6 Audience Retention Tactics Genius YouTubers Use

[00:00] what's a good audience retention rate to

[00:02] go for 70% that's what you need if it's

[00:04] below that figure out how to get higher

[00:05] 70% do even the best creators get those

[00:08] kind of

[00:10] [Music]

[00:12] numbers well they do here's an audence

[00:15] retention graph from one of Mr BEAST's

[00:17] video and one from Logan Paul's video

[00:19] now there are two things to notice here

[00:21] one overall both the creators were able

[00:23] to get a retention rate between 60 to

[00:26] 80% two if you notice a 30second mark

[00:29] both the creat were able to retain 75 to

[00:31] 85% of Their audience within the first

[00:33] 30 seconds which is phenomenal so I

[00:36] decided to watch hours of their content

[00:38] and connect the dots between viewer

[00:40] psychology Creator tactics and the

[00:42] evolution of Hollywood films and in this

[00:44] video I'll talk about one why do viewers

[00:47] drop off two what do top creators do to

[00:50] keep their viewers hooked and three why

[00:52] do those retention tactics actually work

[00:55] what's the science behind them for those

[00:57] who are new to the world of content

[00:59] audence retention explains how well was

[01:01] your video able to retain the attention

[01:03] of the viewers during the course of the

[01:04] video for example a 10-minute video with

[01:07] a 60% audience retention rate means that

[01:10] typically a viewer was watching that

[01:12] video for about 6

[01:14] minutes now that we have the basics out

[01:16] of the way let's jump to why audience

[01:18] retention as a metric is so important

[01:21] audience retention combined with the

[01:22] click-through rate has an impact on how

[01:25] many views your video will be getting

[01:27] there are other factors as well but as

[01:28] Mr Beast explains it in this video I

[01:31] think YouTube just wants people to click

[01:32] on a video and watch it to me what's

[01:35] important is Click theate getting people

[01:37] to click on your video and then average

[01:39] view duration average view percentage or

[01:40] just relative retention and you know

[01:42] having them watch it in this clip

[01:45] getting clicks refers to getting a good

[01:47] clickthrough rate on your title and your

[01:49] thumbnail and the second Factor about

[01:51] views talks about increasing your watch

[01:53] time both factors combined it signals

[01:55] the algorithm that this video is worth

[01:57] promoting to a bigger audience so what

[01:59] really makes makes viewers drop off from

[02:01] a video to understand this we need to

[02:03] think about the viewer's journey no

[02:05] matter where the viewer gets exposed to

[02:06] the title or the thumbnail of your video

[02:08] the purpose of these two elements

[02:10] Remains the Same which is to make a

[02:11] promise and that promise sets an

[02:13] expected payoff in the minds of the

[02:15] viewers if you think in terms of a graph

[02:17] as long as the expected payoff value is

[02:19] high that is close to one the viewers

[02:21] will continue to watch the video the

[02:23] moment the tune out or start doubting

[02:25] the expected value of the video they

[02:27] drop off so as creators our goal is to

[02:30] proactively address those doubts so the

[02:31] million-dollar question is what are

[02:33] those doubts and when do they kick in so

[02:35] the first doubt kicks in almost right

[02:38] after the viewer clicks on the video is

[02:40] the video about what I think it is to

[02:43] tackle this doubt the top creators rely

[02:45] on a couple of tactics the first tactic

[02:47] is to maintain visual consistency

[02:50] between the thumbnail and the first 5

[02:52] Seconds of the video to see this in

[02:54] action let's jump to YouTube's homepage

[02:56] and take a look at one of Mr BEAST's

[02:58] video if you notice what Mr Beast does

[03:00] here is that the first 5 Seconds of the

[03:02] video literally open up from the

[03:04] thumbnail itself thanks to YouTube's

[03:06] Sleek ux the viewer is able to get a

[03:08] sneak peek of the video without even

[03:10] clicking on it or even hearing any of

[03:12] the audio this convinces the viewer that

[03:14] the title or the thumbnail is not a

[03:16] clickbait and the video is exactly what

[03:18] they think it is about the consistency

[03:20] across these three elements that is the

[03:22] title the thumbnail and the first 5

[03:24] Seconds of the video they help set the

[03:25] right expected payoff in the minds of

[03:27] the viewers and that gives them a reason

[03:29] not to drop off within the first 5

[03:31] Seconds of the video so in our next

[03:32] video we need to make sure that there is

[03:34] some level of consistency between the

[03:36] title the thumbnail and the first 5

[03:38] Seconds of the video and bonus points if

[03:41] you overlay some keywords within the

[03:42] first 5 Seconds of the video because the

[03:44] viewers don't really hear the audio when

[03:46] they get a sneak peek of the video on

[03:48] YouTube's homepage the second tactic

[03:50] related to this doubt is to reinforce

[03:53] the base concept right at the start of

[03:55] the video let's listen to the very first

[03:57] sentence of these videos from some of

