Why the awful video titles?

[thrasher_565]

1 minute ago, BondiBlue said:

How on earth does a clickbait title waste your time? Also, using the MultiQuote feature would be nice. 

i end up watching something that has nothing to do with the title...or is half ass

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

I find the titles less offensive than the video thumbnails. The thought process is pretty much always:

 

"Alright, put subject of video in frame."

"Good"

"Now add surprised and shocked host with wide open mouth"

"Nailed it"

[BoxTurtle]

Really it just seems like the past 2 months it has gotten worse. Like they used to have relevant clickbait like titles. You could used to be albe to tell what the video was about. Like they would include the product or whats in the video in the title but still incorporating the clickbait titles. Now I just can't even tell what the video is about and it is so annoying. 

 

Like for example they would put "We need action - Right to repair explained" but if this video came out today it would just say "We need action" forcing you to click on the video. I should be able to tell what the video is about so I actually want to watch it. When you say I am reviewing this product thats what I expect the video to contain but when you put a click batey title and don't say anywhere what the product is or give me a glue I start to make guesses, expect something and when it does not become a reliaty I get mad. 

 

I have nothing wrong with click batey titles, it's just the fact that I have not idea what the freakin video is about. My example at the begining of the second paragraph sums this up. I am fine with the first title but not the second.

 

LMG pls go back to the old titles. Go back to what you were doing a few months ago. The titles were still click batey and yay maybe those titles get a little less clicks but at least I can tell what the video is about. 

[The_russian]

47 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

I find the titles less offensive than the video thumbnails. The thought process is pretty much always:

 

"Alright, put subject of video in frame."

"Good"

"Now add surprised and shocked host with wide open mouth"

"Nailed it"

Really? For me it's the opposite, I've gotten used to just ignoring the thumbnail and judging if I want to watch a video off its title... which leads me to the problem that @BoxTurtle already mentioned: the problem with LTT video titles as of recently is not that they are clickbaity, but that they just don't describe what the video is about. It's kind of funny, thumbnails used to be random/weird and you would need to read the title to get any idea of what the video is about, now it has become the opposite. Take for example the most recent two videos:

 

Most recent video title is "I REALLY Wanted to Try This...". That gives not even the slightest clue what the video is about. Looking at the thumbnail you can see a TV with MINI LED written on it, so you can then guess the video is going to be about a MINI LED TV. 

 

Second to most recent video title is 'I am Holding a PC". Again, no clue what the video is about with that info. The thumbnail has a monitor stand, and since I already knew that Dell (and possible HP) is selling a PC that is built into the monitor stand, I could guess that's what the video is about. 

 

I made a decision some time ago that if I can't tell what a video is about from the title or thumbnail, or if I just think either one is overly shitty, I won't watch the video. I know it won't make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but if enough people started doing the same, maybe the "algorhyhm" would change... ah who am I kidding, seems like most of the LTT audience just doesn't care about these things and will just watch every video uploaded regardless of how shitty the titles and thumbnails are, or what the video might be about. Hell you could probably just have a blank white thumbnail and "1" for the video title and they would still watch it. 

 

[thrasher_565]

20 minutes ago, The_russian said:

Really? For me it's the opposite, I've gotten used to just ignoring the thumbnail and judging if I want to watch a video off its title... which leads me to the problem that @BoxTurtle already mentioned: the problem with LTT video titles as of recently is not that they are clickbaity, but that they just don't describe what the video is about. It's kind of funny, thumbnails used to be random/weird and you would need to read the title to get any idea of what the video is about, now it has become the opposite. Take for example the most recent two videos:

 

Most recent video title is "I REALLY Wanted to Try This...". That gives not even the slightest clue what the video is about. Looking at the thumbnail you can see a TV with MINI LED written on it, so you can then guess the video is going to be about a MINI LED TV. 

 

Second to most recent video title is 'I am Holding a PC". Again, no clue what the video is about with that info. The thumbnail has a monitor stand, and since I already knew that Dell (and possible HP) is selling a PC that is built into the monitor stand, I could guess that's what the video is about. 

