YouTube watch time record

A few days ago, I discovered a YouTube channel with almost 400,000 subscribers. The content is simple, it’s a rug cleaner who posts videos of himself doing his job. I initially thought, “There’s no way people watch this.” Then, an hour later I realized how wrong I was.

I’m not sure what it is about these videos that’s so mesmerizing, but for some reason, I found myself unable to pull away from the channel. It’s so satisfying to watch a filthy Tweety Bird rug be restored to its former glory.

Other than this foray into rug-cleaning YouTube, I don’t spend much time on the platform. However, as I struggled through multiple Airbnb ads I wondered how much my attention was worth to this rug-cleaning man. This led me to design a YouTube concept where you can see exactly how much money you make for a creator. Attention is a valuable commodity in the modern era, and while we show creators how much their content is worth, consumers have little to no concept of the value they provide.

The interesting thing to consider here is 1) how it would impact conversions to YouTube premium and 2) if people would spend less time online. I’d venture to guess that people would be mortified at how much time they’ve spent.

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