Why New Viewers Matter More Than You Think  ## Metadata - Author: [[TubeTalk: Your YouTube How-To Guide]] - Full Title: Why New Viewers Matter More Than You Think - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/d76da577-e244-43a4-85ea-1820ceadb9e5 ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Most Views Are From Newcomers** - Most viewers for a successful video are new people who don't know your channel history. - Treat every view as a real person choosing to watch and design your content for newcomers. Transcript: Travis Just understand this one thing. The vast majority of people that are going to see it, 99% of the time, are new people. Boom. Tina You get the best of both worlds. You get more viewership, more potential subscribers. It's a win-win. ([Time 0:00:09](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d67bc2a9-0b31-4a21-880e-63b737bb9d34)) - **Ludwig's Humbling New-Channel Test** - Ludwig started a fresh anonymous Twitch channel and streamed for five hours before anyone showed up. - The experiment humbled him and illustrated how different starting a new channel feels even for big creators. Transcript: Travis We've released a, what is going pretty viral tweet recently about Ludwig. I don't know if you know who Ludwig is. He's a big streamer slash YouTuber slash Twitch guy. Yeah. And he did a really interesting experiment, which I've always kind of wanted big YouTubers and big content creators to do. And I'm so glad he did it. Where he took, he wanted to see what it would be like to be like a new streamer again, right? And so what he did is he started a new twitch channel without his name or anything and didn't shout it out at all and just started to stream on it and apparently it took like five hours before Someone showed up and of course this is a guy who normally gets thousands of people concurrent on his live streams and for five hours had to stream to nobody which has got to be the most Humbling thing now he has a video about this on YouTube. ([Time 0:01:56](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7ea7ddc6-3bee-46fe-9aa1-9433269941bc)) - **Treat YouTube Like A Marathon** - Treat YouTube as a marathon and celebrate every single view as a win. - Value early small audiences and keep creating steadily rather than expecting instant virality. Transcript: Tina I think YouTube is definitely different from other platforms. I always say it's a marathon, not a sprint, because it's true. You have to just keep going. And sometimes other platforms, for example, you could get a lot of views, but you might not get a following, if that makes sense. You might not get a higher quality people. And what I love about YouTube is you do get those high quality people. So when you do get even just one view, that view really wanted to see your video. And so I would take every single view as a success. ([Time 0:03:19](https://share.snipd.com/snip/bf71a734-0aae-4c96-8e1d-bc475bebe23e)) - **Avoid Gaming New Engagement Features** - Avoid buying or gaming new features like 'hype' with bot accounts; such shortcuts won't help long-term growth. - Focus on genuine audience engagement instead of leaderboard gimmicks. Transcript: Travis And for those who don't know, if you're looking at the YouTube video, you can see this leaderboard thing that Chris is showing. And essentially, it's a way for viewers to kind of, I don't even know if you want to say the YouTube algorithm, but let people know that they enjoyed that video. So as a viewer, I think you get three hypes a week and you basically press this thing that says hype this video and for the and you have to be the people who get hyped are channels under i think 500 000 subscribers this would be for quote smaller channels and you can be on a leaderboard that can help people i guess find you later on a leaderboard that i'm sure no one's ever going To look at what do you think about features like this i remember it being pitched as a beta like a year or so ago. And I'm like, what is this? What is this about? What do you think about this? Tina I think people are very confused about it first and foremost, and they're testing it. So we'll see what happens. There's stuff that we forgot YouTube pushed out there that no longer exists. Or, or maybe I'm imagining it, but didn't YouTube used to have a story? Yes. Travis YouTube stories. I love them. They're great. Tina Yeah. But they don't have it anymore or unless I'm just not seeing it. Right. Yeah. Which sucks, but that means that people weren't that interested in it. And I think it's the same thing. I don't think there's a need for it. It says supposedly it's separate from the algorithm in terms of pushing the video. So just like this person did, a lot of people are going to create bot accounts in order to hype. And there's going to be, I'm sure out there, you'll probably get a spam email of, Hey, we have a thousand channels. Let's hype your channel to get on the leadership board. ([Time 0:07:04](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f8c20dd3-573e-42e4-ad45-3912b8d5088f)) - **Make Sponsorships Entertaining And Relevant** - Make sponsorships creative and relevant to the video's audience so viewers want to watch them. - Turn sponsor segments into entertaining mini-episodes instead of scripted reads to reduce skips. Transcript: Tina Well, that's where I think creators just have to be creative and how they do their sponsorships instead of, because oftentimes when sponsorships, uh, you partner in some type of way, They give you a line or you have some sort of autonomy of, hey, you know what, my content style is like this. Now you have to pitch a creative idea. That's probably going to become more popular because of this. Just simply because I have seen people do it very creatively that I actually want to watch the sponsorship play out in the video. And then the ones that just read off script, I skip over. And so it comes down to, are you being a creator when you're doing those sponsorship spots as well? So I don't see a problem with it. ([Time 0:10:29](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3102f7eb-d3a2-443c-97d3-6fbfbf4a67fb)) - **Use