[03:59] the top here do I'm going to spend the

[04:01] next 7 Days buried alive under 20,000 lb

[04:04] of dirt off the world you've been

[04:06] hearing about F12 right cool let's talk

[04:09] about it have you ever wondered what it

[04:10] would be like to drive across the

[04:12] country using only Tesla autopipe here

[04:14] are some of the things we'll be looking

[04:16] at I'm about to spend $30,000 in the

[04:18] next 5 minutes buying the most

[04:20] futuristic Tech on the internet and then

[04:21] we're going to test it to find out if it

[04:23] actually is the future or if it's all

[04:25] just marketing nonsense do you see a

[04:26] pattern you got that right it's as

[04:28] simple as clear clearly calling out what

[04:30] the video is about as long as it ties

[04:33] back to the expectations set by the

[04:34] title and the thumbnail you just

[04:36] reinforce the expected payoff value so

[04:38] how can we use this tactic as a general

[04:41] rule of thumb within the first few

[04:42] sentences clearly articulate what the

[04:44] video is about moving on to the next

[04:46] doubt which is is there anything unique

[04:48] about this video to address this doubt

[04:51] the creators do two things the first

[04:53] thing that the creators do is they don't

[04:55] tell but show the viewers why this is a

[04:57] video that they just can't miss

[05:00] depending on the genre of the video the

[05:02] execution of this tactic will change a

[05:03] bit for example in the grand challenges

[05:06] genre Mr Beast relies on showing what is

[05:08] at stake or giving a glimpse of

[05:10] something extraordinary to get you

[05:12] hooked whereas in the edutainment genre

[05:14] like explainer videos done by Cleo abam

[05:17] she gives a glimpse into an interview or

[05:19] an interesting Insight that was done to

[05:21] create that particular video the idea

[05:23] being that depending on your genre and

[05:25] the audience that you have you give them

[05:27] a trailer of sorts of what's to follow

[05:29] in that video and why this video is

[05:31] unmissable so when you're planning for

[05:33] your next video and thinking about the

[05:35] visuals that you would have at the start

[05:36] of the video think about how can you

[05:38] give a trailer visually of what the

[05:40] video would include some high notes of

[05:42] it without revealing the entire thing if

[05:44] it's a challenge video then probably you

[05:46] can tease the viewers by mentioning

[05:48] about the secondary Stakes or if it's a

[05:49] product review video mention that apart

[05:52] from the review itself you will talk

[05:53] about one relatively unknown feature of

[05:56] the product which will keep the expected

[05:58] payoff value super high high and give

[06:00] them a reason to stick around and watch

[06:01] the rest of the video going back to the

[06:03] second out which was about is there

[06:05] anything unique in this video here's the

[06:07] second thing that the top creators do

[06:09] which is they over stimulate the viewers

[06:11] with a lot of visuals I did some

[06:14] research on this and for that I watched

[06:16] hours of content from some of the top

[06:18] creators to understand how do they

[06:20] really construct the first 30 seconds of

[06:22] their video here are the top three

[06:25] insights number one they change the shot

[06:27] in some manner or form every 1.7 7

[06:29] Seconds number two on average they were

[06:32] about 19 shots in the first 30 seconds

[06:34] and number three less than 1 in five

[06:36] shots was a simple talking head kind of

[06:39] a shot or b-roll footage reinforcing the

[06:41] base concept of the video mind you this

[06:43] included creators from all kinds of

[06:45] genas productivity explainer challenge

[06:48] you name it the idea is to throw a

[06:50] barrage of hooks at the viewer with the

[06:52] hopes that they would latch onto one of

[06:53] them which would instantly Drive the

[06:55] payoff value of the video and keep them

[06:57] watching the video so when you Crea in

[06:59] your next video during the editing phase

[07:02] do a few things number one literally

[07:04] count the number of times you're

[07:05] changing your shot during the first 30

[07:07] seconds aim to get an average short

[07:10] length duration to somewhere around 2

[07:13] seconds or less number two check what

[07:15] percentage of your shots are actually

[07:17] you talking to the camera directly try

[07:20] to have your face in less than 20% of

[07:22] the shots in the first 30 seconds on

[07:24] that note I would like to know how many

[07:26] shots on average do you have in the

[07:27] first 30 seconds of your video you can

[07:29] put that number in the comment section

[07:31] now if you were able to retain your

[07:33] viewer within the first 30 seconds of

[07:35] the video you have won half the battle

[07:38] as the probability of viewers dropping

[07:39] off from this point on declines

[07:41] significantly thanks to a psychological

[07:44] concept called the sunk cost fallacy

[07:47] where in the context of the viewer the

[07:49] longer they have watched the video for

[07:51] the more resistance they feel in

[07:53] dropping off from the video mainly

[07:55] because the time that they have invested

[07:56] in watching the video till that point

