10 Years at VidCon...Here's What I Learned

Welcome to Created, the newsletter that's more essential than your back-up camera battery on a shoot day. Here’s what we got for you today: (a day early — Happy 4th of July!)

• 3 trends from VidCon

• Outlier video of the week...and what you can learn from it

• Weekly roundup of top YouTube thumbnails

VidCon Recap: 3 Creator Trends to Watch

Last week, I spoke at VidCon which marked my 10th time there. I gave a keynote, did panels with Spotify, Thinkific, and Uscreen, and interviewed Smosh on stage.

My manager and wife Amanda also gave a keynote and did a panel on how we've built our business.

Below are 3 takeaways from our conversations both on-and-off stage:

1. More creators are struggling to make a full-time living than ever before.

At each VidCon, I do live polls during my keynotes to get a feel for the audience.

My favorite question to ask: how many of you are full-time vs part-time creators? This year, there were far fewer full-time creators than before.

Stats back this up: 48% of creators made less that $15,000 in the past year. Even those with millions of followers.

The content gold rush of the pandemic is over. Yes, it's easier than ever to build an audience. But it's harder than ever to build a business.

2. Smosh and top YouTubers are looking for co-hosts and talent. I interviewed Smosh on how they're growing their business after 18 years on YouTube. The big takeaway? Hiring more cast members and co-hosts.

Today, Smosh has over 35 employees with many of them being cast members like Damien Haas, Courtney Miller, and Shayne Topp hosting Try Not To Laugh.

Rhett and Link have done the same with Mythical. MatPat has done it with Theorist Media.

Expect more creators to turn their channels into a modern SNL where talent comes in, stars in different formats, and ultimately graduates.

3. YouTube is oversaturated with creators. But undersaturated with operators.

Amanda did a panel with Hayden Hillier-Smith (former editor for MrBeast), JT Casey (16.5M subs), and Sherry Wong (CEO, Roster). On the topic of hiring, JT and Hayden said they do mostly everything over handshake deals with payments over Venmo.

They're not alone. Most creators we spoke with after said the same. But it can backfire easily: many of those creators and editors told us horror stories. They never got paid. Ghosted. Taken advantage of.

That's not how we do it.

On the panel, Amanda shared our process: everything is in writing. Expenses are categorized. We measure ROI per video. That's helped us run a more profitable business.

Bottom line: there's a huge need for operators to team up with creators to help scale sustainably.

Listen to my full podcast on VidCon and these trends here.

🚀 Video Outlier Of The Week

This video by Rena Gao got 70k views despite only having 3,800 subscribers. That's a 216X the channel's average to Viewstats.

Here's why it took off so you can apply to your next video:

1. Cinematic Mastery: Every second of this video is gorgeous. From the lighting to sound design, color grading, and cinematography — if you want to up your game, start taking notes.

2. Instant delivery: Within 10 seconds we learn the why, by 30 seconds we learn the how and before 1 minute we start the oddly satisfying joy of watching someone else declutter.

3. It's all about the flow: An immediate hook, with masterfully designed shots (just look at that thumbnail), the perfect background music, and simple narration keep you watching for all 10 minutes.

I have a feeling you'll be seeing more of Rena soon.

🎯 Weekly Roundup: Thumbnails

Here's why we love these YT thumbnails. Hopefully they inspire your next one.

1. Stunning yet simple graphic conveys video concept perfectly (MKBHD)

2. Litter of design apps with overwhelmed expression builds intrigue (Welliot)

3. Hand creates sense of scale that emphasizes the tech (Corridor Crew)

4. Contrasting colors (yellow and purple) draw you in to an absurd concept brought to life (Glarses)

👋 See You Inside

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After all, nothing great is created alone. Talk soon,

Jon