falter
Veteran Member
Ahhhhhh. Yes this happened to my blog when they discovered my TVT project.
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First YouTube video experience
- Thread starter falter
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Ahhhhhh. Yes this happened to my blog when they discovered my TVT project.
falter
Veteran Member
One minor annoyance. I thought I'd add a Subscribe button to the end of the video using Youtube's editor. But the way it adds it, it only shows the 'icon' for my channel. Only when you hover over it does it show the actual subscribe button. Is there a trick I'm missing here? I can't quite phrase my question right to get a google answer.
vwestlife
Veteran Member
If your video editor has an audio level meter, or if you can save a copy of your audio track and look at it in an audio editor like Audacity, set the volume levels so that the background music (or B-roll audio) is 20 dB below your voice:
https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G56.html
Trixter
Veteran Member
You use a video editor that has common levels for dialog and music, and auto-ducking to lower the music when you speak. Premiere Pro can do this. There are likely similar solutions for other software.
That's normal for YouTube's "end cards" editor.
falter
Veteran Member
Thanks guys.
I ended up putting a watermark in, which took forever to show up. I'm not really gunning too hard for subscribers.. think this video netted about 30.l, which was pretty good.
I have a question if anyone knows about the whole 'Discovery' analytics thing. I was nosing around in there and saw the top recommending videos (which I assume are where youtube is recommending mine) were the 'Live hospital building in Wuhan' and 'Tankers - WWII movie". I'm guessing if I want to get the video to a more interested audience, I need to adjust titles, keywords etc.? I had keywords like vintage computer, classic computer, retro etc etc. Not sure how the algorithm thought 'ah, I should chuck this up when people are watching a hospital being built in wuhan'. I'd like to show up more for people with an interest in vintage machines already.
One other question for those of you who get into 5 figure views... how long does it usually take your video get get to 10k? Is most of the upswing in the first month? Or is it drop drop over a year? Just curious.
I ended up putting a watermark in, which took forever to show up. I'm not really gunning too hard for subscribers.. think this video netted about 30.l, which was pretty good.
I have a question if anyone knows about the whole 'Discovery' analytics thing. I was nosing around in there and saw the top recommending videos (which I assume are where youtube is recommending mine) were the 'Live hospital building in Wuhan' and 'Tankers - WWII movie". I'm guessing if I want to get the video to a more interested audience, I need to adjust titles, keywords etc.? I had keywords like vintage computer, classic computer, retro etc etc. Not sure how the algorithm thought 'ah, I should chuck this up when people are watching a hospital being built in wuhan'. I'd like to show up more for people with an interest in vintage machines already.
One other question for those of you who get into 5 figure views... how long does it usually take your video get get to 10k? Is most of the upswing in the first month? Or is it drop drop over a year? Just curious.
Trixter
Veteran Member
There are three patterns of views on youtube:
1. Sharp upswing and high numbers for the first 24 hours, then long slow tail. This is typical for channels that have 10k or more subscribers and release content regularly.
2. Long, very slow climb upwards. This is generally "howto" content that is "evergreen". Meaning, people are always searching for "how to fix a sink" or "how to build a birdhouse" or "how to adjust android 8.0 notification bar settings", etc. Evergreen content continues to gain views over several years, but is slow.
3. Like #2, but then suddenly sometimes gets a huge gain.
Two #3 case studies, both from VCFMW's channel: A video about GeckOS was somehow recommended by youtube's algorithm to people who showed a historical interest in the C64. Another video about resurrecting the original Star Wars animations gained a lot of views when it was mentioned on a few Star Wars blogs.
You should expect most computer history material to be #2. It is an anomaly when it isn't. The exceptions are when a channel has so many subscribers (over 500K, like 8-bit-guy, LGR, etc.) that their sheer numbers influence the algorithm's machine learning.
If you care about discoverability, you can adjust thumbnails and other stuff; watch the "vidiq" channel for hints. However, there is only so much you can boost a video about an Ohio 6502 trainer, as the total worldwide audience is low 5 digits at best. Always be realistic. For example, this video has about 3k views, and that's about what I'd expect for a video of that nature.
bladamson
Veteran Member
I'm gonna veer off the beaten path for a moment. I hope it doesn't go outside the bounds of appropriate content for these fora. If so, I apologize in advance.
