Youtube Success Story | Case Study and Takeaways
Building traction on Youtube is HARD. It’s estimated that only 0.25% of all YouTube channels are making money. In light of how difficult it is to stand out on the platform, I omitted Youtube when I wrote 10 side hustles that will change your life.
Although, recently, I was lucky enough to come across one of those rare channels that does stand out. The name of the channel is Finaius, the first video on the channel was posted just 18 months ago. Today, Finaius has over 83k subscribers.
Why Finaius Is A Special Youtube Channel
I was inspired by the content because:
It was unique
It was extremely enjoyable to consume
I could tell the creator, Rocky Xu, nailed down an amazing process for making Youtube videos
In fact, I was so curious about his process that I reached out to him on LinkedIn and asked if he’d be open to answering a few questions about how he makes the videos(so that I could write this article).
Before getting into the details, I’ll explain the essence of Rocky’s videos.
Think “The Last Dance,” a ten-part documentary about Michael Jordan, but instead of the NBA, Rocky selects his subjects from the world of finance. He’s done videos on Charlie Munger, Larry Fink, Bill Ackman, and a list of other Wall-Street-billionaires.
I’m comparing his documentaries to The Last Dance, because similarly to The Last Dance, his films unfold like a narrative. There’s rising action, a climax, a resolution, etc. It’s extremely entertaining. However, it’s not what his videos have in common with the last dance that makes them so amazing, it’s what they don’t.
The Last Dance required a team of cameramen to follow and record the 1990s Chicago Bulls for the entirety of an NBA season.
Rocky makes his documentaries without ever leaving his living room.
How He Makes Successful Youtube Documentaries - The Creative Process
There’s no need for him to film anything because there is a vast supply of footage that already exists on the internet. His job is to find relevant footage and tie it together in a meaningful way.
Naturally, one of the questions I asked him was: How long does it take you to find all of the clips you include in the videos?
He responded, “3-5 days. I wrote a python script to batch download and process them.”
The problem is, there’s usually not nearly enough available footage to make an entire documentary. There may a clip on event ‘A’ and event ‘D’ but there’s giant gap.
Cleverly, Rocky gets around this issue by filling in the gaps with voiceovers. He’ll describe events ‘B’ and ‘C’ and then find relevant video footage to pair up with the audio, e.g., people walking on Wall Street. He said finding these accompanying visuals is one of his favorite parts of the whole process.
I asked how long the research takes to fill in the gaps and he said it wasn’t anything crazy. He noted that he already has a finance background and a lot of his research revolves around “looking for the drama.” After all, that’s what makes his videos so interesting. You get to the pitfalls and roadblocks faced by those we only know as ultra-successful.
Key Takeaways From This Youtube Case Study
There are two main takeaways that can be made from reviewing the Finaius channel.
First, create content about something you’re passionate about. I asked Rocky how he came up with the idea to start making these documentaries and his was response was that he wanted to watch something similar so he just started creating them himself. It’s clear he has a passion for the subject and that across in his videos.
Second, there are more resources on the internet than we could ever imagine. Rocky uses the world’s library of public footage to his advantage. Famous artist, Beeple, uses 3-D art models to design abstract pieces that are truly mindblowing. When you think about a filmmaker, a camera comes to mind and when you think of an artist, a paintbrush does - yet neither of those creators rely on conventional tools. Nonetheless, their finished products are incredible.