 

I made a decision some time ago that if I can't tell what a video is about from the title or thumbnail, or if I just think either one is overly shitty, I won't watch the video. I know it won't make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but if enough people started doing the same, maybe the "algorhyhm" would change... ah who am I kidding, seems like most of the LTT audience just doesn't care about these things and will just watch every video uploaded regardless of how shitty the titles and thumbnails are, or what the video might be about. Hell you could probably just have a blank white thumbnail and "1" for the video title and they would still watch it. 

 

im going to guess the video is a pixel rgb strips made in to a screen...just a guess

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

37 minutes ago, The_russian said:

Really? For me it's the opposite, I've gotten used to just ignoring the thumbnail and judging if I want to watch a video off its title... which leads me to the problem that @BoxTurtle already mentioned: the problem with LTT video titles as of recently is not that they are clickbaity, but that they just don't describe what the video is about. It's kind of funny, thumbnails used to be random/weird and you would need to read the title to get any idea of what the video is about, now it has become the opposite. Take for example the most recent two videos:

 

Most recent video title is "I REALLY Wanted to Try This...". That gives not even the slightest clue what the video is about. Looking at the thumbnail you can see a TV with MINI LED written on it, so you can then guess the video is going to be about a MINI LED TV. 

 

Second to most recent video title is 'I am Holding a PC". Again, no clue what the video is about with that info. The thumbnail has a monitor stand, and since I already knew that Dell (and possible HP) is selling a PC that is built into the monitor stand, I could guess that's what the video is about. 

 

I made a decision some time ago that if I can't tell what a video is about from the title or thumbnail, or if I just think either one is overly shitty, I won't watch the video. I know it won't make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but if enough people started doing the same, maybe the "algorhyhm" would change... ah who am I kidding, seems like most of the LTT audience just doesn't care about these things and will just watch every video uploaded regardless of how shitty the titles and thumbnails are, or what the video might be about. Hell you could probably just have a blank white thumbnail and "1" for the video title and they would still watch it. 

 

For me the style of thumbnail just screams childish to me so I don't even bother looking at the title (which as you have mentioned, provide little to no information anyways). The eye grabbing saturated colours, the over-exaggerated facial expressions, it just reminds me of those Fornite video thumbnails people have made fun of in the past. Now I've most likely have aged out of the target audience for LTT nowadays and I understand that. 

 

Which is why I'm more likely to watch videos from channels like this one where the thumbnails are easy on the eye and my attention is focused onto the subject of the video. Not the bright colours or the hosts' face. 

Quote

Likewise here, while the colours are at times very blinding (turquoise is one of their team colours), and the text on Romain Grosjean's Mercedes Test thumbnail is pretty much unreadable, it's still much better on the eyes for me compared to LTT's videos. You also have the added bonus of not having the hosts' face take up so much of the thumbnail, I can start seeing pimples if they had any. 

Quote

 

[LAwLz]

2 hours ago, BoxTurtle said:

Now I just can't even tell what the video is about and it is so annoying. 

You're telling me that these video titles does a poor job of communicating what the video is about?

No way! They are so easy to understand.

I am sure that in a couple of months Linus would totally be able to tell you which video is which from the title alone.

[NineEyeRon]

I always scrub through the video quickly to see if it still interests me, it doesn’t waste my time as you have to invest a little to see if it is of interest even with “clear” video titles.

[Kilrah]

5 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

who was saying that linus need to go bigger?

It's their choice, not yours... And viewership in general agrees with them if you look at the numbers.

Any decision will make someone mad, you can't please everyone. 

 

Every creator/company I followed from the start went through the same phase of having to frustrate some of the early followers. Sometimes annoying, but if that's what they have to do to achieve their goals then so be it. I've also had things from companies who did the mistake of not doing that, and they went bust as a result even when they had something unique that nobody else did so well...

