Channel Update #15 (Jun) – a tale of two metrics (Patreon)

Hello,

It is now 11 days since my China video was uploaded and I feel this update would be a good place to talk about that. Before that though, you should know that work has started on the Mass Effect video. It’s going fairly slow at the moment but I’m hoping to be finished (and for the video to be uploaded) early July. It may end up being mid July, but we’ll see. I do feel I need to point out that if a video seems like it would take a long time, it probably does. There was just over 5 weeks between the Skyrim video and the China video but upload times can be misleading. Last December there was no new video (just the dragon age reupload), and so back then I was able to get a solid head start on the Elder Scrolls videos, meaning I actually finished the Oblivion and Skyrim videos a couple of weeks before they were uploaded and so I also had a head start on the China video. That video actually took a lot longer than 5 weeks, and I haven’t had much of a head start on the Mass Effect video. So that’s why the time between videos can vary, just in case anyone was curious.

As for the China video itself, I can at least say I’m proud of it. It’s a strange one to look back on though. It could be considered both my most and least successful video, depending on what metric you went off. In terms of views, this is surely the least successful video I have ever made (excluding the original patreon update video, and when considering views relative to the size of the channel at the time). For anyone that wants a comparison to other videos, here’s an update after 3~ days: https://imgur.com/a/TtECkDK (and things haven’t changed much since). Anyone well versed in youtube channel dashboards might also see the probable reason for the low views. The impression click-through rate is (probably) the single biggest factor determining a videos algorithmic success, and this video had a rather low click rate. This is likely for two reasons: 1. The title/thumbnail are a bit weak, and 2. Not everyone who watches my videos is necessarily interested in this video topic. Some people might think the video underperformed because it’s about China and was therefore suppressed in some way, but that seems unlikely to me. I just don’t see my video as being important enough to get that kind of special treatment even if that was a thing that happens, and the low click through rate gives a much more likely explanation.

So, for reason number 1, I’ll accept the fault is firmly on me. This is actually the first video I’ve made where people in the comments have criticized the thumbnail/title for being below par, and in my defense, I really struggled to come up with anything better. I did spend a few days trying to think of good ideas, while occasionally testing how they looked or running them past other people, but I just couldn’t think of the perfect title/thumbnail and ended up having to go with what I had and hope for the best. In the future I think I should probably look into paying someone to create a thumbnail if I ever find myself in the same situation. Click through rate is so important to the algorithm that this might be money well spent, but even if I paid someone I’d still need to provide clear instructions about what to make, and I was struggling at the idea level with this one. Honestly though, it can be hard to know which option is better than another because it’s not quality or accuracy that matters; its click rate, and that isn’t always easy to predict. If you’re curious about titles, here are some of the others I had written down:

An in-depth look at Chinese indie gaming

The rise and future of China's indie games

An extensive look at Chinese indie Games

A review of... Chinese Indie Games?

As for which would have performed best, I honestly don’t know, which is annoying but luckily most videos are more straightforward when it comes to title/thumbnail options.

As for number 2, (that this topic isn’t something my audience are interested in) that’s unfortunate, but it’s also understandable. You can’t blame people for their interests and even though I think it’s a great topic, it’s also a topic I imagine not everyone is interested in enough to want to give a 2 and a half hour long video a chance. I do think it’s a shame that youtube isn’t better at finding the right audience for a video. In the current system the way the youtube algorithm works means it often seems to punish creators for ‘doing something different’, and for a creative platform that just seems sad. Still it’s how the platform functions and it’s not like I’m unaware of this. Ultimately, I think the best solution to this is to just try and make really good videos, and hope that through this I’m able to build an audience that will watch my videos because they’re made by me, and not just because of the topic. I suppose that’s something that’s easier said than done, but it doesn’t seem impossible. Also it’s worth keeping in mind that views aren’t everything, and if you were to instead look at certain other metrics, the China video is a huge success.

Like in number of new patrons (hello by the way!). As of writing this I have 238 patrons. Before the video went live I had 202, and there’s always a few that drop out at the end of the month when people get charged. I don’t have much data to support this, but I think this is easily the biggest jump in new patrons I’ve had from a video, and it’s off the back of a video that had a relatively small number of views. There was a section at the end of the video plugging the patreon, but I still think this is a very positive sign. Also, while I have no objective way to measure youtube comments, the general impression I’ve had is that this video has produced some of the nicest gosh darn comments I’ve ever received. Every video gets some positive comments, but the level of positivity of the positive comments on this one just seems higher than it’s ever been before. There’s been lots of ‘I think this is your best video’ type comments, which sounds pretty good to me. I’ve also had more people reaching out to me by email/twitter/patreon than ever before, and all in all, the reaction from people that watched the video has just seemed really good. So while I can’t prove it or anything, it at least feels like the most positive reaction a video I’ve made has ever received, and I’m very grateful for that.

And finally, if we’re looking at different metrics to measure a videos success by, we could also consider my opinion. It can be a strange beast – a creator’s opinion on their creation – and it might not necessarily be the most reliable metric to judge something by, but for what it’s worth, I liked this video. I enjoyed working on it, I enjoyed watching it, and I feel proud of the end result. This is the most work I’ve ever put into a single video. It’s not perfect, it wasn’t easy to make, there are things I would have done differently and there are things I think I still need to improve at, but I like this video, I really do. And that has to count for something.

So, in some ways this is a strange video to look back on, but I know I tried. The more videos I make that ‘underperform’, the more of a concern it will be, but the most important thing for me is making good videos and I’d like to think that I was successful with this last one.

I hope this channel update isn’t too long for people (know that it could have been a lot longer). I hope everyone’s well. I hope that the (hopefully) few of you that may not have liked this last video don’t find this update too annoying (don’t feel bad if you didn’t like it by the way, it was a weird one). I hope the next video gets at least a few more views (I mean, views aren’t everything, but they are quite nice). I hope I make more videos I feel proud of; it’s really not guaranteed and it is important. Most of all though, I hope I never lose my drive because I really don’t know what I’d do without it. I just spent the last weekend visiting my parents after not seeing them for a year, and I have to say, no video games, no youtube, no waking up early every morning… it was weird, and I’m not sure I can live that way anymore; I’m in too deep. I think my only option is to keep going and try to sort of drill through the other side and I’m not exactly sure what it is I’m trying to drill through, but that at least seems like the best option.

Until next time.