What makes a video draw viewers? A more complicated question than you might think

Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
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I ride a
2019 Harley Street Glide Special, 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic (bobber), 1979 Kawasaki KZ650SR
Smarter not harder, John. I don't know how you managed the sheer amount of footage you were taking, I did an 11 day trip and took less footage than you have taken for a single vlog.

I think the attention to detail has really made your style. And I am with Hippo, you are good on camera, there is nothing to be self conscious about there.

The thing is, there are plenty of huge channels, whos editing is what I would call, sub-par, so I don't think the editing makes or breaks vlogs. I think at the end of it all, a compelling story or topic that keep viewers interested is king.

Thanks Dewey - and you're right - compelling story or interesting topic. Most of the time I don't feel like I have that part of it. As for managing the footage... it was a huge grind. Over a year later, and just now I'm taking time off to do other things with my evenings. It's been a TON of hours, more than I care to admit to myself. The # I mentioned in my 1yr vids was just what I could remember. It's probably closer to double that, what with Instagram and the other associated stuff.

yupe, watching good high quality content before editing to get in the mood.
And then never be happy with the end product :rolleyes:

Amen to that! How many times do we back up 5 seconds to see how someone did a transition or something? Then I'm like, "Hey, I gotta try that out!"

Dude, Lego is a life long passion of mine!!!

View attachment 6042

That's awesome! I have to say, I was big into it as a kid, but it fell by the wayside in my teenage years, and only recently - like the last month - has it taken hold again. The problem now is I have my own credit card :D

You'll like some of my upcoming videos - I've got 3 or 4 where I talk Lego and what our family is going through right now.

It's a sickness with me, though. I have an obsessive/addicted personality, so I'm whole hog into the Lego thing, and it's set my credit card on FIRE.

-John
 

YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
Thanks @HippoDrone , I appreciate that... we'll see if you appreciate some of my upcoming videos. With taking on Lego as a new obsession/habit/hobby/huge expenditure, I have not been editing nearly as much, and I've been slowing down the pace of my videos. We'll see how that turns out.

It's funny, I feel like I'm cheating now. I record with The Remote, from GoPro, and I end up with about 20% of the footage I used to have to deal with. Between that and the aero mods I made to my Harley, it's taking me 2 hours or so to edit most vlogs, instead of the 4+ it used to take. It just feels weird to go through, say, "yep, that's good enough" and then log the hours in my spreadsheet, only to realize it says 1.5. Then I go back and add a fancy intro or something :D

-John
That's awesome that you have cut down the editing time, the faster you can edit it, the better. MY PTT series used to take 5+ hours to edit but now I am down to about 30 minutes. The quick edit stuff though, although called "quick edit" takes quite a bit longer, doh.
 
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Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
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1,878
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road-reality.com
I ride a
2019 Harley Street Glide Special, 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic (bobber), 1979 Kawasaki KZ650SR
That's awesome that you have cut down the editing time, the faster you can edit it, the better. MY PTT series used to take 5+ hours to edit but now I am down to about 30 minutes. The quick edit stuff though, although called "quick edit" takes quite a bit longer, doh.

That's a better speed-up than I have managed, for sure! 5 hours to 30 minutes??? You must show us the way, sensei!

-John
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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I ride a
2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
That's a better speed-up than I have managed, for sure! 5 hours to 30 minutes??? You must show us the way, sensei!

-John
Your content is so nice though, and has multiple cameras with lots of talking. My footage with talking I want to keep takes a lot longer to edit too. The reason the PTT series goes so fast to edit is because on some of the videos I cut out all the random stuff and quickly fast forward to the sections of the video where I pass traffic, and do my cuts there. So I can literally edit the video faster than the actual video length because I only focus on the passing traffic bits. For videos where I want to keep the narration/vocals...always seems to take a while to edit. Wish I could figure out a way to edit those videos fast too. That would be money.
 
