This is Making It
A podcast roundtable where we share our experiences as YouTube producers, writers, thumbnail designers, and strategists working with a bunch of exciting YouTube channels.
Expect honest discussions about getting hired, growing channels, and finding work-life balance in this fast-paced industry.
Ali Abdaal
@aliabdaal
399m+ Views
4m+ Subcribers
.webp)
Create more engaging videos with simple, actionable scriptwriting tips.
Join 2,200+ scriptwriting nerds reading “Write On Time”. Insights from writing for multi-million subscriber YouTubers sent to your inbox every Friday.
How to write a killer CTA (3-step formula)
Hey!
Happy Friday! Before we get into it, check out this week’s…
Spicy take
We even had the folks from The Editing Podcast getting involved in the discussion under this one.
But what about you? Do you feel like you NEED to make your videos faster to keep people interested?
Reply and let me know 💌
Video #1
Title: Lodges of the Rogue River | World Class Resorts
Creator: Travis Moddison
Average % viewed: 37.7%
What worked
(1/1) System
I’ve spoken before about how finite lists are much easier for our brains to compute…
…than the vague idea that we’re going to talk about something for “a while”.
Better yet, present your information in a system or framework.
Travis’s system is simple – the 14 lodges he talks about are organised by their geography in relation to the Rogue River (starting at the headwater, ending at the sea).
Love it 👌
What to improve
(1/3) Hook
Lack of music at the outset gives the intro a slow feeling.
Travis also trips over the phrase “Rogue River”, which in the hook of a video about the Rogue River, doesn’t fill us with confidence as viewers.
(2/3) SFX
I’ll say it now – “Record Scratch SFX” has had its time 😂
And I say that as a guy who has definitely used it in a script in the last 6 months 😅
But it’s definitely too generic in 2023, and there’s an overreliance on it in this video.
(3/3) Momentum
The power of music.
Momentum actually really picked up from around 10min with the music change.
But, by this point, we’ve lost over half the audience.
I would have used more energetic music like this at the start to get people excited. Currently, the music choice at the start feels a little pedestrian.
Takeaway
It’s time to let “Record Scratch SFX” die.
Video #2
Title: Why Food Tastes Better at Restaurants (It’s Not “More Salt”)
Creator: Charlie Anderson
Average % viewed: 59.2%
What worked
(1/2) B-Roll
There’s some really characterful B-Roll in this video.
Especially the jaunty shots of salt falling in slow-mo. Charlie could have purely recorded himself while cooking, but by going the extra mile to film these additional moments, it elevates the video’s appeal.
(2/2) Audience Avatar
Charlie understands the level of cooking proficiency his audience has, and directly calls out the method of distributing salt that he knows the majority of them will use.
In a tutorial, if you can get your audience saying “oh yikes, I do that”, you’ve got them hooked.
What to improve
(1/1) CTA
I re-wrote this video’s Call-To-Action in a tweet thread yesterday.
If you want to write a killer CTA that gets people to watch your next video, check it out:
George Blackman
@GeorgeBlackman_
The most effective CTA for growing your channel?
Getting the viewer to watch your next video.
The problem is… most creators don’t know how to do this effectively.
Here’s my 3-step formula for writing a killer CTA to keep people watching your content 🧵: pic.twitter.com/nUxMloHl5g
Takeaway
To make people watch your next video, use this killer 3-step CTA formula: Link + Curiosity Gap + CTA/Promise
Don’t miss out!
The Retention Hub
Spring Sale [30% OFF]
See all my reviews in one place.
Filter 70+ breakdowns by niche, views, retention problem, average view duration (%) and more.
A much faster way to learn better storytelling, create more engaging content and grow your channel faster.
Get 30% OFF using the code SPRING30.
Video #3
Title: I Played Internets Most Nostalgic Games
Creator: Fnuke
Average % viewed: 31.0%
Take this graph with a pinch of salt. Views were 5x this creator’s subscriber count within 7 days of uploading. Expect retention to drop when a video has been pushed to a cold audience.
