Not Financial Advice (NFA)
Warning: Wall of Text. If you hate reading just skim through the bolded/italicized
Ever since I publicized my findings on DKNG, the stock has underperformed & probably has fucked a lot of people here, especially given the overly bullish stance back in June. Unless you took my advice & got into Puts then, congrats, welcome to tendie town. For the ADHD retards, here’s what the next wall of text is going to summarize: I believe at the
current price of ~$30, the stock is oversold.
A tech-focused, high-growth Company that has made sports betting easy to understand with an aesthetically pleasing interface similar to how Robinhood has neatly laid out stock market gimmicks so even high-schoolers can make sense of it I believe, is underpriced at these levels.
Let’s get into some details as to why the stock has underperformed:
First off, the news slate revolving sports with the rumored delay/cancellation of the MLB season & the NFL watching from the sidelines is in my view, just a part of why the stock has underperformed. We’ll revisit this later in this post, but I want to focus on the drivers of the stock’s recent underperformance, & why these factors are now in the rearview mirror.
Part I – The Past Has Passed – SPAC-related Equity Dilution History lesson first: DKNG went public via a SPAC merger, which has exploded in popularity recently. Anyone serious about analyzing stocks going forward needs to do their homework on this, Google is your friend.
A feature of most SPAC merger to public listings that creates a headwind to near-term share prices are embedded equity dilution events, usually in the form of earn-outs (stock bonuses to execs, the SPAC sponsor) & conversion of Warrants.
On 5/24, the earn-outs were triggered, adding 6m shares to the share count.
On 6/26, 16.3m warrants converted to DKNG, netting them ~$188m of cash.
Stepping back a little, in addition to the above, on 6/18 DKNG launched a follow-on equity offering of 16M shares @ $40/Share [1], receiving $621M in proceeds.
The last part is tricky to understand from a dilution perspective. To simplify, historically it’s almost a coin toss whether a Company’s shares outperform on the onset of an equity offering. While issuing shares does dilute the existing shareholder base, it theoretically shouldn’t, if the proceeds from the offering are earmarked for investments/projects that yield outsized returns. This is the reality for the long term, theory for the short-term. For the short-term, the ‘reality’ isn’t that the proceeds will be used for investments/projects that yield outsized returns, it is more about how convincing management is to investors that the investments they intend to pursue with the proceeds will outweigh the dilutive effects of issuing incremental shares. That’s a mouthful, but hopefully you get what I’m trying to convey.
All of this stuff put together – the Company has increased its share count by ~39M, but now has a whopping
~$1.4Bn of cash [2]. More on this in the next section.
Part II – MLB News Should Not Fucking Matter & DKNG Is Positioned As the Leading Online/Mobile Sports Platform DKNG should not be so tied to MLB news or any of this shit as the ongoing success of the NBA/NHL season + Soccer in Europe has effectively created a blueprint on how to regulate player behavior so that they maintain professionalism amidst the pandemic. I’m going out on a whim here, but I truly think the MLB threatening a cancellation of the season is pure posturing to get these fuckers to behave appropriately. Maybe a ‘bubble’ is what it takes to get these players to focus on their jobs instead of going out & contracting COVID, but I argue that isn’t necessarily required given Soccer in Europe. So there’s already a proven path here without the need for a bubble in Soccer, so MLB/NFL should be fine, and execs need to study how they got it done in Europe. Okay, back to some facts.
Anecdotally, I’ve kept in touch with a handful of sports bookies from California to New York & even internationally about what they’re seeing – all of them say that since the NBA season started on 7/30 & since Soccer (especially the Premier League) resumed in June, along with other leagues like La Liga & Serie A, they’ve seen massive increases in betting.
These numbers are also showing up in the official data [3]:
- Average % increase in sports betting handle from April 2020 to June 2020 (handle is the total $ wagered in sports bets) from the states that reported up to June 2020 (NJ, PA, MS, RI, WV, IA, IN, NH) of +258%!
- Note: NV is left out due to the site I sourced showing a weirdly negative number – so I dug into the official filings & show specifically, Sports Mobile betting growth from June since April has growing by at least +73% [4]
REMEMBER: This is for June only! No NBA, No NHL, No MLB, just Soccer, Golf, NASCAR & UFC.
The data clearly shows that there was a ton of pent-up sports betting demand, which leads one Wall St. analyst to think that
betting on the NBA/NHL could ABSORB the MLB’s sports betting handle (handle = total $ size of sports bet) [5]. Remember, the MLB season is still ongoing, with games being played. The entire focus is on the Miami Marlins & St. Louis Cardinals. Fucking retards.
Additionally, I want to remind everyone that DraftKings.com is the
#1 Fantasy sports website in the U.S. [6]. Also, since April 2020 site visitations are up
+86% [7] & Google Search Trends for “Draft Kings” is up
~3x compared to PRE-COVID levels [8]. What does this mean? They are piquing more people’s curiosity than prior to COVID/ongoing slate of sports.
This is important because remember that ~$1.4Bn chest full of cash I mentioned DKNG had assembled earlier? Well, that money is being put to work & results are already coming in, which is exactly what DKNG intended to do with it.
Part III – Legalization of Sports Betting in the U.S. I could write a fucking bible on this topic alone, but for now we’ll stick to some basics. Due to COVID, it’s easy to understand that each State’s financial situation is clearly in shit. Because of this, you better believe that these guys are going to start taking a hard look at how they can extract additional tax revenues, & what’s one of the easiest ways to do this? Legalization & taxation of gambling.