[kasugatei]

Personally, I see stupid face on the thumbnail, I don't click. I see clickbait title, I don't click. However, if you want kids to click, they will be attracted by idiotic faces on thumbnails and clickbait titles, not by useful thumbnails or titles. If you have quality channel you don't need clickbait titles or stupid thumbnails, people will come and watch. 

Regarding LTT main channel thumbnails are still "fine", but other LTT owned channels have so repulsive thumbnails that I've never watched any of them. I watched some Tech quickie 4+ years ago and that's it. I know that I am minority, but if I see clickbait + idiotic face combo, no matter which channel it is I will not click because I expect stupid humor which only appeals to kids and bad content.

[Master Disaster]

On 5/13/2021 at 12:27 AM, Aniallation said:

Though I haven't been on the forum much if at all the past few years, I still continued to keep up with the main channel and videos that I thought were interesting. The video titles and thumbnails started to contain catchy taglines, but still clearly explained what the product is and the video was about (ex. "I'm DONE covering for NVIDIA - RTX 3070 Review"). However, as of the past few months, there were more and more videos with absolutely nothing in the title or description that explains what it is about, and more and more often they are just downright clickbait.

 

Who came up with this idea, and are we going to go back to clear titles and thumbnails that actually tell the viewer what they're clicking on before watching the video?

Unfortunately this is a reality of playing the YouTube game. You want your videos promoted? Then you gotta do a clickbait title and random thumbnail otherwise the algorithm ignores it.

 

Linus has spoken about this on WAN before, he said its something he has to do since, you know, LMG is a business with mouths to feed and bills to pay. He also said that they'll try to go back over videos after a day or 2 and rename them which they mostly do.

[kasugatei]

48 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Unfortunately this is a reality of playing the YouTube game. You want your videos promoted? Then you gotta do a clickbait title and random thumbnail otherwise the algorithm ignores it.

In my experience it doesn't seem to work that way. I haven't seen videos with stupid face thumbnails and clickbait titles suggested for me in ages. However, I can imagine that some people will have only those videos suggested. Youtube has smart enough algorithm to push content with high probability that user will watch it. It knows users well so I guess it knows that I won't watch that kind of content.

 

I can't make any definite conclusions because as just one Youtube user I am irrelevant statistic, however I would say that people (kids) still fall for those thumbnails and clickbait titles and that's why they blame algorithm for it.

[WolframaticAlpha]

On 5/13/2021 at 6:38 AM, Aniallation said:

While I do understand this, a lot of other large content creators on YouTube (including in tech) do as well, and they still haven't felt the need to resort to clickbait titles and thumbnails. Yes there's overhead and revenue, but there's still having respect for your audience and viewers. As with everything there should be a line between ethics and profit, even if it swings a lot more towards the latter, rather than just being greedy as possible. 

As large as linus, with no clickbait? Remember Linus has like 40 people working for him. This isn't a small band. It is a small time media corpo 

[tkitch]

11 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

but when you watch the video and find out its not about the title you get mad right?

Some places do that, but rarely are LMG Videos using completely deceptive topics.

ALSO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD:  MULTIQUOTE 

[LAwLz]

57 minutes ago, WolframaticAlpha said:

As large as linus, with no clickbait? 

Yes.

 

• Technical Guruji has pretty shitty titles and thumbnails as well but they are a bit more descriptive than Linus'.
• Mark Rober has descriptive and non-cringe titles and thumbnails.
• MKBHD has really good titles and thumbnails.
• Unbox Therapy has alright titles and thumbnails.
• The Hacksmith has pretty bad thumbnails but at least their titles are descriptive.
• Primitive Technology has no crazy thumbnails at all and descriptive titles.
• SmarterEveryDay also has pleasant looking thumbnails and very descriptive titles.

That's 7 channels in the "tech" category that as about as big as Linus (at least 10 million subs) and that either does titles or thumbnails better than LTT, if not both.

