Feedback on battle plan feedback (Patreon)

Well, it seems this week's Battle Plan stirred up a good amount of opinion from the collective. Thanks to those who took the time to commit a few thoughts to "paper", and as such I think it warrants a follow-up. Here are some common pieces of feedback:

- The slightly shorter (~20 mins) format recently is a good thing.

- The narrative journey (explaining what I'm thinking) is part of what works well.

- A vlog or podcast might be interesting. Consider reviews!

- Don't limit what is covered (ie don't double-down on trains).

- Don't go after stupidly popular games to try and get more viewers, stick to the zone I'm in.

- Streams are good.

- Sports series are good. Don't start a second channel for it.

- More Train Sim videos please.

- More random one-offs!

- Farm Sim is a hit.

- Baseball is a hit.

I shall now expand on the previous piece on this subject.

As mentioned, I've got to a magical 50k subscribers through my natural verbal dexterity and sense of humour. When it appeals to people, they stick around and watch a fair bit. This gives me plenty of warm fuzziness - not least of all because it's fascinating to see where things I thought were funny hit home, and where throwaway comments end up getting a big laugh.

Along the way to this milestone I've had a few surges in growth (steady) due to being in the right place at the right time. Beyond that, all forward momentum has been organic in nature. Here's a quick overview of how the YouTube algorithm works:

1. Post video

2. Some subscribers and other viewers dragged in through promotion watch video

3. YT gives the video a score (it doesn't, but it's easier to understand this way)

4. Score is based on how many minutes of video each viewer watches. More = good.

5. Based on the score from initial views received, the algorithm then starts promoting the video to people with similar taste. This could be the video shown on the front of YT or recommended next to other, similar videos.

6. Videos with good titles and thumbnails get more clicks from this promotion.

7. Rinse and repeat. If the promotion results in lots more views, while the score stays strong, YT promotes the video even more.

This is why, typically, as a channel gets bigger, they perform more strongly - as long as they're landing a good score from the initial release of a video.

Big factors in the score are the raw number of views a video receives, the number of watch minutes and, critically, the percentage of the video watched. Watching 10 minutes of a 15 minute video is considerably more valuable than 10 minutes of a 20 minute video. Anything over 50% is very good indeed. Typically I range between 35-45% which is decent performance for videos of 20 mins+. For those wondering about really short videos, no. It's not a good idea. The algorithm wants to keep viewers on the platform, watching videos and (more importantly) adverts. The current rule is that it'll show one ad-section for every 12 minutes of video watched (this is a fuzzy rule and individual channels abuse it by sticking ad breaks in the middle of their videos - I don't do this unless it's funny to do so).

Things like comments and likes also add to the score (in a really small fashion) but the big hitter is shares. Especially when they're not requested - if I produce a video that is good enough that people decide to share it with friends, or fling it on Reddit, or stick it up on social media somewhere, the views can explode.

The trick here is that the sharing must be unrequested. If the video isn't good enough to warrant your sharing it without being requested, nobody is going to watch more than a minute or 2, dragging down the view time percentage and potentially doing more harm than good. 

That's why I repeatedly tell myself to make better videos.

Better, in this case simply means tighter. There are high points in every recording. There are low points in every recording. Nail the balance between the two and you're onto something. Farming Sim is getting close to the right balance, but if you want to see where it's closer to spot on, Tourist Bus episode 2, Cooking Sim, Descenders... those are right in the zone.

So, back to the flailing around.

If I continue as I have been doing, blowing hot and cold but being consistent overall, I'll continue to grow. That growth will be faster than I've had historically, purely because of the larger initial viewer count. If I want to go further and faster however, I should focus  on getting the view-percentage over 50% and delivering the kinds of videos that people will want to share. That means editing without eroding the big long list of feedback that represent what's already quite likeable about what I do.

To wrap up, several of you mentioned collaborations with other channels. I'm definitely game to do so, but finding the right personality mix is key. I play a character in my videos - it's me but exaggerated - when I collaborate with another channel I need their character to be compatible with mine, and this usually means that it needs to be different. The reason Steggs works so well as part of this double-act is because his naive-bouncy-can-do attitude meshes perfectly with my wizened-old-dog-with-a-suboptimal-plan routine. Finding channels where that kind of relationship works is really hard. I'm more than happy to partner up with other channels, and will do even when there isn't that kind of chemistry, but the best suited ones know already when you're setting them up to deliver a punchline.

Good chat, gang.

-CF