The Formula To Break 100 Million Views On Shorts (ft/ Jenny Hoyos)

Intro (00:00:00)

• Jenny Hoyos is a short-form video creator who consistently achieves millions of views on her videos.
• She has not achieved this success through prior fame or extraordinary content, but rather by understanding the formula for creating viral short-form videos.
• Jenny Hoyos is an 18-year-old YouTuber who creates videos centered around being a "cheapskate," earning her the nickname "Mr. Least."
• She started creating content two years ago and has since seen a significant improvement in the quality and virality of her videos.
• Jenny Hoyos shares her specific strategies and tactics for creating viral short-form videos on TikTok and YouTube.
• Despite her young age and living at home with her parents, she has managed to achieve remarkable success in a short span of time.

How to build charisma (00:02:14)

• To create engaging content, it's crucial to cultivate a high-energy state of mind, as charisma and energy can be transmitted through content, impacting the viewer's emotional state.
• Consistent practice, even if it involves recording content that won't be published, can help build charisma and personality.
• Deliberate practice, similar to building muscles or learning a skill, can enhance charisma and on-camera presence.
• Identifying valuable but unpopular skills, such as charisma development, can lead to significant improvement and differentiation from others.
• Jenny Hoyos, at the age of 18, actively seeks out and develops skills, which is commendable.

The 4 criteria of a great idea (jumpcut) (00:06:35)

• Novelty: presenting something new and original.
• Uncertainty: creating a sense of unpredictability and curiosity about the outcome.
• Knowledge gaps: sharing information that the viewer doesn't know, creating a sense of intrigue.
• Complexity: introducing a level of complexity that requires the viewer to pay attention and engage with the content.
• "What does $1 get you at Starbucks?" (23 million views):
  • Title poses an unresolved question, piquing viewer curiosity.
• "Who has the best dollar menu?" (3.1 million views):
  • Unresolved question creates anticipation about the outcome.
  • Visually engaging thumbnail hints at the content.

Make it personal (00:08:48)

• Weaving personal stories into videos increases relatability and returning viewership.
• A free business idea database with over 50 ideas from the show is now available.
• Low-stakes videos can be more engaging than high-stakes ones.
• To improve a video idea, consider adding novelty, complexity, knowledge gaps, or uncertainty.
• To create a successful YouTube Short with the potential to reach over 100 million views, focus on creating a simple and easy-to-understand concept.
• Add layers of complexity, novelty, and juxtaposition to make the idea more interesting, but avoid confusing the viewer.
• Incorporate a personal story to add emotional depth and stakes to the video.
• Present the concept in a way that is easy to digest and drip-feed context to the viewer.
• Draw inspiration from successful creators like MrBeast, whose videos often feature simple and universal concepts that can be easily understood by a wide audience.

Mastering the hook (00:15:20)

• Use power words at the beginning of the video to instantly hook viewers.
• Make the hook progress the video by telling viewers what the video is about or what action will be taken.
• Foreshadow the end of the video in the hook to set up the conflict and resolution.

Metrics (00:18:04)

• The two most important metrics for idea and hook in short-form videos are viewer swipe away percentage and retention.
• A good viewer swipe away percentage is 80%, excellent is 85%+.
• A good retention rate is 90%, excellent is 95%+.

The first frame (00:19:27)

• Keep the first frame simple with high brightness and saturation.
• Enhance elements to make them stand out, such as adding artificial fire or VFX effects.
• Avoid busy environments and use clean, perfect images.

Foreshadowing (00:21:44)

• Foreshadowing is giving viewers the expectation of the video's end.
• Implied foreshadowing is hinting at the video's conclusion without explicitly stating it.
• Strong foreshadowing and hooks involve a mechanism that shows progression and keeps viewers engaged.

Storytelling in one word is “change” (00:23:12)

• Storytelling is about progression and character development.
• The best storytelling involves a change in the character from the beginning to the end of the video.
• Subtle changes can make viewers rewatch the video to see how the change occurs.
• Rewatchability is one of the key factors in getting 100 million views on Shorts.
• Easter eggs, tutorial videos, and twists in the video can all increase rewatchability.
• Tutorial videos are rewatchable because people often need to watch them multiple times to learn all the steps.
• Twists in the video make viewers want to rewatch the video with the new knowledge they have after the twist.