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Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
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1,878
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I ride a
2019 Harley Street Glide Special, 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic (bobber), 1979 Kawasaki KZ650SR
Your content is so nice though, and has multiple cameras with lots of talking. My footage with talking I want to keep takes a lot longer to edit too. The reason the PTT series goes so fast to edit is because on some of the videos I cut out all the random stuff and quickly fast forward to the sections of the video where I pass traffic, and do my cuts there. So I can literally edit the video faster than the actual video length because I only focus on the passing traffic bits. For videos where I want to keep the narration/vocals...always seems to take a while to edit. Wish I could figure out a way to edit those videos fast too. That would be money.

Thanks man - most times I feel I ramble on too long... you should see the rough cuts, before I cut at least half of the talking! :D

It's all about finding what works for you - and in your case, I'd say you have! :D

-John
 
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Moto Mengy

Motovlogger from PA, USA
Mar 23, 2020
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For videos where I want to keep the narration/vocals...always seems to take a while to edit. Wish I could figure out a way to edit those videos fast too. That would be money.
I'm not a fast editor either, as most of my motovlogs take me many hours to edit up. I spend too much time fussing over what to keep and what to cut out because I try not to make my videos too long, somewhere between 10-20 minutes each.

I do enjoy the creative process of it all though, so at least I'm having fun for those many hours! :D
 
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Meifesto

Semi-Suicidal Dutchie
Jan 5, 2013
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Editing always takes at least twice the time of the recording (in my experience).
And the longer the recording is, the bigger the chance is that you spend more time on it.

The reason why i haven't started editing the Germany vacation just yet is because it is a good 6 to 8 hours per day of recording...
So it will be a few weeks to edit it all i'm afraid xD
 

Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
1,821
1,878
113
road-reality.com
I ride a
2019 Harley Street Glide Special, 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic (bobber), 1979 Kawasaki KZ650SR
Editing always takes at least twice the time of the recording (in my experience).
And the longer the recording is, the bigger the chance is that you spend more time on it.

The reason why i haven't started editing the Germany vacation just yet is because it is a good 6 to 8 hours per day of recording...
So it will be a few weeks to edit it all i'm afraid xD

Man, I am in the same boat, but it's a dinghy compared to THAT!

I have 3 or 4 day rides where I captured 3-5 hours of footage each, and it's a SLOG to get through!

-John
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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663
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San Francisco Bay Area
ybguy.com
I ride a
2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
Editing always takes at least twice the time of the recording (in my experience).
And the longer the recording is, the bigger the chance is that you spend more time on it.

The reason why i haven't started editing the Germany vacation just yet is because it is a good 6 to 8 hours per day of recording...
So it will be a few weeks to edit it all i'm afraid xD
If there is lots of talking in my video, it can take a really really long time for me to edit too. Exponentially long if its a collaborative type video.
 

HippoDrone

Admin
Jan 2, 2017
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I ride a
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2022 Aprilia Tuareg 660
Just noticed my most viewed video rolled over 50k views recently. Small-fry for many channels, but am super proud to have made content that so many people have found helpful! :)
It has also been great for growth on my channel too, gaining me over 180 subs.
Views on it have recently tailed off a bit, but I imagine if Insta360 bring out a new camera soon, I can get it growing again :)
 

YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
621
663
93
San Francisco Bay Area
ybguy.com
I ride a
2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
Just noticed my most viewed video rolled over 50k views recently. Small-fry for many channels, but am super proud to have made content that so many people have found helpful! :)
It has also been great for growth on my channel too, gaining me over 180 subs.
Views on it have recently tailed off a bit, but I imagine if Insta360 bring out a new camera soon, I can get it growing again :)
That's awesome HippoDrone, it always feels good to make a helpful video.
 

Meifesto

Semi-Suicidal Dutchie
Jan 5, 2013
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The Netherlands
I ride a
Yamaha XT660R
Just noticed my most viewed video rolled over 50k views recently. Small-fry for many channels, but am super proud to have made content that so many people have found helpful! :)
It has also been great for growth on my channel too, gaining me over 180 subs.
Views on it have recently tailed off a bit, but I imagine if Insta360 bring out a new camera soon, I can get it growing again :)
That is awesome.

I have 1 video that hit that mark, but that is just be slamming my bike on the sidewalk to help push a car out of the road that dead.
Guessing shares and good timing helped with that more then anything.