Be very very wary of putting all your sweat equity into YouTube with the expectation of income.
Maybe old computer stuff is "safe content". But I used to have a moderately successful YouTube channel in which I restored collectible/antique firearms, formed brass and reloaded ancient obsolete cartridges for which there are no longer factory loads available, black powder cartridges in particular.
Apparently this content "promoted violence" (huh????), and I was demonetized, deranked, and eventually enough of my videos were put in "limited mode" that I just deleted the whole channel in disgust. I still put something on the topic up on BitChute on occasion, but there isn't really any audience there.
I do miss the socialization in the comments section, though (I am a boonies-dwelling hermit), hence my recently starting a new channel about old computer stuff.
So I mean, if you are doing videos for fun and to make internet friends, then cool. DO IT. But don't don't don't don't ever trust YouTube/Google to not pull the rug out from under you for some utterly insipid reason. Yes, I am still a bit sore about this, hahaha.
Be very very wary of putting all your sweat equity into YouTube with the expectation of income.
Maybe old computer stuff is "safe content". But I used to have a moderately successful YouTube channel in which I restored collectible/antique firearms, formed brass and reloaded ancient obsolete cartridges for which there are no longer factory loads available, black powder cartridges in particular.
Apparently this content "promoted violence" (huh????), and I was demonetized, deranked, and eventually enough of my videos were put in "limited mode" that I just deleted the whole channel in disgust. I still put something on the topic up on BitChute on occasion, but there isn't really any audience there.
I do miss the socialization in the comments section, though (I am a boonies-dwelling hermit), hence my recently starting a new channel about old computer stuff.
So I mean, if you are doing videos for fun and to make internet friends, then cool. DO IT. But don't don't don't don't ever trust YouTube/Google to not pull the rug out from under you for some utterly insipid reason. Yes, I am still a bit sore about this, hahaha.
Dwight Elvey
Veteran Member
Hi
Some thoughts
First you should talk at the beginning and the end face to face. Your watchers are all human. It makes you human as well. If it helps, have someone you're familiar with to stand behind the camera.
For most of those places where you are not on stage, you can make the video with sloppy audio and then once you've copied/pasted to your likes, just sit down and redo the audio. Have a simple script to remind you where you are and what is next. It is important to talk during the original recording, though, as it helps to pace the final video. That will help to get a smooth audio across the entire video.
It was funny in places and that is great as well. I enjoyed the entire thing.
Dwight
Some thoughts
First you should talk at the beginning and the end face to face. Your watchers are all human. It makes you human as well. If it helps, have someone you're familiar with to stand behind the camera.
For most of those places where you are not on stage, you can make the video with sloppy audio and then once you've copied/pasted to your likes, just sit down and redo the audio. Have a simple script to remind you where you are and what is next. It is important to talk during the original recording, though, as it helps to pace the final video. That will help to get a smooth audio across the entire video.
It was funny in places and that is great as well. I enjoyed the entire thing.
Dwight
falter
Veteran Member
I was thinking mid 4 digits.
You really can't do a lot with the 300 - it's more historical curiosity. Originally I was just going to ape what youtuuuba did with his replica, only with real hardware. But then I thought, ah, maybe I should add some historical context to explain why I thought this was important enough to do a video on, and then it kind of mushroomed from there. I have a very strong artistic/creative side. I enjoy the process more than the end result.
falter
Veteran Member
Honestly I've no expectation of income at all. Many years ago I thought it might be possible to eek out a few hundred bucks here and there to finance the collecting habit, but I never imagined it would be a career path. I'm still in amazement at people like Mr. Beast, Unbox Therapy, etc. It's kind of funny how one of the biggest 21st century video platforms is basically dominated by people reviewing/documenting other people's products.
