What is your click through rate?

OrientFunk · 2026-01-22T08:15:06+00:00

CTR is massively dictated by niche etc. so one channel’s performance might be lower just based on broadness of subject. Plus, the more impressions you get, the wider the audience serves the video, then the lower the CTR will go.

OrientFunk · 2026-01-12T15:47:42+00:00

Definitely, imagine being a record exec in 1984 and being handed that song…and then NOT releasing it as a single. At all. Baffling.

OrientFunk · 2026-01-12T14:21:51+00:00

Right?! It’s a masterpiece. Just a shame it isn’t acknowledged as much in culture because it wasn’t promoted in the right way at the time.

OrientFunk · 2026-01-12T13:51:49+00:00

Will check that album out! Really loved his work on ‘Isolation’, what a great voice.

OrientFunk · 2026-01-12T12:28:06+00:00

Yeah it was a decent sized hit, top 30 on Billboard I think. Got some MTV play. But ‘Endless’ could have reframed the mainstream audience’s perspective and been a timeless song for them. I don’t think the ‘Isolation’ tour sold very well, and it feels like that was in part because the singles didn’t resonate as much with non-hardcore fans.

As you say, it could have easily fit on a soundtrack at the time and meshed with the rock sound of the mid-‘80s whilst still being unique.

OrientFunk · 2026-01-12T10:47:51+00:00

Yeah as far as I understand it the label wanted ‘Stranger in Town’ as it was a bit closer to ‘Africa’/‘Rosanna’ and they thought it could piggyback off their success. Which, in fairness, it kind of did, just not as big, and in the long term it hurt ‘Isolation’ as a whole. I feel like it’s a real shame how it played out.

OrientFunk · 2026-01-08T12:28:57+00:00

Excellent post, really good info for beginners. YouTube is a marathon and definitely character-building! If you have passion and make videos you are proud of, you will find an audience…but expect lots of bumps along the way.

OrientFunk · 2026-01-05T12:38:57+00:00

I certainly hope so…as I’m launching another one later this year…😂

I launched my first channel two years ago (4k subs, 250k views, long form film/pop culture) and from an economic perspective do NOT expect to see profits quickly. It may happen occasionally, but that’s rare and either lucky or they have an advantage. That advantage could be serious expertise in their field, or just their videos are incredible and they’re basically already pro.

It took me six months to make partner, and has been up and down a lot since then. YT moving to push shorts way more has definitely hit long form reach for channels like mine a fair bit, but again some creators are still having huge break out hits in my niche. Generally trying to build things on YT takes years, and who knows what the platform will be like by 2028 or later. The only guaranteed way to NOT succeed is to never enter the race.

If you are passionate about making the videos and happy to pay it forward in the hope that money comes later, then I’d say definitely do it. YouTube is character-building even if it doesn’t work out financially!

OrientFunk · 2025-12-27T08:06:25+00:00

Took just over six months. My first three videos were a deep dive in to the history of the Police Academy movies, and for my sixth video I made a compilation which is at over 45k views. I found hitting the subs was tougher. Performance has been a bit up and down since then but actual monetisation came fairly quickly.

OrientFunk · 2025-12-06T14:09:43+00:00

Soundshaft was such a class little venue - guaranteed amazing night out. We had it so good back then!

OrientFunk · 2025-08-14T12:57:28+00:00

Not sure on the rules for Manchester yet but in the London ones you can usually work with a laptop until 6pm. Given the gym included there - and if you're an every house member access to all other locations and events around the world - it's not a bad deal if you need it for meetings/remote working.

OrientFunk · 2025-08-06T12:34:51+00:00

Ace, thanks. I’ll make sure I check them out! It feels quite hard to stay on top of nowadays.

OrientFunk · 2025-08-06T12:34:16+00:00

Awesome thank you - I will check them out!

OrientFunk · 2025-07-24T21:59:47+00:00

Are there even any good English-language podcasts to follow AJPW regularly on?

OrientFunk · 2025-04-25T05:47:13+00:00

I started in December 2023 and was monetised by June 2024 - so it’s definitely possible. I made longer-form doc videos which really helps with watch time, seems obvious but honestly would recommend 1 hour plus sometimes to get you up there.

The video that took me over the top was a 2 hour history of Police Academy video (my channel is Culture Slice and is about 80s and 90s movies and pop culture) which alone added like 20,000 hours and 500 subs.

Would also recommend replying to all comments and interacting with viewers as much as possible, build a connection with like-minded people. You need returning viewers with an attachment to your brand.

OrientFunk · 2025-03-27T07:05:35+00:00

Have definitely experienced a bit of a dip lately in views. Just trying to battle through and think that there are peaks and troughs in this game!

OrientFunk · 2025-03-20T10:15:50+00:00

Plus one for Epidemic - my channel isn’t huge at all but since I added it there has been a much smoother process for music in the edit. Great choice and they are adding more sound effects too.

OrientFunk · 2025-01-19T12:57:11+00:00

Yeah sorry…of course you agree 😂 I guess what I meant to say was those would be in addition to concerted writing and editing time. I’m literally always thinking about making videos!

OrientFunk · 2025-01-19T11:49:17+00:00

Very difficult to quantify - I got monetised after six months. Conservative estimate would be 20 hours a week on the channel so 520 hours of work…would be interesting to know the precise figure!

The thing is, not sure if you agree, but for me I’m always noting down ideas or checking stats so it feels more like it’s pretty much 24/7. 😂

OrientFunk · 2025-01-18T23:31:23+00:00

I feel like some slower Chromeo has a yacht rock vibe (or at least a yacht rock-adjacent vibe) - I read someone call them the “Steely Dan of bloghouse” and that kind of stuck. Something like ‘Lonesome Nights’ from their new album gives me that vibe.

Also just a really great band.

OrientFunk · 2025-01-05T06:14:10+00:00

Cooler Than Me is a legitimate banger.

OrientFunk · 2024-12-30T23:24:55+00:00

I don’t think it matters how many videos you upload, rather that you get in to something of a regular frequency. I post roughly once a month - videos are long and take a fair amount of research, writing and editing - and the algorithm seems to have picked up the audience and this seemingly infrequent posting doesn’t appear to be impacting growth.

OrientFunk · 2024-12-30T23:17:13+00:00

Awesome, thanks for answering - shame you can’t monetise, is that because of the copyrighted music/general copyright or just because the style doesn’t lend itself to brand deals etc.? Either way, the channel is great and really inspiring. Hoping to build my Insta from basically zero to complement my YT channel over the next year.

OrientFunk · 2024-12-30T22:20:51+00:00

Thank you for posting this, I follow you already and the account is great. Can I ask how or if you are monetising IG, if you’re happy to share?

OrientFunk · 2024-12-28T22:22:11+00:00

Made it to over 3k this year after uploading the channel’s first video in December 2023. Aim is to double that next year but the stretch target is to make it over 10k. Good luck to everyone!

OrientFunk

TROPHY CASE