[0:00] Put the most extraordinary thing of your
[0:02] video as close to the start as possible
[0:05] to prove that your video is special
[0:07] before anyone even thinks to click off.
[0:09] Here, check out this classic Mr. Beast
[0:11] intro.
[0:13] >> WOULD YOU RISK PARTY LIFE FOR HALF A
[0:15] MILLION DOLLARS?
[0:16] >> YES, THANKS.
[0:17] >> OKAY, GOOD LUCK, MAN. YOU'RE BRAVER.
[0:18] >> What's happening in this intro is the
[0:21] definition of extraordinary. Most
[0:23] creators save the best thing of their
[0:25] video for last, saying in their intro,
[0:28] "Watch to the end to see X," and then
[0:30] only like 20% of viewers actually make
[0:32] it to the end. But tell me, what's a
[0:34] better hook? A promise that your video
[0:36] is special, or proof that your video is
[0:39] special? You see, you always want to
[0:41] grab attention with the most
[0:43] attentiongrabbing thing you can offer to
[0:46] prove that your video is worth people's
[0:49] time. Now, there's 17 more tactics to
[0:51] get your audience to watch your videos
[0:52] to the end. If you've been wondering
[0:54] what it's going to take to get your next
[0:56] video to finally take off, then you need
[0:58] to know all of these, or else your
[1:00] audience retention is going to suck. You
[1:02] see, the best creators have mastered all
[1:03] of these tactics, and in the next 15
[1:06] minutes or so, you're going to know them
[1:07] all, too. Number two, have infectious
[1:10] enthusiasm. Pay really close attention
[1:12] to how this creator, Vsauce, speaks in
[1:14] his videos.
[1:16] >> Hey, Vsauce, Michael here. A single
[1:19] piece of refined flour is on average
[1:21] just 82.67 microns wide. That means a
[1:25] five pound bag.
[1:26] >> The raw enthusiasm of the creator
[1:29] convinces you that the creator must have
[1:31] something genuinely special to share. So
[1:34] you're curious and you're excited to
[1:36] hear it. And even if you're a creator
[1:37] that no one's heard of before,
[1:39] enthusiasm causes a ton of trust.
[1:42] >> How to make pickle Pepsi at home. Guess
[1:47] how many views that video has? It has 8
[1:50] million views. And that's largely
[1:52] because the creator's enthusiasm
[1:55] convinces people that he must have
[1:57] something worth sharing. By the way, I'm
[1:59] not expecting you to somehow remember
[2:01] each and every one of these tactics and
[2:03] somehow apply all of them perfectly to
[2:05] your next video. So, what I made is an
[2:07] infographic that you can print out and
[2:08] then it's just got the summary of each
[2:10] of these tactics. And then I've also put
[2:11] together some advice on there for how to
[2:13] study these further and then once you
[2:15] get to work on your video, how to apply
[2:17] them accurately. So I put a link to how
[2:18] to get that in the pinned comment or
[2:20] first link in the description. Anyway,
[2:22] on to the next tactic. Number three,
[2:24] never let the viewer feel like they know
[2:26] enough about a subject. I'm going to use
[2:28] an example from one of my videos. So I
[2:30] want you to see how before I begin
[2:32] explaining something, I first tell the
[2:35] viewer what they're missing by not
[2:36] knowing it. Look at this timeline. We've
[2:39] been talking about all these ways to
[2:41] make the video visually addicting to
[2:43] watch, but we've been leaving out the
[2:46] other half of the video. There is a
[2:48] whole another sense for your viewer to
[2:50] experience the video in. You see,
[2:52] audience retention can really be broken
[2:54] down into just one sentence. Maintain
[2:57] constant clarity in the viewer's mind as
[3:00] to what they'll miss out on if they stop
[3:02] watching. To drive this home, here's one
[3:04] more example. You can pause and read it
[3:06] if you want to, but what I'm focused on
[3:08] is the cadence at which Vsauce is
[3:11] sharing a fun fact, then asking a
[3:13] question, then sharing the next fun
[3:15] fact. Because he keeps asking you these
[3:17] really thoughtprovoking questions, you
[3:20] never feel like you know enough about
[3:22] the subject. Number four, introduce an
[3:24] antagonist to the story to create a
[3:27] constant threat of failure and ongoing
[3:29] dramatic conflict. Now, Dreams Minecraft
[3:32] Manhunts are the absolute perfect
[3:34] example of this. This video, I try and
[3:37] speedrun and beat Minecraft while two of
[3:39] my friends try and stop me. Last video,
[3:41] I beat one hunter easily. Now, I move on
[3:43] to phase two.