The big players: CA, TX, FL & NY. First, CA pushing its legislation out to 2023 was fucked up, but here’s a twist I want to add to this: Anything that has to do with gambling in CA you better believe is lobbied against by not just the Tribal casino owners in CA, but by the deep pockets of Las Vegas money. Similar thing can be said for FL, but let’s take a look at some actions by LV/nationwide gambling companies that are starting to align financial incentives with guys like DKNG.
- MGM / GVC Holdings JV in BetMGM - $450m total invested
- PENN invests $163m into BS Sports
- Caesars has a 20% stake in William Hill plus partnership deals with The Stars Group (TSG) & our winner DKNG for operating its sports books
So it’s safe to say going forward, nationwide legalization of sports betting will reap rewards for everyone involved, & no longer be something LV money is completely focused on safeguarding.
Let’s also not forget that DKNG didn’t become the Company they are today because of their fancy app, but because their management team has a HISTORY of navigating the U.S.’s legal framework to get what they want out of it.
- The Crown Jewel – The Internet Gambling Prohibition & Enforcement Act: I said it in a previous post, but I want to emphasize that them getting Fantasy Sports to be labeled a ‘game of skill’ by FEDERAL Law as opposed to gambling is just something for the history books. Fucking genius shit. When this happened I bet every casino from LV to every Indian Tribe that has one was against it, yet DKNG & other DFS providers won.
- There’s more, but more recently: Getting into IL:
- In IL, there’s an 18-month ‘penalty box’ for Companies that offer DFS to offer sports betting. Our guys at DKNG created a workaround to this situation with their partnership with Casino Queen [9]. DKNG being savvy again.
These guys are at the cutting edge of creating legal frameworks to successfully launch their products & now with more of their ‘competitors’ financially aligned with them, combined with financial deterioration of State budgets, we should see an overweighting of good news vs. bad on the legal front.
Final Part – Share Price Targets Under-fucking priced at anything below $42.50 Near-term catalysts: 8/14: DKNG files 2Q’20 results, might be shitty, but you can bet that the Earnings Call is going to contain rhetoric on how massive the uptick in sports betting has been since late June/July.
Sometime from now until November: NY releases ‘study’ by Spectrum Gaming on online/mobile sports betting.
8/20 – 9/7: PGA Championship for FedEx Cup Title
9/5 – KY Derby
9/10: NFL KickOff Game
9/17: PGA U.S. Open Start Date
Month of October: NBA/NHL Playoffs
10/1: Estimated launch of online sports betting in TN
11/1: Estimated launch of online sports betting in VA
[1]
https://draftkings.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/draftkings-announces-proposed-public-offering-class-common-stock [2] Wall St. Research – DKNG on 6/29/20
[3]
https://www.legalsportsreport.com/sports-betting/revenue/ [4]
https://gaming.nv.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=16984; Note: Nevada did not break out April/May figures but from the Revenue difference of 3 month ended June 30 of 4,950 vs. month of June of 2,297 for a total difference of 2,653 spread evenly over April/May for a base case April estimate of 1,327.
[5] Wall St. Research - 7/27/20
[6]
https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/category/sports/fantasy-sports/ [7]
https://www.similarweb.com/website/draftkings.com/#overview [8]
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=draft%20kings Feb 23-29, 2020 vs. Current Aug 2 – Aug 8, 2020
[9]
https://www.legalsportsreport.com/42314/draftkings-illinois-sports-betting-market-access/ MARK was the most chosen stock so here is the DD for it.
Bagholders will like this.
TL;DR at the end.
Catalysts: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/remark-holdings-sets-first-quarter-203000891.html During the conference call, their management will be discussing other topics apart from financial results.
They will be providing updates on their AI businesses in Asia and the U.S.
Thermal and security screening will also be discussed.
Since there corona cases are spiking, there is potential for them to announce a partnership with other companies.
Some rumors have been going around about a possible partnership with an airport but those are all rumors.
Their thermal cameras will be of great help to any business that has a constant flow of people so the possible partnerships are limitless.
The AI news could be huge. MARKs AI Thermal cameras are amazing for the Asia Market especially since China has recently reported a lot of corona cases.
Their thermal cameras are perfect for dense countries so China could be a big client for MARK.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/remark-tech-combat-covid-19-100245088.html Their thermal cameras are in very high demand right now and they are closing deals with business left and right.
MARK has made a deal with China Mobile to provide all of its 17,800 stores with AI technology enabling “facial-ID, traffic counting, and smart queue management.”
This data will allow the company to streamline and optimize traffic flow in its stores by giving customers information about the nearest stores and number of customers in each one, and it allows them to get in line for a customer service agent before they arrive, via an online ticketing system.
Such technology can significantly improve customer service, making for happier customers and a more successful brand. Additionally, by reducing foot traffic, these solutions can slow the spread of coronavirus and help companies operate smoothly with reduced physical capacity in stores.
The potential revenue on this deal would be massive.
Considering that the thermal cameras aren't the cheapest, it would cost China Mobile millions of dollars to equip all their 17,800 stores.
MARK is going to have their wallers filled with straight-up cash which they will be using to further expand their business and technology.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/remark-stock-pandemic-proof-bet-145421478.html Their app Sharecare has already been launched and will be providing users with virtual healthcare.
Sharecare offers AI-enhanced healthcare and it’s had a lot of attention from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Oz. Celebrity.
Virtual healthcare offers a cheaper alternative to visiting healthcare professionals, which is an important factor in the Presidential campaign in which healthcare costs will once again be a big thing. Plus, the pandemic forced people to use remote healthcare services.
As there are more cases, more people will be using Sharecare which will further improve revenues and publicity for MARK.
TDOC is a powerful example of how growing interest in virtual healthcare was accelerated by the pandemic.
