ЯRetro Ruminations

Update: Thank you for all the responses so far. I now have a clear pathway. I'll be trying The ЯRetro Show format, incorporating into it only "Retro Recipes" that fit really well within a 6-7 minute segment. One upcoming example will be a retelling of trying to restore 50 Amiga backup disks discovered in my parents' stuffy attic after 40 years! Not worthy of more than 7 minutes without padding, but perfect for a 7 minute ЯRetro Show segment! I've already identified plenty more that this idea is perfect for, from the list I have (stretching 2 years ahead!) And outside of The ЯRetro Show at least every 1-2 months I'll continue to do the tentpole Retro Recipe "deep dives" that you know and love. I have plenty of those too, and funny enough it's about 1 in 5 of every video. Perfect. This will all enable me to take the pressure off a little, whilst increasing the duration of quality content without padding, all while including the Lady & Puppy even more. Yay!

Dear Supporters of a certain tier!

Thank you for always being open as a sounding board to bounce ideas off. Here's another one! I was going to make this a vlog but I think I can be clearer in writing, albeit lengthy. I hope you can read as fast as I can type! (Wait what?)

Anyway! Response from supporters here and on YouTube Channel Membership to The ЯRetro Show "magazine show" format has been phenomenal. Magazine show is a phrase from the UK, meaning the show is intended to be like your favourite regular magazine - the "genre" is always the same, but each "issue" has various segments. I did hope you'd all like the trial format, but feedback has exceeded my hopes.

Now obviously I won't get ahead of myself as it hasn't even been released publicly yet and might tank dreadfully, but I do like to plan ahead, and that means thinking ahead...

I'll give you the idea first, and then some context of how it came to be:

It is just an idea at the moment and may go nowhere further, however Ladyfractic and I (and Puppyfractic of course) would like to know what you feel about the "project videos" that have been the channel's mainstay for 3 years (past examples being repairs, refurbs, or contacting the ISS, how Ghostbusters knew your bank balance, etc.) becoming part of - and a shorter segment within - The ЯRetro Show?

I'll explain. Right now there are 4 segments:

• Old News
• Home Brews
• Nostalgia Flakes
• Memes

Imagine this instead. The YouTube video title is, to use a past example:

The ЯRetro Show: Can we reach the ISS from a Commodore 64?

The thumbnail shows The ЯRetro Show logo, and the ISS and a C64. You know you're getting the regular show format, with a specific topic within it like a candy with your favourite filling perhaps.

The episode begins and we say: 

"Welcome to The ЯRetro Show, and coming up we see if we can communicate with the Space Station using a 1982 Commodore 64. But first, Old News!..." 

Then we go into the format you saw in the new episode. And after "Home Brews" slap bang in the middle of the show, we say:

"And now it's time for this week's Retro Recipe!" [cue opening titles with the familiar Retro Recipes theme tune - it's a segment or a show within a show]

So, the Retro Recipes you know and love, now exist within the magazine format. And crucially, that segment would be more like 6-7 minutes, instead of the current 10-30 minutes a "project" video can take.

Whhhy? you may ask. Well let's backtrack finally to the context so you can see where I'm coming from with all this. The context and reasoning is multi-faceted and not a clear line of thought, but rather the result of a number of different, scattered, happenstances I've been learning from over 3 years. I'll lay these out briefly in no particular order:

• YouTube encourage us in training videos and reminder emails to make videos at least 10 minutes long. The key is to keep people watching for 10+ minutes, so a 20 minute video with 50% engagement (the norm) = 10 minutes watched.
• Keep people watching longer and your video does better! My Ghostbusters video was 10 minutes and is my most watched. But my Atari Empire Strikes Back video was 30 minutes and is also one of the most watched. "Keep people on the YouTube website". 30 minutes is a great length. The key with both was viewer engagement.
• This poses the problem that sometimes we are encouraged to "pad" or "fill" videos out a bit with engaging content. I find this easy - as you can tell from the length of this post!! I don't even have to consciously try.
• A side effect is I get comments/complaints like, "The video begins at 8:22 guys!", "This 18 minute video could've been 2 minutes long *facepalm*", "8 minutes of blabber before you got to the point", etc. Which I can ignore, but also do process as I'm y'know human ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Now on the flip-side you can see why making a 30 minute "magazine" style show, that contains the "Headline piece", but also other fun and worthy content, would be good for viewers and the algorithm. 
• Number 1 is keeping you guys happy, and you've shown you love all aspects. And down the list is also keeping new potential subscribers interested. Would someone still complain "8 minutes of blabber" if they were watching interesting stuff about new games and news they didn't know about before the bit they clicked for? Mayyyyybe not...