[3:44] >> By trying to reach a goal, beating
[3:46] Minecraft while people are hunting you
[3:48] down to try and stop you. So many boxes
[3:51] of entertainment are checked off.
[3:53] There's an underdog to root for, the
[3:56] thrill of competition, a series of
[3:59] imposing challenges to get the audience
[4:01] worried only for the protagonist to
[4:03] creatively conquer them in novel awesome
[4:06] ways. You see, I can't wait to do an
[4:07] analysis of a full dream Minecraft
[4:09] manhunt video. So, go ahead and
[4:12] subscribe if you're excited to see that
[4:13] as well. Number five, make the parts of
[4:15] the story that lack conflict go by as
[4:18] quickly as possible. Here's Mark Robbert
[4:20] doing this in a video of him building a
[4:23] maze for squirrels.
[4:25] >> After a year of ruminating on how to
[4:27] avenge that L with a majorly improved
[4:29] version and then two months of planning,
[4:32] my buddy John and I got together for a
[4:34] 20 second build montage.
[4:37] Now, even though a very significant
[4:39] duration of the story was that planning
[4:42] and building phase of the backyard maze,
[4:44] Mark Robber summarized all of that into
[4:47] just 30 seconds. so that way the video
[4:50] could get to the exciting part as soon
[4:52] as possible. Now, this next tactic is
[4:54] honestly pretty hard to spot. So, I want
[4:56] to first show you the example just so
[4:58] you can see how hidden in plain sight it
[5:00] is. So, watch this really closely and
[5:02] tell me what specifically is smart about
[5:04] the question that Marcus asks at the
[5:07] start of this video's intro.
[5:10] All right, so you've seen the unboxing.
[5:13] Now, it's time for the breakdown. What
[5:15] is using the Apple Vision Pro actually
[5:19] like? Marcus begins the video by asking
[5:21] the question that's on everyone's minds.
[5:24] You see, later in the intro, he lists
[5:26] the fascinating facts about the Apple
[5:28] Vision Pro as well as promising there's
[5:30] both details that are absolutely
[5:32] incredible and also some bad stuff. And
[5:35] all of that is just to get us more
[5:36] interested in the Vision Pro. But to
[5:39] begin the discussion, he asked the most
[5:43] broadly appealing question. What is
[5:45] using the Apple Vision Pro actually
[5:49] like?
[5:49] >> Number seven, bring up a common pain
[5:52] point before solving it with a lesson.
[5:54] Check out how in this intro, Johnny
[5:56] Harris says to you, "I understand your
[5:58] problem.
[5:59] >> How to buy the best maps in 2025. You're
[6:02] doing it wrong. You're still using this
[6:04] to navigate life. Embarrassing.
[6:09] I'm so bored right now and I truly hate
[6:12] the way it feels. You're probably bored,
[6:14] too. You clicked on this video trying to
[6:16] feel less bored and all you've got is a
[6:18] guy scrolling on his phone alone in a
[6:20] room here. Let me see if I can help with
[6:23] that.
[6:25] Is this better?
[6:27] Good. It's not just you and me. It's
[6:29] everyone. Now, you can do this whether
[6:31] it's the intro or later in the video.
[6:34] You want to look for those common
[6:36] problems that people have and then prove
[6:39] that you understand them. This causes as
[6:42] many people as possible to care as much
[6:44] as possible about what you have to say,
[6:46] which is exactly what you want. So, do
[6:48] this throughout your video as well as
[6:50] just in the intro. Just whenever you see
[6:52] an opportunity to do it. Number eight,
[6:54] introduce a time limit to cause urgency
[6:57] and a threat of failure, which makes
[6:59] things much more thrilling and dramatic.
[7:02] Mr. Beast does this all the time because
[7:05] it's just so powerful. Here's an example
[7:07] of a time limit.