What worked
(1/2) Concept
This video has potential cross-niche appeal.
Regardless of where we are now, plenty of us played these games when we were younger, so that nostalgia will exist across a broad cross-section of people on YouTube.
It’s always worth brainstorming how your video idea could be made more appealing to people outside your usual niche.
The easiest way to do this is to go back through the last few viral videos you’ve watched, and analyse what appeals to the psychology of multiple groups.
Then, see if you can incorporate elements of that broad-appeal into your next video’s concept, before you start scripting/filming it.
(2/2) Comedy
It’s funny. He’s funny. This is a funny video.
What to improve
(1/1) Payoff
The reason I’m clicking a video like this is to see Fnuke’s reaction to the terrible graphics/controls as he tries to make these games work – that’s the payoff.
Although we get some of that, I felt that we occasionally spent too much time just watching him play.
There’s a fairly consistent dropoff over S2, for example, because we’ve now seen what the game looks like, and we’re pretty much just seeing whether he wins the race or not.
In contrast, check out this example from Call Me Kevin.
In Kevin’s videos, we’re constantly hit with his observations about how bizarre the games are. His actual progress is completely irrelevant.
Similarly, I don’t care whether Fnuke wins the race or beats the game – I want to have a laugh at how weird it all is, so I would have leaned into that aspect more.
Takeaway
Be extremely clear in your own mind why your audience clicked this video, and make sure you deliver those payoffs effectively.
That’s all for this week!
Speak soon,
George 👋
How to win the war for attention on YouTube
Welcome to another retention graph review - let’s get into it!
VIDEO #1
Title: I Survived FIFA 23 Without Dribbling
Creator: Zwearow
Average % viewed: 47.5%
What worked:
(1/3) STAKES
This video begins with a winning formula: Rules + Motivation + Stakes
- Rules = what are the video’s constraints -> Messi isn’t allowed dribble.
- Motivation = why has the creator imposed those constraints -> to see if Messi will still win, even with an intentional handicap.
- Stakes = what makes us care -> we’re told that Ronaldo awaits him in the final, which taps into the decade-long debate over which of these players is better.
All this is delivered within 10 seconds.
(2/3) TITLE
Within the first 30s, the creator accidentially dribbles with Messi, and immediately takes a forefeit.
This is crucial, because it delivers on the promise of the title:
“Oh wow, he really IS doing this without dribbling,” we say to ourselves.
If a video has limitations which seem difficult to impose, demonstrating those limitations in action within the first 30s-60s is critical for retention.
(3/3) CTA
(Spoiler alert) Messi scores the winning goal and the video ends.
Not even half a second is wasted.
What to improve:
(1/2) PAYOFF
The third part of the above formula (“stakes”) is well set up, but the payoff isn’t quite as strong.
We’ve been told at Ronaldo’s stats have been deliberately boosted to make him superhuman.
This makes me intrigued to see how ridiculously good he’ll be when we finally see him.
But when we get to the final, he barely features.
I understand that that the creator shouldn’t fake any gameplay, but we could have taken a moment just before the final match to big him up and ratchet up the tension again.
Or record some additional footage of Ronaldo in cinema mode to make his appearance more dramatic.
(2/2) TENSION
To boost tension further, I’d have liked to see more near misses throughout the games.
Most of the time when the creator falls behind, he scores again within seconds.
As a result, I never felt especially worried that he wasn’t going to win.
Takeaway:
If your video sets up limitations which seem difficult to impose, demonstrating those limitations in action within 30s-60s is critical for retention.
VIDEO #2
Title: Do Your Solos Sound Like NOODLING?
Creator: Jeff Williams Guitar
Average % viewed: 58.4%
What worked:
(1/2) DIRECT QUESTION
Jeff gives the audience a couple of opportunities to feel smart.