Shorts And Community To Bridge Gaps** - Use Shorts, community posts, and livestreams to keep new subscribers engaged between long-form uploads. - Repurpose long-form clips into Shorts to drive viewers back to your main videos. Transcript: Travis That's insane. That's crazy. Which is absolutely incredible and unexpected. I went from nine subscribers to over 4,000 in about two months off those videos alone. That's crazy. Congratulations. However, as my channel is new, I barely have any content. I put a ton of effort into editing my videos. I would imagine so. Otherwise, you get that many subscribers, right? I put a ton of effort into editing my videos, and they often take me months to fully release. My question is a two-parter. First, as I'm a new channel, would it be better to keep the high-quality editing content that I currently have but sacrifice my video output? Or would it be better to sacrifice some of the quality in order to get out more videos? Assuming I keep my current form, what are some ways to interact with my new subscribers while they wait for the next video? I've been loving the podcast. And if you see my question, thank you for time to read it. So Riley, it's a great question, because we all hope to have a video that just blows up or two that blow up. And it's like, oh, my gosh, it happened. It happened for me. But they bring up a really good thing a really good question which is okay now what um you know it takes me a while to do these videos i want to make sure that the people are still engaged they Don't forget about me they just found me on these two videos now i want them to stick around it's gonna take me two or three weeks get to the next video what do we do there's a lot of options Thank goodness i know there's one in particular i think you like a lot i'm gonna to assume you're going to talk about shorts. Easy, Travis. Tina Just go ahead. Let's hear it. Just do shorts. You could use the same content that you already have in long form. Create shorts. And the great thing about it, because people really worry about, oh, is shorts going to take over my channel? Because it has happened to some creators. So warning. But the main reason why that happens is because your shorts is a complete Thank different type of style than your long form content. But if it is, if it's the same, right, so you're taking your long form piece of content, making it into short, and then you're using that to promote your long form, boom, you get the best Of both worlds you get more viewership more potential subscribers keeping the the quality the same it's a win-win i think it's again sometimes this happens to greater where you get Travis A big video pop off and you're like i did it i understand everything i am a youtube god i got it and then you put out a video gets 12 views you're like wait a minute i don't know. I don't know what's happening. I don't know how this works. But I think ultimately for this, keeping people engaged is pretty easy on YouTube. Now you have live streams, you have YouTube shorts, you have community posts, which, I mean, you can schedule out community posts. You should definitely be doing like photo community posts and polls, all of these things. You also can engage with your community. If there are other people in your niche that make videos that are good, you can go into the community there and kind of like watch the videos and leave great comments. Don't do the comments like, go and watch my video. Just be encouraging. Just be a part of the community and you'd be surprised like where that can lead you. And a lot of times it leads to things like collaborations, which we've talked about before. And I love those. Those can be magical at times. ([Time 0:14:48](https://share.snipd.com/snip/94b20b68-5ca8-4339-b7b0-b2f54540d76b)) - **Test Collaborations, Expect Practical Questions** - Use collaborations thoughtfully and test YouTube's collab beta to expand reach without creating duplicated work. - Expect questions about ownership, watch history, and monetization when using the collab feature. Transcript: Travis And then the other question is, how does this affect the algorithm? Because one of the things that YouTube does is a rollout features. And then sometimes they don't work right. So we talked about this with we talked about this with Daryl leaves just a couple of weeks ago about how he found that live streams were affecting channels in a weird way. Same thing with like premieres where it had a problem when they first came out. There were all these features and then they affect negatively the channel. So I'm curious as to how this works. Who gets, quote, the credit for the video if it kind of lives on both channels do they both get credit um are the are you in the watch history of both channels now if i watch that video whose Watch history do i get do i get yours or i get the person you collaborated with like these are questions that i hope they've thought of because i know i'm thinking that's a fair question Tina Most people are i feel like from the creator side, they're thinking, okay, who gets the AdSense though? Travis Yeah. And then who gets the monetization? Like, because if it's on a watch page, does it watch page from a specific channel? I don't get it. Oh, yeah. Tina You know what? You're right. Travis Is it the same video on both channels or is it two separate videos like how so there's a lot of questions we don't have the answers so i hope that this has been a great educational part of The podcast we're not answering that question ([Time 0:20:11](https://share.snipd.com/snip/6e94ecd3-43c1-4ab8-9b40-7379904fe0c9)) - **Use Community Posts And Premiere Wisely** - Schedule community posts and photo polls to maintain impressions while you edit higher-effort videos. - When using premieres, attend the live chat and avoid scheduling too-far-in-advance premieres. Transcript: Travis Like we said, YouTube shorts, posting on the community tab is such an easy win. So easy. And you could schedule out a whole week's worth of those. And you'd be surprised at like the