But those guys are wild exceptions. I think I read somewhere that something like 90% of Youtube ad revenue goes to 3% of their creators. Guys like LGR and 8bitguy have 1M+ subscribers but they're not, at least from what I've seen/heard, living large. If you're making a couple bucks every 1000 views - that's a lot of effort for not very much money. And I would *never* be the type to go to Patreon. I mean no disrespect to those who do use it, but for *me* it's like panhandling. Plus it changes the dynamic from a fun hobby to being a job with deadlines, etc. I don't want that kind of pressure in my life. I've got enough of that with my day job.
I have my own business, and the idea of being dependent entirely on the whim of a large, cash hungry corporation like Alphabet/Google/Youtube is just too scary. I kind of think Youtube's 'monopoly' is ripe for being splintered; I'm mindful of what happened to the recording industry (especially musicians' income) when iTunes etc went mainstream. I think Youtube will be a diminishing returns exercise for all but the very tippy top creators, and most of *their* money will come from merch and stuff outside.
I've accepted my choice to do the occasional video as a hobby, in the particular niche I'm in, is self-limiting. I just enjoy indulging my artsy side, pushing myself to learn new things and such. I don't get to do that often in a job that runs 24/7. If I got to 1000 subscribers and 5k-10k views I think I could say 'yeah, I'm doing alright here.'
falter
Veteran Member
Thanks Dwight. I appreciate the compliment. I've gotten a fair bit of positive feedback, so that makes me happy; to know I didn't make an a-- of myself.
I grew up with terrible social anxiety and even when I was recording the video I felt very awkward, not wanting my wife and kids to hear me doing it. This was all sort of a dry run for my TV Typewriter video. After Hackaday sent 2000+ people to my blog one day to check out the project in progress, I thought about doing a video when it was done to show a working (?!?!) one, as a coda. And also to take the opportunity to thank everyone here on this forum, especially Chuck for helping out with suggestions/help.
The new video is fully scripted, and I've started laying some of it out. I bought one of those cheap ebay box lighting and green screen kits, so I'm going to be interested to see what I can do with that. Lighting has been a bugbear for me for eons. Really looking forward to using these in photos too.
This is the intro to the new vid so far. The narration will be recorded to get it all in one swoop, and then I have to figure out how I'll do the talking-to-camera segments. I'm thinking I'll use the green screen to put a 'Sierra-fied' 16 color version of my office behind me. That'll help me get over the fear of being on camera directly. I have to do it.. it's the only way to really show the TVT off properly.
Here's a draft of that intro. I'm hoping I'm not going to anger Apple guys too much as it sort of takes down Woz's claim to be the first guy to put digital text on a screen.
Also have to see if I can convince Don Lancaster to let me use his pic there - I have a feeling there's a reason there's so few photos of him online. And yes, I'm being a bit hyperbolic about the TVT's impact, but I actually kind of believe in its importance in the big scheme of things. The intro music, from Youtube's free library, funny enough is called "1973". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvP7W19Ct9U&feature=youtu.be
bladamson
Veteran Member
Hooooo boy. I'm too ugly for that myself! XD
I am not sure. I've read that YouTube has operated at a loss from Day 0, and that Google continues to run it at a loss just because it's so darned useful for mining data to better target ads to google accounts.
BitChute is AFAIK the only one with the tech to compete with that (distributed delivery ala bittorrent, though this does result in some hiccups sometimes), but it's still too much like the Wild West over there to attract the more "normal" sorts of content creators.
Although YouTube's biggest enemy may be themselves. They might just keep forcing out the little guys and making it into more and more of an advertiser-friendly mainstream big-media content delivery platform, just like everything else, and change the creator culture there so much that it effectively ceases to "be" YouTube anymore.
But who knows. Certainly not me. I remember when the first iPhone came out I said, "Who would want a PDA in their cell phone? That will never catch on!" Lol.
falter
Veteran Member
Even if that were true, trust me, there are lots of less-than-beautiful people doing well on Youtube.
I think Dwight is correct - you gotta connect with folks.Yep. All those dotcom bubble children - all promising they'd found the secret to making money by giving away their services for free. And they all died, except for the ones like Youtube, that got bought by deep pocketed saviors, or turned to the most traditional way of raising money - ads.
I went and had a look.. I stopped when I read stuff about burning people of a certain religion in the channel titles. I think I'd probably not want to get into that yet.
