Channel Update #22 (Jan) – A review of NeverKnowsBest in 2021

Hello, happy New Year, and welcome to the 2nd yearly review of how things are going and other stuff like that.

To start with I have some statistics ready for anyone interested in pure numbers, with a comparison to 2020 as well. https://imgur.com/a/zw3YGEM

In short in 2021 I had 6.6 million views and 70.4k subs, which is a small improvement on 2020, and I would say is very respectable. This time last year I said I was hoping to get 5mil views and 60k subs, so I’ve surpassed that goal and really if I get the same numbers in 2022 I will be very content.

I also said last year that my real goal for 2021 was to improve the quality of my videos, and on that front I think I can safely say I made a good effort. Over the course of the year I’ve tried to improve at various things including video editing, narration, writing and humor. Whether those efforts have always been successful is harder to say and it’s not something which can be easily measured, but I am at least happy with how much I tried and I think, overall, 2021 has included some of the best content I’ve made.

In terms of productivity, I said I wanted to make at least ten videos over the course of the year whereas I actually only made nine. One off isn’t too bad, but if you were to measure by hours then in 2021 I made 17 hours of content, whereas 2020 was about 13.5 hours, so I’ve actually made more content and 2021 is really the most productive year I’ve had since starting the channel, and, oh god, have I started to feel that. Being at the end of the year (and having just released a new video), I’m feeling in quite high spirits, but really the amount of work I’ve put in over the past 12+ months has been brutal and I feel it’s starting to catch up with me.

December in particular was a period where I truly felt overworked. An MMO is not an easy thing to make a video on, particularly not with the specific queue situation FF14 had at the time, and I really wanted to finish before Christmas so I could have a true ‘holiday’ where work wouldn’t be on my mind. I should also say the video sponsor (ad agency, not company) was also very keen on me finishing before Christmas and was quite insistent on the video being released before the end of December, something I did technically have a contractual obligation to achieve. Of course that didn’t happen but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. December was a month where I felt I was working nonstop and yet I was always behind schedule and every single step seemed to take a little longer than I expected, and honestly I just felt exhausted long before the video was even finished… which might also explain why it took so long. It really did feel like I had depleted some sort of fuel reserve and was running on empty, unsure if I’d make it to my destination. But in the end I did... if you ignore the December deadline at least.

However this may be a bit of warning sign that I can’t always rely on myself to work the way I usually work. Having made videos for over three and a half years now I have come to take great pride in my productivity. I see a lot of other youtubers talk about how many hours they work, and I’m sure the hours many youtubers work are no joke; I work long hours too, but time is only one half of the story. There’s a big difference between working, and working productively, and many people, with all sorts of different jobs, maybe aren’t as productive as they could be every hour of their working day. And that’s something I think people don’t always understand or appreciate, particularly other people I talk to in life who maybe don’t know that much about youtube. It’s not that I work long hours, which I do, it’s that for so many of those hours I am working at or near peak productivity, and all I can say is that it’s not easy and hours alone don’t tell you the true story.

Still, usually this is something I’ve managed, and when a video topic is fun, and I’m passionate about what I’m making, that alone can seem like a near endless source of energy. And that is luckily the case for most videos, but it’s not guaranteed, and I think this last month was proof of that. Ultimately I’m the one who is deciding how much I work and (usually) no one is putting external pressure on me. And both the channel, and myself personally, are doing pretty well financially (the screenshots do show how much I’ve made from youtube btw, if you are interested. That number is my cut from youtube, pre tax, and there is patreon plus 3 sponsorships beyond that). So I guess what I’m saying is that while I am proud of my productivity, and do want to keep it up, I also need to keep in mind that youtube is a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s important that I’m working sustainably. It seems unlikely to me that I will make 17+ hours worth of content in 2022, and that’s okay. As long as I’m working hard and the videos are good that’s enough.

And as for the videos themselves, it’s been quite a diverse year. Less rpg focused, and certainly less crpg focused, but I think I was burning myself out a bit with the genre anyway, particularly with so much replaying of games going on, so to me covering less of them makes sense. The China indie games and Adult games videos are perhaps the most memorable videos for me, and both were a lot of fun to make. It’s a shame those types of videos both take a long time and don’t necessarily lead to lots of views because I really enjoy playing different/new things and taking on those kinds of bigger projects. To me, these videos are fairly unique and it’s the sort of content I’d love to see more of on youtube, and I get lots of positive feedback on them as well. But it makes sense to treat those types of videos as more once-in-a-while type content anyway, as I’d run out of good topics pretty quickly even if I did want to focus more on that style of video.

The Elder Scrolls videos were something I’d wanted to make for a long time and I was pretty happy with them. I’m sure some opinions of mine were controversial but that’s hardly anything new for the channel.

The Mass Effect video may have been a bit too negative for some people and it’s not the most popular video I’ve made, but personally I quite liked it and the ‘third playthrough’ section was honestly some of the most fun I have ever had when writing a script. I really do enjoy writing something a little ‘darker’ and I love being overly cynical, even if it’s not always a good fit for youtube.

The genshin video was a huge success in terms of metrics, and I still think it’s a great video. There are so many parts in that video I love, particularly the writing, and I’m glad that that video in particular was viewed by so many people. I’m viewing it as a bit of a perfect storm situation, but I also think it shows the value in talking about games/topics other people might cover less, both in terms of how it can lead to better content and more views.

On the other extreme the age restriction, and resulting lack of views, of the Nier video was really disappointing. I still haven’t got anywhere with trying to get a reason as to why it was age restricted and at this point I don’t think I ever will, not will I be able to get it changed. The loss of money for one or two videos isn’t a big deal, but stuff like this really is so stressful and youtube is stressful enough as it is. Every little bit of success anyone achieves on this platform relies on the algorithm and the algorithms itself is so precarious and obscured. So when things go wrong for no reason, like with the Nier video but also the original Dragon age video, it really does make me worry. Still the Final Fantasy 14 video is fine, so hopefully everything is fine… and that about brings us to the present.

I’ll talk more about future plans in the next update. Overall I think 2021 was a good year for the channel. There were some problems, but that’s to be expected; it’s a part of the job. The most important thing is the videos themselves, and of them I am quite proud. And ultimately that’s enough, for me at least. So, thank you for your support in 2021, and here’s to a good 2022.