---
title: 'Subscribers Don''t Mean Much on YouTube (and That''s Good?)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=E-tUmafs__M'
video_id: 'E-tUmafs__M'
date: 2026-07-27
duration_sec: 1257
---

# Subscribers Don't Mean Much on YouTube (and That's Good?)

> Source: [Subscribers Don't Mean Much on YouTube (and That's Good?)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=E-tUmafs__M)

## Summary

In this video, the speaker discusses the shift from social media to interest media, where content distribution is based on individual video performance rather than follower count. He introduces the '50/50 rule' (packaging vs. content), the concept of 'satisfied views,' and practical strategies like outlier video research and keyword research to thrive in this new era.

### Key Points

- **Shift to Interest Media** [00:01] — YouTube now operates on interest media: viewers see content based on interest, not just from accounts they follow. Awareness is built at the content-by-content level, not account-by-account.
- **One Video Away** [00:43] — A single video can change everything — views, subscribers, impact, leads. Example: 77-year-old student posted first video, got 37k views and 500+ comments, monetizing her channel.
- **50/50 Rule** [02:33] — Video success is 50% packaging (title, thumbnail) and 50% content. Both are equally crucial: packaging gets clicks, content retains viewers.
- **Case Study: Kettlebell Couple** [03:40] — Two back-to-back videos: 629 vs 8k views. The key difference was using outlier video research and keyword research to improve packaging.
- **Outlier Video Research** [04:17] — Use tools like VidIQ to find overperforming videos from small channels. Filter by channel size and recency to identify what resonates and what you can beat.
- **Keyword Research for Anchor Language** [06:42] — Keyword research helps understand audience phrasing, leading to better titles and thumbnails. Example: 'fitness over 40' keyword research for the kettlebell couple video.
- **Satisfied Views** [09:47] — Focus on 'satisfied views' — views from the right people who watch most/all of the video and are satisfied. YouTube prioritizes viewer satisfaction over raw views.
- **Hack Your Audience, Not the Algorithm** [11:55] — Instead of trying to game the algorithm, deeply understand your audience. Create content curated for them, and the algorithm will serve it to the right people.
- **Measuring Success: Comments and Posts** [14:12] — Key metrics: CTR, average view duration, percentage viewed, likes, and especially comments. Comments show viewer satisfaction and connection.
- **Dealing with Overperformance** [17:00] — When a video overperforms, be prepared: have a clear next step (like a freebie or discovery call) and stay consistent. Even if subsequent videos don't match, the work continues.

### Conclusion

The key to succeeding on YouTube today is to focus on delivering satisfying content to a well-understood audience, rather than chasing subscribers. Use packaging and content equally, research outliers and keywords, and engage with your community through comments.