The whole "you need bad thumbnails and titles to get views" is not true. It is an easy way to boost viewership without making interesting content, but that's about it.

If we were to go outside of the "technology" category we would find way more examples.

 

 

But I think the whole "you can't become as big as Linus without doing clickbait" kind of misses the point. It's like responding to someone complaining about Buzzfeed with "show me another website that gets as many clicks".

People are complaining about the quality of content and the response is essentially "you have to make shit content if you want to make a ludicrous amount of money like Linus".

I stopped watching Linus' content a long time ago because I thought it was bad. I would be happy if he stopped shoveling out shitty content and instead made high quality content.

He might not make as much money from it, but I would enjoy his content more. I get that he doesn't want to do that because he wants to make as much money as possible, but at the same time I don't think that means I should stop complaining.

 

Me: "I want good content".

You: "But good content doesn't make him as much money!"

Me: "So? I still want good content."

 

 

I also find the whole "he has 40 people to pay!" completely misses the point as well.

I enjoyed his content far more when they were 2 people. More people has just made the channel worse in my eyes. The whole thing just turns into circular logic.

[Radium_Angel]

6 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

I stopped watching Linus' content a long time ago because I thought it was bad

I like the forum. I hate his videos, they strike me as the kind of stuff 14 year olds would do with they are trying to be "extreme!" or "edgy!" without actually being informative or instructive. The passive heatsink and pouring water over it, was a prime example. It came off as he had no idea what he was doing, and just winging it, instead of approaching it with a useful amount of content, as in "here's a passively cooled mobo, this is what you can do with it, and some of the limitations you will encounter" 

That would have made a good video.

[Avocado Diaboli]

11 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

I stopped watching Linus' content a long time ago because I thought it was bad. I would be happy if he stopped shoveling out shitty content and instead made high quality content.

Not trying to argue the quality of the content here, because taste is subjective, but if you stopped watching the content, how can you gauge its quality?

[Master Disaster]

4 hours ago, Niksa said:

In my experience it doesn't seem to work that way. I haven't seen videos with stupid face thumbnails and clickbait titles suggested for me in ages. However, I can imagine that some people will have only those videos suggested. Youtube has smart enough algorithm to push content with high probability that user will watch it. It knows users well so I guess it knows that I won't watch that kind of content.

 

I can't make any definite conclusions because as just one Youtube user I am irrelevant statistic, however I would say that people (kids) still fall for those thumbnails and clickbait titles and that's why they blame algorithm for it.

Thats the thing, Linus can draw conclusions since he runs multiple channels with ~15M subs between them all and LMG as a company are pushing ~15 videos per week. His creator control panel will tell him exactly which of his videos are doing well and which are not as well as some specific demographic information (like geographic locations and which ages watch which types of video).

 

As a user you wouldn't notice any difference as the algorithm feeds you with content it thinks you'll like, you need to be on the other side of the table to get an idea of what does & doesn't work for serving content to users.

[Master Disaster]

27 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I like the forum. I hate his videos, they strike me as the kind of stuff 14 year olds would do with they are trying to be "extreme!" or "edgy!" without actually being informative or instructive. The passive heatsink and pouring water over it, was a prime example. It came off as he had no idea what he was doing, and just winging it, instead of approaching it with a useful amount of content, as in "here's a passively cooled mobo, this is what you can do with it, and some of the limitations you will encounter" 

That would have made a good video.

See @LAwLz7 channels who do similar stuff without clickbait and times that 7 by 7 for an approximate amount of other creators already doing that.

 

IMO Linus is trying to differentiate himself from all the other creators who all cover the exact same topics in the exact same way (and there's nothing wrong with that since that's what most people want).

 

If I want information on a topic I watch Gamers Nexus or Level 1 Techs, I watch LMG videos to be entertained and despite how dumb it was, you cannot say that dunking a computer into a bucket of ice water while its running is not entertaining.

