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Independence Day is tomorrow, but donāt antagonize any Brits you see around town. They know whatās up.
Anyway, Iām about to take you through the best case study for user experience ever ā how YouTube eviscerates every other video platform, and itās all about smooth UX. Still, there are other angles YouTube uses for mass appeal. Weāll look at those so you can decide which angles you can use to improve / promote your products and services.
Also up today:
- The Knowledge Base (new studies)Ā
SelfHelp (getting Biblical)- Facts & Stats (updated email benchmarks)
- Get Hacking (scrub bad reviews)
Letās hop into the Feature Story.
YouTubeās Kicking Butt
Somehow, Google has managed not to screw up YouTube, unlike everything the Googsters touch lately.
š«YouTube has led in time watched among streaming platforms for 15 months running (CNBC).
š«Over half of YouTube viewing is done on TVs (meaning, not on phone, tablet, laptop).
š«2nd in total TV use (cable, streaming, etc.) behind only Disney Corpās 6-headed munster (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, ABC, FX, National Geographics).
š«1 billion hours watched on TVs daily.
š«$31.5 billion in global ad revenue (2023) > than Paramount Corporation’s entire revenueāfrom all sources ($29 billion)!
Despite you already knowing YouTube has monstrous mass appeal, those facts are staggering, huh? To me too, and Iām usually stagger-proof.
And get thisā¦
Traditional TV is Now a Death Sentence

āGetting a deal with Paramount+ [for example] would be a death sentence for most [YouTube] creators.ā
That quote from the CNBC video says more than the billions of dollars in ads and gazillion hours watched weekly.
But how does knowing this help you with marketing or improving your goods and services? Iāll hand you a list of 5 ways below, but my main thought with YouTube is always user experience. Netflixās UX is pretty great but still lags behind YouTube.Ā
Max (HBO) has the best original series but one of the worst user experiences (buffering, not easy to skip ahead or go back). Hulu has similar playback issues and their commercials are painful to watch. Same with Paramount ā itās on the viewer to sit still and not touch the app until the show youāre watching ends or risk losing your place.
YouTube, fast-forwards and rewinds flawlessly. You can skip to certain chapters if the uploader added them. Your history is easy to find. Saving and creating playlists is easy as pie, and the watch-later playlist is a staple that hopefully never goes away.
Wait thereās more:
- No paywall for the vast majority of YouTube
- You can find whatever you want (more on this below – personalization is a buzzword but is real on YT)
- Can watch endless content in the background (even commercials get played 18 million times like this Nissan ad)
- Shorts are available to watch even when you only have 30 seconds to spare (on subway, waiting room, during a Netflix commercial while holding a second screen)
- Cast to your TV from phone or computer or via TV apps or watch on phone
- Many users mainly listen to YouTube (music, meditation stuff, talk shows, interviews, documentaries, sound weirdness like this)
The user gets the friendliest, most flexible, and easiest-to-use video service imaginable.Ā
However, you can decide if thatās as valuable as the following.
5 More YouTube Insights & Angles You Can Use
#1 Insight: If youāve read over 50 marketing articles this year, then youāve seen the buzzword āpersonalizationā in 127 of them (that mathās correct).
Personalization is mostly a buzzword, because personalization is hard to pull off. But YouTube truly can personalize because it has something for everyone on this planet.
Just spend an hour on YT searching for outlandish topics. Theyāll lead you to even more outlandish topics you canāt think of on your own. Plus, youāll find YouTubers you never heard of with two or three million subscribers.
YouTube caters to everyone. And does so without lifting a finger. Next angleā¦
#2 Insight: YouTubeās the Uber of TV (except profitable)
The company doesnāt own any video cameras or sign actors to ridiculous contracts but gets free andā¦
Insane Amounts of User-Generated Content
Despite how hard it is to make a living creating YouTube content, there will forever be an endless supply of people willing to try. The lure of fame and fortune is too great to stop the firehose of free user-generated content.