## Transcript

own analytics. You're going to see that most people viewing your content are not pretty cool thing on one hand because it just means that your follower count is going to do well or continue to get distributed. It's actually flipped. Good
content is now the thing that's going to build your following. So, this means awareness is now one, not at the account-by-account level, but at the content-by-content level on the platform of YouTube specifically, the
video-by-video level. No one explains this better than Gary V, >> And attention has moved. We now live in a world that is incredibly fragmented, and I think we all know that. In fact, we don't even live in social media
anymore. We now live in interest media. As many of you know that are on TikTok or Instagram or Facebook, 5 years ago, you got content from the people you followed, even if you didn't give a what your cousin was doing today. Today, when
you opened up your TikTok or Instagram or Facebook, you're getting content of >> So, we're actually seeing so many of our students experience the benefits of the interest media era where effectively every video is a blank slate. You're
actually one video away, is how we'd phrase it, from changing your life, That's It's pretty It's a pretty big take, man." But, it's really true. Like, we're actually seeing like one video, one video can be the very thing that
changes anything, the views that you're after, the subscribers that you think you might want to get, the impact you're trying to create, the awareness of you services. Shoot, I mean, you can be one video away from more leads and more
actually, one of our newer students who, at 77 years old, had zero following. Uh she posted her very first video, 37,000 views, over 500 comments, and
this video single-handedly monetized her channel. And she did this with no equipment. She had no social media, no experience. And this is the whole point. She is a great example of the new era that we're in. And to be honest, I don't
>> [laughter] >> first video doing something like this. because she didn't need a following. She didn't even have subscribers. Nobody even knew who she was online. But she dropped a video, a video that
clearly stirred up a lot of interest. She made content that connected. She video. And the platform helped find the right people for it. So, how does this affect you? Like, how do you navigate this new
things that I want to share with you to start that you can start equipping your content with. And the first one is going to be the 50/50 rule of YouTube long-form content. This is mission critical to understand. 50/50. I mean,
packaging for your video is 50%, and then the content of your video is 50%. is what your title and your thumbnail people to stay, which is what your content is doing from the second someone
Here's what's interesting about this. I'm calling it 50/50, which could sound surprising to you if you've been around for a second, and you've probably heard Your title, your thumbnail, it's like everything. And that's the first battle
argue it's more important because without the click, who watches, right? No one just jumps in halfway through your video. You have to be chosen for someone to get into your content. But in the interest media era, it's the content
that gets people to stay. And this is where you rack up minutes. This is where you get time on platform, which of course YouTube loves. It's like if someone clicks in, but then leaves, did it really move the needle? Did it really
matter that much? And so it's 50/50. Like the content has to stand out. When things to think through. And I wanted to share a case study really quick of someone named Kat and Cho, this uh kettlebell couple. It's kind of a fun
sentence to say, kettlebell couple. They have a fitness channel and you know, if here, you can see I've got a video two videos up here. One of them is at 629 views and the other video is at 8,000
views. These were posted back-to-back. Here's at least what we did for this video. The first thing is going to be adjusting how you're researching. When thinking about your what you're actually putting on your title and putting on
in your head. It's time to start actually looking at what the market says works, which is what is actually working on YouTube. researching a little bit differently. I'm going to research strategically. I'm
going to just look at over-performers. I'm going to look at actually what resonates. So, we do outlier video research. This is something that you can start doing if you install a tool like VidIQ. And if you're interested
actually, you can spend $1 and get an entire month of VidIQ access to all the tools, all the research tools. You can do that at vidiq.com/think if you're interested. But if you have a tool like that, you're going to have
places you can use this. One of them is actually inside the app itself where you can actually search for outlier videos, but my favorite version is the plugin So, let's say you're using like Google Chrome or something. If you have the
VidIQ plugin installed, when you're navigating through YouTube, it's so helpful. You get these little outlier scores. If you've ever if you have this what are all these colored bubbles that pop up when I'm looking around YouTube?
scores. That just means and this you have to understand this by the way in the current era. You have to understand what an outlier is because it's actually relevant to your own content. Outlier simply means
searching for outliers in your niche, then this is exactly what I did with Cat and with Cho. We got into the VidIQ tool and we adjusted our parameters so that we're looking at stuff we could actually go beat. This is the whole point. This
is actually why researching is turning more into like the hunt. >> [laughter] >> It's the hunt. What can I go Do I Should That's not the idea. But like you're like, what what's Okay, for this topic,
for this video idea that I have, what has worked before? And what has worked before that like is just a little bit beyond what I'm capable of or have been capable of or that I think I could go do. By the way, in your Outlier
research tool, you can actually filter by channels that are as small as like a couple thousand subscribers. What are they doing within the last 6 My goodness, this is actually encouraging because now you're looking
at overperformance. You could just be one video away from, right? It's hard to it's like so much further than where we are. This is what we did with Cat and research, but we also paired it with keyword research.
I actually think in this new era, keyword research could be more ever. Not because it's the thing that makes or breaks your video getting searched, because of the algorithm, blah blah blah. It's They're not as big a deal
