Rene’s Top Five on YouTube: July 11, 2024 edition

▶️ VidCon Anaheim 2024 was epic! I know some lament ye old days of VidCon yore where it was more fanfest and less industry flex, but even with the more rigid structure, it brought a ton of people together, provided opportunities for new connections, and let so many online friends see each other again or for the very first time IRL. YouTube’s VP of Creator Product, Amjad Hanif, and Global Head of Culture and Trends, Kevin Alloca tag teamed the keynote, along with creators Kreekcraft and Pierson who did an incredible job highlighting how tools and culture really can come together to shape our careers and our world. Creator Collectives and milestones abounded, and the YouTube Creators Instagram did an unbelievable job highlighting so many of them, so check their grid for much, much more. Gwen Miller from Mythical, Todd Beaupré, Head of Growth & Discovery at YouTube, and yours truly, also had an absolute blast giving the Algorithm talks for both Creator Track and Industry Track, and it was so great to see and meet so many of you there! Hearing Todd explain how LLMs are helping YouTube provide even more specific recommendations is something I’m eager to learn more about!

🤳 Creator Advice Shorts were also captured aplenty, including from Hank Green, Jenny Nicholson, and many, many more. I’m posting one a weekday on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, along with Q&A responses to all your questions, and excerpts from the Shorts Algorithm talk from the YouTube Policy Education Summit. And yes, that’s 3 Shorts edited and posted a weekday, but one of the best parts of my job is still getting to be an OG creator while working inside YouTube, and testing all the strategies and workflows new and old, so I can help make sure we’ve always got skin in the game, feel the same triumph and pain, and can share the most accurate, most empathetic information possible. Like and subscribe! (Kidding… but please and thank you!)

🩳 Release Notes #3, the latest installment of the video series where Johanna, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer, and I chat about the latest features and formats, landed today and — it’s all about Shorts! There are some absolutely terrific moments — and meme-ments! — creator questions about longer Shorts, community connections from Ian Boggs and Jenny Hoyos, and sneak peaks at what’s coming next. Catch it on Creator Insider and also stay tuned for the podcast, where there’s a ton more coming up, including OpenSauce creators talking about science and education… and lava, electricity, and explosions on YouTube! Because, of course!

🙋Q&A: “Why can one video do great and another of the same category be underwhelming?” I know from my own personal experience how beyond frustrating it can be when you think you’ve landed on a hit video format, the first one takes off, but the second or third one tanks. Hard. Likewise when yours bombs but another creator’s oh-so-similar-version becomes a banger. It can feel so unfair! The simple answer is, category by itself isn’t a good indicator of success, only potential. Within any topic, there’s an addressable market. How much of that market any one video captures will come down to variables like viewer demand, competition, seasonality, and how well the specific execution lined up with audience interests at that point in time. Remember, quality isn’t effort expended or production value or anything like that. It’s how the video made the audience feel. That’s not unique to YouTube either, it’s the same reason one superhero film, or TV sitcom, or music track can hit so hard and another miss so bad. All we can do as creators is compare what really worked with what really didn’t and see what patterns in market and material we can suss out, apply, and hopefully improve on for next time!

📈 Tip of the Week: If your primary goal is to get more views and watchtime on YouTube, here’s the one strategy you absolutely — and unironically — need to nail: Pick topics that appeal to a broader audience and deliver on them with a more compelling value/experience than your competition. That’s seriously it.

Now get back to the contenting!