For nearly two years, we have produced a video every single day. That has taken its toll, so we are taking a short break next week. There will be fewer videos over the next 10 days. Not none at all, but fewer.
But there is a bigger issue.
YouTube is changing how it treats educational content. The algorithm is now prioritising novelty over repetition — and that matters, because repetition is how people learn.
In this video, I explain:
- Why our views are falling
- What YouTube is changing
- Why this matters for education
- What we are going to do about it
This is a major issue for us, with significant consequences for how we promote the ideas that matter to the Funding the Future team. We have realised we have to change how we produce video or face the prospect of reaching few people.
This is the audio version:
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This is the transcript:
For the last two years, the team here has produced at least one video every single day. Many days we produced two, a long and a short. That pace has been intense. We've worked really hard, and we're pleased with the results. We've now got 345,000 or so subscribers. We've had over 30 million views in a year, and to date, something like 45 million views. That's a lot, but for the next week, output here is going to fall slightly, and there's a good reason for that.
The team is tired after sustained daily production. Nearly two years without a pause is, let's be honest, a lot of work. The team are taking a short break as a result, and we will be posting less over the next week.
We do think it's important to take a step back at this moment and think about what we're doing, and there's a good reason for that.
YouTube itself is changing how it's promoting our videos at present. It's announced that it's changing the way in which educational channels' videos are being treated. We are treated as an educational channel for these purposes, and we are seeing the consequences. The algorithm is getting harder for us, and we are not alone. We're hearing this feedback all over the place. We are getting fewer views. Last year, we had 30 million views on the channel. This year, if we are lucky, we'll get 20 million views. We don't think that's because the quality of our videos has fallen. We don't think it's because the materials are worse.
The reality is that the rules of YouTube's distribution have changed, and many educational channels are reporting the same trend.
What we know and what most of those channels know is that repetition is essential in education. People learn by hearing an idea more than once. That's why we will talk about some ideas more than once in the videos that we make. It's because people need the opportunity to hear one thing in more than one way to really learn it. That's how deep understanding is created. Most people in education will recognise that.
But YouTube has said it does not like that repetition. The algorithm now wants novelty, including in the education field. If a video discusses ideas already explained elsewhere, YouTube is now saying it's less likely to promote it, but education often builds on existing ideas. Of course it does. That's the nature of education. It's explaining what has already been discovered to people who don't already know it. That's what teaching does. What we now have to do, and this is the way we've got to respond to what YouTube is doing, is find new ways to explore how to do that.
Now this channel exists to explain political economy, to challenge orthodox economic thinking and to promote the politics of care and politics for people. To make economic ideas accessible, we need to adapt without losing that mission that's core to us.
So, in the next week, as we take a bit of time off, we're also going to be thinking about how this channel currently works.
We're going to be rethinking the prompts I use when recording to see if we can add some new ways of making video.
We are going to reconsider our presentation styles, new styles of thumbnails, new styles and ways of building in overlays, and new ways in which visual elements can play a larger role. All of this is stuff that we are going to be looking at because we want to aim for better reach without losing substance.
Meanwhile, while Thomas and I are focusing on that, James, who's the third member of the team, is taking on more of the wider activity; planning for our next live event is underway. We expect it will be in Leeds. This will be a bit different from the last one because feedback has been provided, and we will therefore be looking more at things like what we can do rather than what the theory behind action is, but it will be another opportunity to meet in person and discuss these ideas together.
So we are thinking more broadly about what we can do, but please, forgive us if we produce slightly fewer videos in the next week. And please use the poll that's linked below this video to give us some feedback on what we should be doing.
Please tell us what you like about the channel at present. That will help us. We will look at the results. Your feedback will shape what comes next.
We really do want to hear from you at this moment:
Are you happy with the videos we're producing?
Do you feel that some of our videos are too similar?
Should we use more graphics and real examples?
Is repetition valuable in education? If it isn't, what changes would you like to see?
These are the questions we'd like you to look at. Some of them are reflected in the poll down below, but please comment as well; your feedback genuinely helps us improve.