What qualifies as a little guy to them I wonder. Less than 5M subs?
Heh.. I had a Jasjar years ago and got totally razzed about it ("It's supposed to be a phone!"). But I knew even back then how useful that could be.
Trixter
Veteran Member
Restoring firearms and making gunpowder are decidedly not advertiser-friendly, which is why your videos eventually got flagged. I'm sorry for the time and effort you put in, but this isn't at all surprising.
That was... ill-advised. For one thing, YouTube has recently implemented a better appeals system -- you could have appealed and gotten some of your videos monetized again.
You could always upload your videos to archive.org. No audience, but at least your video efforts will survive you.
With no expectation of income or visibility, it sounds like you're in a good position to have a lot of fun.
Nearly all successful channels beyond the 5M subscriber mark fell into taking advantage of human psychology. Sometimes quite intentionally, sometimes by accident. The "viewer interest -> machine learning suggestions -> creator direction" feedback loop means that most creators will fall into local minima that maximizes profit. (Entire volumes have been written about this, but don't research this too much like I have; it's depressing.) A bird's-eye overview of some aspects of this can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/fHsa9DqmId8
This is partially because youtube comes up in google search results. How many times have you searched for "(product name) review" and seen a video? It's one of the top categories of searches people perform.
Depends on where you live. Based on publicly available metrics and information, they're making low six figures from youtube + patreon + merch. They both live in areas with a very low cost of living, so they do quite well.
For the past few years, money has been earned from total minutes of watch time per video, not views. So if you sit down in front of a webcam and talk for 10 minutes, and you have 4M subscribers, and you can hook their attention for at least 5 minutes, that 10-minute effort nets you 4 figures after 6 hours, and low five figures after 24 hours. (And then it mostly trails off and stops making money.)
Agreed. Excellent attitude!
This has been proven year after year to result in more subscriptions. Audiences mostly want to connect with people, not just raw information.
vwestlife
Veteran Member
The Unbox Therapy channel is one big infomercial. He'll lavish with praise any kind of crap that gets sent to him, while completely glossing over its faults even when they are plainly visible on camera. And the big tech channels like Linus Tech Tips are full of clickbait -- like his video titled "SERVER CRASH - ALL OF OUR DATA IS GONE!", when in fact they were able to recover all of their data from a backup.
As for Google feeding search results into YouTube, that's a double-edged sword. On one hand it gives your video lots of exposure, but on the other hand people act as if you're the tech support for the manufacturer's product, and constantly ask you how to use it and expect you to troubleshoot any problems they have with it. Thankfully this not as much of a problem as it used to be, now that the comments section on a video is often completely hidden by default for people viewing on mobile devices.
As for Google feeding search results into YouTube, that's a double-edged sword. On one hand it gives your video lots of exposure, but on the other hand people act as if you're the tech support for the manufacturer's product, and constantly ask you how to use it and expect you to troubleshoot any problems they have with it. Thankfully this not as much of a problem as it used to be, now that the comments section on a video is often completely hidden by default for people viewing on mobile devices.
Eudimorphodon
Veteran Member
Several dozen thumbs up on that. If you're looking for lessons on how to be an utter sellout his example would be a prime one to follow.
Trixter
Veteran Member
Linus Media Group has a staff of 20+, so clickbait titles and thumbnails are, unfortunately, part of their sustainability. They know the writing is on the wall, which is why they created floatplane (which is essentially "subscription-based private youtube").
falter
Veteran Member
I should check 8bitguy's gun videos and see if they're still up. It was quite a shock, after getting so used to his genteel old school nerd style, to see a video of him demonstrating open carry in a local department store.
Yeah I think so, I'm enjoying the process. It's sort of like when you watch one of those 'behind the scenes' documentaries. I always wondered how Youtubers did what they did... like LGR's typing sequence for his opening credits, how lighting worked, etc. I'm hoping to leave behind a little reference library for future vintage computer collectors that hopefully will provide some useful diagnostic, or at least a sense of how things once worked, if Bil Herd's prediction of everything being eventually bricked comes true.
