How to find better ideas for videos

Q: I’m running out of ideas. I don’t know where to look and it seems like everything on YouTube has been done already.

- Nisha G.

A: This may sound like a paradox. But hear me out. To succeed on YouTube, you have to look off YouTube for ideas.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t study other YouTubers. But if that’s all you do — and you dismiss content from Hollywood because it’s “too traditional” — then you’re losing out on ideas that could set you apart.

For example, MrBeast (240M subscribers) told me during our interview that the thumbnail idea for this video was actually sparked from watching a scene of the Apple TV show, Severance.

“One of my thumbnail guys, Chucky, watched Severance, and one of the opening shots is…this lady is laying on a table and he's like, we should do this for a thumbnail,” Donaldson said.

“That led to this thumbnail we ended up doing, which actually ended up working pretty well."

Since hearing that, I see 3 things differently:

• TV shows
• Billboards
• Movie posters

Think about it, on most Hollywood sets there’s a Director of Photography whose entire job is to craft stunning shots. There’s a graphic design team who specialize in creating billboards that catch your eye in a nano-second while you’re speeding down the highway.

I’m not even ashamed to say this thumbnail idea came after I saw a billboard for the new Spy Kids movie.

The same goes for formats.

Creators like Airrack are re-creating “Big Brother” from TV with “I Trapped 25 Strangers In A Box” on YouTube. The Sidemen’s “Tinder In Real Life” is just like MTV’s “Next"

Bottom Line: Study traditional media (past and present) and apply it to YouTube

-Jon

?? FROM THE STUDIO:

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