anymore. YouTube's made this clear for years now. But, they are a big deal for Because to the degree that you can understand the way your people phrase It's going to help you make better titles and thumbnails when you become
aware of anchor language. Anchor language, you can only get that through keyword research. And the reason why it's anchor language is because when you use a tool again like VidIQ, shout out, is because it's great. All this is
getting Why go get a whole bunch of different tools? inspector, and you can start searching the phrases related to the video that we worked on with Cat and Cho is going to be a fitness video, and it's actually
over 40 look like? Like how do you train? How do things are a little bit different. You're not like 20 years old anymore, right? So, what did we do? We did keyword research around the ideal
Which would be someone over 40, right? So, we're already we're narrowing it looked at things like, okay, there's literal search volume for fitness over 40. Things like home workouts for beginners. So, you think about the kinds
searching for so that we know how to best equip our video and position it to show up. Lose weight, fitness motivation, how to lose fat, beginner with, okay, they're looking for this kind of thing. They're looking for that
kind of a thing. And sure, there can be nuances in how people phrase things, but the fact of the matter is if you use a keyword research tool to help you do get better packaging, you're going to have better language that, yes, I still
think, you know, gives the algorithm a little bit of a reason to know what to do with your video. If there's an anchor phrase that like thousands of people are searching for every single month, if the volume is high, you just know this is
it would be strategic to position yourself that way. But this is why you do both. You do outlier video research to see mostly what titles, thumbnails, topics are working and then you also can study those videos. You can actually
click on those videos inside of a tool like vidIQ and you can actually have the understand, hey, why did this video do well? And that's a super powerful thing to do because that's more of like the content creation standpoint. Hmm, this
clearly because of the combination of the the title, the thumbnail, the hook, oh my goodness, you should pay attention to when you're did they cover? How did they cover it? How long are all of these videos? I
dumping a lot here, but what I'm trying to say is this is more important than ever. It is half of the equation and it is the first part of the equation. You have to get people to click before they watch. Outlier video research, keyword
research are some underutilized tools right now and things that are going to help you as you create videos in this era. So, the second thing that we can use to navigate this area this era is defined the views we're actually trying
to get. And there's this new phrase that I'm kind of using lately, and I really it'll help you. I want you to think about satisfied views. Satisfied views. What's a satisfied view? Okay. A
that came from the right person, first and foremost, who came for exactly what you promised in your video, the title, the thumbnail, and left satisfied. Like they actually watched most, if not all, of your video,
potentially, even watched more of your content. And this is ultimately what YouTube cares about. It cares about viewer satisfaction. I don't know if that have been going out, at you know, with different uh emojis, happy face,
with different uh emojis, happy face, sad face, you know, neutral face, asking There's surveys that go around saying, "What do you think about this video? Is There's ratings you can give videos. It wants you to be on the platform, but it
satisfied. That's the whole entire incentive for YouTube. When it comes to "Wow, it's really cool. It's a different way to play YouTube." Because you're of views. I just need the right views."
just looking for like one, two, three, five, 10 people from the video to take or services. And I think about like real estate agents. One of our students, Kelly, uh you know, within her first three videos, she's got people calling
her because of YouTube. I think about like a coaching and consulting sort of business, Stacy Tushl. She I remember her sharing like she got a $30,000 sale, stream that she did. And the live stream had less than 1,000 views, by the way,
I mean, I could just keep going. I think about like education niches. Okay, I who's got a golfing channel and he's helping senior golfers move better, um, play better, gain distance, all the good things. And I remember one video of
for him. Um, one video got him over a thousand leads in 10 days from just the one video. And so, >> [laughter] >> How do I get satisfied views?" Okay, you
actually have to make you have to make videos that people are actually measure this which I'll share in a second, but the big idea is how do you start with the algorithm. I'll give you those measurements.
audience. This is the missed opportunity. Some of to hack the algorithm than we are hacking our audience which is like language today. I don't know what's going on. I'm just a little passionate
about this stuff cuz I think there's such an opportunity. But like hack your audience. Start with them. Like how deeply and well do you really after so much so that you can make a video that would be curated just for
that person because the algorithm's, whatever you think of it, has is more sophisticated and dialed in than ever. Especially on the YouTube platform, there's not just one algorithm. There's like thousands. There's like 80 billion
pieces of information that YouTube says they're like scrubbing and collecting and monitoring that are called viewer signals. And so the more clear you get on your audience, the easier you make it for the algorithm to know who to serve
here on a podcast episode and I understand it's a lot harder to live out doing that." But this is why, okay, we go back to the 50/50 rule because you And then there's the do you understand your audience from a content creation
thumbnail for them. What how to open your content? What's It's almost like forget about the algorithm again. Okay, they got first 30 all that's there and it's true, but pursue your audience and the algorithm
That's part of the benefit of this new era is follow is interest media. What who are you? >> [laughter] that you can lean into your polarizing points of view so that you stick out so
that you do actually repel the wrong people and you would attract the right people. When it comes to the platform side though, algorithm. Okay, what are some measurements that I can use? How do I know that I'm getting satisfied views?