The kind of lure Hollywood used to have. Before movie stars went extinct.
#3 YouTube Insight: Hollywood used to have substance that wouldāve beaten back YouTubeās takeover.
No more. The substance faded after Netflix came for traditional studios, did well, then began producing and funding awesome original content ā until it got watered down.
It was too much of a good thing.
Amazon and Hulu piled on with original content – more water, less substance. The outlier was Paramount+ hitting the jackpot with Taylor Sheridan and overcoming Kevin Costnerās inability to act āunwoodenā (Horizon is decent though).
#4 YouTube Insight: No barrier to entry for people to create content, and it costs YouTube nothing upfront.
Get a free government-issued phone, do something stupid, cool, or informative, then hit upload. Out of billions of uploads, a few talented stars emerge and will keep emerging.
Still, the most basic thing that makes YouTube unstoppable might be the one angle you can mimic in some way if you slap your thinking cap on.
#5 Insight: YouTubeās service fits into users’ routines.
- YouTube app comes native on nearly every phone
- Preinstalled on most smart TVs (perhaps all)
- TV is the biggest disruptor in human history
Bowling Alone is a great book about humans becoming more isolated well before the web and social media. Lots of factors, but the author basically concludes that TV is the biggest reason humans began socializing less and less.
YouTube, while a genius product/service, is simply a different (& better) form of TV.
Humans like being at rest when they can. TV gives us joy while at rest. YouTube fits into that routine with an improved way to watch TV.
Now, for the decline of celeb promos and other Knowledge links.
The Knowledge Base
šThese stats prove influencers > celebs at moving products
Location targeting hamstrung on Meta Ads
š·ļøNative ad costs by industry (chart)
Side-hustle advice that isnāt sucker bait
šStuck for July email campaign ideas? (15 sparks)
Run a fitness biz? Blue hairs getting swole
šļøSocial media, the new mall (fresh study)
Got a home services biz? Endless contentāhighlight scams like this
š¼Meta leads way copycats TikTok with new creator avatars
Speed sells (paid tool improves Shopify store load time)
šļøPen & paper save sales when cyber attacks happen
Email open rates sagging?
Clicks and conversions getting few and far between? Worried about Spam Traps?
End those problems. See which of your subscribers are most active in their inbox (with all their emails) so you can email that hot segment. This increases open rates, click volume, and conversions. Youāll also spot potential Spam Traps a mile away by avoiding inactive email addresses.

Activity Checker is powered by Inbox Mailers, a finalist for Email Marketing Company of the Year (AFFY Awards). Upload your list for free to improve email engagement and revenue.
Book a demo if you have questions.š
Self Help
Pride comes before the fall.
Truer words never spoken.
Without some pride, though, how does a person rise at all?
Facts and Stats
- Consumers wanting bundled media packages say #1 piece is Netflix {Disney+ last place} (Media Post)
- Latest MailChimp data shows 2.62% average click rate & 35.63% open rate
- 92% of customers want ads to feel more like a story (Go-Globe)
Bonus: Which blockbuster film holds the record for biggest opening day on Independence Day? Answer is 2007ās Transformers ($29.1M July 4 opening)
Get Hacking
No doubt, there are processes for getting bad reviews scrubbed from Google, Yelp, G2, etc.
Iām gonna cover tactics like that in a future edition of Inbox Hacking. But you can also ask a reviewer to reconsider. If theyāre not a bot or heathen, theyāll at least hear you out, and likely upgrade the review.
Or, if you have lots of bad reviews, lean into that like this restaurant owner did back in the day (only works if reviews are unfair and the product/service is actually good).
If you know another Megatron-level marketer, share Inbox Hacking with them. Thanks for spreading the word – my K9s appreciate it – more subscribers mean brand name Scooby snacks.
Shane McLendon, Copy Kingpin – Inbox Hacking
P.S. Wanna test how much someone truly cares about climate stuff? Stick āem in an eco-friendly room with no AC.