[07:59] and and with that we jump to the main

[08:01] doubt that viewers have is there

[08:03] anything else left to watch in this

[08:04] video this is way I noticed the genius

[08:06] Creator is doing something very

[08:08] different versus the other creators the

[08:10] first thing that the top creators do

[08:12] very deliberately is breaking sensory

[08:14] monotony using various pattern

[08:16] interrupts and there's a wide range of

[08:18] tools to choose from the most common one

[08:21] is to change the background in this

[08:23] video you will notice how vanisa Lao

[08:25] breaks the visual monotony by simply

[08:27] changing the setting in which she's

[08:28] filming herself the next one is text

[08:31] overlays in this video you will notice

[08:33] how Ali abdal relies on literally a

[08:35] slide to kind of reinforce the concepts

[08:38] that he's talking about the next one is

[08:40] much simpler to execute it's just about

[08:42] switching between different camera

[08:44] angles this is something saman Colin

[08:46] heavily rely on to break the visual

[08:47] monotony for the viewers another

[08:49] commonly used method is by relying on

[08:51] b-roll footage like Cleo does in this

[08:54] video if you notice in this video she's

[08:56] just not talking about the concept but

[08:58] also visually displaying what the

[09:01] concept really is about do you know

[09:03] where else do we see this in

[09:04] action Hollywood as per research by

[09:08] psychologist at Cornell University the

[09:10] average short length of English movies

[09:12] in the last 8 years has declined from 12

[09:14] seconds all the way down to 2.5 seconds

[09:17] today the only purpose of doing this is

[09:19] to hold the attention of the viewers

[09:21] much better to action this you can do it

[09:23] in Two Steps step one Beyond The

[09:25] 30second Mark take a look at your edit

[09:28] overall make sure sure there's something

[09:30] changing every 5 to 10 seconds step two

[09:33] ask one of your friends to watch the

[09:35] rough edit of your video see where

[09:37] exactly do they lose their focus in the

[09:39] video and check if a pattern interrupt

[09:42] may be the solution for it or even if

[09:45] you are required to trim down the video

[09:46] from that particular segment that may be

[09:49] the next step next going back to solving

[09:51] for the same doubt is there anything

[09:53] more that I need to watch in this video

[09:55] the second tactic that these stop

[09:56] creators use is that they augment the

[09:58] main story with a suppot here's what Mr

[10:01] Beast has to say on this it's very hard

[10:04] with a single storyline if you're doing

[10:06] like a double digit minute video to just

[10:07] have that one thing grip their entire

[10:10] attention throughout the whole video and

[10:12] pay off at the end um so typically if

[10:14] you're doing a longer video you should

[10:15] introduce like a Side Story and like re

[10:18] you should have some plan halfway

[10:19] through like to re-engage them so they

[10:21] don't just get bored you know what I

[10:22] mean like and let's see how Mr Beast

[10:24] implements this in his own videos I tied

[10:27] up an FBI agent if he steals this

[10:29] $100,000 from me before midnight he

[10:31] keeps it so that's the main concept of

[10:33] the video the subplot of the video is

[10:36] now there's a giant telephone pole

[10:38] blocking the exit we're now at the Hedge

[10:39] base and I got the $100,000 we're

[10:41] heading to Walmart where I'm going to

[10:42] try to blend in with normal people

[10:44] there's a pickax back here and while

[10:46] they're inside searching for me you need

[10:47] to pop all the tires on their car to

[10:49] strand them and you were thinking this

[10:50] would not apply to an explainer video

[10:52] take a look at this one in this video

[10:54] Cleo's main story line is the tool I'm

[10:57] using isn't going to go find pictures on

[10:59] line and then collage them together it's

[11:01] going to create a brand new image you've

[11:03] probably heard of this thing it's a form

[11:05] of artificial intelligence called do do

[11:08] it's called do 2 image generating

[11:11] artificial intelligence and a upla is we

[11:14] set up a little competition I think we

[11:16] should try and do a city skyline without

[11:21] AI first and then we should do like the

[11:24] AI version the absolute best

[11:26] storytellers make their stories engaging

[11:28] by having a sub plot within their base

[11:30] plot as a Creator during the concept

[11:32] phase think about what can be a subplot

[11:35] that can help you drive the main story

[11:37] line for each genre the execution of

[11:40] this concept may look different but that

[11:41] is when you need to look at how are the

[11:43] top creators in your Niche implementing

[11:45] this concept and it may give you some

[11:47] ideas if you like the video so far hit

[11:49] the like And subscribe button because I

[11:50] plan on making more such videos and I

[11:52] want you to be the first one to know

[11:53] about it feel free to use this graphic

[11:55] when you're planning for your next video

[11:57] you can download it from the link in the

[11:59] description for absolutely free until

[12:01] then see you in the next video