— Okay. (Laughs)
Guys, I'm a mess. I'm a mess. I'm a big hot mess.
Here's what I feel right now.
(Screaming)
Did you know that it was going to shatter?
Bro, I didn't know plastic shatters like glass.
This rapid-fire content gets their fans watching
wondering what crazy stuff is going to happen next
and drives up Watch Time since so much is happening so quickly.
On top of that, rather than one-off collaborations,
the Viners who moved to YouTube have built multi-episode dramas that involve their entire crew.
It's a cross between reality TV and daytime TV
with drama and backstabbing and making up after two weeks.
These kinds of feuds are reminiscent of the rivalries in other fandoms.
In the Hunger Games you had team Peeta and team Gale,
in Twilight it was team Jacob or team Edward,
and in Harry Potter you had Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin —
in every case no matter what team fans chose,
they were supporting the growth of every single faction
and the same is true on YouTube with every beef just leading to more growth for everyone.
Bring her up. Bring her up.
Let go. Let go.
Let go.
(Frantic screaming with suspenseful music playing)
What's more, these collaborations means that one day's worth of work
can provide three different channels with a video —
that doubles or triples the views instantly
and allows them to cross-promote one another's channel all the time.
But by far, the smartest thing that Logan has done
is incorporate his fans into his videos.
They show up at his house, they show up on set to his movies and to events that he has planned,
and not only does Logan often take the time to interact with them and sign autographs,
he will also call out the ones who have his merch
or represent what he calls the Maverick Spirit —
this just reinforces the in-group identity — not to mention that it sells more merchandise.
Check out how he works it into a rap battle with a fan.
# I'm looking handsome, I'm looking dapper #
# Got my man-bun in my hat and my Maverick merch #
# Yeah, like my brother would say it's selling like a got church #
# You don't know how to dress, man #
# You're looking like a mess, man #
# This boy got the Maverick hoodie because he is the best, man #
This is a shift in what you normally see on YouTube
and I think it's because Logan was originally a Viner.
In most channels, merchandise is something that is sold in an advertisement at the end of a video.
In a few, there's product placement and the merch is featured in the video
but Logan Paul takes it up a notch — the merch is the main focus of some of his videos
like this one where he delivers it to fans in LA who ordered the most.
...from, uh, Paul.
Which one of you is a savage.
Yo, that's him.
That's you. Here you go, bro. You got it.
Now, I know you're all a Logang but we're out here with that t-shirt.
That's mine.
Here you go.
I also brought this, dude. It's that new Logang Paulers.
Do you... you want to take this one?
Yeah.
There we go. Yo.
My boy. My boy. My boy. Ya Yeet!
Or this one where he and his brother, Jake, have a showdown over which team is better
and ultimately resolved it was a big reveal of merch that unites the two warring factions.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's okay.
Jake: Take off, now. Take it off now.
Hold up. Wait, wait. This is the surprise.
Jake: No.
This is the surprise.
Jake: No.
Logan: Jake, look. Look. Look at the merch, bro.
Logan: Look at... It's the Logang Paulers, bro!
I think this deserves a special note because it's an evolution in advertising.
The resolution to the story is the reveal of a co-branded t-shirt.
That'd be like if the transformers beat Megatron,
it's by buying more General Motors products — its commerce and content
rolled into one package and it works like crazy.
But none of it would work if fans didn't want to be part of Logan's crew, the Logang.
And to Logan's credit, he does an amazing job of making all of his fans feel great
when he interacts with them whether it's by directly complimenting them...
Oh! You're still here.
Yeah. (Little girl laughing)
It's been a while. You're a savage and I like your laugh!
...by showing their artwork...
...painted a picture of me. This is amazing. Aww, look at this.
Hi.
I got you this. (Girls cheering)
You gave... you'll give me, bro?
Oh my god.
Oh my god! Yo, it says Hollywood Best Hero.
You are so sweet.
(Girls cheering)
Oh my god. She's got the merch and everything.
This just makes me so happy right now.
...or even by featuring them in his vlogs which means the world to these kids.
What's up, guys? It's Eric on here and YouT—
Logan Paul put me on one of his videos.
I don't even know what to say, like, I feel like I might cry.
And then sometimes he flies them out to star in music videos with him as well.
# Zero people shouldn't have a hero (Ya Yeet!) #
# Logan is my hero, he is really nice (Ha!) #
# So I went and made a song about him twice (What?) #
# Song about me twice? Noah, that's really nice! (Ya!) #
And of course he works his clothing line into the song.
# Hit me up if you ever need advice (Ya!) #
# And here, dude, take some Maverick merchandise (Link in bio) #
So two major points to make as I wrap up here.
One, this is the direction that media is going.
It's not just about gathering eyeballs anymore.
It's about gathering eyeballs with every psychological tactic in the book
whether that's the jump cut, the high energy, or the humor.
And then it's about building a fanbase that loves you
because you interact with them and include them in your content
and then it's about integrating into that content a sale.
And the second thing — innovations often occur
when someone with a unique background transfer skills from one domain to another.
Logan Paul is different from traditional YouTubers
because he had to learn to create a different kind of content for Vine
and when those skills got moved over, it created something new
that has worked incredibly well for him and his friends.
People are talking about whether the Paul brothers will surpass PewDiePie
in views and in subs but I think that misses the point
because the Paul brothers are not your typical YouTube content creators —
they are some of the best businessmen
out there and YouTube is just one piece of that
because what they do on YouTube will be big but what they create outside of it is going to be bigger.
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