The company said that the number of virtual visits it facilitated at the start of April was more than 100% higher than in March. Demand for virtual healthcare will likely continue to be strong going forward.
If MARK can successfully pull off what TDOC is doing, the stock will skyrocket with their revenues.
Financials: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1368365/000136836520000038/a12b-25forform10xq2020q1.htm I'm very surprised to say this but MARK has not reported any financials at all for this year.
I will not be basing any financials on their last year's financials form since it does not accurately represent the financials that the company has today.
There could be multiple reasons for not reporting any financials, I do not know which one it is but I do know that not reporting financials negatively affects the company and reduced the number of people willing to invest.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/remark-holdings-sets-first-quarter-203000891.html They are currently planning on releasing some financials very soon but still, not reporting financials at the right time is never good.
Date: Monday, July 6, 2020Time: 4:30 p.m. Eastern time (1:30 p.m. Pacific time)Toll-Free Number: 866.548.4713International Number: 323.794.2093Conference ID: 1160760
This doesn't necessarily mean the financials will be bad especially with all the catalysts. I actually expect their financials to be somewhat good.
Fundamentals: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MARK/profile?p=MARK Here's a description of the company:
Remark Holdings, Inc., technology-focused company, develops and deploys artificial intelligence (AI) products and AI-based solutions for businesses in various industries worldwide.
It operates through two segments, Travel & Entertainment, and Technology & Data Intelligence. The company operates KanKan, a data intelligence platform that offers AI-based vision products, computing devices, and software-as-a-service products for the financial, retail, entertainment, education, and workplace and public safety industries.
It also owns and operates various digital media properties that deliver content in various verticals, including travel and entertainment, such as lodging, air travel, show tickets, and tours through Vegas.com and its related Websites comprising LasVegas.com, as well as mobile applications and retail locations; and young adult lifestyle that includes Bikini.com, an e-commerce Website, which sells swimwear and accessories.
In addition, the company sells financial-technology products and services, as well as advertising services through its Websites.
The company was formerly known as Remark Media, Inc. and changed its name to Remark Holdings, Inc. in April 2017. Remark Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Their Address:
3960 Howard Hughes ParkwaySuite 900Las Vegas, NV 89169United States702-701-9514
http://www.remarkholdings.com They have no full-time employees.
It's good that they are located in the U.S. this opens up a lot of potential clients.
Technicals: Stock Info:
- Usual 10-day volume of 8.23M.
- Usual 3-month volume of 34.32M.
This is a very good volume for a penny stock, it provides easy buying and selling of the stock and it ensures that there will be movement in the stock price.
- Shares outstanding are 99.38M.
- Float is 85.71M.
It would be better to see a lower float since the lower the float the easier it is to move up the stock price, but this isn't a bad float.
Not that many benefits from a float like this other than it's harder to push down the price but the same goes for trying to push up the price.
- 26.23% of shares are being held by insiders.
- 14.19% of shares are being held by institutions.
So many insiders holding the stock could cause a massive dump in the stock price if they decided to sell-off.
It isn't all bad though, this also shows that the insiders are confident that the stock price will go up since it is part of their paycheck.
A good number of institutions hold the stock, institutions usually invest in stocks that will increase in price.
- Short % of float is 15.43%
- Short % of shares outstanding is 14.52%.
This is both good and bad. The good is that there is potential for a big short squeeze which will force many people to start mass buying the stock, this will of course boost the stock price by quite a bit.
The bad part is that this shows that a good part of investors aren't confident that the stock price will go up. The lower the confidence the more paper hands traders there will be which will make the price fall.
Indicators:
These are based on the 1-day indicators.
Moving Averages:
- Candles above 5 SMA, buy rating.
- Candles below 10 SMA, sell rating.
- Candles below 20 SMA, sell rating.
- Candles below 30 SMA, sell rating.
- Candles above 50 SMA, buy rating.
- Candles above 100 SMA, buy rating.
- Candles above 200 SMA, buy rating.
- Candles are neutral on IC, hold rating.
- Candles are below VWAP, sell rating.
- Candles are above HMA, buy rating.
Moving Averages give MARK a buy rating. MARK is in a short term downtrend but an overall uptrend.
Oscillators:
- Stock is neutral on RSI, hold rating.
- Stock is positive on R%S, buy rating.
- Stock is neutral on CCI, hold rating.
- Stock is neutral on ADI, hold rating.
- Stock is negative on AO, sell rating.
- Stock is negative on Momentum, sell rating.
- Stock is negative on MACD, sell rating.
- Stock is neutral on SRF, hold rating.
- Stock is neutral on WPR, hold rating.
- Stock is neutral on BPP, hold rating.
- Stock is neutral on UO, hold rating.
Oscillators give MARk a sell rating
Overall, indicators give MARK a sell rating.
Support And Resistances:
- Hourly support of $2.31.
- Hourly resistance of $2.44.
- Daily support of $1.08.
- Daily resistance of $3.56.
TL;DR: MARK is a sort of short term play, I recommend selling it off when they announce their financials and other plans on July 6.
With cases rising, MARK will be a hot stock, their thermal cameras are in very high demand all across the world and potential partnerships and deals are limitless.
China Mobile has made a deal with MARK to equip their 17,800 stores with thermal cameras. MARK will be making bank on this deal and will use the money to improve its technology which will further potential revenue.
MARKs app Sharecare could become a big success. Most people will not be leaving their houses and Sharecare will take advantage of that by bringing virtual healthcare to people. The potential revenue on this one is massive.
The conference will hopefully boost the stock price by quite a bit considering that they will be discussing so many things.
TL;DR;DR: These are some quick buy and sell points.
- Buy point is if MARK rebounds to around $2.33-$2.29.
