NEW VIDEO! My theory of everything about Youtube [unpaid post]

This was an amazing, insightful, and humble video. I never would have imagined how going viral would be a source of frustration instead of joy.

Brian Michalowski

This is a great video! Probably the most accurate description of YouTube I've seen. I subscribed to you years ago because your skill of explaining things and bring me understanding and insight to scientific phenomena, and it's no different when you take on YouTube. Thanks, Derek!

For me, at least one variable was left out: what audience do(es the) you(tuber) want to have? Implicitly, what comes across is: anyone, as much as possible. That would be one choice. Bit with that you also get many who just once watched that one video (maybe with a friend) but was not really interested, but you end up chasing after this number like forever. This sorta goes along with how big an audience is wanted. I stay here on Patreon unaffected from thumbnails and catchy titles - and just continue watching your videoes. (Sorry for the untimely post.)

Dustin Hof

Just thought I want to share with you your own video. Maybe that'll help with your current struggle... https://youtu.be/UBVV8pch1dM

Igor Sokolov

Hey Eli ! ...thanks so much. I'd better hit that bell then ... for several of my favs

Chris Jennings

Hey Chris! It used to be that subscribing would get you notified when a new video was published. But then YouTube changed how people would get updated (basing it on how often a person would watch a given creator's videos and, from what I understand, how often that creator released videos. The latter also, probably, contributed to the former). The notification bell was brought in to basically tell the system "Hey! I don't care how long it takes this person to release new videos. I don't care if I don't watch them that frequently even if they DO release new videos all the time. I want to know when they release new videos." So your Patreon patronage is SIMILAR to the notification bell, for sure, but it does require Derek to update Patreon with the new content. Hope that helps! Eli

Jewish Music Toronto

Derek, This is the saddest things I have ever watched. Don't feel bad, I completely get what you are saying. Everything in this world follows economics. But that's just averaging to the mean and I don't think it's very good for humanity in a long run. We didn't get here by focusing on what masses liked. Having said that, I want to let you know that I believe in you. I think what you do makes humanity a little more awesome and nudges us towards greatness. So I am going to try and do what best I can to help you keep making the videos more independently of whatever YouTube algo decides. That is for now to increase my patreon pledge from $1 to $17. I know it's insignificant, but I will keep increasing as and when I can. Please feel free to let us (your loyal audience and patreons) know whenever you need any kind of help to be more independent and more original and more scientific. I am sure you will always find more help :) Cheers, Divyesh Patel.

Divyesh Patel

Whats' the difference the Youtube between "the bell" and subscribing? I've been happily subscribed to veritasium for some time and get an email every time a new video comes out. Problem solved. "The bell" it seems to do the same function. Maybe because I'm a Patreon participant the bell is not so useful?

Chris Jennings

I do understand that you are going to do clickbaity titles. And at the same time i would highly advise to not let the clickability of a topic choose the topics for you. You are an individual, with certain views on the world that i like in your videos. In this topics you most certainly show the most enthusiasm, that's directly affecting the number of minutes i watch a video and do not cancel it at the end. If i see that you are enthusiastic about something, then i know it is important. So my suggestion is not to let the alghorithm influence the topics you want to choose. Let your heart choose the topics. That way you will let the watch time raise to a new level. Be good, we do like your videos!

Danilo Majhenič

BELL RUNG! Was already ringing.

I tend to agree with you. Derek's concern (and wow he looks bleak in this video) is that if he doesn't play along with their games, even the core audience (0.5M for example) will be presented with his videos less and less, and he'll be shouldered into obscurity. I voted with the bell, because I hate clickbait and my clicky response to it, and I love Veritasium videos.

Joe Spring

Really liked the flipchart-method of presenting instead of a PowerPoint-type. You make it look easy, but I understand the effort put in before reaching the finished product. A question: how open is YouTube (or Google) about the way they design and not least CHANGE the algorithm? Having read the book "In the Plex", I guess Google use different algorithms to study how users react to small or big variations. As always, great video and enthusiastic performance, whatever the topic is!