[7:08] >> What do you think we're about to do?
[7:09] >> Blow up this money if I don't get
[7:10] something accomplished here in a fast
[7:12] amount of time.
[7:13] >> Correct. Basically, you will have
[7:15] exactly 5 minutes to throw this
[7:17] grappling hook
[7:18] >> and drag as many bags of money as you
[7:21] can back onto the bed of this truck.
[7:24] WHEN THAT 5MINUT timer hits zero,
[7:27] that meteor, which will be on fire, is
[7:30] going to crash into this room full of
[7:32] fireworks with your money. Adding a time
[7:34] limit is one of the easiest ways to turn
[7:37] some boring video of you just doing
[7:39] something into some thrilling challenge
[7:42] for you to defeat. Number nine, develop
[7:44] a mystery to cause curiosity. In a video
[7:47] that Ryan Tran made about exploring a
[7:49] cruise ship, at around 3 minutes 45
[7:52] seconds, he introduces this mysterious
[7:55] room, but he doesn't show us what it is.
[7:58] Check this out. And on my way to it, I
[8:01] stumbled across something weird. What
[8:04] room is that?
[8:07] Why are there giant paw prints? Is there
[8:10] a dog in there?
[8:11] >> And then look, he brings it up again 6
[8:13] minutes later.
[8:21] This gives the viewers something to
[8:23] wonder about. So, if they left your
[8:24] video early, they'd have unanswered
[8:27] questions. And look, here's how you can
[8:29] use this tactic in your intros to create
[8:31] highly captivating hooks. Look at how
[8:33] Mark Robber introduces a mystery at the
[8:35] start of his video.
[8:38] I texted this clip to my wife, who
[8:39] wanted proof I wasn't doing anything
[8:41] stupid on a recent trip to the Bahamas.
[8:43] Now, if you're wondering what my feet
[8:44] are doing in sharkinfested waters with a
[8:46] bucket of blood.
[8:48] >> Yeah, those are literally the most
[8:49] intriguing exceptional details he
[8:51] possibly could have brought up, and he
[8:53] did that right at the start of the
[8:54] video. Number 10, share the stakes of
[8:57] something to increase the drama. Check
[8:59] this out.
[9:00] >> But first, why are you trying so hard to
[9:03] land in the fire and add an extra
[9:05] $50,000 to your prize pool?
[9:07] >> My dad's health has been an up and down
[9:09] roller coaster from some cancer to
[9:11] health stuff. this is something that I
[9:13] can use to really invest into giving
[9:15] them a good retirement and helping with
[9:16] their health.
[9:17] >> Mr. Beast not only puts hundreds of
[9:20] thousands of dollars at stake, but tends
[9:22] to ask his contestants to share why it's
[9:24] important for them specifically to win.
[9:26] This makes the audience actually care
[9:28] about what happens. But now, you don't
[9:31] need to put a bunch of money on the line
[9:33] to have stakes in your video. Look at
[9:35] how Ryan adds stakes to this video.
[9:38] >> I bet you can't last a few hours in one
[9:40] of these. Okay, he might be right, but
[9:43] I'm too insecure to accept that. So, I
[9:45] bet him that I could. And whoever loses
[9:47] the bet has to paint themselves green
[9:49] and say in front of all of you,
[9:50] >> "What are you doing in my swamp on
[9:53] camera?"
[9:54] >> Number 11. If things ever get stale,
[9:56] just introduce a new challenge to beat.
[9:58] On that same video of Ryan exploring a
[10:00] cruise ship, he does this at 8 minutes
[10:02] and 45 seconds. Today might have been
[10:06] the best day ever. I made three new
[10:08] friends, Lily, Aaron, and Lorie. It's
[10:11] very likely that none of them know each
[10:12] other, which makes me the nucleus of our
[10:14] little community. If I can take this
[10:16] nucleus of myself and build up enough of
[10:19] a community on this cruise ship, I can
[10:21] throw the coolest party of all time. In
[10:23] addition to exploring an awesome cruise
[10:25] ship, there's now a somewhat challenging
[10:27] objective, giving the audience more to
[10:29] look forward to and also something that
[10:31] could fail. Number 12, pay attention to
[10:34] the natural variations in tone within
[10:37] the underlying content of your video.