- Instant buy point is if MARK breaks the $2.61 hourly resistance with some buffer.
- Sell point is if MARK falls below the hourly 50 SMA.
- Instant sell point is if MARK falls below the hourly $2.13 support.
Remember, this is not a very short term play, July 6 will be a big day for the stock.
Please take everything with a grain of salt, markets are being volatile.
These points are more suited for the volatility of the market and should work better than before.
This is not financial advice, I'm not a financial professional.
Do not buy this stock just because of this DD.
I'm not to be held liable for any losses or missed out gains due to this DD.
I do not currently hold any shares of this stock.
Please trade responsibly and take days off when your account is falling.
Hello everyone, I have been a part of NewTubers from almost a year now, and in that time I have picked up a lot of knowledge and ideas from here. This post is part of my contribution to this community, and a way to give back some tried and tested tips, tricks and ideas about improving your channels.
I have already written PART 1/5 last week, which holds explanations of points 1-10. This week I will cover 11-21. Link to the previous part:
https://www.reddit.com/NewTubers/comments/gqve5a/part_15_50_things_i_have_tried_out_to_improve_my/ This is going to be another very long post, so please take your time in reading it, save it for later and try to process it part by part so you can get the most use out of it.
This is my third such post on this subject, with the previous two written at the 6th and 9th month of my year long journey of giving my channel my best try at success. I will post the links to those posts as I get to their appropriate place here.
The 50+ tips, tricks and ideas that you are going to read about here are not all mine, but I have tested them all in the last 12 months thoroughly. Some I found here, and other places online, some I saw in other creators videos and some I came up by myself, often while siting in the toilet.
I kid you not, some of the best ideas I have had in my life popped into my head in that little room. It must have something to do with leaving the worries of life at the door and just thinking freely about the nature of life. I bet there are science papers written about that strange effect of the toilet. But let's get back to the main point of this post.
To give you some context about my channel and the data I will be presenting:
- I am not a native English speaker, but all my videos are in English, viewers rate my ascent 4/5
- I started back in 2011. but had numerous off times, lasting from a month to a year, last one being over a year long
- For the last 12 months I have made 200+ videos(one every 1.8 days)
- I have spent an average of 4 hours per day somehow working on my channel, my skills and understanding of my audience and YouTube's rules
- I have a gaming channel with the emphasis on tutorials, how to videos and guides. Add to that let's plays, previews and first look videos of new Indie games, performance benchmarks, and some gameplay/montage videos with minimal or no comments
- At the moment of writing this 2/5 post I have 2,879 subscribers and 660+ videos
- My channel has been monetized since 11.05.2019.
Analytics for the last 28 days say:
- 272.5k minutes of watch time,
- 87.9k views,
- +179 subscribers change.
- Average view duration 3:06
- Likes(vs dislikes) 86.1%
- Impressions 489.6k
- Impression CTR 7.9%
- Traffic sources: 42.1% YouTube Search and 14.5% Google Search, Suggested 4.2%
I think that about covers it? If you have some other metric you would like to know, feel free to ask Three months ago I wrote this post about my progress:
Best channel and video practices/tips, update from 3 months ago. For the first time my channel is getting +100 subs a month, and for the second time 100k minutes watched.
https://www.reddit.com/NewTubers/comments/f6tkr3/best_channel_and_video_practicestips_update_from/ Back then the 28 days analytics look like this:
- 100.0k minutes of watch time,
- 32.8k views,
- +100 subscriber change.
While 6 months ago, I wrote:
31 things I tried out to improve my channel, getting 75% more views, 300% more likes and 450% more subs [6 month analysis conclusion]
https://www.reddit.com/NewTubers/comments/dsygyp/31_things_i_tried_out_to_improve_my_channel/ Back then the 28 days analytics look like this:
- 49.4k minutes of watch time,
- 14.2k views,
- +66 subscriber change .
Now I will write down all the things I have tried in the last 12 months and I will talk about each one and it's effectiveness, and the ultimate results of it, for my channel, that I could see and analyze.
This is a list of what I have tried out, bellow is a list with the explanations:
- Changed my thumbnail design
- Redid thumbnails for many of my old, but active videos, according to the new design
- Redid titles and tags and added very long descriptions to old videos, same as new videos
- Analyzed tags of videos which are on the same subject as mine but have more views
- Made many playlists, some videos ended up in as many as three playlists
- Paid a friend, professional designer, to create my new channel banner and logo
- I now try to show off the best parts of the video in the first 30 seconds
- Added a call to action, visual and voice over to almost every new video and picture of my channel logo
- Used the analytics to tailor my video release times to when most viewers where online (now YouTube analytics shows that data)
- Made new, updated versions of my already popular videos
- Collaborate with other content creators in form of script editing, idea sharing, video ideas brainstorming etc.
