I hope the start of 2024 is going great for you!

I spent over 1,000 hours, analyzed 10,000 videos (real estate & non-RE), and produced well over 500 YouTube videos last year.

So I thought why not review everything from 2023 and share every single lesson I’ve learned?

This way you don’t have to spend the 1,000 hours I had on YouTube…

These are 33 lessons & trends, and there’s a small thank you at the end of it all.

I also looked at what other top YouTubers were saying about YouTube for 2024 and condensed everything into this 1 email.

So I hope you enjoy it!

Andrew

My 2024 YouTube Lessons & Trends After 1,000 Hours & Analyzing 10,000 Videos

I have 33 lessons & trends on YouTube I want to share.

The first 11 are more in-depth and the other 22 following are more bullet points.

We compiled the top highest-performing real estate YouTube videos across 10 different markets and then also just in general.

These research sheets had anywhere from 250 to 1,000 videos in each market.

But then I also compiled a list of 877 videos outside of real estate that hooked me.

I have 4210 non-real estate videos on my watch later list across industries:

• business

• marketing

• finances

• podcast

• personal development/life

• health

• lifestyle

• travel

• documentary

• culture

• tech

• etc.

And this is 1 of 15+ YouTube channels 2023 results.

We produced over:

• 500 YouTube videos in 2023

• thousands of Shorts

• well over 2,250,000 views from long form videos only

• and way more downstream metrics to the tune of millions in attributable GCI from several million in sales volume for some channels to $20 million+ annually for one specific real estate channel.

Over $63 million in attributable sales volume from YouTube.

All of this is a long-winded way of showing “this is where my lessons, trends, and predictions are coming from.”

I kind of hate doing that stuff but the #1 thing people always wonder in their heads is “Why should I listen to you?” (aka why should I trust you?)

That’s why one big difference we saw last year was that people who had a credibility statement in their script around their call to action actually got results way quicker than others.

Ex. “…after living here for 10 years and helping 1,000 families buy & sell.”

“We’ve helped over 2970 families just like you buy & sell here and have over 500 five-star reviews.”

But none of this is to brag because I’m still learning.

I’m still a student of the game (yes, social media is a game, but that’s for another day). 

I’m still a small fish in a very large pond, but I’m relentlessly curious. 

So I thought I’d share what I’ve been learning so you don’t have to spend the 1,000+ hours I did last year.

And hopefully, some of this helps you avoid mistakes and provides a shortcut to success for you on YouTube.

So what’s changed on YouTube?

And what trends or changes do you need to know about the YouTube algorithm in 2024:

1) Learning the numbers takes time & a lot of videos

While there’s a lot of variable factors that can change based on the channel:

• audience size

• industry

• niche

• style of videos

• etc.

There are some “baseline” numbers you can shoot for.

I say this with a HUGE caveat that you need to build up a library of data on your channel before you truly understand what’s working vs. not for your audience.

I should also mention that these are numbers for a real estate / educational channel, not entertainment, etc.

The first 3 days a video is published are the most predictable, after that it’s much harder to predict.

So here’s some numbers to look for:

a) 3 to 5 min. average view duration (AVD)

A 5-minute average view duration for a shorter 8 to 30-minute video can help create a little more “predictable virality.”

A 3-minute AVD can do well but it’s less likely* to do great unless you keep a 5-minute AVD.

For longer 1 hour+ videos you want around 15 minutes AVD to have the best chance to go reach further than your current subscriber base.

AVD will go gradually lower at each stage of growth of a video:

• 0 to 100 views

• 100 to 1,000 views

• 1,000 to 10,000 views

• 10,000 to 100,000 views etc.

There’s not much you can change once it’s posted, but you can look at the retention graph (that’s for another day) to learn lessons for future videos.

Unless your title & thumbnail aren’t matching your first 15 seconds and you have a super low AVD then that’s one thing you can change.

Make sure your title & thumbnail match viewer expectations from the beginning of the video or people will leave.

b) 5 to 10% clickthrough rate (CTR)

For the first 1-2 days you want to aim for a 5-10% CTR because it’s your existing audience so it will naturally be higher.

After about 3 days CTR will level off so you want it to maintain around 5%.

There’s also different audience CTR’s:

• Browse - above 5%, anywhere under 3-5% is usually a thumbnail change. The target is 5%.

• Suggested - above 3%, 1-3% is okay, but usually you’ll want to improve the thumbnail. The target here is 3%.

