Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Channels will remain separate. (Patreon)

Published:
2017-02-10 22:59:23
Edited:
2017-02-10 23:09:25
Imported:
2026-06

Content

*You* are the backbone of this project and that means that your opinion matters!

We've gone through all the replies and feel that the general consensus, as well as our gut feeling, is to leave the channels separate and  cross pollinate content between the two when it's relevant.

While opinions vary on anything as subjective as content, we feel like we're doing some very interesting things with InRange and honestly just want more people to see it. 

Take, for example, our recent deep dive into the practical (or not) use of the Pistol Grip Pump only shotgun.     That video really discusses the topic in a way that I haven't seen anyother content providers do, yet it's at 38K views.   I saw another channel's shotgun video from a few weeks ago by accident wherein the majority of the content was destroying soda bottles and it has half a million views.   That's an astonishing differential!

Anyways, we'll keep the faith and keep on truckin' as separate channels but will take the recommendation of cross promotion between FW and InRange when it's appropriate.

Thank you again for your honest input, it truly is valuable!

Karl

Comments

Kevin Nealon

I very much enjoy when you've shot two-gun with vintage weapons.

Frank E McGillivray

Allen Anderson is right on; the intellectual level, dearth of politics and general fact/information based content may be out of fashion these days. Please don't change. I'm increasing my paltry Patron amount asap.

David Gummo

Some of those gun channels have been around longer which gets them a larger fan base. If you notice allot of the video's those channels put out it's almost like they have a set formula. You guys have a much more cerebral type of channel, and try different things. It's kinda like you guys being the old History channel when it really was about History vs. the current History channel which would be the blowing up soda bottles. Plus they tend to push the click bait a bit more. I have largely stopped watching those types of video's, i find them boring. There is a reason why Inrange, and Forgotten Weapons, are two out of only three channels that get my Patreon funds.

pcman312

One thing that you could do is introduce each other channel more frequently in the opposite's channel. Mention it as a part of your outro at the bare minimum. You could even do some sort of self-advertising between the two as well. I also want to mention that I liked your pistol grip shotgun video too, but I do tend to agree with the other commenters: some people are only looking for the flashy explosion style that some other channels have. Your channels are more for people who are curious about how things work. Your engineering sides definitely shows through on both channels.

Bonfire Banter

Be patient, brotha. It's chess, not checkers.

Kyle Allen

I support the decision. Either way you would have gone I'd still watch. The compromise is fine. I would like to see more home build projects in 2017.

Brandon

I've heard many times that any video over 12-15 minutes is an "auto-ignore" for a good majority of YT watchers. I loved the recent shotgun video - I for one can go out and blow my *own* stuff up if I want to, much more fun in person :D - but at 30+ minutes it took me days before I could set the time aside to watch it. Which brings up a good point/idea: splitting these sorts of longer videos up into <15 minute "parts", even if you post them all at the same time, but just to make it easier for people to digest it without feeling the need to sit there for the entire time (as my OCD is wont to do). That way your aggregate channel views go up as well, and any cross-promotion gets seen more than once.

Steve Lavalette

You need a video of you shooting the hood of your truck with an ar-15. Sootch knows​ how to market ! 😉

Sean Smith

As always, I think you guys are doing a brilliant job. I understand the need for views. Views equals money, and money helps finance better videos and better stuff. I would rather have great content, and have to up my Patreon pledge to get it, than have drivel and millions of views. But that is just my silly 2¢ worth of opinion.

Brandon

I still pose that making cross-channel ending slides for your videos is the best way to go; even if you're just pointing to the other channel's primary playlist, it still ends up being a link that someone may have not seen otherwise. (I didn't know about IRTV until months after I'd been watching FW; it wasn't until an IRTV vid finally popped up in my suggested videos that I was like "OMG, there moar Ian?"

Ethereal

Your pistol grip shotgun video was one of your best.It best illustrated why there always seems to be used pistol grip shotguns available.I just wish you'd pan around the edges of the range more so one can see the cactuses and the landscape.Winters are just way way too long in Wisconsin.