Please subscribe if you value the channel. Please like this video. Please talk about what we've got to say, and thank you for being part of this community. It's been fun creating the videos that we've done to date. Let's be honest, this thing is not just about work. I do this because I really believe in what I'm up to here. But knowing what you think and how we should change to manage the constraints that YouTube is now putting upon us would be useful. So if you have any comments, please do let us know. I really will appreciate them. Thanks a lot.
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Richard
You look knackered. Honestly.
Take it easy as much as you can – happy to note the ‘time off’. Polanksi mentioned he ‘C’ word the other day and if he is serious there maybe a lot of work you might be pulled into and you will need what strength you have for that?
With regard to the videos, the need to make money always wins over the need to educate. Repetition helps learning – how many times has Thatcher’s ‘tax payers money’ trope been used over the years. From an AI search:
‘”The bigger the lie, the more you have to repeat it” describes a propaganda technique—often called the “Big Lie” (grosslüge)—where a massive, audacious falsehood is consistently repeated to make it believable. Coined by Adolf Hitler, this strategy suggests that because people would not believe someone could distort the truth so drastically, a colossal lie can convince them, especially if pushed persistently.’
This is what we are up against and we can only repeat as much in opposition and as creatively as we can.
Maybe one way is to create individual stories that illustrate the politics of care? As the Bible and Quran and other faiths did to help us to lead a good life – this time ‘parables of care’. You like the idea of being a writer and maybe some of the contributors could write care parables – each one could be novel (new) but basically repeat the same message? Look, it’s just an idea, right?
Do take care of yourself.
I agree. I am knackered and do need a break.
And there is also only so much change that we want to do. What is a present clear from the support that we are getting vampire donations is that this source of income is now more important than YouTube. We are doing something right. But I do note your other points and I think that they are important and are reflective of the way in which I am thinking as well.
I think PSR has proposed a good idea. what about short “case studies”?
someone is facing X problem
this is why
it doesn’t have to be this way, here’s what we could do instead
Just a thought
These things take a lot more time to create.
I am finite
You have different platforms and your audience could be segmented into different categories according appropriate criteria such as depth of knowledge or media preference, for example. Would it be more useful to use the different platforms to attract the different segments. Personally, I find the videos are more distracting when I’m trying to get my head round an idea being explained and unless you propose to inject regular complex graphics that assist understanding I would be unlikely to view them any more often. Dave Borlace’s Just Have a Think channel is a good example of helpful graphics. He, too, is largely educational.
I understand that Youtube is the major platform and my sense is that it is already the de facto entry point to your work so will necessarily stay at that level in terms of output to attract more people. At some point this may change of course as the general level of understanding rises. I’m not sure how the algorithm judges content. Is it by the still that advertises it in the list or by the content? Many channels will reference previous videos for more in depth explanations of topics already covered and briefly recap in the current one. You could have some ‘sacrificial’ episodes which approach the topic from a few different angles for reference which would build viewings over the longer time frame while producing fresh content for immediate numbers.
I enjoy listening or reading more so I’m not your median audience.
Thanks, Richard
I love Steve Keen’s work and yet his videos and ‘funnel marketing’ leave me cold.
The irony is that the same rent seeking digital platforms that we all want to see hobbled are dictating the content agenda for profit, rather than public good.
They’re optimising for eyeballs to drive advertising consumption, not for the outcomes of content creators.
Your audience is not homogenous.
Some of us like to read and listen and understand detail and enjoy meticulously researched arguments.
Whilst some prefer the TikTok 30 second click bait headlines before moving on.
The question to ask is what is your goal and which audience, fully engaged and active, best serves you achieving your goal and why?
And then arguably, optimise around the needs of that group.
As always. Keep up the good work. It IS appreciated.
Steve’s marketing leaves me cold as well. We are trying out some new thumbnails and I can’t say I am excited by them but they do work on YouTube. We also know that Video title which start with capital letters on every word are much more attractive on YouTube then are those which are written in proper English. All of these are compromises we have to make decisions on. And thank you.
Hi Richard, as I was watching the video it struck me that linking up with other people who are teaching out to tell truth in a post truth world might be a way forward. I’m sure there are numerous such outlets, however, the one that sprang to mind was the Meidas Touch network. If you’re not familiar with it might I suggest you take a look? They are American based but clearly challenge the mainstream narrative on many areas. The main presenter is a Professor of law, they have over six million subscribers and growing. Defending democracy is a primary subject of theirs but it’s also clear that so many people have little or no idea how money is created. Personally I think your channel would be a good fit in developing a wider network to challenge the Neoliberal propaganda we face every day.