Again, as the video reaches new stages of audience barriers, 1,000, 10,000, etc. your clickthrough rate will go down (even below target #’s) and that’s okay.

c) 1-3 Video Ranking by Views

The target is to be in the top 3 videos, if it’s not then you can look at the CTR and AVD and see where the video may be falling off.

If it’s the CTR then you can try to adjust the thumbnail.

These are all in the first 3 days, after day 3 I’ve even had videos with off metrics pop off from day 3 to 10 so don’t hyper fixate on the numbers.

You will build your own understanding of numbers for your specific channel & your specific audience.

This is just to help you start forming your own conclusions.

Now that we went over one of the hardest ones, numbers, it’s time for some of the easier lessons & trends to share lol.

2) Views & Subscribers Aren’t the Main Goal For Businesses.

Lower-view videos with more specific topic targeting can lead to more leads & clients

There is a problem many face with YouTube which is being too obsessed with vanity numbers like views & subscribers where they lose sight of the real goal, driving business.

• We had channels with less than 1,000 subscribers who brought in over $10,000,000 in volume last year.

• One channel that only gets a couple hundred to thousand views a video (on average), but brings in over $20,000,000 a year annually in sales volume.

• And then I know people who run channels with less than 10,000 subscribers that only get 1,000 to 10,000 views a video, and make several million a year in income from their channel.

Remember, most business owners & entrepreneurs’ goals aren’t to be an influencer. So you can’t look at the content entirely the same as them.

You don’t need to go viral to build a large business on YouTube.

While learning how to get more views & subscribers is a great skill to improve, don’t become a view-aholic or subscribe-aholic.

An underrated strategy in real estate (or any service professional/business owner/entrepreneur) is the “targeted topic,” learning how to create videos to attract the right people to your channel.

3) Making money on YouTube won’t come from AdSense, brand deals, etc.

The BIGGEST real estate YouTube channels only make a few thousand dollars a month.

While some people may say that’s a great extra income, but keep in mind these are literally a few channels. 

However, there’s way more real estate channels making multiple $10,000, $100,000, and some as high as $3,000,000+ in GCI directly from YouTube, not from AdSense or brand deals.

The clearest, quickest, and most profitable path to making money on YouTube is selling a service or product off the back of the channel.

Ken Pozek is the prime example of a real estate team selling $258,000,000 a year with 40-50% coming directly from YouTube. For non-real estate that’s starting around $2,000,000 in top-line revenue from YouTube.

Ali Abdaal, a big YouTuber with a $5 million business from YouTube.

And there’s way bigger people up to Mr. Beast who runs a billion-dollar company from YouTube. 

Getting clients from YouTube for your business will be the most profitable source of income.

4) Lead gen strategies create more predictable business.

Most real estate YouTube channels have some version of this call to action in the video, “if you’re looking to buy or sell then contact me.”

But when have ways to capture leads you create more predictability.

One example is a real estate YouTube channel that brings in 3-400 leads a year and knows for every 10-13 leads he’ll close 1.

So now he can just work backward and figure out how to generate more leads every year.

These are 3 ways to create a consistent flow of leads on YouTube that have worked for us and many other big YouTubers:

• Video sales letter videos in the description of other videos

• Email newsletter links

• Lead magnets specific to videos

Ali Abdaal is an example of someone who leverages all 3 of these.

5) Longer videos are performing better

This will surprise some people, but you actually probably don’t want videos under 8 minutes.

The 8-minute to 30-minute and even some fringe cases up to 60-minute (yes even in real estate) YouTube videos are performing way better than shorter videos.

This makes sense when we look at 2 things:

1. YouTube’s main goal is to keep us on its platform longer

2. YouTube is the new TV. Nearly half of YouTube viewers are watching on TV and the fastest growing demographic segments on YouTube are the older generations (40’s, 50’s, 60’s etc.), thanks to the NFL + YouTube TV.

In real estate, 10 to 30-minute videos are actually doing really well to grow channels.

Many Living in {city} channels prove the longer format, vlog-style tours perform.

We can also see this with podcasts.

Diary of a CEO is one of the fastest-growing podcasts in the world (like Lex Fridman) with 1 to 3-hour conversations.

YouTube wants us to stay on the platform longer to serve more ads.

But the fight for the viewer’s attention still matters.

You have to respect and earn every 5 to 15 seconds no matter what.

6) Real & raw vlog style videos

If you watch most of Ryan Serhant's home tours you’ll notice they look and feel more like a vlog than just some highly quality movie.

