Not asking for cynicism about clickbait. I feel a degree of emotional blindness about what makes some content creators popular. No one is universally popular. Demographics determine much. What drives a channel like Kurzgesagt or Veritasium over others?
I find it funny that I intuit how think tanks have a popularity formula they are following, but the second I find out about that relationship, I tune them out. The only exception I know of is Dr. Ben Miles. Prager trash was the first one I recall encountering ages ago with their spurious nonsense.
I have no interest in emotional empathy driven stuff. In terms of technically interesting content, I feel totally blind to the popularity rules. Do you know? Please explain them.
- Branding. Have recognizable stuff, people get a little hit of dopamine from seeing your logo and the style when it is unique and they recognize it.
- Production values. Have them.
- Consistency over a long time to let the algorithm build up an audience, as it does. Presumably, how people react to your videos has a lot to do with it.
- Hire some dudes in China to play it a few thousand times in one of the those big racks of cell phones.
1-3 are tried and true tactics. Building on 1, find a niche and (largely) stick to it. Pivot your niche as trends change. ZeFrank has done that well over the last 20 years of internet influence.
4 can seriously backfire… But you’re not wrong.
