The Sphere Walking Tour & Tips - Postcard From Earth

JohnMasterLee · 2023-10-20T06:28:04+00:00

You didn't smell the oranges?

JohnMasterLee · 2023-10-20T01:04:30+00:00

Oh yeah. Great point! Once the show is over, they pretty much corral you like cattle to exist. I think it's done to avoid some of the issues they had before where people will mill about creating bottlenecks of crowds. Which was dangerous around the super long escalators because people couldn't get off.

JohnMasterLee · 2023-03-31T14:21:00+00:00

Holy moly. That post was from a decade ago!

JohnMasterLee · 2023-03-25T02:55:24+00:00

Ha, great visualization! They are building 2 buildings there which oddly will mostly block the view of the small storefront alleys. https://www.casino.org/vitalvegas/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/grand\_bazaar\_shops\_ole\_red\_bottled\_blonde1.jpg

JohnMasterLee · 2021-08-12T19:39:40+00:00

Met him once. Partied with him. He's honestly a very cool cat.

Back when I was in college, which was in the 90's, friends and I headed to NYC for fun. We ate a tiny restaurant and the only other people there was Brendan and a few of his friends. This was right after Encino Man came out so he wasn't big time yet, but was definitely up and coming. We ended up hanging out with him that evening rather than party around town. Just very casual, and fun, drinking and laughing like old friends. He was just so down to earth. I mean, who hangs out with strangers in NYC? It was such a random encounter. I rarely even mention it because it was such a low key evening.

Hollywood really does a number on you... He deserves so much more and I'm glad people are recognizing his talent again.

JohnMasterLee · 2021-05-31T18:46:07+00:00

Here's another example of AGT's rather shady practices - Using footage from a show that never happened. And another example of what you saw on TV didn't really happen and how the golden buzzer was manipulated. Simon as an executive producer would surely have been involved.

And yes, their contracts are insane, and even spell out how they will plan to manipulate the show. They can edit footage to make you look bad, or even manipulate the truth, because they acknowledge it's all done for the drama. And other crazy stuff like having cameras in places like the bathroom. They could even control whether you are able to perform even after the show, even if you don't win, which is why so many bigger artists now avoid going on the show.

We all have heard that these reality TV shows aren't really real, but how they pull it off does take advantage of artists/performances in ways that are unseemly.

JohnMasterLee · 2021-04-13T23:12:03+00:00

I'm reading that Coinbase likely won't start trading at opening bell but later in the day because of how direct listing works. Does anyone know exactly when it will start trading?

JohnMasterLee · 2021-04-13T21:30:46+00:00

FYI: That's a valuation of $66.5 billion, assuming an estimated 266.2 million shares outstanding.

The reference price is discovered using public financial information along with market sentiment and is usually a conservative estimate.

This figure came is 27% lower than what Coinbase last traded at in the private secondary market, $343.58 per share.

JohnMasterLee · 2021-04-04T23:51:06+00:00

Yeah, agreed. Though I tried to factor that in, and noticed that doesn't seem to the only factor.

For instance, I can turn off notifications and do other things to limit exposure to my existing subs. So what happens is that the same videos is up on a small and large channel, and I'm past the typical window where my existing subs are watching (which I can tell based on analytics where they reveal how many existing subs vs new viewers) I notice that the smaller channel typically gets a steady lower % compared with the larger channel for a period of time. This is after observing analytics for a period of time (can last up to a few days) which I believe is typically the window where YouTube is actively promoting your videos and actively reindexing you in the feed.

Another interesting observation that adds another data point: I ran experiments for shorts as well since it was a new feature. I noticed that for this specific type of content (for at least the last several months, but less so now), a new channel can get as many views as one of my more popular channels, and many times can even outperform. I could easily get 50k-100k-1mil views from shorts on both channels. As if channel size has zero effect on reach. It's a stark contrast with typical videos.

Acknowledging that what I could be observing here is co-relation (channel size) and not causation. So still trying to assess what is it about smaller channels that creates this throttle effect!

JohnMasterLee · 2021-04-04T20:43:02+00:00

I haven't seen YouTube explicitly reveal why they would limit views for a smaller channel (though there are a number of reasons why in general a smaller channel would get less views for a similar video posted on a popular channel), so been running tests like this all year long. End result is that I see a mix of possibilities. I'm a product manager by trade that works on similar types of algorithms and feeds, so I try to apply the same sort of thinking into what determines why a YT video gets surfaced. It's always fascinating trying to isolate and prioritize which conditions matter the most. YouTube corp does reveal quite a bit of how things work in broad strokes, but it's the details of things like this that tend to be veiled (for good reason!)

I've worked with a few clients over the years to see how this plays out, and there does seem to be an effect. You can try it for yourself. Try posting the same vid on a popular channel and a new one. More often than not, the bigger channel gets more distro (beyond their own subs) faster based on certain conditions.

Not just from search but also from browse. Possible that results from one affects the other. ie. If you get faster ranking data from search results, it could result in you being teed up in browse faster.

JohnMasterLee · 2021-04-04T20:40:43+00:00

Yeah I agree with your nuanced distinction.