The problem with this, Geoff, would be the enormous amount of work required to create a link up and the loss of editorial control.
That’s a real shame, I thought there might be a simple way to share content rather than give up control. The right wing extremists seem to be successful in networking, something progressive thinkers are not so good at doing.
We have principles, and that means that we are careful about who we share with.
Perhaps the sad reality is that if you want to elevate your reach to the next level, a loss of editorial control is the price that will have to be paid.
Why?
…because as the workload increases you simply can’t do everything yourself. Reviewing every comment personally is a good example. Maybe letting go is not what you want, which is fine, but you have to accept that this will place limits on growth. Channels like Midas Touch are a very collaborative enterprise; I’m sure that means there are internal differences about style and direction, but somehow it hangs together.
Plans for this are well advanced and will be implemented when I am back from Edinburgh.
But I make the point, I am not interested in growth for its own sake. I am interested in promoting particular ideas.
I love the addition of Max (to Meidas Touch contributors), very lefty economist, from UNFTR. That took me to his yt, where he only posts once or twice a week.
Hi Richard, have a look at Dave Borland on his Just have a think channel, I find his videos to be more like a friendly but informative chat over a cuppa, Yours and please dont take this the wrong way, are more like being at a lecture where the lecturer is in a bit of a rush, the message though is spot on. To be fair Dave only produces one video a week and he takes time to highlight loads of supporting references with links in the description.
Maybe that is my suggestion slightly fewer posts but more graphics and a bit more relaxed.
I could be talking complete balleaux, I know very little about video production in all honesty.
KUTGW
I am aware that I need to get off the podium on occasions. That requires the creation of a new mindset on my part when I sit in front of a camera.
Richard , you and the Team take your time experimenting to work out how to play the YouTube game so that you get the most plays.
Can’t really comment as I don’t watch the videos, only read the transcripts.
DLTBGYD – KUTGW – and ‘thank you’
Thanks
It feels like You Tube want to dumb it down. You are right, repetition gets the message into people’s heads. I still remember “the day Reginald Molehusband got it right” or that “one thousand and one cleans a big big carpet for less than half a crown”. I am not sure that is what I want but perhaps it works. It is novel, it is repetitious and it might make people laugh – always a good way to consolidate a message. Sorry if this sounds flippant. It wasn’t meant to be.
On apparently increasing novelty. You and the team have a core set of ideas, which can comment on most situations from this basis. If a video started with a question related to current news, the core set of ideas would inform the response, while still seeming novel to the moderators on YouTube.
I must admit I prefer reading to listening, so I always read transcripts as opposed to watching videos on YouTube. But my late husband, Professor of the History of Technology at Sheffield Hallam, was a brilliant teacher, and I was always impressed by the way he could take informal and apparently irrelevant questions during a lecture, and weave the answers into the points he was getting across. It was a personal style, but so is yours.
You do not have to publish this. I read your blog and comments daily but until recently have not seen your videos. One day my husband remarked that “a bloke looking like Eric Clapton is talking about tax – what’s that about”. A few minutes later I heard familiar words, and looking up, saw your YouTube for the first time. He watched the whole video and found it very interesting. I was able to tell him who you were and what your background was etc. He found your presentation convincing so watched a couple more videos over the next few days. But increasingly he watched less and less of each one – finding your arguments repetitive and less interesting with that repetition. (Note – he self selected the videos which may explain some of the repetition). He asked why you made them and I suggested that it was to educate people. Eventually he said he would not watch more because in his words: “I’m now educated – thanks”.
I relate this not to be offensive or cause displeasure – please do not take it in any way negatively although I understand on first reading it will probably come across that way.
It’s more in the nature of showing how one individual reacted when coming across your YouTube for the first time. Yes, repetition is how many people learn so it matters. I don’t suppose finding “novelty” ways of repeating things will be easy either! I don’t envy your team that task. However, novelty also matters as it does drive engagement – where the balance lies though I am unable to say.
As an aside, if the date allows, I will make every effort to attend an event in Leeds. But your suggestion that this may focus more on action than education would be interesting for sure.