[Intoxicus]

I signed up for Floatplane and titles are what they should be.
It sucks they have to make the titles like that because YouTube.
You really truly have to though. A good title and thumbnail is crucial for any YouTube content.
I guess at the end of the day blame the majority of humans that clickbait works on.

[WolframaticAlpha]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

Yes.

 

• Technical Guruji has pretty shitty titles and thumbnails as well but they are a bit more descriptive than Linus'.
• Mark Rober has descriptive and non-cringe titles and thumbnails.
• MKBHD has really good titles and thumbnails.
• Unbox Therapy has alright titles and thumbnails.
• The Hacksmith has pretty bad thumbnails but at least their titles are descriptive.
• Primitive Technology has no crazy thumbnails at all and descriptive titles.
• SmarterEveryDay also has pleasant looking thumbnails and very descriptive titles.

That's 7 channels in the "tech" category that as about as big as Linus (at least 10 million subs) and that either does titles or thumbnails better than LTT, if not both.

The whole "you need bad thumbnails and titles to get views" is not true. It is an easy way to boost viewership without making interesting content, but that's about it.

If we were to go outside of the "technology" category we would find way more examples.

 

 

But I think the whole "you can't become as big as Linus without doing clickbait" kind of misses the point. It's like responding to someone complaining about Buzzfeed with "show me another website that gets as many clicks".

People are complaining about the quality of content and the response is essentially "you have to make shit content if you want to make a ludicrous amount of money like Linus".

I stopped watching Linus' content a long time ago because I thought it was bad. I would be happy if he stopped shoveling out shitty content and instead made high quality content.

He might not make as much money from it, but I would enjoy his content more. I get that he doesn't want to do that because he wants to make as much money as possible, but at the same time I don't think that means I should stop complaining.

 

Me: "I want good content".

You: "But good content doesn't make him as much money!"

Me: "So? I still want good content."

 

 

I also find the whole "he has 40 people to pay!" completely misses the point as well.

I enjoyed his content far more when they were 2 people. More people has just made the channel worse in my eyes. The whole thing just turns into circular logic.

> Technical Guruji & Unbox Therapy

Shitty non informative content. 

> MKBHD

Caters to a non enthusiast community of viewers. Can make videos on juicy stuff like new phones and cool mobile tech.

> The Hacksmith, Primitive Tech, Smarter Every Day & Mark Rober

Not tech channels. See, LTT is a hard-tech related channel with a special focus on the PC. The PC has become quite bland and you really can't have really interesting content if you are pumping videos out daily. Also primitive technology is pretty much dead now. SO what do you do? You try to attract more viewers. Non tech enthusiasts to be precise. Now looking at a title like: "The Jellyfish SSD server is overpriced for it's functions. Buy a stornado storage server server. Watch More>>" is quite less appealing than "They betrayed me! Jellyfish server review" with a few top youtubers on your thumbnail.

 

I agree with your point. Their titles hit the sweetspot a few months ago. But the thing is, the thumbnail is meant to be viewed alongside the title. 

 

 

[WolframaticAlpha]

21 minutes ago, Intoxicus said:

I signed up for Floatplane and titles are what they should be.
It sucks they have to make the titles like that because YouTube.
You really truly have to though. A good title and thumbnail is crucial for any YouTube content.
I guess at the end of the day blame the majority of humans that clickbait works on.

Floatplane doesn't have an algorithm. It doesn't depend on views. Since you are already paying, there is no need to put such titles. If you are paying, you already are a frequent viewer/fan of the channel. No one else is on there.

[LAwLz]

1 hour ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

Not trying to argue the quality of the content here, because taste is subjective, but if you stopped watching the content, how can you gauge its quality?

"Stopped watching" != "I never watch or get in contact with any of his content".

 

I still watch the WAN show every week (although I think that has gotten worse and worse too), and every once in a while someone on the forum might have a question regarding his video or a segment, so I watch that. 

When I say I stopped watching LTT I mean I unsubscribed and rarely if every watch anything from them. I also see the title and thumbnails of their latest videos here on the forum in the sidebar.