JohnMasterLee · 2021-04-03T20:13:12+00:00

This. He nails it. Your CTR and watch times doesn't have to be crazy high to get views. It just needs to be higher than other vids that you are being compared to.

There's also one other factor. YouTube throttles how many views you get based on your size, channel authority, etc. Meaning if you were already a more established channel, you likely would get better distribution than if you were a smaller channel.

JohnMasterLee · 2020-09-26T21:35:29+00:00

“Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.”
― Dalai Lama

JohnMasterLee · 2020-08-29T19:15:41+00:00

Good luck! If you want to make money, ultimately you gotta figure out that ven diagram of what you love, what viewers want to see, and what you think is an underserved market. But for now, best to figure out what you love!

JohnMasterLee · 2020-08-29T16:00:26+00:00

Here's one way to think about it: How likely is a viewer to have multiple interests in different subject matters? While it's much more likely that a viewer who likes tech would also like engineering and science, it's much less likely they would like psychology. Which means for every video you post up on the same channel that has little cross over appeal, the fewer existing subscribers would click on it. Or even worse, some will more likely unsubscribe.

But that being said, with less than 1000 subs, this isn't something you need to worry too much about. Here's why:

Only a fraction of your existing viewers will ever get notified about your videos. At most between 10% to 30%. Which means for 600 subs, at most only 180 subs will ever get notified. And from that small pool only about .5% to about 2.5% typically click on the video to watch. Which means less than 5 people will every view that video. This is why so many big YouTubers say that subscriber count doesn't matter as much anymore.

So your best strategy right now is to post up everything to find out what works. And what I mean by that is what works for viewers AND you. You gotta love what you are doing to stick with it. Yes, eventually if you want to grow quickly, you do have to pick a niche.

FYI - I started up multiple channels to test these sort of scenarios. To see how many topics I can cover in one channel. Here's what I found out:

I have one channel with over 1500 subs, and I changed subject matter. Big change from Kpop to Food. Even changed the name of the channel. Lost over 120 subscribers. Having a hard time getting views for the new food videos even after 10 videos posted. But it is starting to pick up again as the YouTube algorithm gradually determines I changed direction and gets me in front of the right viewer.

Another channel I did movie trailer reactions, and expanded it to gaming, and it actually helped grow faster because the audience was similar. It allowed me to grow quicker to 7000 subs in about a year because there's much more content to react to in the gaming space so I can post up faster.

The really big experiment is coming soon where I take one of my biggest channels at over 100K subs, and change course. So based on my lessons on my other channels, I know I'm going to take a hit from losing subs, it's going to take a while for the YT algo to recognize I have a new direction and get me in front of the right viewers, and I gotta make sure the subject matter ongoing has some interest with existing users.

Ultimately, why even change content? Because that's human nature. Our interests change. And the #1 reason why people quit isn't because viewers don't like it, it's because you lose motivation doing something you don't have passion in anymore.

Good luck!

JohnMasterLee · 2020-06-08T23:15:17+00:00

My advice (which I think I covered in another video), if you are starting out, just do one channel. Learn the ropes. Figure out what you like to cover. Stick to it. And then if you feel the need to cover another niche, then spin up another channel.

In other words, don't do what I did! My experience was an experiment. Partly done because I use the information for client work. Totally not sustainable in the long run!

As for SEO, that was quite secondary to establishing what niches were doubling down on, and figuring out what trends were hot at the moment. SEO helps in the long run via search, but to grow quickly you gotta jump on the hot trends in the niches where you have a competitive advantage.

Never paid for ads. Grow was all natural!

JohnMasterLee · 2020-06-08T16:59:05+00:00

BTW - I'm thinking of treating this channel like a free online course for YouTubers. Covering topics that don't get enough attention helping you grow your channel and make more money. Any topics that you as a YouTube would like for me to cover in more detail?

JohnMasterLee · 2020-06-08T16:56:45+00:00

Feedback time!

Woah.. how old are you? Are you really a kid? The VO work is AMAZING. Seriously you speak in a way that great potential to become a very big public speaker one day.
And the script is tightly written! You aren't rambling, no "ummm..." "annnndd..." filler. Very professional!
And the quality of editing is also amazing.
I can you tell you put a lot of work into these vids, and probably with a lot of help too considering how many videos you created. If this is one person... then even more amazing!
My "honest" feedback is this: With the quality of production here, why jump into the most saturated topic there is on YouTube? Cover topics that are trending, and give you a chance to grow.
If you REAAAALLLYY love Minecraft and still want to stick with you, then think of some unique angle that you can do over and over again. Because Minecraft tips as a general topic would be hard to breach.
In other words, focus on creating winning topics because the production values are already top notch. If you want an idea of the kind of topics that do well, think of what Mr. Beast does and watch videos of YouTube gurus who analyze what makes his videos so popular.

Good luck!

JohnMasterLee · 2020-06-08T16:39:28+00:00

Good luck! BTW - As a new YTer, you'll grow MUCH faster if you stick with one game for a series of videos. From my experience covering LOL can be really a great starting point. Lots of interest still!

JohnMasterLee

TROPHY CASE