Eh Battle Plan 19 April 2022 (Patreon)

Episode 1.

It's important to nail this. The first part in the series sets the tone for what is to follow. Do a poor job and the number of people who tune in to episode two is lousy by comparison. If you're not expecting gangbusters numbers from episode one, this makes it all the more critical to make it a "must watch" for episode two.

To make a stellar introduction to your series you have to hold onto the attention of viewers for at least 75% of the episode's length. Otherwise they're simply not that invested, and again you're looking at a follow-up part that makes you pull a disappointed face.

To get those viewers to watch 75% or more you've got to first grab their attention. You have 10 seconds to do so. What you do in those 10 seconds dictates whether or not they'll be around at 30 seconds. If you do well you then get 30 more seconds to convince them to kick around until 2 minutes. From there on in you need to be providing a reason to stay, or the promise of a great payoff every minute or they're outta here. Thinking about putting a mid-episode advert in there? You just lost a chunk of your viewership, how big a chunk depends on how much they really want to see how it turns out.

Persuading a viewer to watch 75% of a 10 minute video is a whole lot easier than achieving 75% over 20 minutes. That's just maths. It's not twice as easy (or half as hard) however. The best route to success here is to finish your video before they've had enough.

"Oh no! It's over! I need more of this RIGHT NOW!"

That's what you want. Of course, it's not what you really really want.

"Oh no! It's over! I need more of this RIGHT NOW! I'm going to tell Dave and Shirley about this video, they'd love it!"

That's the stuff. That, right there is how the lofty heights are hit.

This, my friends, is why it's taking me so long to land episode one of MMORPG Tycoon. I want it to be a series that continues maybe once every couple of weeks but for those who love it is "DROP EVERYTHING! THE NEW ONE EPISODE HAS RELEASED!" It cannot be half-baked. It can be a fire-and-forget let's play. It must be *crafted*. Fundamentally, I want this series to be "here's what I've learned about making really fun videos" the series.

I'm working on it.

Erratic weeks continue for a bit, then it'll settle down.

As such expect the following:

Mon-Fri : some videos

Sat : a stream

Sun : baseball (on Electrosports)

Wed : the soccer (on Electrosports)

You call that a Battle Plan?

It's fluid.

You call that a fluid?

That's the plan.

-CF