impressions that that gets. And then when your video comes out, you can also be in advance saying, hey, it's gonna come out and we'll days left and then you know depending on how what your viewership is like you can Do things like premieres and stuff and then be in the chat when you're in and by the way if you do premieres be in the chat please uh there was a creator i once that did a premiere and they weren't In the chat i'm like why are we doing this what is the point i can't ask any questions what's going on yeah why don't like that so please if you're going to do those and by the way i've also Seen a lot of small creators um they will premiere things months in advance don't do that why are you doing that i've seen the schedule out there was one channel i think it was on the youtube Live on one of our vid iq live streams they must have had 20 videos uh scheduled out for the next couple of months that were premiered and my headphones just fell off and only youtube people Are going to see that oh you gotta you gotta watch the youtube and i think that i don't know why i think so i i don't mind like scheduling videos out but premiering them is a weird thing to Do because a you're teasing something that someone's not going to see and are they going to come back three weeks later probably not probably not so doing that i don't think is effective If you want to schedule that just so you have content keep coming out don't make them premieres it's it's a it's not it's not a good look plus it screws up the your subscriber feed if someone Is subscribed to you it then puts them all in this weird situation just don't do it If you're going to schedule videos, that's fine, but it keeps them invisible until they go live. So it doesn't mess all these things. Just please don't do that. Okay. ([Time 0:21:50](https://share.snipd.com/snip/49edd715-45f3-48b9-9e96-33af765c2ad7)) - **Keep Long-Form Hooks Under 15 Seconds** - Aim for long-form hooks under 15 seconds and validate the thumbnail/title promise quickly. - Separate the hook, transition, and intro so you keep newcomers interested without wasting time. Transcript: Tina I hate to say it depends because it does. But if you're going from shorts to long form hook, because shorts, typically you want to have the hook under four seconds because that's the swipe away timeframe. For long form, generally, I say under 15 seconds. I hate to give numbers, right? Okay. But generally under 15 seconds. But as long as you justify the thumbnail and title, that typically, generally tends to be a good go-to spot. ([Time 0:25:27](https://share.snipd.com/snip/2d580a48-93fd-4d41-aaa6-42d819615414)) - **Viewers Are Ready To Bail — Hook Fast** - Viewers usually click with the intent to leave right away, so you must hook them before they bail. - Avoid front-loading personal anecdotes that only serve subscribers; deliver value first for new viewers. Transcript: Travis People should stop saying, let's get right into it and just get right into it. Right. But the hook itself, it's got to be something that's intriguing interesting um kind of get your curiosity up or at the very least at the very very very least uh doubles down on what the Title and thumbnail were because when you think about the viewer's journey you think about they clicked on this thing with an expectation you set the expectation with your title and Thumbnail right and they have they've agreed with that expectation the first thing they see does it agree with everything else that they have going into that? If the answer is no, they're probably going to click away. It could be anything, too. Maybe your thumbnail looks so amazing, and then you click in and it's like a bed sheet behind you. And you're like, okay, I thought he was walking on fire. This guy's in the bed sheet in his back room. What's going on? It could be that. Could be that you end up talking about something completely different hey guys welcome to my 16th video on my channel i can't wait to tell you about this thing but man yesterday was terrible Tina I've seen that so many times on vlogs especially because to me i think oftentimes creators at a certain point you you assume there's no new viewers. So you talk to your subscribers only and you say, hey, listen, last week I didn't post a video because and then it's a two minute long monologue about it. And a new viewer coming in has no idea who you are. They want to see the video. And now you're it. ([Time 0:27:58](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d23dcad8-70bb-4a94-8979-7d7f916c7323)) - **Double Down On What Just Worked** - After a viral hit, double down on similar content because probability favors repeat viewers and algorithmic promotion. - Don't pivot wildly; make follow-ups that match what new viewers just loved. Transcript: Travis This text message came through. We don't know what the person's name is, but it says, hey, Travis and Tina. Big fan. A few months back, I posted a video that went pretty viral. I uploaded it at 200 subs, and it got 150,000 views in its first month and now sitting at 200K. That's insane. My channel's name is Space Potato. Space Potato, that's a great name. You're not going to forget that, Space Potato. My question is, what the heck do I do from here? I love this. Do I double down to make a follow-up video just continue to make whatever content i want i hope it does good you know this is great because it kind of goes into what we just said but it's actually Critical in that so many creators that do get a viral hit or something that does very well do not know what to do next they may have heard this double down thing but don't understand a why They should do it and b what it even means in your when you're trying to describe this to someone to you how do you describe this it's not even a theory it's like it's a function of doing something Tina After something succeeds it's so i try to explain it as clearly this worked out let's not reinvent the wheel this is good you did it right uh quote right it resonated with the audience And so that's what they're expecting you already have a formula here let's