Brandon

...except that "advertising" - even of that sort - at the beginning of a video will automatically drive away many people who just happened to click on the video on a whim. There's a reason popular YT channels quickly cut to an end-slate containing Patreon/email/other video links ASAP after the "content" of their video ends; don't give people the chance to click away before at least seeing it, and provide more Mesmerizing Moving Pictures to entice them to click on to another video. If metrics showed that doing so at the beginning of videos worked, that's where you'd see it...but you don't, and that's because metrics shows that it doesn't work. :)

Franklin S

I'm surprised that video only has 38k views, it was a good one. (Gun Jesus in a bathrobe! And pistol grip shotguns are indeed not fun to shoot). My armchair advice based purely on my own YouTube viewing habits: * 37 minutes is long for a video I might casually choose from a channel I'm not subscribed to, so maybe some more aggressive editing around the edges to tighten up the time? I like longer videos from channels I subscribe to, but for browsing Recommended videos, I hesitate to invest in an unknown channel when the time is over ~12min. That might force a two part approach. There are surely knowledgeable sources on what works backed by numbers. * In a behind-the-scenes video for The Great War, they talked about colorizing photos for video thumbnails, they said they had stats showing that b&w thumbnails attract fewer views. InRange thumbnails do have color, but the card format, while nice, is mostly black background with very small photos, so maybe they fall into a similar category psychologically? The card format works for Forgotten Weapons, but the different focus might be mitigating (or FW would have even more views with a different thumbnail style?) The channel AvE has some good thumbnail technique going, albeit a more irreverent type of channel. * Invest in better sound, as sound quality can make or break production value: some lapel mics with separate recorders are great. For group interviews like with Varusteleka and Hudson, a couple directional "shotgun" mics might do the trick. The Varusteleka video was particularly hard to hear (though not as bad as that time Ian totally hooped the audio when interviewing the woman from the Buffalo Bill museum!). Some of the videos with you two in the desert are tough to hear as well. Hopefully those 3 ideas are helpful and lead to great success.

David Weis

While I agree with the decision you made I of course would love to see Inrange get more eyes and interest on the internet, I'm sure a lot of that will come with time. Maybe trying to do more collaborations with other big firearm youtubers(who understand and respect your approach to firearm content) could help get more eyes on the channel?

Jacob Bauer

Please for the love of God do not devolve into the kind of morons that just shoot shit to blow it up and make noise. Please continue making content for a mature audience and for the love of fuck dont start making content for 14 year old Michael Bay fans to jerk off too.

InRange TV

There is no risk of that happening.

InRange TV

Absolutely, and that's the course we're taking. ~Karl

InRange TV

This is a weird one - we split up videos and that causes complaints, so we let these ones run long. We have an intelligent consumer base, and Patreon is where the bread is buttered for this project. I'm really not sure what's the right, or wrong, length anymore. ~Karl

Corey Herrmann

Just like when Ian was considering sponsors for his content, I respect your guys' integrity and intelligence, and I knew no matter what route you chose it would be handled well. And just as before, you decided to stick to the road less traveled and my respect has grown even more. I'm going to double my contributions to both InRange and Forgotten Weapons because you guys deserve it. It's not much but maybe other patrons will feel the same as I do. Your channels really do produce what I feel is hands down the best firearms content on the Internet, and because of that I feel comfortable sharing your videos on Full30 with my friends since I know they'll learn something and develop a deeper interest in firearms as a result. I might personally enjoy watching certain charismatic old rednecks shoot 2 liters in the woods, but that's not the sort of content I would share and recommend to the world. And don't get me started on gun product reviews where they just read out a list of the features described on the manufacturer's website that anybody can look at, paired with an attention deficit montage of shooting footage designed to inflate the reviewer's ego. It's a slow climb to get millions of views but I really think with time InRange can outclass and outlast the fleeting appeal of the hordes of uninspired, uninformative firearms content channels out there. Keep up the good work and never compromise on your principles.

Corey Herrmann

Well maybe the problem wasn't splitting up the videos into smaller chunks but rather splitting the content across multiple days. If you released an entire 30 minute video cut into three 10 minute parts and edited each part to feel more self-contained as it's own distinct segment of the whole thing people wouldn't mind watching each video at a time and you wouldn't have so many newcomers neglecting to click on your videos due to them appearing too long.

Jorge Gomez

Good to see that both channels will be separate. I think it keeps things streamlined.