In S2, Jeff asks us to listen to him playing to see if we can figure out the technique he’s using (and retention remains flat).
(This demo goes on a tad too long, however, the result of which is the dropoff at the start of S3).
(2/2) METAPHOR
Jeff smartly delivers his tactic through a metaphor about a picture frame.
It’s first mentioned at 2:00, but he doesn’t fully explain the significance of the metaphor until 3:30.
Remember, it’s more engaging to grab your audience’s interest with a metaphor or story and then gradually reveal why it’s relevant, rather than telling the audience the ‘answer’ right away.
Not only does this make your video more interesting, but it ties back into the idea of making your audience feel smart as they try to figure out the relevance of the metaphor for themselves.
What to improve:
(1/2) B-ROLL
Although I love the comedic B-Roll, it looks a bit flat coming from the same angle as the A-Roll.
Simply changing location/angle could do a lot for the visual variation.
(2/2) CTA
The music suddenly ramps up at the end which makes it feel like the credits are rolling on a movie.
The key is NOT to make people realise the video is about to end. You want to make it seem like you’re about to explain the next crucial point, open their curiosity gap, then reveal they’ll need to click if they want the payoff.
With that being said, I would therefore reverse the order that the CTA is delivered.
Rather than telling people to watch another video before explaining what it is…
Pique their interest about the topic of that video, then tell them to click.
Takeaway
Gradually revealing the significance of a metaphor/story not only makes the video more interesting, but also makes the audience feel smart (as they figure out the relevance for themselves).
VIDEO #3
Title: Clarkson’s Farm: Diddly Squat Food Review
Creator: Heat My Words
Average % viewed: 41.8%
What worked:
(1/2) TIMING/TRENDJACKING
This video came out in February 2023, at the same time as Clarkson’s Farm season 2 was released.
This video shows the powers of jumping on trends.
But this creator goes one step further…
(2/2) SHOW, DON’T TELL
This creator could have just reviewed Clarkson’s Farm season 2 on the day of release and quickly uploaded his video to try and capture the hype.
Instead, he actually drives 3 hours to visit the farm itself.
Hot Topic x Behind the Scenes
Heat My Words has 2000 subscribers, but this video has 325,000 views at the time of review.
If you can capture the excitement for a trend, but go further than other creators in your niche are willing to, you’re going to win the war for attention.
What to improve:
(1/2) HOOK
The music drowns out the creator’s voice during hook, partly because the music is a touch loud, and partly because he turned away from camera while talking.
The first 5-10 seconds are critical for new viewers deciding whether to stick around, so make sure they’re as professional as possible.
(2/2) OVEREXPLAINING / REPETITION
There was a lot of repetition about the value of the produce.
4 minutes was spent showing the creator eating and reviewing the chilli, which is obviously an important part of the video, but could have been done in under a minute.
I would be 10x more brutal about what gets cut from the edit, especially if you’re repeating similar information more than once.
Takeaway:
To win the war for attention: identify a trend, create content around it, but take your content further than other creators are willing to.
That’s all for this week!
Speak soon,
George 👋
Why Retention is a completely useless metric
Today, I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind as I’ve reviewed your retention graphs over the last 6 months.
Something which might just destroy the niche I’ve carved for myself 😅
📉 Should you actually care about retention?
I’ve recorded a 17 minute Loom discussing some of the nuances of retention and why you might need to change the way you think about it.
You’ll learn:
- Why the shape of a retention graph varies based on your niche.
- How you can still end up top of YouTube search despite low, spikey retention.
- The one thing that will bomb your retention (which isn’t your fault and you can’t change).
You can check it out here:
Appreciate your support as always!
Speak soon,
George 👋
Create more engaging videos with simple, actionable scriptwriting tips.
Join 4,000+ scriptwriting nerds reading “Write On Time”. Insights from writing for multi-million subscriber YouTubers sent to your inbox every Friday.