Best suggestion:
Use a different video distribution platform as well as YT.
There are PeerTube instances on the Fediverse that would be happy to have you there. 😀
Does anybody watch?
Would we be paid? I have wage bills to settle.
On the flip side you could look at alternatives to You Tube; “Daily Motion” has 250m+ subscribers, “Vimeo”,, “Nebula” and “Peer Tube” are also options.
For me the content is everything, the message or narrative given in your videos is the important stuff. Repetition is vital to cement the information within, just space the repeats out.
Personally I would like an end of week main stream news round up, opinion, analysis and alternate view + a section that looks at what they are not telling us. Perhaps with guests or regular contributors 1/2 hr to an hour long. The novelty would come from the news being different each week…most weeks.
Whatever you choose to do I will be watching and sharing. Thanks anyway for all your hard work.
The problem with all those platforms is that nobody goes there to watch anything, I need to go where the viewers are if I am to change things. I don’t publish just for the sake of doing so.
I note your suggestion about a mainstream news round up but let’s be clear, I am decidedly finite and exceptionally unusual in producing daily videos in the first place as well as regular blog posts. We are not a television channel.
How do YT measure repetition in your videos? Is it the setting, the words, the “message”?
I like graphics …. Getting representative data for emerging events is tricky …. But there’s a wealth of historical events with parallels that you know about to illustrate issues. Less didactic commentary, to more analysis of the past examples with a “so what will happen” or prescription?
These are probably more time consuming.
And there’s always a clown suit option to make it different!
YouTube analyses the transcripts of the videos to see whether the same points have already been made elsewhere. That is the basis of the analysis I note the rest of what you have to say.
My question would be – while you make money from this project, are livelihoods dependent on it? If so, you probably have to adapt to the pressures of the platform in some way.
If not, then I am not sure a change (other than pace for health because this many videos can’t be healthy!) is warranted. There is one reason for this – YT changes the way the algorithm works all the time. The moment you have it figured out, they will pull the rug from under your feet. The consequence of this will be a legacy of educational videos whose style keeps changing, perhaps in ways harmful to the intended message and audience. You could instead choose to ride the shocks with stability and grow slower but through consistency.
You have a sizable audience right now – how many of those are extant subscribers returning for each video (you don’t actually need to share this – just a prompt to consider)? It should be in your analytics. If they stick with you and keep clicking, you will still get algorithmically boosted – it just won’t be to the extent that it would receive if you were jumping through YT’s hoops. I think you could probably ride it out until the next sweeping change done by YT without notifying or informing the users.
Otherwise, perhaps figuring out a promotional and exposure campaign could help which can help circumvent the limiters YT is putting on your method right now. You tell people to sub and share already and that’s good but it is also formulaic – eventually people who are long term viewers tune out at that bit. So if you can find a way to jazz it up for a short-medium term campaign, that might help.
If there are other big names you haven’t worked with who operate on YT you already know, do a crossover video. Or simply make a video for their channel while they make one for yours, which requires less scheduling for each of you. For examples of similar – Tom Scott used to do this, where he would ‘hand’ his channel to other creators for a week. A mutual agreement to do that would give both channels exposure and awareness to each others userbases.
I have a wage bill to pay. Thankfully, donations make a big differencee, but we do want and need people to see our videos.
A lot of serious content creators are now using Substack. I’m guessing your use of YouTube is to gain more casual listeners. You obviously need to reduce your video output because it’s too much for you. Would Substack be a better location? I’ve no idea about the costs involved. Or could you write the material and get another member of the team to present?
I do Substack now. There is an article there today.
Why is the video outpurt too much for me? I don’t agree.
Substack is free.
Whether it will pay for itself is quite another issue.
A thing I will noticed quickly when analysing many of your most well-viewed videos, and apologies if this is something you are aware of already.
Their titles are questions.
There is strong consistency in videos you have presented as a question performing well. Perhaps this is the effect of being in response to immediate headlines – if so, it may be worth incorporating that somehow – link your content to current events as a hook then bring in the real focus.