Bruce Brodnax

IDK if Patreon has any way for you to do it, but maybe a teaser trailer/highlight reel that shows off some of your content in a "quickie" format so new viewers can get a quick taste to whet their appetite, perma-listed on the top of your catalog? You've got some incredibly short IRtv outtakes/skits in the bucket already, maybe string a couple of those together & title it "What we're about" would work? It could also help clean up the library by putting them together where the viewer who is going thru the back catalog looking for longer content doesn't stumble on them & get disappointed...

Bruce Brodnax

*Stickers.* Get some stickers on your merch page for FW & IRtv, and practically give'em away: never make someone pay to do your advertising for you. *Banner ads.* Get a banner up over on rimfirecentral.com and get some clickovers to your channel. There's plenty of savvy shooters over there who'd like your content & I'm certain a high %age would convert to Patreon supporters once they knew your content existed. I can't speak to banner ads to any other shooting forums out there, since I've pretty much given up on all of them, except for the once or 2x/yr I check in over at the CMP forums any longer. There used to be a Garand forum I visited regularly, but they got gobbled up by somebody ages ago and went comatose. Scoutrifle.org is another forum that has a high-grade user base that should gravitate towards your product; I don't think Andy has any regs against posting outside links there as a long as it relates to the forum [which, as you may have guessed from the name, is heavily biased toward bolt-actions] - I'll have to check in & start a thread there pointing to your channels. Thanks for keeping them separate! I think they're disparate enough that they work synergistically & generate a broader fan base than one channel alone could do!

Corey Herrmann

In the same vein. I live in Phoenix and I did a lot of independent film work in my youth, and I got to be pretty good with editing (If you ever need free amateur editing help I'm more than happy to oblige). This has nothing directly to do with getting more views but I have noticed on a lot of videos you cut between two takes from the same camera angle with a cross dissolve but this is a little distracting and the audio often bleeds through the fade into the next cut. I recommend taking a ton of B-Roll. You can never ever have too much B-Roll! It makes a huge difference. The audience is much less likely to even notice a cut between takes if there is B-Roll going on over the top. And then you might want to consider getting some good white noise for about 20 seconds through your microphone so you can use that sound profile to mix out background silence when you are preparing your final cut. It doesn't always work but it can make a positive difference when you're getting a lot of ambient interference. Thirdly, I know it takes a lot of time but I think there are times where really good points you guys make end up being repeated and kind of stumbled over trying to expand upon or clarify. If you make a good point but it doesn't come out clearly the first time, you have the luxury of doing a second take and making the point in a more concise and clear way. It might feel awkward to repeat yourself but when you cut the footage together it'll save time and come across better. I know you already do multiple takes sometimes but it never hurts to try a few different methods of attack so you can pick your favorite in post.

Franklin S

YouTube allows a channel to have a featured video on the channel homepage. However, that doesn't gather views from people browsing through recommended videos.

Kameron Rougeou

All righty then but if you guys ever want to merge consider my idea or if yours works better go with it ill support ya'll all the way youtube ifnot the world needs more honest reviewers like you guys.

Shaun Christensen

I like long videos. I like gun nerd discussions, technical, history, application and otherwise. Keep up the excellent work!

Thomas Bobay

I think the dumb videos that require no particular thought will always get more views and have more people producing them, and that makes insightful content like InRange all the more valuable.

Drakin Kubala

Awesome, I'm glad you guys went with this decision.

Danny Hanny

I didn't know you guys asked, but I agree - they should remain separate entities. I watch, and enjoy, both, but as long as it is feasible for Ian to be in two places at once with different projects, the foci are different enough that they should not merge. The F.W. project is a body of work in the gun world like no other, and will be referenced by historians and enthusiasts alike for possibly generations. InRange focuses more on the here-and-now, as well as teaching us all about two-gun challenges, mud challenges, and Fanta soda/pop! Love them both, but there is NO reason to merge the two.

Hipp E.

I like the format you've come up with for youre G3/STG 57 video. But is there any chance of shooting one run in failing light with each gun? As you will be testing a fair number of military or practical guns, it would be interesting to see if the finer irons get lost more easily in low light than more open ones. Likely something militaries should have been considering in the days before illuminated optics as standard issue. Or will it not be a real deciding factor?

Benjamin L

Hello, would you consider doing an InRange podcast? It would be easier, simpler, and more efficient to produce than a video, so you could produce more content in less time. I know i'd love a podcast, and I have a feeling other InRange fans would to! Take care always, Ben L.