[10:40] and then enhance those emotions through
[10:42] editing choices such as the music
[10:44] choice, clip duration, and sound design
[10:46] here. The music choice in this dream
[10:48] video was excellent. Check it out.
[10:58] >> Wait, what?
[10:59] >> Stop.
[11:00] >> George, where are you? George, where are
[11:01] you? Why are you useless? Like, I
[11:02] actually hate
[11:03] >> But this is not just a strategy for
[11:05] storytellers. Look how Vsauce does this
[11:08] in a video that's just about explaining
[11:10] stuff.
[11:10] >> But out of all of these people, out of
[11:12] everyone who has ever existed, this is
[11:15] how many you will ever meet. You are a
[11:19] stranger to your own species. This is a
[11:22] video about how you will be forgotten.
[11:24] >> In both of these examples, the creator
[11:26] switched which music track was playing
[11:28] so that at all times the music was
[11:30] perfectly representing the mood of that
[11:32] moment. Number 13, have something to
[11:35] look forward to and maintain clear
[11:37] progression towards it. Look how Ryan
[11:40] does this in his video about exploring a
[11:42] cruise ship where I boarded and made my
[11:45] way to the cheapest room on this entire
[11:47] boat.
[11:53] Wa.
[11:59] So, this is the economy room on this
[12:01] cruise ship, which is crazy. Brian
[12:03] begins the video with the lamest part of
[12:05] the cruise and explores progressively
[12:08] more awesome rooms. Now, you could also
[12:10] do a top 10 or make the challenge
[12:13] increase in difficulty, like in Mr.
[12:15] Beast's Last to Leave the Circle videos,
[12:17] or in general, just have a clear goal
[12:20] that the video is working towards.
[12:22] Number 14, share what might go wrong to
[12:25] cause dramatic suspense and curiosity.
[12:27] Check out how Mr. Beast does this.
[12:30] >> Pull the pin.
[12:32] >> OH.
[12:32] >> OH.
[12:34] >> OH GOD. HE MISSED. WE ARE CLOSE.
[12:36] >> He landed in between the yellow circle
[12:38] and the ring of fire. Meaning if that
[12:40] was you, the video wouldn't be over and
[12:42] you would have got nothing.
[12:44] >> Yeah.
[12:44] >> Jimmy steps in to clarify what might go
[12:46] wrong and also the stakes. And then
[12:48] here's another example at 10 minutes 41.
[12:51] >> Those aren't real fireworks. They're not
[12:53] a problem. When that meteor falls, the
[12:55] explosions going to be insane. I'm kind
[12:56] of scared. And here's an example of Ryan
[12:58] Tran doing this.
[13:00] >> Good sailing weather.
[13:02] >> Love to hear that the Icelandic ocean is
[13:04] literally freezing and I also can't
[13:06] swim. So they give us this life vest
[13:08] that gives you
[13:09] >> 1 hour to live in the winter time.
[13:12] >> So you always want to tell the viewer
[13:14] what would happen if things failed and
[13:17] tell them all the reasons that things
[13:19] could fail. This maximizes the
[13:21] uncertainty and fear of the audience,
[13:24] getting your viewers on the tips of
[13:25] their seats. Number 15, maintain perfect
[13:29] clarity for what's happening so the
[13:31] audience always stays immersed rather
[13:33] than sometimes getting confused. For
[13:36] example, in Ryan Trey's video about
[13:38] sensory deprivation, he steps in to add
[13:41] some extra context. Check it out.
[13:44] >> The duck woke me up and now it's time to
[13:45] turn off the lights. the light.
[13:54] >> Turning off the lights added a
[13:56] completely new element to this that I
[13:58] genuinely didn't expect to be that
[13:59] dramatic, but it was. Notice how he
[14:01] added a voice over to clarify where we
[14:04] are at in the story and spark up some
[14:06] curiosity at the same time. And now,
[14:08] what other retention tactic was in that
[14:10] clip that we were just talking about
[14:11] like a minute ago? He's progressively
[14:14] eliminating more senses. So, the video
[14:17] is constantly getting more interesting.
