Why bread and butter content beats exploration

...regardless of what others might tell you

Views on my YouTube channel have been pretty turbulent this summer. It’s the same for most creators in the tech space. We’re treated to pockets of huge views and engagement throughout the year (most notably during the fourth quarter) but have to accept that things can get very quiet during the off-season.

For yours truly, that often results in a desire to experiment a little and try out new stuff. However, YouTube doesn’t reward experimentation; if you become successful on the platform, it railroads you firmly into the niche and expertise from which you’ve previously drawn a crowd. And this means that any form of experimentation lands like a fart in a crowded lift.

This leads me to an inevitable conclusion about success on YouTube. You may or may not like it.

This week, I received this message from YouTube about a video we recently published.

This is extremely good news. It’s the kind of message I want to see plastered against the analytics for all of my YouTube videos; massive views, tonnes of engagement, and placement in front of many potential new subscribers.

The video in question is my take on Apple’s AirPods Max refresh. It took around thirty minutes to shoot (we used b-roll product footage from an older video) and a fraction of the time to edit versus most of the videos we’ve published this summer. Thanks to Apple’s tepid update to its over-ear headphones and the immediate backlash that ensued, there was a lot to talk about and plenty of engagement from the audience to be had.

As a result, the video has, to date, clocked up 32,000 views and 3,500 hours of watchtime - in two days. It has also brought in 248 new subscribers, 326 comments and 1,042 clicks of the like button. It’s still going, too.

It’s a banger, as the kids say. And I’m low-key chuffed with it, as the kids say.

That AirPods Max video has been our best-performing piece of content for quite some time and, you know what? I knew it would be. It was a last-minute decision to publish that video, following Apple’s announcements this week, and it was purely based on intuition and my experience in this niche. There were no fancy edits, and zero attempts at creative storytelling, and the video is about as unique as a Ford Fiesta. I just waffled on about a product I’ve covered numerous times in the past and much of what I said had been said already, by yours truly, numerous times in the past.

Is this lazy? Is it pulling the wool over the eyes of my audience? No, not at all. It’s just playing to my strengths on YouTube and leaning into what works. I enjoyed making that video, and I’m proud of it. More importantly, it has reminded me, once again, that bread and butter content is what we need to be focusing on as a team.

I wish YouTube would allow for more experimentation. It would make the lean months a little less concerning for those for whom YouTube sits at the heart of their business. On the other hand, bread and butter content is extremely easy to make and, therefore, far more profitable. As noted, it can be fun, too; there are, after all, only seven songs. Everything is a remix.

My advice today, therefore - both to you, my lovely audience, and myself - is to focus on what you know works, even if it feels like you’ve made it a thousand times before. Your audience wants it, the platform wants it, and you’ll find lots of new audience members if you make more of it.

And, no, you’re not cheating.