- Started to record audio to separate files from video so I could edit only the audio
- Learned to use a more advanced video editor program, now I use more options
- Got a better microphone, but still dirt cheap, and added a sock onto it
- It was really hard but I got the filler sounds "umm" and "err" out of my speech
- Used Google doc to be able to write scrips where ever I go, and on the move
- Started to use the community page on my channel to let subscribers vote and to remind them of an already posted video
- Analyzed each of my most successful videos and took their framework to make new videos
- Created my own rules what to make and what not to make based on what worked in the past
- Set up a default END for every video with a black screen and a thank you/like/sub note
- Did my best to mention another of my videos in each new video and interconnect them
- Answered to comments with a welcome to my channel even if I saw that the person didn't subscribe
- Answered 99% of viewers comments
- Created my own schedule, but not made it public
- Made 4 videos a week, then cut down to 3 a week
- Added a subscribe icon of my channel to the end screen, along with next video card, best for viewer card and a playlist card
- Added 3-5 video cards during each video
- Added my own comment on every new video and pined it to engage the viewers
- Added my channel logo as a watermark in my videos
- Asked for viewers submissions to feature them on my channel
- Engaged my viewers in multiple ways during a video
- Had an intro, removed it, made a new intro, removed that one too
- Started a blog on games and gaming industry in general and liked my YouTube videos to it
- Turned my blog posts into scripts for videos
- Posted comments on other channels, with videos which are similar to my own
- Created multiple giveaways
- Join a number of subreddits both valuable vaults of knowledge and information, like this one
- Join a number of subreddits simply explained as "get more views" spam anthills
- Made a Facebook group for my channel
- Posted my videos on specific subreddits
- Posted my videos on my Twitter account
- Posted my videos in specific Facebook groups
- Posted my videos in specific Discord channels
- Posted my videos on specific forums and threads
- Posted screenshots or thumbnails on Imgur and Pinterest, + links to video when possible
- Posed on Steam client, game specific discussions
- Created game guides on Steam client, written long text into which I add screenshots and links to my videos
- Linked my videos to Steam game pages, asked my friends to like them so they would be placed at the top of the Most popular (week) page (which is the default page)
- Reposted my most successful and my best made but not successful videos on weekends and during specific events to all social media
- Read forums, discussions, subreddits, discord chat and other places where people ask about problems in games so I could get ideas for videos and link my own videos as answers
- Started making video lists of new games upcoming in 2020 and beyond
- Writing directly to Indie developers and getting in touch with them about getting press keys for games, interviews, news
- Joined programs to get free Indie and small studio's games, before or at release times, payed for AAA from my pocket
- Used Tubebuddy free version, and the most expensive version in the trial period to analyze my channel and videos
- Used free version of VidIQ to do the same things as with Tubebuddy
All right, time to go into more details, and see what benefits these 55 things had for my channel:
11. Collaborate with other content creators in form of script editing, idea sharing, video ideas brainstorming etc. Because of my personal life I have very limited time and working conditions (a baby at home), so I haven't had an opportunity to do a true, live, collaboration video so far. Content creators look at it favorably but I personally have yet to click off a video I am watching, from a creator I follow, to go and check out another channel they introduced. That is just me of course.
Anyway, back to the point. What I did do is talk(write) with other people who have channels with similar content or similar way of presentation. With some I would talk about where to promote, with others how to keep viewers interested, while with others I had more active collaborations. One person, who has currently put his channel in "cold storage" while he is thinking about where to take it, has been my editor for a number of videos which had long scripts. He is a native English speaker, I am not, so his help was key in getting the voice over to sound just right. What he got out of it? To read my scripts, get an idea of a working framework for a video script, practice writing/editing a scrip, and my thanks in the credits at the video's end, exposure of sorts.
Just this last week, I have had a big problem, as I almost lost my voice because of a bad case of a sore throat. I am still recovering, so to avoid more problems, I have offered my friend to pay him to record voice overs for my next few videos using my scripts. He just finishing recording my first script for my next video, and he was immensely grateful for the opportunity to learn as he worked with me on this. He also got a big boost in self-confidence and has more motivation to work on his own channel and content. A Win-Win.
Another creator offered to look through my latest videos and see what would seem like click off points to him. And I did the same for him. This offered valuable insight as we can never truly objectively watch our own videos. Even after a few years have passed since you made a particular video, it's still questionable will you be able to objectively look at your own work. So I would advice always being in contact with other creators and receive/give feedback or help each other with skills or knowledge one might lack and another have.
12. Started to record audio to separate files from video so I could edit only the audio. This one seems so obvious in retrospective that I am ashamed of my older videos, and sorry for how much better they could have been, had I started doing this before. As a non native English speaker, who makes all his videos in English, I made many, many mistakes in videos over the past. What I used to do, during editing, was to cut the parts where I made mistakes. Which was fine if I had corrected myself right away, so all I was cutting was bad parts, and leaving the goods ones in.
But the problem were the parts when I didn't notice my mistake until the editing. All I could do, was cut out the error or change it's volume to 0, and add a new voice over track on top. But, both are bad options. Now I use recording software(nVidia Experience - Shadowplay) which records video and audio on separate tracks. This way when the video and audio are imported to a video editor software, each can be edited separately, and every mistake almost completely, and seamlessly corrected. Videos made by using scripts, and putting video and audio together later, don't have this problem.
Important thing to know, is that if you record like this, you have to use a video editing software which can read both the video and audio file, and open them in separate tracks. If not, then you have to use an audio track extractor program, which will pull out the second layer of audio ( voice over) you record on the microphone, to another file. Then you import that file to your video editor.
As you might have read before, good audio quality is vital to a successful video. Since I make tutorials, and explain to the viewer what to do next, a mistake or an audio error is simply not acceptable. Improving your audio needs to be just as important to you as the video(picture) component.
13. Learned to use a more advanced video editor program, now I use more options. This next one sounds simple but is expensive, both in time and money. Good video editing software can be expensive and more importantly, difficult to learn to use. So when I started doing this, back in 2011., I used windows movie maker. Amateur level stuff but, since I had 0 experience and knowledge, it was a good place to start.
Honestly, for someone just starting for the first time, to edit videos, this was a good place to start. Few options, everything easy to use. If it had better performance, and if it where more stable, I would recommend it even today for newcomers. But... I lost several videos because of it, and many hours of hard work. There are several, just as simple, programs on the market today, that are cheap, easy to use and far more stable. But, those are just your training wheels.