He could easily make the video more of a movie-style & level video, and so could Gary Vee, so we should ask why don’t they?

Sam Sulek is a fitness YouTuber who’s gone viral and grown to 2.9 million subscribers with:

• 20-50 minute videos

• Car vlogs

• Grocery store hauls

• Gym workouts

• Talking calmly without fast-paced editing

It’s a refreshing change of a down-to-earth guy in an industry full of fake people.

There’s a reason why top YouTubers are creating behind-the-scenes, vlog style channels like Behind the Diary by Steven Bartlett (Diary of a CEO) and Ali Abdaal Appendix.

These channels show that viewers want to watch the journey not just the final product.

And if you look at many living in {CITY} channels, they’re shot on location like a vlog-style home tour. 

With the race to AI, quality isn’t just equipment. Quality is what we say and the delivery of those words in our videos (the messaging/content).

But the real reason why all of these perform is actually simpler than we think when we look at the term value.

Value is what we get for what we pay.

This is how Alex Hormozi defines value.

And what we truly value is the bottom half of the equation (time x effort) aka convenience.

This is why companies like Amazon, Uber, and Instacart are multi-billion dollar companies based on convenience.

So imagine, how much would it cost you with time, money, and energy to go look at some of these $5 million, $50 million, and these Billionaire’s Row (NYC) penthouses Ryan shows us for free?

Think back 20 or 50 years ago the price we’d have to pay to see behind the scenes of a founder, CEO like Steven Bartlett or Gary Vee and how they run their businesses is an extremely high cost.

So when you do a vlog-style home tour of a new home in a new community for a buyer who is looking to relocate to the area, think about how much money, time & effort they’re saving watching a 10 to 30 minute video vs. flying to the city, renting a car, booking a hotel, and taking the time to travl plus drive & tour the properties…

The vlog, behind-the-scenes, raw-style videos feel more real and are high value to us.

But vlogs for vlogging sake is not the goal. Each video needs to have a purpose, an outcome, and depth within the vlog. People don’t want to hear us rant.

7) Understand & exploit your opportunity gap in the market.

But that doesn’t mean the opposite doesn’t work either. The answer is often AND not OR.

Ryan Serhant has both cinematic movie-esque home tours AND vlog-style home tours.

Every channel has a unique value proposition. Meaning you do something different than other people.

One real estate YouTube channel we work with asked their clients why they reached out to him (and watched his videos) vs. all of the other YouTube channels in his market and they told him because his videos are better quality videos from:

• the camera quality

• drone

• b-roll

• mostly shot on-site

• more creative or storytelling

But even he acknowledges there’s channels in his market that have way better quality of messaging in their content, either way more data-driven content or way more deeper highly informational style videos.

And those channels run large real estate businesses with different styles of content.

So no one way is the right way, but do you know why viewers enjoy your content? (FYI it takes time you won’t know this on your first or 10th video, it can take 100)

Are you great at:

• storytelling

• high-production videos

• camera presence

• entertaining

• expert communicator

• unique content

Steven Bartlett became the fastest-growing podcast because of his storytelling, quality of content, and production. (Plus other things like their ruthless experimentation but that’s for another day)

What’s your unique value proposition and opportunity gap in your market?

8) Search isn’t the main focus for most YouTube channels.

While search is an amazing way to grow your channel when starting, and build evergreen traffic to your videos & business, it shouldn’t be the only focus.

As you grow you notice most of the traffic to the tune of 60-80%+ comes from the suggested, browse & recommended YouTube features (for simplicity I’ll bucket all into suggested).

When you nail both, search & suggested, you can create a long-term growth video.

How can you nail suggested?

1. Captivating idea

2. Compelling title

3. Clickable thumbnail

And the idea & thumbnail pull most of the weight here, with the idea being the 20% of the work that can literally pull 80% of the weight.

How do you nail search?

1. Title

2. Tags

3. Description

FYI. Search is much easier than most think. SEO isn’t some crazy secret that requires some hidden insight that few people have access to.

Finding the keyword you want to rank for and using it intentionally & intelligently is the 20% of the work that creates 80% of the results.

9) Brand actually matters

But brand is not a logo, color, or font. Brand is what people remember you for.

If you make great videos people will click & watch nearly regardless of amazing editing, thumbnail design, etc.

Alex Hormozi’s first YouTube videos from a production lens were not anything to rave about.

However, the quality of his content aka the words, was definitely something to rave about. And people did.

