What makes an “Unbox Therapy?”
How did Lew become so successful?
Why does his channel have 7 million subscribers?
These are questions that people ask of all YouTube channels with a large subscriber base,
but let’s focus on this guy…
I’m EposVox, a YouTube certified channel development and strategist coach and let’s
break down the Unbox Therapy channel and see how Lew has become so successful on YouTube.
The answers are actually fairly easy to understand, once you see the elements that combine to
make a successful YouTube channel with millions of viewers.
This is more of a channel breakdown than a channel review.
I’m not here to give tips to Lew, but to give you tips and perspective based on Lew’s
earned success.
It can be difficult to look at a popular YouTube channel today and think that you could make
videos anywhere near on their level, and UnboxTherapy is no exception.
He’s got an engaging charisma that can’t be ignored, a super professional video studios,
multiple camera angles all in stunning 4K, and an invisible friend named Jack.
But he didn’t start that way.
Let’s take a look at the origins of Unbox Therapy, and then we will fast forward and
see the elements that Lew has built up over the past few years.
This is one of the earliest videos posted to Unbox Therapy still available today.
You’ll notice a similar camera angle - the overtop webcam so you can see the actual unboxing
progress - but that’s it.
The way he talks, the way he acts, and the quality of the video are all different.
We all start out rough around the edges - still learning our cameras, still learning how to
create high production value, how to act on camera to connect with the widest audience
possible.
This is something we all continue to learn over time.
The video has over 140 thousand views, which may invoke an initial reaction of “well
his videos were still doing better than mine do” - but that’s incorrect.
This video probably didn’t get many views when it first came out.
The video has only acquired that many views over the course of six years, whereas his
newer videos get 1 to 2 million views in a matter of days.
Quite a stark difference.
So what steps and elements were involved in taking Lew’s channel from small-time this,
to big-time this?
Unbox Therapy was one of the first channels on YouTube making any sort of “quality”
tech and unboxing videos in this style.
YouTube wasn’t super young in 2010, but this kind of pseudo-professional content wasn’t
around just yet.
By being one of the “first” channels, Lew had a huge advantage to get embedded into
YouTube’s search algorithms and overall brand awareness.
That’s many more years of product coverage to be searched for and found by viewers than
the rest of us.
Not to mention starting with the name “Unbox Therapy” as “unboxing” is first becoming
a thing, is a big deal, too.
The jump to 4K was also a huge promotion opportunity for many channels.
By being one of the first channels to jump to 4K, Unbox Therapy got a lot of extra promotion
and highlighting from YouTube when they started drawing attention to the site’s new 4K capabilities.
Plus, as a channel that appeals to techies, the 4K resolution was very appealing for enthusiasts
to watch in the best quality possible.
Once the Unbox Therapy channel started turning a high enough profit, he brought on interns
and a team to help him product content.
A team means the amount of work that can be put out grows exponentially - more videos
edited quicker, more social media and promotion work, more reaching out to companies, and
so on.
This will automatically lead to improvements for the channel and growth due to just more
being able to be done.
One person only has so many hours in the day.
Over time, Lew developed a very excitable and charismatic personality - the penultimate
sign of an experienced, developed YouTuber.
This allows him to be more entertaining and connectable to a wider audience.
If your videos are full of mumbling, uhms, and uhhs, or you aren’t excited in your
videos - you still have much work to do.
Lew is THE hype man of tech on YouTube.
Lastly, YouTube is a self-feeding cycle.
The more videos you post (as long as they’re good videos that people enjoy), the more opportunities
there are for people to discover your channel - and thus your channel grows.
The more subscribers you gain and keep around, the better your videos will do: Giving you
better ranks in search results and continuing the cycle of more people finding your videos.
YouTube also likes to promote their most successful channels - it’s good business.
So the better your channel does, the more natural and direct promotion your channel
gets, and you just continue to grow.
Eventually Lew has the financial backing from his channel to host big giveaways, buy the
latest products to show off as soon as they come out, and so on - all huge advantages
to keep building more success.
An example of both this and his team’s efficiency playing a role in his success would be the
whole “Bend Gate” ordeal.
They were able to quickly source iPhones to “bend test,” along with the tools and
such, and put together videos quick enough to take advantage of the trending topic.
This resulted in HUGE growth in his channel.
You will notice certain, commonly-mentioned things are NOT on my list: Being secretly
paid and promoted by the biggest companies ever or YouTube, being in cahoots with YouTube,
cheating, buying subs and views, “getting lucky” and so on.
Those things aren’t how YouTube actually works.
Behind every truly-successful channel is a dedicated host or team, years of hard work,
and polish that can only come from experience.
Every channel’s success (or most of them, at least) can be broken down into easily-understandable
and potentially-repeatable elements.
Heck, my own channel’s good qualities are nothing more than specific, dissected aspects
of the content (both from YouTube and “old media”) that I found enjoyable, adapted
for my own style and content goals.
BUT not everyone has the most charismatic personality, access to the newest products,
a good idea of what “good content” even is, or the ability to pop out frequent videos.
We all sucked horribly when we started YouTube, no solo channel is an exception to this.
YouTube “tips,” vague or otherwise, help set you on your way while you focus on developing
good content.
If you or whatever YouTuber in mind (aka.
roughly 90% of channels created) never “gets good” at making “quality content” and
keeping it relevant, their channels don’t grow and eventually they die off or just say
in the “it’s not fair to small YouTubers” mindset.
Not everyone has what it takes.
This is a much higher-level discussion topic compared to my usual YouTube tips.
But this came up in the comments of a previous video, and I thought a dedicated breakdown
could be insightful, and I wanted to show some love to Lew and his team for all his
hard work.
And to Jack, for remaining ever-invisible to the camera.
If you liked the video, like it, subscribe for more awesome tech videos
and YouTube advice.
I’m EposVox and I’ll see you next time.