To make better videos, you have to use more advanced video editing programs/software, and many of the options they offer. An important thing about video editing, is that flashy effects are less necessary then you might think. As a new editor you might get carried away with all the cool transitions, effects, filters and so on, I know I was, but from the comments my videos got, I must tell you that the best editing is seamless, and unnoticeable editing.
Most people want to watch a smooth video, where content is what they came for, and everything else is just fluff. So every time you get an idea to add some filter, flashy effect or transition, try to make another version, which is almost unnoticeable, and compare it side by side. Even better, show it to someone else, and have them be the judge. Especially if they are the same age as most of your viewers, and intended audience.
This is a list of programs I used after Windows Movie Maker: 1. CyberLink PowerDirector 2. AVS Video Editor 3. Adobe Premiere Elements 4. Pinnacle Studio 5. Sony Vegas (Now it's called Vegas Pro) 6. Movavi video editor 7. probably some others too that I can't remember.
Right now I am using Movavi video editor because:
a) it renders fast
b) has all the options I need (right now, but I aim to learn and use more in another program)
c) it's incredibly stable even with gigabytes of video, dozens of files, hundreds of cuts and effect. I have had one crash in 200+ videos. It does slow down a bit, after you add many effects and have a lot of cuts.
d) I managed to get a fully working version for free. This last one might as well be the most important one, for all new content creators. Find a video editor that you don't have to pay for, or at least not a lot, but which still has everything you need.
One important advice here, is that if you want YouTube to convert your videos, using it's more advanced video codec, which results is less picture quality loss from compression, you have to use, at minimum, 2560x1440 resolution. To be more specific my standard settings are 1440p, 60fps, 24560 video bit rate, 48k Hz audio. I record at 30k video bit rate, and 60fps.
14. Got a better microphone, but still dirt cheap, and added a sock onto it. Since I improved my video quality, it made sense to improve my audio quality as well, as people don't like to listen to bad quality voice over, and you can't blame them. This one was a lucky accident for me, as I won a microphone from a tech shop's giveaway. It's value is around $20. To be precise, its a Starzz Microphone from Trust. I tested it and didn't like the results very much.
After some playing around the with settings, and adding a sock on the microphone, I found that I got best results, with the microphone at 100%, with boost on, and then, in the video editing software, sound voice over files are boosted to 125%, with the voice enhancement, and noise reduction at 30%. I used to get comments saying I should get a better mic on my older videos. Not a single such comment since I started using this one.
This is a simple improvement, but it really makes a difference. In an ocean of YT videos, your viewers really don't need to suffer a video with bad quality audio. They will just click off, and you don't want to be losing viewers, over something that can be cheaply, and simply solved.
15. It was really hard but I got the filler sounds "umm" and "err" out of my speech. (The "umm" I am referring to should not be confused with a thoughtful
"Hmmmmm, what should I do next". )
These two sounds are something I personally very much dislike when listening to other people speaking. And, I absolutely hate it coming from me. Every time I would watch one of my older videos, I would get really annoyed, listening to my own "umm", and "err" sounds when speaking in a video. I am sure I am not alone in this, so it is something I decided to remove from my videos, and not make my viewers listed to it.
First, I would record Let's plays, and edit out each and every "umm" and "err" sound I heard, and saw, in the sound files. This is why recording sound in a separate file, from the video, is so useful. I was horrified when I counted all the annoying sounds I made in 30 minutes of a video. There where sometimes over a 100 of them. Editing them all out, finally let me produce videos free of these "umm" and "err" sounds. But, I was spending a lot of time doing this, and it created small pauses, and gaps, in my voice over. So, I wasn't happy enough with the solution.
Next step, was trying to understand why I made those sounds in the first place. I looked more closely, and listed to myself, in those videos in which I still made those sounds, but noticeably less. I was kinda confused by the reduction of those sounds at that time, but it turned out that just by being more aware of what I am doing, I was able to reduce it.
What I was able to understand, after analyzing those moments, is that I do know what I want to say, I just take a long time to spit it out, and then use the "umm" and "err" sounds to fill the downtime of my mouth, until the rest of the sentence gets out. The solution? Speed up. It does sound counter intuitive, that I would be fixing speech problems by talking faster, but it's what worked for me. The side affect, is that now I talk a bit too fast, and my subscribers, will on occasion comment, that I need to slow down a bit, to be clearly understood. This is something I plan on fixing by having an even better accent. I can now record 2 hours of Let's plays in a single sitting without uttering a single "umm" and "err".
16. Used Google doc to be able to write scrips where ever I go, and on the move. This is a real time saver.
Ideas are worth their weight in gold, they say, and it's true. I now centralize all my writing, scripts, ideas into my Google documents. This let's me work on anything I have written down, at any moment. If I am playing something ,and get a good idea, I just ALT-TAB, and go straight into writing. I never close the browser tab, where my Google doc is open.
If I am traveling, and have a great idea, Google doc is just one finger tap away, on my phone. If I have a long commute from work to home, I will write a few paragraphs of my latest script right there. And if I have a light bulb moment, while siting in the toilet, I just write it down on my phone, right next to my other text and ideas, instead of toilet paper. Trust me, it might have paper in it's name but it doesn't work for writing.
A really cool feature of Google doc is that you can make it shareable, for viewing or editing, so you can send a link to someone, and they can use the editor option to edit your scrip. They can leave notes for you, on what they think would be better in the text, without even changing your version. Then you can chose to change the script, and incorporate those edits, or leave it as it was.