 

 

52 minutes ago, Intoxicus said:

It sucks they have to make the titles like that because YouTube.

They don't have to. They choose to do it because they are willing to sacrifice that in order to make more money. Their channel would not die if they stopped with the shitty titles and clickbait. They would just make slightly less money.

 

 

 

32 minutes ago, WolframaticAlpha said:

> Technical Guruji & Unbox Therapy

Shitty non informative content. 

> MKBHD

Caters to a non enthusiast community of viewers. Can make videos on juicy stuff like new phones and cool mobile tech.

> The Hacksmith, Primitive Tech, Smarter Every Day & Mark Rober

Not tech channels. See, LTT is a hard-tech related channel with a special focus on the PC. The PC has become quite bland and you really can't have really interesting content if you are pumping videos out daily. Also primitive technology is pretty much dead now. SO what do you do? You try to attract more viewers. Non tech enthusiasts to be precise. Now looking at a title like: "The Jellyfish SSD server is overpriced for it's functions. Buy a stornado storage server server. Watch More>>" is quite less appealing than "They betrayed me! Jellyfish server review" with a few top youtubers on your thumbnail.

 

I agree with your point. Their titles hit the sweetspot a few months ago. But the thing is, the thumbnail is meant to be viewed alongside the title.

Moving the goalpost. Someone said other big channels (tech or not) did not have to resort to bad titles and thumbnails and you said "as large as linus, with no clickbait" to which I gave you some examples from the technology category. Your response is "yes but they are slightly different from LTT so they don't count".

My point is, you don't have to use clickbait to be successful. I think Linus once said on a WAN show that they estimate that they get roughly 20% more views from the shitty titles and thumbnails. If that's true then the stats looks like this:

With shitty titles/thumbnails - 74 million monthly views

Without shitty titles/thumbnails - 59.2 million monthly views.

 

Are you seriously going to suggest that LMG would not be successful if they "only" got 59.2 million views a month?

Hell, it wouldn't even be 20% less revenue since direct Youtube profits are a small portion of their total revenue.

 

 

Also, if you think LTT is a "hard-tech related channel" for "enthusiasts" then you are sadly mistaken. It's a consumer electronics channel that mostly tries to make you buy the latest thing some company pays them to advertise to you. Hell you even said it yourself, Linus tries to attract non-tech-enthusiasts.

 

And since when did LTT stop making "juicy stuff like new phones and cool mobile tech"?  Last week they made a video about Android 12 and WearOS.

The week before that they made a video about gaming phones. 

Like a week or two before that they made a video about phone lenses.

A couple of days before that they made a video about a smartwatch.

The list goes on.

 

They make a lot of videos about the same stuff MKBHD does.

[Radium_Angel]

5 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

you cannot say that dunking a computer into a bucket of ice water while its running is not entertaining.

I wouldn't use the term "entertaining" more like "waiting for Darwin to enter the room" 

I get your point tho, I really do, it's just not what I came here for.

5 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

If I want information on a topic I watch Gamers Nexus

"5 programs you can't live without!"

Runtime: 45:36

 

I like his stuff, but dude, cut it back a bit please, and speak a little more clearly, he sounds like an auctioneer sometimes.

[WolframaticAlpha]

3 hours ago, LAwLz said:

"Stopped watching" != "I never watch or get in contact with any of his content".

 

I still watch the WAN show every week (although I think that has gotten worse and worse too), and every once in a while someone on the forum might have a question regarding his video or a segment, so I watch that. 

When I say I stopped watching LTT I mean I unsubscribed and rarely if every watch anything from them. I also see the title and thumbnails of their latest videos here on the forum in the sidebar.

 

 

They don't have to. They choose to do it because they are willing to sacrifice that in order to make more money. Their channel would not die if they stopped with the shitty titles and clickbait. They would just make slightly less money.

