Hi there -  Happy New Year! YouTube recently published their takeaways from some of the “great ads” on their platform in 2023. One of their key recommendations for brand marketers is to partner with creators, “culture’s biggest hitmakers.” YouTube cites how creators have helped bring brands like Reese’s and Old Spice to new audiences. For all of you, it’s further confirmation of the potential of working with brands, as well as a look at how YouTube is positioning itself to marketers as the key destination platform for advertisers. Our Creator Team would be happy to explore ways you can take advantage of this!

—The Spotter Creator Team

SystemZee Increases Views and Productivity with Spotter’s Idea Generator

Austin Houston has grown his gaming channel, SystemZee, to over 1.5M+ subscribers by expanding from Minecraft modding alone to involving viewers more in big-player experiences, experiments, and simulation. In the process, managing his time and working efficiently has become all the more important. Austin has been using a Spotter Labs tool called Idea Generator, designed to brainstorm video concepts, video titles, and thumbnails from start to finish. He has successfully developed new ideas and turned them into engaging content, resulting in significant increases in viewership. It has also afforded him the opportunity to plan ahead and take time off. Though not yet a Spotter-funded creator, he’s an example of a creator who we’ve begun supporting with offerings beyond capital – in this case, access to our new video creation tools purpose-built for creators. The magic is in the AI personalization engine behind these tools that ensures ideas, titles, and thumbnails generated in the tools make sense for your style and channel.

In his first video, inspired by Idea Generator, Austin explored the theme of AI versus humanity by pitting Minecraft villagers against players. This video was more than 30 minutes long, about two times his average video duration, and allowed him to explore a new storytelling style. The concept became his flagship series, garnering major viewership. The first video in the series hit one million views in one week. He followed it up with another video that hit one million views as well – check them out here and here. 

Austin and his content manager were able to plan their entire video schedule for the remainder of 2023, greatly enhancing productivity and content quality. According to Austin, “This is the first time in the last five years of being a full-time creator where I’ve been able to say, I am going to take off for the holidays, both Thanksgiving and Christmas, because I have time. Because I’m so far ahead. Because everything is planned.”

Now, he’s excited about the positive response to the new storytelling style and looks forward to planning effectively for 2024. Thanks to Idea Generator, there’s a good chance he’ll multiply his AdSense revenue while still saving 5-10 hours per week. 

Strategy:

• Used Spotter Labs’ Idea Generator, a content creation tool to brainstorm video ideas, titles, and thumbnails and turn them into engaging narratives

Results:

• 5.4x increase in revenue per video for videos with Spotter Labs tools vs. videos without Spotter Labs tools

• 3x increase in views per video for videos with Spotter Labs tools vs. videos without Spotter Labs tools

• 3.6x increase in subscriber growth per video on videos with Spotter Labs tools vs. videos without Spotter Labs tools

• Increased upload cadence by 2.7 videos per month since onboarding to Spotter Labs

• Series created using Idea Generator has become his flagship series

Interested in testing our powerful creative tools like SystemZee did? To learn more about getting early access to Spotter Labs, please reply to reach out to the Creator Team.

Already a Spotter Labs participant? Click here to try out the new updates!

• Airrack teamed up with Gail Lewis to auction off a signed Walmart vest for charity, raising $11k for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

• MrBeast and wrestler Dave Bautista recently partnered with a dog rescue to find new homes for 100 stray dogs that were either abandoned or at kill shelters.

• Competitive eater Matt Stonie spent the day at the Las Vegas Raiders HQ to play a few tricks on both the employees and players.

• MrBeast has hit 1 billion views on not one, but two of his recent YouTube Shorts (Giving iPhones Instead Of Candy on Halloween and Would You Fly To Paris For A Baguette?)!

• Airrack was featured on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve, attempting to set a new Guinness World Record by eating at the most counter-service pizza shops over a 24-hour period - and he surpassed the number to beat, 69 shops, by visiting 102 pizza establishments.

• Eugene Lee Yang, of The Try Guys, has a voice role in Netflix’s animated feature, Nimona, which was recently featured on Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts.

• Jay and Arlene Hollingsworth of Gracie’s Corner were interviewed by The Washington Post about their YouTube journey and the world of “edutainment.”

• Gavin Magnus joined Joel Madden on his podcast, Artist Friendly, which has featured other renowned musicians such as the Maine’s John O’Callaghan, Lil Wayne, and Mario.

• Lizzy Capri talks about her decision to pivot towards more mature content and rediscovering herself in a recent feature on MAXIM.

Jobs

• Jordan Matter is hiring a part-time Assistant Production Coordinator (Los Angeles, CA).

• Jesser is hiring a full-time Bucketsquad - VP / Head of Operations and Business (Camarillo, CA).

YouTube

• Viewership of kids’ content on YouTube rises as Netflix’s share declines.

• If you’re a podcaster on YouTube, you can now ingest your existing audio RSS feed directly inside Creator Studio. 

• YouTube’s newest Shorts update makes changing your content's layout easier.

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

 ^{– Mary Lou Cook}