Ultimate Youtube Growth Framework

I have been scrounging the internet to understand what works best on Youtube and considering there can be no better mentor than the OG Mr. Beast himself, I consumed hours of his channel videos, interviews, and podcasts.

I have condensed hours of research into a 7-pointer newsletter.

Context: Jimmy Donaldson, better known as Mr. Beast, is one of the biggest YouTubers on the planet. His massive earning from his Youtube distribution alone has allowed him to hire one of the most talented production team, and launch businesses like Feastables and Mr. Beast Burgers.

Mr. Beast strongly believes Youtube is not going anywhere for the next 10 years and if you are trying to become a Youtube creator, learn this:

1. First Half ⋙ Second Half

The longer people watch something, the more likely they will continue watching. Make your audience feel immersed in the least amount of time possible and they won’t leave even if it gets a little boring in the end.

We are all drawn toward drama. Start off with dark questions, controversial topics, etc. to get your audience hooked. Even if unethical, the audience tunes in just because their curiosity kicks in.

Note: All kinds of hooks might not be suitable for your channel.

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast has an episode on Painfotainment that describes how humans are attracted to watching the suffering of others!

2. Fix your first impression!

Here are three things you need to take care of before posting your videos:

1. 60-character titles: Write short titles for your videos. A study by Netflix suggested that viewers only spend 1.8 seconds deciding if they want to click on the video. Also, most people watch YouTube on mobile, and the long titles get cut off anyway.
2. Thumbnails: You can hate the idea of clickbaity thumbnails all you want but it is what it is. If you pay attention to the humans in the thumbnails of the Mr. Beast channel, they almost look hyper-polished. There’s a retouch on the skin, the teeth are extremely white, and the eye glare is enhanced.
3. Intimation: At the start itself, tell people why they should watch your video. Avoid adding arbitrary/unrelated shots.

3. Make your audience your North Star

Do right by your audience and it’ll be okay. MrBeast says he always makes sure that every scene in a video is worked on so that it makes an impact. In one of the podcasts, he shared how he visualizes the final video in real-time while he is shooting it and cuts the shot as soon as it tends to get dull.

Also, learn to suck it up if you are trying to become a full-time content creator. Mr. Beast gets seasick and does not enjoy being on a boat. But he still sucks it up for videos that require him to be on a boat.

4. Introduce a “payoff” for the end

Tell your audience why they should watch your video till the end. How do they get rewarded if they don’t skip the video? Why is it worth it?

The reward for watching the video till the end can vary depending on the type of content being presented. For example, in a tutorial video, the viewer can expect to gain a comprehensive understanding of a particular skill or topic. In a promotional video, the viewer can learn about a product or service that may be of interest to them.

5. Conceptualise well, produce better

In most of the videos, Mr. Beast has emphasized how high-quality high-effort content has much higher odds of getting viral and helping the distribution grow. According to him, it is much easier to get 10m views on one video than 100k on 100 videos.

The reason why high-quality videos will win in the long run is because it will keep getting listed higher in the search results as compared to the mediocre ones, and it will constantly generate views and engagement.

Note: This however should not come in your way of the learning curve. If your trajectory requires posting 100 videos first, then, by all means, you should ignore this point.

6. The ‘algorithm’ is not your enemy

Youtube provides one of the best content analytics dashboards to creators. Instead of blaming the algorithm, try to dig deeper into your analytics and understand what is going wrong with the key metrics like viewer retention and click-through rate. Use tools like VidIQ to get much deeper insights.

Find patterns in your audience retention graph and analyze which instances generally lead to the viewers dropping off. Avoid repeating those mistakes.

6. Collaborate

Don’t spend too long just working by yourself, build relationships. Even after being the biggest Youtube and Tiktok creator in the world, Mr. Beast gives away all of his secrets without worrying about getting copied or overtaken.

To go far, look at your fellow creators as collaborators instead of competitors. Regardless of the number of creators in a similar niche, your research and presentation game is enough to help you stand out.

7. Find your USP, don’t copy!

In the end, it all boils down to whether you are bringing something new to the table or not. Blatantly copying a creator’s style might end up making you feel exhausted and burned out. Building a distribution on Youtube is a long-term game and if you are not doing what you love to do, there’s not a long enough runway for you to survive.

Other than the points mentioned above, here are a few bonus points that you must consider if you want to be a kickass content creator:

• During your downtime, do something that helps you decompress and recharge properly. If you don’t do that, you will turn into a ticking bomb.
• Look at the analytics unemotionally to make better decisions. Instead of crying over the absolute numbers, figure out what is working and what is not and revise your next pieces of content accordingly.

And it’s a wrap!

Did you like today’s newsletter issue? Let me know. To stay up-to-date, subscribe to my Substack newsletter here:

Until next time, cheers!

~ Kritarth Mittal ✨