He had viewers sharing his videos for him because of what he was giving away for free (value) in his videos.

But obviously, when you do both it’s a win-win.

Again, this is a place we can overanalyze so my recommendation is don’t.

Being healthy and fit isn’t the finish line.

You don’t get in shape and stop doing what keeps you healthy.

Being healthy is a lifestyle you have to keep going.

The same is true with most marketing.

Find your unique value propositions over time, hold true to them, and keep getting 1% better.

10) Leaders becoming “creators” will keep growing.

Sharing your expertise with the world is not a trend. For many leaders, it’s a passion.

YouTube gives you the opportunity and time to go deep with people.

But more than that, content is practically an all-in-one solution for most businesses:

• Client acquisition

• Talent acquisition

• Customer experience & feedback

• PR

• Networking

• Owned asset

• Fundraising

• Self-expression

• Clear thinking

From Alex Lieberman. This is why he started a company whose sole focus is helping executives create content online. It’s already hit 7-figures within 6 months and it’s growing extremely fast.

Business leaders are turning to ghostwriters to write for them, podcasting to record with less effort, and other ways of sharing their message with the world.

11) Go against the grain

Starter Story was a YouTube “podcast” that blew up with 10-30 min “podcasts” in a world where many are making 1 to 3-hour-long podcasts.

Zig while others zag.

Now that the first 11 were a little longer in format, I’m going to make the rest shorter for you so you don’t have to read a book:

• YouTube is the first massive tailwind for many businesses like real estate. YouTube will be incomparable to most other platforms, especially for service-based businesses, and one of the most important for profitable marketing. It has the best algorithm. Best discoverability. Best time on brand. Fastest growth. While it’s massive, it’s still growing.

• YouTube TV has permeated the general population demographics aka the majority.

• Longevity is the key to YouTube. 90-95% (podcasts, but even YouTube channels) quit after 20 video podcasts. The top 1% of podcasts have 21 episodes and have released a new one in the last month. SEO is a prime example of why - in months 1-6 SEO is okay, the next 6-12 months SEO finally gets good, but in months 12-36 SEO traffic is great.

• Hyper niche isn’t the only solution to YouTube, you can go wide and deep with an audience.

• Storytelling is immensely crucial. Ryan Trahan’s “packaging” (idea, title, thumbnail, and hook aka the first 3 to 10 seconds) shows us how to be an expert storyteller without a huge budget, a big team, or fancy anything. Ryan has a small team, invests small amounts in his videos, and doesn’t have fancy thumbnails or editing, equipment, etc. but he kills YouTube because of storytelling. Zack King, Kallaway & Our Future HQ are a few examples of storytelling in short form

• Using podcasts as a main content box will continue to grow. Publishing to YouTube, but then using short form for discoverability. Video podcasts are a win win. 1 a week for long form is a good content cadence.

• YouTube shorts can ruin your channel if done wrong. Some use short form to grow their channel but if you have a local audience, then it could bring the wrong people in. Shorts & Long form are 2 separate audiences but they can have cross-over. There’s also different algorithms on YouTube so you don’t need to worry. Short form is a massive trend but you don’t get a lot of depth with your audience, that’s why long form does so well for businesses. This doesn’t mean don’t do it, just don’t make it your whole strategy.

• Search is pulling shorts even on Google. Shorts can be a good way to help your channel get discovered.

• Storytelling is performing well in short form. Kind of like how on Linkedin you would talk about more career, work life balance, entrepreneur, business & relationship type of content, you want to fit contextually for the platform.

• Businesses are buying creators to be the face of their brand instead of trying to build internally (acqui-hire / acquiring talent). Example is Our Future was acquired by Morning Brew.

• Businesses building media networks like Hubspot and their podcast network of 9-10+ podcasts they sponsor, will be a big way larger businesses by traffic & distribution.

• Niche communities will grow in popularity. Example Morning Brew has multiple different brands to serve different people: Tech Brew, Retail Brew, Marketing Brew. Example: Diary of a CEO, Diary of a CEO Clips, Behind the Diary. Also: Ryan Serhant, More Ryan Serhant, Listed by Serhant, Serhant, Business of Influence, etc. And Ken Pozek has his Ken Pozek YouTube channel, the Orlando Real, and more probably on the way.

• Zero of-one content will grow in popularity. In the world of AI, if you’re just using ChatGPT to write your content and titles, then you’ll blend in with everyone else. In a crowded world, where’s Waldo? That’s why we see titles with “I” statements perform well. As well as adding your personal stories, experiences, or clients’ experiences helping videos perform better & convert viewers to clients quickly.