The But & Therefore Rule (00:25:47)

• But storytelling adds conflict throughout the video, making it more intriguing.
• Example: Instead of saying "I went on a walk and it started raining," say "I was walking but then it started raining, so I had to find an umbrella."
• Replace "and" with "but" to create conflict and make the story more interesting.
• Stakes are what's on the line and why it matters that the character does what they do.
• Even though Shorts are short, it's important to include stakes to make the story more compelling.

Building the stakes (00:27:56)

• Use real stakes that are happening in your real life.
• Increase the stakes over time to keep viewers engaged.
• Show clips or visuals that demonstrate the stakes.
• Breaking Bad:
  • The main character, Walter White, is diagnosed with cancer and needs to make money for his family.
  • He starts selling drugs, but doesn't know anything about it, so he partners with a former student who is a drug user.
  • The stakes get bigger as the story progresses, with the DEA getting involved and Walter's brother-in-law being the DEA agent.
  • Eventually, Walter is running a drug empire and the stakes are life or death.

Craft the close (00:31:18)

• Keep endings short while providing a payoff to ensure viewer satisfaction.
• Use the "Peak Theory" to create intense emotions at the end of the video, leaving a positive lasting impression.
• End with strong wholesomeness or the funniest moment in the video.
• Incorporate twists for great rewatchability.

Steal like an artist (00:32:49)

• "Steal like an artist" means taking inspiration rather than recreating video ideas.
• Steal from topics or movie techniques, not exact ideas.
• Add a unique twist to the base idea.
• Example: Jenny Hoyos takes inspiration from MrBeast's philanthropic acts and adds her own twist by doing similar things on a budget.
• Use data analysis tools to identify outliers and patterns in successful videos.

Figure out who's watching (00:34:50)

• Created a tool to manually label videos based on content, actions, and mentions.
• Found that having family in wholesome videos doubled subscriber conversions but decreased views by 10x.
• Malicious content resulted in regular conversions but 10x more views, leading to 5x more subscribers.
• Building tools to maximize views, retention, viewer satisfaction, etc.
• Analyzes channels and Shorts with exceptional view counts (e.g., 10 million views) to identify outlier concepts.
• Compares outlier concepts to the creator's baseline performance to determine what makes them unique and successful.

Study the channel for outliers (00:37:21)

• Jenny Hoyos manually studies trending shorts every morning, afternoon, and night.
• She creates a swipe file of interesting content for inspiration.
• Jenny used to create content for a younger self as her avatar.
• To reach 100 million subscribers, she now creates content for multiple avatars and tries to cater to every audience.
• Her guiding principle is to make content that is intriguing for kids but mature enough for adults to also watch.
• She includes her mom in her videos to appeal to a wider audience.

Where is the puck going? (00:40:03)

• Short-form video content is gaining immense popularity, with some videos reaching hundreds of millions of views across platforms.
• Many creators struggle to transition from successful short-form content to long-form content due to the algorithm-driven nature of short-form platforms, which may hinder building loyalty and trust.
• The future of video content may favor extremes, with very short or very long-form content thriving, while mid-length content may face challenges.
• Social media platforms like YouTube have the potential to overshadow traditional entertainment industries like Hollywood.
• Jenny Hoyos, an 18-year-old YouTuber, creates low-budget, fun content to inspire people to value money and live fulfilling lives without excessive spending.
• Despite aspirations of becoming a prominent YouTuber like MrBeast, Hoyos prioritizes staying true to her message of resourcefulness and self-reliance, even if it means potentially sacrificing subscriber count.
• Hoyos shares her formula for breaking 100 million views on YouTube Shorts, emphasizing the importance of a strong premise and a clear message in videos.
• Hoyos offers one-hour consultation calls to help creators review their videos and strategies for social media growth. Interested individuals can contact her at team@jos.com.