Becoming A YouTube Sensation
How Richard Wiseman Keeps Over A Million Followers Engaged
Since its launch over 10 years ago, Professor Richard Wiseman’s In59Seconds YouTube channel has grown to more than 1.4 million subscribers. In that time, Richard has developed a loyal fan base eager to watch each new video he posts. And we really mean eager. For a channel of Richard’s size, a 1.5% engagement rate would be good but Richard’s most popular posts average at 15.07%! Here are just a few examples that we’ve created for Richard:
59 Seconds: Gratitude
59 Seconds: Procrastination
59 Seconds: Clothing
59 Seconds: Brainstorming
So, how does Richard do it? The answer is short form animated explainer videos that inform his now devoted fan base and add value to their lives.
“Worlds best youtube channel for a reason.. short, direct to topic & highly intelligent content.. Never changed since 9 years. Now one minute vids a trend, this man was years ahead of time.”
What is a good engagement rate on YouTube?
It all depends on the size of your channel. Smaller channels should aim for an engagement rate of over 3.5%, but as your audience and subscribers start to grow beyond 100,000 achieving a 1.5% engagement rate or more is a mark of success.
Richard’s channel however has as an engagement rate 87.5% times higher than the entirely respectable 1.5%. To understand why audiences respond so much better to animated explainers than more traditional ‘talking head’ videos, we worked Richard on a research project.