[14:20] Number 16, introduce competition to
[14:23] cause drama, curiosity, and excitement.
[14:26] Mr. Beast often uses this because
[14:29] competition between people or sports
[14:31] teams or anything is just fundamentally
[14:34] entertaining.
[14:37] >> Oh, he almost got out of the first one.
[14:40] Okay, they're off. So far, no one is
[14:42] out. We are going until only one
[14:44] remains. THIS IS GOING TO GET US ONE
[14:46] STEP CLOSER TO THE FINAL FOUR.
[14:48] >> You can easily add a competitive element
[14:50] to just about anything. Look how Joshua
[14:53] Weissman made food compete with food.
[14:55] >> So, today we're going to make Taste and
[14:57] Rank the most popular breakfast in every
[14:59] single state in America.
[15:01] >> In both examples, you're curious who or
[15:04] what wins, and there's a dramatic
[15:06] conflict to drive the scenes forward.
[15:08] Number 17, highlight something
[15:11] counterintuitive or surprising to cause
[15:13] curiosity. Here's Vsauce doing this in
[15:16] one of his intros.
[15:18] >> But it made me think, we can send
[15:20] satellites into orbit and people to the
[15:22] moon and predict solar eclipses
[15:25] thousands of years into the future, but
[15:28] yet we cannot reliably predict which way
[15:31] the wind will be blowing in the next
[15:33] hour or so. As a creator, it's your job
[15:37] to seek out these counterintuitive,
[15:39] surprising, and unexpected things. Why?
[15:42] because those things always warrant an
[15:44] explanation. Content is much like a
[15:47] conversation with a viewer, and the best
[15:50] conversation starters are the ones that
[15:52] get people curious. Number 18, create a
[15:55] highlight reel of the best moments of
[15:58] the story or the best information that
[16:00] you have to share. This one,
[16:01] unfortunately, can't be shown in a short
[16:04] clip, but this video was an excellent
[16:07] example.
[16:08] before launching myself off the top rope
[16:10] at Wrestlemania
[16:13] and securing the first win of my career.
[16:17] You might have seen the card I was
[16:19] wearing around my neck. The story itself
[16:21] spanned months and multiple countries,
[16:23] yet was neatly packaged in a 9-minute
[16:27] emotional roller coaster ride. But it
[16:29] doesn't take a big budget to go viral.
[16:31] Look at how I Did a Thing got even more
[16:34] views than Logan by just creating a
[16:36] wooden spoon. He also turned a big
[16:38] project with setbacks and victories and
[16:40] funny moments into a 9-minute emotional
[16:43] roller coaster ride. And which tactics
[16:44] can you already see present in this
[16:46] video before you even watch it? Pause
[16:49] the video right now and count them up.
[16:50] So, first, there's a goal to beat a
[16:52] challenge for the video to maintain that
[16:55] constant clear progression towards. And
[16:58] also, the challenge is something
[17:00] unexpected. It it creates the question,
[17:02] is this even possible? This video didn't
[17:04] take a big budget at all. It was just
[17:07] about finding clever ideas to apply the
[17:09] retention tactics that got it to 13
[17:12] million views. And so I hope these
[17:13] tactics helped out a lot. And then if
[17:15] you want some more help getting them
[17:17] just remembering all of them and being
[17:18] able to apply them to your videos, then
[17:20] I made that infographic for you. You can
[17:22] sign up to uh my email list for free and
[17:24] then get that graphic. And then I'm
[17:26] starting a newsletter for just some more
[17:28] advanced advice and stuff for for
[17:30] growing your channel. So if you want
[17:31] some more free tips, then sign up for
[17:33] that. And then I need your help for just
[17:35] knowing what you want help learning. So
[17:38] if you sign up to the newsletter, then
[17:39] you can just reply to the emails I send
[17:41] to you and ask for more stuff that you
[17:45] want to learn about. And then I can be
[17:46] much more consistent with giving lessons
[17:48] over email. So sign up for that. And
[17:50] then if you haven't seen the clickbait
[17:51] version of this video where I talk about
[17:53] the click-through rate tactics, then go
[17:55] ahead and click here and you can see all
[17:57] I think there's 25 or 26 clickbait
[17:59] tactics. So go check that out.