Now onto what would be good for me and Ladyfractic (and most importantly the pupper):

• It may be no surprise that I've worked extremely hard for 3 years to build this channel to 100,000 subscribers and my goodness is it a privilege and honour! I have had moments of sheer euphoria as to how wonderful all of your feedback has been! 
• And as I type this we're at 99,920! I couldn't have done it without you! Thank you!!
• Although moving from 99k to 100k is really just "one more subscriber", for 3 years I've set it in my mind as a "spiritual" goal or arrival. It was my moment where I'd feel, personally, that I'd really built something of value and arrived at where I wanted to be. It's very exciting!
• With that, inevitably, there have been moments where I felt a little bit burnt out. I've occasionally voiced this, and you guys have always been supportive. I've either taken a week off, or stepped back to a simpler video. My key point was always, "It has to feel like fun to me, to be fun to watch for you". And every day I think about keeping it fun, never burny-outy!
• It has always worked out, but that mild "burnout" sense has slightly built up over the 3 years. This is extremely common; almost a rite of passage it seems! I watched an early video from LGR (who I'm a patron of) where he talked about going through a very difficult time with it all indeed. I could name several others.
• Part of my issue is I can't help but be a perfectionist with the content - and I think it has worked for me, judging from feedback. But yeah, it has a downside.
• Another factor mentally is that each video is so different. It can leave me feeling a little bit all over the place. I put so much thought into planning each one out in my head. I really enjoy that process - I couldn't do it otherwise - but there is a downside as above to maintaining that level of thinking. 
• I suppose a key is that a more consistent episode format rather than fragmented, would pay dividends. I have a loose format, but it varies a lot.
• When I then think about how I risk mild mild burnout making - let's say - a 20 minute video every week, only to be told by the viewer that it could've been 2 minutes... well, it certainly makes one think...
• Now sure, I could move to releases every 2 weeks, but that slows the channel growth down, provides less content for you, and leaves me feeling a bit bad for all that. And that's important too. So what if there were a perfect solution...! A-ha! 💡

Before that it's worth noting:

• I get comments regularly asking for more Ladyfractic / more Puppyfractic! No surprise and that's great!
• And I've had comments not so nice about videos or jokes feeling "fake" or "staged" (surprise, sometimes they are indeed scripted to a degree)
• The ЯRetro Show was partly born from the fact that people love the Funboxings, and it's no surprise as they feature more of the Fractics, and aren't staged but are fun, spontaneous, and full of banter - as well as the core message about old machines still being relevant and loved.
• So, with Funboxings I learned that it's possible to make long videos that keep YouTube happy, keep viewers engaged, don't ever feel scripted, contain more of the Lady and Puppy, and can cause less burnout to make. And so The ЯRetro Show exists!

I'm keenly aware "if it ain't broke don't try to fix it". Then I ask myself, if I get complaints about videos being too long, but YouTube tell me not to make them too short, and I can sometimes feel mild burnout... well is something broke? Let me rephrase that... It may not be broken, but could it be better?

I've also been toying with the YouTube Shorts as you've seen, and have quite enjoyed being forced to tell a story in 60 seconds! It forces me to be more entertaining but work a bit less!

Drumroll please... 🥁 SO... by incorporating a weekly "Retro Recipe" special project into the magazine show format, to me it has the potential (no guarantees) to solve every problem. I end up with a 30 minute show jam packed with genuine fun, retro through and through, and never losing the element of repair/refurbishment/making old computers new/achieving incredible new things with 40 year old tech/etc. That is absolutely core. 

YouTube are happy with the length. It's a bit less intense work for me. It's more consistent too. And viewers won't feel they've watched algorithm padding. 

We can even add 1 item unboxing to each episode to stop the packages piling up here, in place of dedicated Funboxings. It's such a privilege to be sent things. However with every positive there is a flip side. It can be surprisingly exhausting opening 15 packages in a hot studio (A/C + mics don't mix), not to mention the number of bruises on our heads! ;-) Would opening 1 or 2 items each week be a nicer balance for you and us? And again I'm back to consistency instead of fragmentation.

I also think to the future. Is there a point where a TV network here in LA-LA-land might love the format, and want to run with it? I'd make it an absolute condition though that I be able to put those episodes out on my channel and early access to you guys. Think of it this way: My channel is Perifractic's Retro Recipes, and a show on my channel is The ЯRetro Show. If another channel (on TV) wanted to also air it, and add some production values, cool...!

I've said more than enough! Now over to you. How do you feel about watching The ЯRetro Show every week with a consistent format, including a shorter Retro Recipe within it? To give an example, that 14 minute ISS video might be half the length but more to-the-point. A 28-ish minute overall format, with each of these segments every week:

• Intro (1 min)
• Old News (4 mins)
• Home Brews (4 mins)
• "And now for this week's Retro Recipe!" (7 mins)
• Nostalgia Flakes (4 mins)
• Item Funboxing (4 mins)
• I.C. What You Meme! to round us off on a fun note (4 mins)

To me, because filming a 30 minute "live" show takes maybe an hour, and filming a shorter 7 minute segment to go in it would be less taxing, it feels like an idea worth exploring. But again, it is right now nothing but an idea. :-)

Thank you!