do something similar and it's probability wise likely to do maybe not just as good, maybe better, maybe, but Some, somewhere in that success arena. So it's all about probability. Yeah. Travis And algorithmically, the reason you do this is because of the way the audience will react to the video. So for example, if I come across a video that, that, uh, so I just got a food diet dehydrator. I've been making fruit leathers all week. It's amazing. You make little fruit roll-ups. It's amazing. You just put some like jam on there or some, I put applesauce on and made applesauce fruit rolls are so good. That's so cool. Know this was even a thing didn't know this existed right but if i come across the channel and i actually did the other day this is why i know that you can do this with um cranberry sauce and I love cranberry sauce you can make gummies out of cranberry sauce using this thing did not know that down the youtube channel that showed me how to do it right now so she made that video Me as a viewer i'm like that was a cool video if i am now shown another video from this creator that shows me more cool sweet ideas or even savory like you know beef jerky and stuff you can Make too but if i see another video that shows me how to do other types of candies with my my dehydrator i'm probably going to watch it, right? If her next video is a sewing video, not going to watch it, not interested. So this is why doubling down works because if now I find another video, that's something similar. And again, similar in that this first video was about how to make gummies using my machine. Now, if I find another one that make other candies, like, okay, I'm getting value from this. I will watch that. That means YouTube, the YouTube algorithm can look at that and go, okay, can promote even more videos to travis and people who view things like travis which is how which i've explained A million times before how the youtube algorithm works it also finds other people with your similar watch history again if you do something completely different and this text message Person saying should i just continue to make random content and hope for the best i mean you can do that if you want but i'm gonna tell you right now what i always say is make random content Get random uh get random results and just expect that so just from logic it makes sense to think from the viewer perspective what's the next thing they would want to watch if they just Saw that video a follow up, something similar. That's why we say niche down and make it make it similar, because that's how a human works. Forget about the algorithm. That's how the human works. I want to see something that's similar to what I just really liked. If you go very far left of center, they might not come back and watch the next thing. Now that doesn't mean the thing is, is that over time, you might watch a couple of these things, but you might get bored after five or 10 videos. That doesn't mean you can't start to spread your wings somewhat and do something slightly different. You should still do something with a dehydrator because that's what I know you're for. Maybe after that, you do something with like an Instapod. ([Time 0:32:21](https://share.snipd.com/snip/49c5a564-8dbe-4e8e-aac1-dd19ab9399f9)) - **Viral Success Can Trap Your Creativity** - Hitting on a format you dislike can trap you into making content you hate for years. - Starting a fresh channel resets growth but is psychologically humbling even for experienced creators. Transcript: Travis Now they're stuck with a channel doing things they don't want to do. And they're like, well, what do I do now? I'm like, well, let's start a new channel, I guess. Tina That's not it it's actually such a common problem and this is usually big creators coming to me where they get stuck in a niche because they something worked they did it over and over and Over two three years later they feel burnt out they're thinking about starting another channel um but then there's that thing where ludwig ludwig he experienced where starting a whole New channel is a whole other challenge and it's more of a psychological challenge than anything because they already have all the skill set yes um and sometimes yes you do have to start Another channel. Travis Yeah, I've been through this. It is difficult. If you have an ego, it's definitely going to kick you in your ego. It's definitely going to humble you. It's a very humbling experience. And but it's good. I mean, depending on where you are in your life and in your creator journey, maybe you need that challenge. ([Time 0:38:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/23a996d9-6c35-4570-b8cc-3a4e46965416)) - **Hate For Back-to-Back Sponsor Blocks** - Tina's pet peeve: back-to-back sponsorship reads that break videos' flow. - She skips those long clustered sponsor blocks and prefers sponsors spread or integrated creatively. Transcript: Tina I don't know how many people do this. Doing back-to sponsorships. Travis Oh, my gosh. Who does that? What sociopath does that? Oh, you're going to tell me after the podcast. That's for sure. You're going to tell me this. I need to know this. Tina But then in my head, I'm thinking, well, good for you. But I'm going to skip over all of this. Travis Skip over all of it. That's why that skip thing is really good right now. Tina Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Travis Back to back. I've never heard. I mean, having two sponsorships in one video seems kind of excessive to me anyway. But back to back is wild. That's. Tina Back to back. Wow. Yeah. But not only that, it's back to back content. Back to back two different sponsors. So it's actually maybe four to six sponsorships in one video how long is the video it's a podcast so it's usually an hour and a half two hours long okay all right well that's to me that makes Travis More sense okay i'm gonna let them back just spread it out commercial break it's a commercial break in a package what do you want i pay youtube ([Time 0:40:46](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e67da85c-e40d-4c89-a2f6-d4648a245fd2))