Another thing I have started doing in those Google doc is to make a single file where I write down the dates in the near future. So, if today is the 02.06. I will write down, as a list, 02.06., 02.06 and so on until let's say 13.06. Then I will mark, with a green overlay color, all dates I plan to release videos on. And next to the dates write a title, planed title, of the video for that day. In essence I create my schedule, a plan of activities for the next two weeks or so. BUT! this is totally just a rough plan. If I start doing work on one of the videos, I will mark it orange. If I finish it but not release it yet, I will mark it blue. And green only once I release it. At any point, I might change the order, delete a video an put another in it's place, or switch up the order, depending on what is going on in the world that my videos are about.
I described to you my usage of Google doc for this. You can use any program or app you want. But it's important to have a place to write everything down and set up a plan and an organizational structure.
17.Started to use the community page on my channel to let subscribers vote and to remind them of an already posted video. (
Do note that you have to have 1000 subscribers to unlock the use of the community page.) I started using this option last year. At first, I only used it to create another notification about a video I just published. I did it at the same hour I made my latest video public. But after a while, I realized it might be better to use it as a second release notification, so I started posting my latest videos on the community page 12-24 hours, after I had made my latest video public.
Then after a while, I started to use the community page in more interesting ways. If I was 2 days away from my next video, I would post a screenshot from my latest project, and tell my subscribers a bit about it.
After that, I started to use it to do : "FREE game alerts". If there was a game you could get a key for online for free, I would post a picture of the game, and tell my subscribers where and how to get it. I also started to post about the newest game I got from Developers, and when I planed to make videos about it.
Then, I came to an idea about using the poll option of the community page, to let subscribers vote on possible names for my next projects. Also, to let them vote on which game should I post the next Let's play episode on. After about 2,3 months, more and more subscribers are joining in with likes or votes. It requires some careful though about the text. You want as short and as on the point as possible, and you want to post it at the right time for as many of your subs to see it.
A note here, it relates to text and video content you make:
It's important to remember that your subscribers have a life of their own, just like you. They have a limited amount of time they can spend on you, and your content. So try to present to them, as much as you can, in as short a time as you can, they will respect you for that. Remember, you are taking their time and offering information in return, the more valuable you make this trade, the more will they came back again, and the better your audience attention rate will be.
18. Analyzed each of my most successful videos and took their framework to make new videos. This is MASSIVELY important! Analyze, with as much scrutiny as you can, each one of your successful videos. There are several very important conclusions you must reach, in order to be able to repeat those successes.
a) how did you open, start the video, what did you show and what did you say
b) what was the length compared to the number of important points you covered
c) what was your tone of voice and speed of talking
d) how much text, effects, transitions did you use
e) how many interactions with the audience did you make (asking questions, asking for feedback etc.)
f) At what time did you post the video, compared to the development of the topic you where talking about in the wide world
g) what was the structure of the video( start, middle, end, jump cuts, mentioning something then explaining only later, at what minute:second did you put a call to action, talk about your channel etc.)
h) how did you cover the subject ( tutorial, guide, explanation, negative points/positive points, etc.)
i) what was the source of views (search hits, external, self-promotion, other people posting it, as part of some other content-blog etc.)
...
and many more but I think you get the point I have, on several occasions, about several different games, come up with new ideas and interesting concepts, about what kind of videos to make. I really liked these, but some failed, and some where successful. So, later when I was planing on doing another video about that game, but new content for it, I would go back to the successful AND failed ones and compare them.
Do note here: some videos will fail but not because they are bad, but simply victims of wrong moment to post, bad place to promote and competition form other creators. This is why you should give a second chance even to the failed ones. To give you an exact example, some months ago, a game that is the core of my channel, gets a new part, a new DLC. Since I get keys for that game's DLC early, thanks to the developers adding me to their inference program, I start making content that I will post as soon as the embargo is lifted. I create 4 videos.
One low effort announcement, with my voice over on top of the trailer (I quite doing that after seeing it's low effort and doesn't provide value), one video where main characters duel. (it didn't turn out as well as I planed it, so next time I did it 10 times better because I analyzed where I made mistakes) , and another two videos, both covering additions this DLC brings to the two different races inside the game. Both of these two videos I promote heavy, and they get good, for my channel at the time, number of views on the first day. Then, they go into low mode, as I call it, getting hits from time to time, but low views every day. Then an interesting thing happens and one of the videos starts doing twice as good, then three times better, then four times better. Even months and months later it's still getting views, and the topic isn't even relevant any more.
I noticed this a while back and after looking at the thumbnail, analytics data, video structure, (framework) I started to realize why it was doing better. The title, tags and description where all the same, only the names of characters where different, since it was different races being presented.
So what was better? First of all the thumbnail was better, as it was more to the point. The video doing worse showed just one of the new additions, as the biggest part of the picture, and text+logo. While the second video, had a thumbnail showing all the new additions. One large and others smaller, and text+logo (text had one word less and was 20% larger and higher contrast to the background). This all translated into ~50% higher CTR over 6 months and thousands of impressions. 6.7% on the better one, 3.4% on the worse one. Astounding difference... I know.
The video that was doing better was... and get this! Longer! By a full minute, 25% compared to the worse one. Better one has 45% retention rate, the worse one 44%. But, this data has to be looked in the light of video length. For a 5 minute video to have 45% retention rate is a big difference to a 4 minute video having 44% retention rate. If you have ever compared your shorter, to your longer videos, you know how hard it is, to keep a high retention rate on a longer video. This showed me that the structure of the second, better video was superior, and that I should use it again in new videos.
Fast forward half a year and this game has a new DLC coming out. Armed with my knowledge of what works better, I watch my old video again, and got to work. After publishing these new videos, using the old structure, framework and thumbnails I am getting significantly better views each day and that is without heavy promotion, no high day one peek and then a major drop off. One video is averaging 6% CTR while the other one is at 8% CTR. But this is raw data, with only a few data points as the videos are a few days old. CTR will get even higher as time passes, and most of the views become search hits. One is already at 50% search hits, the other 40%. With 42% audience retention on the 7+ minute video and 30% on the other one 30 seconds shorter. Once again, that is a lot more watch time considering I increased the length almost 50%.