Would be nice if a proper video ever hit that magic mark.
So you are doing something right ;)
 

Meifesto

Semi-Suicidal Dutchie
Jan 5, 2013
1,802
1,608
113
The Netherlands
I ride a
Yamaha XT660R
Man, I am in the same boat, but it's a dinghy compared to THAT!

I have 3 or 4 day rides where I captured 3-5 hours of footage each, and it's a SLOG to get through!

-John

Grouprides or day trips can be a pain for sure.
I'm in process of getting all the footage together.
Roughly 450gb and counting.

At this moment i'm wondering if my pc can handle editting it all, or if i need to do it in smaller bits :O:eek:

If there is lots of talking in my video, it can take a really really long time for me to edit too. Exponentially long if its a collaborative type video.
Haven't really done any colab video's but yeah, i can imagine the extra edit work needed for those ;)
 
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Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
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I ride a
2019 Harley Street Glide Special, 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic (bobber), 1979 Kawasaki KZ650SR
Yeah, when I go out for 3-5 hours on my bike and I bring 3 or 4 cameras, it's not unheard of to end up with 350-450gb of footage. Ugh. Hence why I'm waiting until the winter to edit them, when I am less likely to be out riding :D

-John
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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663
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ybguy.com
I ride a
2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
Grouprides or day trips can be a pain for sure.
I'm in process of getting all the footage together.
Roughly 450gb and counting.

At this moment i'm wondering if my pc can handle editting it all, or if i need to do it in smaller bits :O:eek:


Haven't really done any colab video's but yeah, i can imagine the extra edit work needed for those ;)
Wow, 450gb. That's a huge amount of data to edit!
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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I ride a
2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
If a YouTuber's goal is to grow their channel, they need to make videos that are audience centric driven . These are sometimes the videos we don't have desire to make but what many people want.

The kicker now is, what is the magic sauce, the mouse trap, the thing to bring people in? In my experience it has been the following (but please feel free to comment, if you have more hot topics to add to this list) I have not made all these types of videos, these are just some topics I have seen on YouTube that have garnered thousands of views.

-Unboxings of the latest tech
-Lists (People love lists for some reason)
-How To Videos (This could be How To videos on anything people are interested in, not just motorcycle related.)
Possible How-To videos could be (these are just some samples):
How to edit a video
How to do a proper U-turn on a motorcycle safely
How to set the clock on your motorcycle (near daylight savings time is a good time to do this, like today? Make this video today.. Haha!
How to format a memory card for use with your computer for the first time
How to do a Wheelie (if you know how to do this, do it on a closed course)
How to clean your bike (The right way!)
How to make cookies
How to pickup hot chicks
How to pass your local DMV test the first time
-Special Tourist Locations (plus a history lesson perhaps)
-Reviews

I know some of these things seem like they may be boring or hard to make/edit but people sometimes are looking for help. I noticed the more helpful the video, the more views they seem to get in many cases.
 
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Dewey316

Dewey|Rides
Oct 1, 2020
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From a search standpoint, there is also a lot of competition from established names with those topics. Finding something searched for within the how-to or review niche, that there aren't many videos for is where you can really gain views.
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
621
663
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San Francisco Bay Area
ybguy.com
I ride a
2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
From a search standpoint, there is also a lot of competition from established names with those topics. Finding something searched for within the how-to or review niche, that there aren't many videos for is where you can really gain views.
True true, like what? Have any ideas? : )
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
621
663
93
San Francisco Bay Area
ybguy.com
I ride a
2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
From a search standpoint, there is also a lot of competition from established names with those topics. Finding something searched for within the how-to or review niche, that there aren't many videos for is where you can really gain views.
I was going to suggest people make Jarvish and Forcite MK1 helment unboxing videos since there is only like 5 of those online but I know the helmets are sort of made of unobtanium (shameless plug).
 
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Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
1,821
1,878
113
road-reality.com
I ride a
2019 Harley Street Glide Special, 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic (bobber), 1979 Kawasaki KZ650SR
I subscribe to several "how to YouTube" channels... and they all have this to say about small channels growing via high-search topics:

If it's already been done, you need to either do it better or make it shorter.

-John
 

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