David's Notes
David's Notes
Y Combinator Podcast #118 Marques Brownlee on Building an Audience and Other Advice for Creators
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Y Combinator Podcast #118 Marques Brownlee on Building an Audience and Other Advice for Creators

What would you attribute your success to? Since I do tech videos the obvious answer is tech has been interesting and important for so long. Just being in the tech space has helped a lot. 


The channel has its own unique style. It has a consistent voice since it’s been me for 10 years. 


Was there any particular inflection point? No. It’s just been consistent growth over a long period of time. 


I see my job as a professional user. I just have to use the product to figure out if it is actually useful. 


The MKBHD content evolves over time, guided by his own interests: Currently it consists of:

  1. Reviews of smartphones.

  2. The AutoFocus series on electric vehicles.

  3. The Space Series is about how other creatives use their workspace.

  4. A podcast to talk to other creators is coming soon.


I consider tech the star of the show. I inject my own personal perspective because it keeps it interesting. I try to make the tech the main story. The one thing string that ties everything together is it’s coming from me.


You need your own perspective. Don’t try to be something else that already exists because there won’t be any reason to watch it - it already exists. 


How he thinks about communicating with the audience: The shortest, most succinct way is usually the best way. 


His daily schedule: Weekdays are divided by production and post-production. Production days are filming, editing, and writing. Post-production is email, strategy, travel, etc. At nights it’s practice and for Ulitmate Frisbee. [He plays for a pro team]. Weekends are all for playing Frisbee. I don’t work on weekends and I’m disconnected from the internet. 


How MKBHD makes money: Ads on YouTube. Affiliates for the products reviewed. Merch store/fashion brand. Advice for creators: Just have different ways of supporting the same thing. 


His income breakdown is roughly 50% YouTube ads, 20% sponsored ads, 10% affiliates. [This doesn’t add up to 100%. Maybe the rest is merch?]


More on creators making money: At a certain point you can ask dedicated viewers to support you directly. If they really like your work they won’t have a problem with that. This works best if your work isn’t common. If what you do is rare, really high effort, or not something you can find somewhere else.


I don’t have any long-term goals. If I was forced to guess what the company looks like in 10 years I would say it would be more of a media company. It would have multiple YouTube channels, a podcast, a service to assist other channels with production. 


Y Combinator Podcast #118 Marques Brownlee on Building an Audience and Other Advice for Creators.