• AI isn’t the magic pill solution. In the world of mass-produced AI content, personalization and humanizing your content will stand out.

• Recon and research help your strategy, and it can help you understand your audience (viewer) better. That’s why looking for outlier videos, reading comments on your videos, competitor or industry videos, and keeping a swipe file (aka a hidden playlist) of videos that hooked you can all help you create better content.

• Thumbnails will continue to matter immensely. We’re seeing real + AI being a good combination. But thumbnails are more about psychology than they are about design (but good design is psychology). A/B testing thumbnails is crucial as we’re seeing people have 3 to 30 backups and even people like Diary of a CEO test 10-30 variations with ads before even posting one.

• Experimentation is crucial to success. Diary of a CEO is bringing this way more mainstream with their execution of “the small stuff is the big stuff.” Test ideas, titles, thumbnails, hooks, calls to action, editing, presentation, delivery, formats, sound, etc. YouTube wants us to test that’s why they’re building A/B testing into the platform, natively.

• YouTube is adding a lot of AI, including language dubbing.

• Hooks are crucial and need to match the viewer's expectations. You want the first 3 to 10 seconds to match the viewers’ expectations of your title & thumbnail or else they could leave. And you want the hook to set the stage for the entire video, in most cases it’s kind of like a summary of the video in 1 sentence that leaves the viewer curious & wanting to watch more.

• Scripting can make a massive difference in retention, especially early on. Every YouTube video has the hook, the first 60 seconds that keep their attention, the middle main value points of the video, and the ending. If you can keep the viewer for a minute and maintain that throughout, you’ll usually have a more flat retention graph.

• Humility in learning and creation, we are never experts of YouTube, social media, marketing, real estate, etc. because the game is always changing. What the consumer (our audiences/clients) wants, their behaviors or expectations are always changing. The industry is always changing. The world, etc. so we have to stay constantly curious. We have to be a student of the game.

• #1 is understanding your viewer and audience so well that you can create your own trends + adjust the dynamic / evolving state of culture & YouTube.

So those are all 3 compiled in one of the more “shorter” ways I could share them. I hope you found some helpful or intriguing.

🧱 Meet the $100M Mom Built Multiple Businesses From Nothing

Meet Holly Meyer Lucas, a boss mom who:

• built #1 Real Estate Team in Palm Beach County, Florida in her 30's

• specializes in athletes & celebrities - sold homes to over 100 pro athletes

• moved 13 times growing up between the U.S. and Germany

• competitive soccer player in high school and college

• Launched Real Estating training program to coach new agents

• The Chief Code™️ - Unlocking Your Next Level Of Leadership

• Now launched Hype Boss a Creative Agency + Branding Studio

• Married and mother of 3 boys

• Rebuilt finances after family went bankrupt in 2008 crash while she was in college

• At one point lived out of her car when working several jobs to support herself in college

• Now, known for her authenticity, high energy, and creative marketing strategies

In this conversation, we discuss:

• 00:00 - Holly's highlights

• 03:15 - Holly's luxury marketing & branding

• 07:45 - Struggling early in life & having a chip on your shoulder

• 10:00 - Living in her car

• 17:28 - Holly's leadership vision & culture

• 21:00 - How 50% of Holly's $100M+ business comes from Google

• 24:40 - Why AI & automation is killing content

• 28:30 - What platforms & algorithms will prioritize in the AI era

• 29:52 - Holly's recession blueprint & where she's doubling down

• 32:18 - How Holly is scaling herself & her brand authentically

• 36:38 - The entrepreneur's cheat code

• 38:10 - Why "nevermind I'll just do it" kills leadership

• 39:00 - Gap between being a high performing salesperson vs. leader

• 43:45 - Holly's 3 hiring & leadership mistakes from $100M

• 49:35 - Outsourcing parenting stigma

• 52:59 - Business planning during slow markets

• 55:38 - Holly's mistakes #2 & 3 continued

• 59:20 - Why removing yourself from hiring can be a gamechanger

• 1:02:25 - Becoming the CEO & running multiple businesses

• 1:06:50 - Why Holly started other horizontal businesses

• 1:09:26 - Holly's formula to get "free" PR & exposure

• 1:12:40 - How to find the right story & get press

• 1:20:00 - How to pitch the story

• 1:25:45 - Leadership principle from #1 Real Estate Team Leader in Palm Beach County