You say you'd rather have 10M views than .5M views. But do you really? Yes of course you do, but I don't think succumbing to The Algorithm in terms of picking topics, or using clickbaity titles, or rotating thumbnails, or [insert other tactics here] to get there would make you happy. I think you'd be more satisfied with having a solid base of dedicated and truly interested followers which stick with you, instead of having a fleeting mass of one day flies buzzing around - until they're not. The fact that you're already apologizing for the strategy that you're discussing, is to me a sign that you shouldn't do it. And I don't think it's necessary either. A quick glance at your YouTube wall shows me videos like "Hydrodynamic Levitation" and "Neutron Star Merger Gravitational Waves and Gamma Rays", which certainly don't have clickbaity titles or thumbnails, are sitting at a comfortable 1M views... while videos which I would consider to be _very_ clickbaity like "Non-Invasive Brain Surgery" and "How a Shark Attack Survivor invented Cage Diving" are sitting at a mere 400K. It seems to me that the ways of The Algorithm will always be a mystery. John Green recently did a video called "An Open Letter to Professional YouTubers" which would help to put things in perspective a bit. And I know Linus Tech Tips has also been struggling with this issue, which he's discussed in several videos like "Let's Fix Our Click Bait Titles" and "$h!tty Thumbnails on Linus Tech Tips". Take a look there if you haven't already. But enough of me telling you what to do and what to feel :D sorry if I'm being too direct. Your presentation in this video was excellent and you certainly make a valid point. And I think it's awesome that you're literally asking what we as your viewers think. And I actually really liked your Shade Balls video, especially because you and Marty did such a great job of explaining why they decided to use them and which alternatives they had considered. So keep up the great work that you do, regardless of how you decide to proceed :)

Mark

This was surprisingly riveting for me as someone who does *not* make their money on YT. Also a masterclass in presenting, your flipchart game is on point. :) Maybe i'm weird but i don't actually "browse" YT, nor do i subscribe to creators. I just have a curated bookmark folder of channels i check out via incognito mode whenever time allows. So I'm rather loyal to a small select number of creators (sometimes supporting them on Patreon also) and only very, very rarely watch anything that's recommended elsewhere on the site while watching. Wonder what the YT algorithm makes of that...

Moritz Latuske

Also, to further go along that path, it feels that the algorithm is getting really good at just lumping everyone into one group, and trying to make that one group go closer towards where youtube themselves make their money (advertiser friendly). In reality, there might always be people that are going to make content that are more towards that algorithm than you ever will. Essentially you may always be playing that losing game. So the only way to maybe fix that is to not play the game, and try to find other ways to organically grow. I'm not sure what that is yet, but I hope something comes up soon to help us all get away from this inevitable braindrain of clickbait.

Ben Naylor

Playing devils advocate here, why do you need the additional views? I guess you could reason that you are making educational content, and thus that is better to spread than the other nonsense that is around, but also, it doesn't mean you need to play the game of the algorithm. In reality, if you start chasing the algorithm, then you're going to go more and more away from the educational point, because maybe one day the algorithm doesn't find education interesting anymore. If you actually need the extra views to ensure you can keep doing what you are doing, then that is also totally fair. I would hope however that if you needed help, that Patreon and the such are there to support you too. I just feel on this video however, not sure if this is an invalid criticism, that if you are going to play the game, then you are chasing the greed that follows. I subscribe to a number of other channels which don't want to play the clickbait game, and they are fine with 200k views per video. Your channel is averaging around 1mil+, so I'm wondering if your costs and/or intents are different. Either way, your content is great, but if it all becomes clickbait, then it will end up the way of the other channels I watch that have gone that way too. If you don't differentiate, then what's the point of watching Vertasium anymore?

Ben Naylor