 

 

 

Moving the goalpost. Someone said other big channels (tech or not) did not have to resort to bad titles and thumbnails and you said "as large as linus, with no clickbait" to which I gave you some examples from the technology category. Your response is "yes but they are slightly different from LTT so they don't count".

My point is, you don't have to use clickbait to be successful. I think Linus once said on a WAN show that they estimate that they get roughly 20% more views from the shitty titles and thumbnails. If that's true then the stats looks like this:

With shitty titles/thumbnails - 74 million monthly views

Without shitty titles/thumbnails - 59.2 million monthly views.

 

Are you seriously going to suggest that LMG would not be successful if they "only" got 59.2 million views a month?

Hell, it wouldn't even be 20% less revenue since direct Youtube profits are a small portion of their total revenue.

 

 

Also, if you think LTT is a "hard-tech related channel" for "enthusiasts" then you are sadly mistaken. It's a consumer electronics channel that mostly tries to make you buy the latest thing some company pays them to advertise to you. Hell you even said it yourself, Linus tries to attract non-tech-enthusiasts.

 

And since when did LTT stop making "juicy stuff like new phones and cool mobile tech"?  Last week they made a video about Android 12 and WearOS.

The week before that they made a video about gaming phones. 

Like a week or two before that they made a video about phone lenses.

A couple of days before that they made a video about a smartwatch.

The list goes on.

 

They make a lot of videos about the same stuff MKBHD does.

Is an interview with the google ceo and a review of latest ipads more juicy, or new televisions and overview of an event more interesting.

 

LTT is making a shitload of videos every week. Most of the other channels you mentioned are not making new videos every day.

 

>Also, if you think LTT is a "hard-tech related channel" for "enthusiasts" then you are sadly mistaken. It's a consumer electronics channel that mostly tries to make you buy the latest thing some company pays them to advertise to you. Hell you even said it yourself, Linus tries to attract non-tech-enthusiasts.

 

If there was a metric to measure the computer savviness of the viewers of a channel, LTT's would be out of the chart. The number of non-tech savvy users is much higher than the number of tech-savvy users. More users = More views = More moolah.

 

>  They don't have to. They choose to do it because they are willing to sacrifice that in order to make more money. Their channel would not die if they stopped with the shitty titles and clickbait. They would just make slightly less money.

 

That is the core part of my argument LTT is not a 3 man band. It is small-time media corp. THe main interest of a business is to let it prosper. This is a calculated risk. You probably won't stop watching LTT because the titles suck. However more people will be intrigued by them. And hence you get to keep your old userbase, and add some new ones.

 

Point of example: "Apple blew my expectations: M1 mac review" is obviously much more catchy than "a review of the new M1 apple mac mini". Sure the second title is much better info wise, but the first title strikes a  much better balance b/w info and interest. Also the thumbnail is meant to be viewed alongside the title.

 

>Moving the goalpost.

Comparing some half assed vlogging channel with a tech channel seems a bit unfair, doesn't it?

 

>Their channel would not die if they stopped with the shitty titles and clickbait.

The youtube algorithm favours high/steady growth channels. If LTT's starts servicing it's channel more to it's existing userbase, then growth will slow, then stagnate. The recommendation program sees this and reduces the number of videos of that channel sponsored on the recommended list. And it becomes a vicious cycle. This is why many awesome channels have low viewership numbers. It is just recommended less.

 

> Are you seriously going to suggest that LMG would not be successful if they "only" got 59.2 million views a month?

 

No, but it's revenue will slow down and new expansions would have to be cut off.

 

> Also, if you think LTT is a "hard-tech related channel" for "enthusiasts" then you are sadly mistaken. It's a consumer electronics channel that mostly tries to make you buy the latest thing some company pays them to advertise to you. Hell you even said it yourself, Linus tries to attract non-tech-enthusiasts.

 

Comparatively hard-tech and pretty much the hardest tech channel with a subscriber base of more than 10 mn. 10 million people cannot watch Gamers Nexus with it's ultra-hard tech content(unfortunately)