It may also be worth basically pulling the data of every single video you have made (if it is feasible to do so), and graphing whether questions or statements perform better. At a glance, it looks like questions do perform better with some consistency, when not directly related to a micro niche in British politics (which is important still), or related to the political programme you are promoting (I’d call this a consequence of the specificity of the language rather than the programme being bad!). But either way, I note a trend that when a video breaks through to gigantic views, particularly in the past half year, it is framed as a question.
I will also note, that when I open up a private browsing session while using a VPN (to eliminate cookies or any other variables messing with data that is attached to me and my recent searches), and then searching terms similar to the questions posed in your video, you are the top result. In fact, when I search about your most viewed video, stock market crashes and the money – you are the second result (after Investopedia whose answer is junk), the third result, the fourth result, and then this blog is the fifth result. The SEO ranking you get for your question titled videos is excellent.
It may be worth digging into your analytics at some point and seeing how much of your traffic comes from people searching these questions on Google when they are titled as questions. If this is significant, I suggest titling your videos with this strategy – start typing your video concept as a question into Google, and see what autocomplete suggests. Frame it a couple different ways. Look at the videos it then suggests from that, check their viewcount, and then basically go along the path of the most viewed for titling.
Many thanka, and noted. Th question point is a good one.
I, Anne Cruise, do solemnly pledge that:
1. I will watch every FtF video for the next month
2. I will publish a link to each video on my wall, with a short quote of introduction
3. I will push my Friends to share it if they “learn anything new” from a particular video.
I don’t find learning from aural input very easy, but I’ll give it a go. My pledge is the best I can do, and I will search through earlier output as well.
I love that!
I’ve been reading a book that suggests that good stories always win out over fact – “best story wins” and I think this is why the household analogy persists because it chimes with peoples personal experience. So I wondered whether there were any decent questioning comedians or story tellers who could help (Mark Thomas, Stewart Lee) present your work in a completely different or novel way. I’m not sure I know how you would get these people on board, so I think I’m leaning towards real-time examples or novelty.
I could try Mark. I have worked with him in the past.
Kevin Bridges has made UK/Greek deficit funny, attacked austerity and tax dodgers and given examples of multipliers in action (boost benefits, rather than encourage private savings) – though not fully on board the editorial guidelines of this blog.
I couldn’t include the link here – but search ‘kevin bridges on britains deficit” or “kevin bridges on kickstarting the economy”.
Bear in mind, he laughs with deprived folk, not at ….
The clips are very funny.
Have you considered how this content might work with a podcast-first approach? My understanding is that podcast promotion rewards frequency, of which you’re up there with the most frequent.
I choose to listen to you on Spotify over YouTube – not because I don’t enjoy watching you, more because I’m probably also driving or need to be doing another thing too).
Obviously commenting is non-existent on podcasts so that’s one drawback.
Thanks and keep up the good work.
Podcasts take a lot longer to organise. Mine wtih John Christensen tend to work well. Others, less so. So more work, but no sure return.
I find the videos so useful that I am keeping many them – so many that I really need to devise an indexing system. The most interesting and useful deal directly with economic issues (though I like the bird-watching) I sometimes wish there could be a means of asking questions, directly, on line (for clarification only). However, as we don’t watch in real time this is plainly not possible.
YT seems to be taking a very anti-educational stance toward education, will they exclude public figures, politicians, neo-liberal economists, clergy et al if they keep on repeating the same ideas?
Thanks.
neurodivergent here. I love your content and find the videos very pleasing. I can understand the content and they are very insightful not to complicated language. If you are adding more graphics or visuals I don’t mind that to beat the algorithm however I have trouble focusing on videos that have too bouncy or overly animated videos flashing and weird fonts. Also background music is very distracting. But I do find visuals like you would get from a PowerPoint in a lecture helpful to susinct info. But please please please don’t do the YouTube shock face that drives me loopy. Anything but that lol.
Like you I hate overly produced video and background music. We will not be going there.
I have seen channels split into 2 or more channels, eg the main channel for the long videos and the new one for the short ones.
The long videos kan do the explanations in a proper way. The short videos can do all the (sharp) questioning, give a short answer and send those interested to the main channel for a deeper insight.
By the way. Thanks for your work and take care of yourself, family and bypassing birds
We do both long and short videos now.
To succeed on YouTube that is pretty essential.
20 million views is still massive, and impressive.
Thanks
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