Marcus Profile picture
Aug 20, 2024 23 tweets 5 min read Read on X
These kids just "broke" the YouTube algorithm.

Gaining 58 million subs in just 5 months.

–– They're MrBeast's only rival.

Here's their genius strategy: Image
1. Their Growth Engine

Half of their growth is coming from one place:

YouTube Shorts. Image
YouTube Shorts generated more views its very first month than TikTok.

It hasn't lost the lead since.

The Stoke Twins are taking advantage of this.
They post mega-viral shorts by leveraging short form trends.

In this one short, I counted 4 trends that have gone viral on social media. Image
Currently, the Stoke Twins are gaining 711 million shorts views a month.

Compared to MrBeast's 1.1 billion.

Awfully close.
They're also using a trick that gains subscribers at a ridiculous rate.

Mark Rober used the same technique to double his sub count.

(breakdown linked at bottom of thread)
In the last 5 months:

> The Stoke Twins' sub count has grown 67%.
> Compared to MrBeast's 21%.

Going from 26 million subs to 84 million. Image
2. Audience

MrBeast hasn't been able to crack 1 billion views on a video yet.

But check out these kids videos.

Billions of views each. Image
Why do kids' videos pull so many views?

If you have kids, you know the answer 👇
For some reason, kids ADORE watching the same thing over and over again.

My siblings drove me nuts watching the same Barney episode 56 times.

(yep, I counted)

But the psychology behind this is wild...
Young kids watch videos repeatedly because they learn in 3 steps:

A. Process
B. Understand
C. Digest

This means each Stoke Twins video is wildly re-watchable. Image
Also, kids have A LOT of time on their hands.

When they're not at school, they're at home and parents need to keep them busy.

This is where the rise of "iPad kids" came from.
So...

A. kids watch the same thing over and over
B. they have lots of free time

Sounds like a winning audience!

But there's a lot more to the Stoke Twins' success 👇
3. Thumbnails

Compare MrBeast's latest thumbnail to the Stoke Twins.

Which is a kid clicking? Image
4. Niche

MrBeast targets everyone (broad).

The Stoke twins target kids (niche).

But their superpower is that the kid's niche is HUGE.

In fact, YouTube has an entire APP made just for kids. Image
This is the power of targeting big niches.

MrBeast targets everyone, so naturally his content is watered down for certain audiences. Image
The Stoke Twins can make the strongest packaging possible for ONE audience and still hit massive views.

That's a deadly combination ...

AND it lines up with the next part of the Stoke Twins' strategy: Image
5. Crack Cocaine Videos

Watch 30 seconds of this video, It feels like crack.

A kid won't be able to put their iPad down.
This leads to high watch time which YouTube's algorithm LOVES.

Now, is it ethical?

That's a whole 'nother conversation.
6. Their Big Problem

To be clear, MrBeast is still gaining WAY more subs.

130 million subs in the last 12 months compared to their 62 million.

It's not even close. Image
So here's the question:

Can the twins maintain their growth?

This is MrBeast's real secret weapon.

His growth is consistent.

While upstart creators have massive explosions but quickly die down. Image
We'll have to see what happens.

Follow @marcuslejeune for more threads like this.

I help YouTubers go viral, so studying this stuff is all I do!
If you liked this thread, you'll like this one too 👇

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More from @marcuslejeune

Oct 28, 2024
This is Todd Beaupré –– He runs the YouTube algorithm.

His message? The algorithm DOESN'T hate you.

Here are 12 blind spots Todd wants you to know:

1. YouTube uses a ranking algorithm
2. Stop blaming the algorithm Image
3. YouTube doesn't "kill off" your old videos Image
Read 13 tweets
Oct 8, 2024
"Going viral is complicated"

Nah. It's simple.

Just copy my 8-step framework: Image
1. The Idea. 💡

The most important part.

There are only two constraints to coming up with great ideas: Image
A. Quantity
B. Filtering

To fix the quantity issue, spend 15 minutes a day adding ideas to a database.

After a while, those ideas will breed their own new ideas.
Read 14 tweets
Aug 14, 2024
Mark Rober just "broke" the YouTube algorithm.

Gaining 22 million subs in just 3 months.

–– And all he did was upload 1 video.

Here's what happened: Image
In 3 months, Mark gained more subs than in the last 5 years.

Why?

A genius shorts strategy. 👇 Image
1. The Shorts Strategy

The short's premise is pretty simple:

> Mark is about to hit 30 million subscribers
> As he gets closer to that milestone, he launches explosions to celebrate

But the most important part happens at the end... Image
Read 11 tweets
Aug 8, 2024
I've studied 500+ thumbnails in 2024.

The viral ones all follow a simple blueprint.

Here’s the 3-step formula: Image
1. Popability.

Do your thumbnails pop out?

> colors
> brightness
> shapes
> contrast

👆 These are the main techniques I use for this step.

Then, I use the following test:
Dark Mode Test.

Does your thumbnail stand out from YouTube's homepage? Image
Read 13 tweets
Jun 28, 2024
Lannan Eacott is a 29 yr old multi-millionaire, top 1% YouTuber, & social media superstar.

But before that…

He was a broke construction worker who dropped out of high school.

Here's how he went viral: Image
Step 1. The "Second Layer" Rule.

Lannan cracked the code to viral content his very first video.

Everyone else was just posting gameplay footage.

But Lannan decided to go "a layer" deeper.

And make challenges on TOP of the game.

Why this is important: 👇 Image
In 2018, pro players like Ninja & Tfue were trying to be the best at Fortnite.

Lannan couldn't compete – he sucked at the game.

So he came up with his own unique style to compete:

CRAZY challenges.

Resulting in millions of views... Image
Read 21 tweets
Jan 16, 2023
90% of viewers click off before the end of a YouTube video.

Why?

The video doesn't make the viewer care.

Here are 7 ways you can keep viewers watching until the end: 👇
1 – Create a sense of danger or threat:

Devinsupertramp is a perfect example. His parkour videos are LITERALLY dangerous AND use music to highlight danger right as he jumps off of buildings.

If you don't think you can emulate this on your channel, keep reading: 👇
2 – Introduce a ticking clock or deadline:

If you've ever seen a YouTuber say "I have 24 hours to finish _____", they've been using the power of suspense on you.
Read 9 tweets

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