And this was something I struggled with as I wrestled with whether I wanted to go for views or stay true to my vision. I could have clickbaited the title and keywords, but I felt that would detract from the point of the video, and I hate misleading people. I have been thinking about being more expressive with my TV Typewriter video though. Just to see what happens. There's a brag factor involved if you can figure out how to appeal to the invisible algorithm.
This happens all the time now when I google TV Typewriter - google puts my TVT videos up -- mainly because I'm the only one with a working unit that bothered to record it.
I suppose it depends which end of 'low six figures' they are at. As i have learned in my own business, $100k sounds like a lot of money but it really isn't - not after taxes, expenses, taking care of family, etc. Even $200k isn't as impressive as it once was. And on Youtube you have to work like a dog to get there. Watching 8bitguy and his team individually stuff and seal all those Planet X2 boxes made me suddenly appreciate my job.
That's the biggest thing that would prevent me from really trying to do it for a living - the pressure every day to find new content. I know of a few prominent Youtubers who are thinking about retiring as they are exhausted.Last I saw LGR makes about $6k/mo off Patreon - that hasn't really changed in the last couple of years. 8bitguy was $4k before he opted to hide the amount. The number of patrons he has hasn't moved so I imagine the dollars haven't either. I wonder about how viable Patreon will be going forward - there is a thing called 'donor exhaustion' and with all these other channels cropping up immediately with Patreon accounts you wonder how long before patrons scale back.
BTW: I thought the ad model had changed on Youtube and you got paid not by views but by how many ads were actually fully viewed during a video?
True, although I have seen some channels succeed in spite of the creator's invisibility. There's one I forget the name of right now - but he has all these fun experiments like using coiled wire to make a battery run like a slot car. I've never seen one with him on camera or even speaking.
falter
Veteran Member
New question.
I'm working on the script for my TVT Project video. It is up to about 12 pages. I was looking at the engagement metrics on my last video, just out of curiosity and saw the average view was only about 6 or 7 minutes. I'm wondering if that's an indicator that I need to keep the video length down.
My TVT video is broken up into 5 sections:
1) Introduction and history
2) How it works
3) Building a TVT (showing how I did it)
4) Operation of the TVT
5) Conclusion/collectors notes
Should I persist with my vision of keeping it all in one video, or should I break it up into a small series? I'm thinking based on script length this is going to run probably over 30 minutes. There's a fair bit to cover.
I'm working on the script for my TVT Project video. It is up to about 12 pages. I was looking at the engagement metrics on my last video, just out of curiosity and saw the average view was only about 6 or 7 minutes. I'm wondering if that's an indicator that I need to keep the video length down.
My TVT video is broken up into 5 sections:
1) Introduction and history
2) How it works
3) Building a TVT (showing how I did it)
4) Operation of the TVT
5) Conclusion/collectors notes
Should I persist with my vision of keeping it all in one video, or should I break it up into a small series? I'm thinking based on script length this is going to run probably over 30 minutes. There's a fair bit to cover.
vwestlife
Veteran Member
I don't pay much attention to that "viewer engagement" data, especially since I'm not sure how it counts people who watch a single video in multiple sittings. For example, if I watch a half-hour video in 7-minute segments, I bet they're counting my "engagement" as only 7 minutes, even though I do eventually watch the whole thing. Likewise if I skip around a lot in the video.
Most of my in-depth videos are between 20 and 30 minutes long -- and that's after editing to cut out the boring or irrelevant parts, and without any of the filler typical of the more "professional" channels, like intro and outro theme music, self-promotion, sponsorship ads*, and lists of Patreon supporters (since I don't have any).
* those can pay thousands, but come with strict requirements, such as making you talk for at least 45 seconds about the product or service, and to put the ad within the first 1 or 2 minutes of the video.
Most of my in-depth videos are between 20 and 30 minutes long -- and that's after editing to cut out the boring or irrelevant parts, and without any of the filler typical of the more "professional" channels, like intro and outro theme music, self-promotion, sponsorship ads*, and lists of Patreon supporters (since I don't have any).
* those can pay thousands, but come with strict requirements, such as making you talk for at least 45 seconds about the product or service, and to put the ad within the first 1 or 2 minutes of the video.
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