K atie c ouric

CHAPTER 9
GROWTH DRIVERS FOR YOUTUBE
ouTube is one of the hardest platforms on which to grow quickly and on
which to go viral. Similar to Instagram, it’s not set up as an inherently
shareable platform. Similar to SEO, the goal is to rank well enough within
YouTube’s algorithms to get your content filtered to the top of search results
and to be included in suggested viewing.
Jackie Koppell, principal on-camera talent and creator at NewsyNews
and recently chosen by YouTube for the inaugural Women in Comedy
program, is also the former head of talent at AwesomenessTV, a
multiplatform media company. Koppell explains that twenty thousand
subscribers is the minimum amount you need to get the algorithms to pay
attention to you, fifty thousand subscribers to start making money, and a
hundred thousand subscribers to get brands to pay attention to you.
She says that one strategy for growth is to leverage the viral and rapid
growth potential of Facebook to build a large audience and then drive those
fans to follow your YouTube channel. As we have discussed in earlier
chapters, advertising dollars go much further on the Facebook platform than
on YouTube’s advertising platform—they’re a lot cheaper and you can
achieve faster growth. Once you establish rapid growth on Facebook, it
becomes easier to push people to your YouTube channel. Beyond that
strategy, there are other growth and efficiency tactics you can apply on the
YouTube platform itself.
Watch Time Is King

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With YouTube’s algorithms, watch time is king, so the percentage of time
that people watch your videos is more important than how many people
view them. Success is contingent upon creating great, high-quality content
that people want to watch for a long time and upon utilizing strategic
collaborations that help you grow.
Unlike on any of the other platforms, longer content does really well on
YouTube. Joivan Wade, founder of “The Wall of Comedy!” explains that
people will actually come to the platform to watch long pieces of content.
An eight-minute video seems like an optimal amount of time and will be
very well received (if it’s good).
Erick Brownstein of Shareability says that his team thinks YouTube is