19. Created my own rules what to make and what not to make based on what worked in the past This one is directly connected to the previous point, and can be boiled down to: "If you want views, make videos people have already shown an inclination towards watching". Now, don't mistake content (specific things like: Cat falling from a tree) for type( a funny video about animals doing things). When I say videos they have already watched I mean the kind/type of video. The video's structure and framework also have to be recreated. In my post last week, I have already talked about making new versions of your old successful videos (#10 ). This is not what this is about.
Perhaps it's best to use an example:
With the number of subscribers I have now, Indie developers are mostly open to sending me press keys of their game. Sometimes even before release. At first, I did videos I called: "Introduction and First Look", later just "Introduction" or "First Look" or "Preview". These videos are obviously not evergreen (don't stay relevant and stop getting hits). BUT! They are watched a lot, for a limited number of days IF posted at the right time and right places. So, if I decide to make a "Preview" video of a game, I have to do it at least 5-7 days before release, and be able to post it (developers/publishers decide on Embargo dates) a few days before release date. This is their window where these kinds of videos must get lots(and most) of views. Most often from Reddit pages, Forums and Social Media. (more on this in points #39-#48).
Now if I want my video to be evergreen or as close to that as possible, it has to have different structure then a "Preview". It has to be a guide, tutorial, walkthrough, or an explanation of some specific gameplay mechanic. A video like this will not get many views before release, or even at release, but it will get views over time(become evergreen). What is also great about these videos is that their type, the nature of it, will improve their CTR and watch time, because people are more likely to click on something they need, and are in search off, and they will also watch more of it. And since YouTube algorithm likes videos with high CTR and watch time it becomes a kind of perpetuum mobile.
As you analyze you own videos you should be able to narrow down on what you make, that interests people, and what exactly is the type and structure of those videos. Find ones with high CTR, and watch time, and try to recreate their structure for new content.
There are many other rules I have pulled out of my analysis of my videos, but I think this example has made it clear enough for you. It's a bit of a hard thing to grasp, unless you are already thinking in such a direction, so If you need more guidance on it, just ask.
20. Set up a default END for every video with a black screen and a thank you/like/sub note When I decided to speed up my video editing, I made a video template, into which I import video and audio files, and save it under a new name for my each new project. That template, among other things, has a black picture 2560x1440px size. On that picture, in the video editor, I added a fade in/out out text: "Thank you for watching don't forget to like and subscribe". This is how my every video ends. The last part of the video has a fade to black transition onto this 8 seconds long black picture during which this text fades in and out. It is on this back picture, left and right of the text, that I add my end cards and the subscriber button. But more on this in point #26. The idea of this default END is to
a) create that feel of the familiar for viewers who watch my videos to the end
b) remind them to use the like button and subscribe, if they are new, or haven't subscribed yet
c) save on time when editing, by having a premade end for every video
d) create a place where end cards will stand out, and take center stage
The end result of this has been saving a lot of time, in my last 200 videos, when editing a video. Getting, by my estimate, several more likes then I got in my old videos, and more subscribers. It most definitely hasn't hurt my channel in any way.
21. Did my best to mention another of my videos in each new video and interconnect them This one is another of those: "How did I not think of it before" ideas. It's so obvious in hindsight but, I only started doing it after 450+ videos. This is how I do this:
a) during my recording of a video, or writing a script, I make a point to remember to mention to my viewers, that I did a similar video, before this one, or that I showed them something from this video, in the previous episode, in more details (of a Let's play for example), or that I plan to show them something in a new video*
b) I tell them that I will leave a link on the upper right corner of the screen (video cards) and in the description below ( I add a link, a name of it and a emoticon to make it stand out more in my 4000+ character description)
c) during video editing I place a red arrow (don't hate me) with two heads on the right side of the screen, one points to the video card spot and the other to the bottom of the video - description.
d) I do this several times during the video if I can find a reason to explain to the viewer why it's important to check out that other video
e) when I upload the video I make sure to find that minute:second I placed the red arrow and add the video card with the appropriate link so it turns on at the same time the read arrow head points to it
*Note here: Once I actually make a video, with the content I mentioned during this old video, I go back to the video where I mentioned it, and add a video card for it, at that moment in the video.
Sub note: You DON'T actually have to ever do that video you said you will do. Unless of course you said: " I will do it next week". But your plan to do something else, that the viewer might just be interested in, can get you a new subscriber who will watch X number of videos, while he/she, waits for that video you promised. And very likely they will even forget about it, and just stayed subscribed. It's another dirty tactic to get new subs for practically 0 effort. Just don't make the mistake of going overboard with your promises, or say when you will do it. And also, you might as well do one of those from time to time, it can't hurt. I plan to talk(write) more about promises when I get to my advice #24.
.....................................................
Well, that would be part two of my "50+ things I have tried out to improve my channel...". I hope that you have had time to try out my advice and ideas from the PART 1/5, and that you have read something in this part that you can use or adept for you channel.
I would love to hear your feedback, and especially if you manage to use these ideas to improve your own channel.
I will keep trying to post at least one part of this post each week.
Thank you for reading, feel free to comment and ask. Do remember that this is all from
my experience, and even if my writing style seems like I am telling you what YOU should do, it's only what my advice, from my experience, would be for you. You don't have to use it, you don't even have to agree with it. And if you don't agree with it, I would love to read why, it will help others to hear more opinions and experiences.
Have a nice day!
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