probably heard before. So it's like, okay, yeah, let's look at click-through duration, especially average view duration I feel like is a really good percentage viewed. It's like, oh yeah, like on average how
long do people hang with me via minutes or via percentages? know, you can look at likes, you can look at how people engage in the platform, but lately I'm convinced that one of the best places to look
audience says. And I'm thinking the comments section and even the posts tab. Shout out to the strategy? Used to be called the community tab. Man, it's a cool place.
You can ask your audience directly. You can do polls. You can have them drop comments. Anywhere where you can get your your viewers actual language in your your viewers actual language in response to something means everything
right now in an interest media age. And so when I go back to Sherry, um who's had that posted that first video and it kind of just went crazy at 77 years old. under that video and it's actually ridiculous in in the best way. Like
there's people that are rallying around what resonated. It's just the comment what resonated. It's just the comment section to me proves that that 50% of the video, the content portion of the video did its job. And its job is to
connect. Its job is to inform. Its job is to educate. Its job is to entertain. Whatever your niche is, the comment section is proof of that creating is actually striking a chord. The topic of the video is about actually
losing her dog at her age. Um which is such like such an emotional like story being herself. But it doesn't take long into that video and Sherry's actually like really meaningful deep stuff about like where she actually is and in her in
I'm not done yet. I still have more to contribute. There's still more left for me to do and I'm finding a new purpose." >> And for a moment, I wondered if I just lost my last great chapter. But I was wrong about that because what
aging, purpose, and what we're still capable of >> And people were rallying around that in the comments. People saying, "I'm not done yet. I'm 75 and I'm widowed. My dog and cat have passed away." I'm reading a
couple of these right now. "I'm and I'm going to foster. I need help I need help to find a lonely dog or cat which will in turn help me." 194 thumbs up on that comment. Another one, "Very inspiring video and I'm 57. As
long as we have a pulse, God has a plan. Very authentic." That comment has 99 thumbs up. The comment section can be proof of satisfied viewership. Okay, so we tracking new era. It's about interest media.
How do we navigate that? 50/50 rule for our content. Optimizing for satisfied ultimately going to lead to. And I got to tell you, if you practice these things, it's just a matter of time. If you just
don't quit. If you just practice these things, you get better. You get more It's just a matter of time before you have a video that over performs. Before you have multiple videos that over perform. And when it does,
something a lot of people don't talk about and honestly, one of the hardest about and honestly, one of the hardest people to coach for me personally, is someone that's jumping into coaching on the other side of over-performance
>> Because, man, that first onboarding call, man, and tell me if you can off for you. Even if that means you're getting 100 views and then you suddenly get like 600. You're like, "What What just happened here?" You know?
And unless it was done intentionally, unless you like knew what you were doing there, which some of us might, but most of us don't, it's hard to recreate it. it. And then it's also like if that video wasn't equipped
views go further, like, "Hey, what's the next video someone actually goes and engagement in the comment section? Did you talk about your freebie or talk about your discovery call? Like, whatever it is, did was that video ready
to handle over-performance? And then were you as the creator ready to handle the over-performance? Because, full disclosure on Sherry, and of our students. We love her to death. But, her next two videos
didn't do what that first video did. The first video like went viral for her. The second two videos, I think the second one is like just over 600 views, and and then the third one's like 600-something views. Like, and I just
want to say that's not a failure at all. It's just the beginning. Sherry's just It she just started, and I don't even think she was ready for that beginning like, "Hey, way to go, Sherry. You started, and now it's like Now we're in
it." The work continues. The big videos do their work. The smaller ones do, too. And I think Sherry has a lot more of well. And this is actually why I'm stoked, because Sean and I are putting
stoked, because Sean and I are putting together a one video away workshop, an hanging out in Zoom, not on some live stream, and we're going to be walking super deep on everything we've talked about, helping you do everything. It's a
walking through the next video You even should make based on the goals you even want to achieve, identifying that next video that could be the one for you. everything we've talked about, pressure testing it, and honestly pressure
mean, just to make sure that hey, you leave this event sure with like your next video architected with us, but also that you leave the event as a creator who knows what to do when that one video away hits. You can head over to
myytplan.com. Links in the description or the show Links in the description or the show notes down below, but myytplan.com. In full disclosure, this is a paid workshop. This is $47 because of how
high-touch it is. It's you, me, Sean, our team inside of a Zoom room together. bringing our private coaching to you because of this new era that we're in. over again. Sherry's just one example of many people who, by the way, it doesn't
have to be your first video. It's just your next video. Creators that are learning these things and within a week, literally within an upload, tweaking and changing things and finding videos that over perform, which by the way, part of
on. Sure, we're all about views and we're going to help you engineer for because I made a YouTube video, what actually happens? So, especially if you're a coach, consultant, a business owner, if you're selling something and
you want your YouTubes and you want your YouTube videos to point people to that to actually convert, to actually get people into your products and services. If you're a serious creator, this event is handcrafted for you. We haven't done
stoked about it and again, you can find out information at myytplan.com. Nathan S Wine and I can't wait to connect with you in a future episode.