3 Big Lessons From Vidsummit

Vidsummit was the most fun that I’ve had in a long time.

I got an Airbnb with 9 of the most talented YouTubers in the game.

It was non-stop talking for 4 days straight, bouncing ideas and insights between the most data-driven group of people that I know.

And a lot of the conversations led to some big realizations that I did not expect.

Lesson 1: YouTube is the long game

This may sound stupidly obvious to most of you.

And I’ve said this multiple times on my Twitter before.

But I never fully internalized this concept until I’d actually gone to Vidsummit.

Vidsummit was the first time that I’d been recognized in public for my YouTube videos.

I’d only put out 12 videos, but there were people coming up to me telling me how helpful my scripting content was for them.

And how they’d use the information to speed up their workflow.

Reading YouTube comments vs seeing the tangible impact that my content has had on my tiny follower base reinforced the importance of focusing time and energy on my YouTube channel.

A YouTube audience is the main thing that’s grown my business from 0-$30k/month.

A YouTube audience is the main traffic source for my offers.

A YouTube audience is what gave me the keys to be recognized as a micro authority among other YouTubers who’s been doing it for 5+ years.

Growing the YouTube brand is the long game and a lot more of my energy will be put towards creating consistent viral bangers.

Lesson 2: Affiliates are powerful

Previously, I’d dismissed affiliates as one of those minuscule income sources that didn’t matter much.

But more than a dozen conversations at Vidsummit revolved around how powerful the conversions affiliates were for YouTube.

I talked to the top affiliate partners for VidIQ, 1of10, GoHighLevel, and other big software tools.

And all of them talked about how easy, yet substantial affiliates were as a revenue source for their business.

I can’t reveal the backend numbers that were discussed.

But if done right, affiliates composed almost 33-50% of the revenue of some of the YouTube channels that I talked to.

Lesson 3: There are a million ways to make money on YouTube

YouTube is by far the most diverse platform in terms of monetization avenues.

I talked to creators doing shorts content, comedy content, guitar videos, all the way to Skibidi toilet brainrot.

And then there are the high-quality branded channels vs the politics and news high-volume channels.

There are a gazillion niches out there, with channels monetizing with ad sense, sponsorships, affiliates, or their own businesses.

And not one of them is necessarily more efficient than the other.

As long as you’re top 1% in the content that you create, and you are creative, YouTube is your sandbox.

Talking to creators in such a wide variety of niches definitely inspired me to expand my thinking as to what is possible.

With Viral Bangers mainly writing in educational niches, it’s easy to get caught in the bubble that I’m in (which can be a good thing at times).

But it’s important to still keep in touch with what’s happening across broad YouTube markets, as it could inform my next moves.

A quick reflection email for today.

Hope this was insightful,

Bryan