What I Do

Track YouTube video performance to discover patterns in what works. This is "poor man's reinforcement learning" - manually logging outcomes to improve over time.

The RL Loop

1. PUBLISH -> Upload video with hypothesis (thumbnail style, title hook, topic)
2. WAIT -> Let it run for 48-72 hours
3. LOG -> Record in Notion with views, CTR, retention
4. ANALYZE -> Compare winners vs losers
5. REPEAT -> Apply learnings to next video

Key Insight from First Data Point

Video 1: "Using AI agents to pay bills and send invoices"

• 8 views in 1 day

• Plain talking head thumbnail

• Generic title

Video 2: "Paying My Contractor Through Claude | AI-Powered Finance"

• 133 views in 5 days (16x better!)

• Thumbnail shows: Face + Product UI overlay + Text "I Let AI Pay My Bills"

• Title has: Specific action + Brand name (Claude) + Category tag

What Made Video 2 Win:

• Thumbnail has TEXT overlay - "I Let AI Pay My Bills" creates curiosity

• Shows the PRODUCT - UI screenshot proves it's real, not just talk

• Face + Context - Person looking at the UI, not just talking

• Specific title - "Paying My Contractor" > "pay bills" (concrete vs abstract)

• Brand name in title - "Claude" attracts AI-interested audience

• Category tag - "AI-Powered Finance" helps discoverability

Hypothesis to Test:

Thumbnails with TEXT + PRODUCT UI + FACE outperform plain talking head thumbnails by 10x+

Database Schema

Core Fields (Outcomes)

Property Type Purpose

Title title Video title

Views number Total views

CTR number Click-through rate (%)

Retention number Average view duration (%)

Days Live number Days since publish

Views/Day formula Views / Days Live

Worked? checkbox Binary gut-check - was this a win?

Input Features (What You Controlled)

Property Type Options

Thumbnail Style select Talking Head, Face+UI, Face+Text, UI Only, Meme

Has Text checkbox Does thumbnail have text overlay?

Has Product checkbox Does thumbnail show the product/UI?

Title Hook select How-To, Story, Listicle, Question, Bold Claim

Has Brand checkbox Does title mention a brand (Claude, ChatGPT)?

Topic select AI Finance, Automation, Product Demo, Tutorial

Duration number Video length in minutes

Posted date When published

Reference Fields

Property Type Purpose

URL url Link to video

Thumbnail files Screenshot of thumbnail

Notes rich_text Why did it work/fail?

First Entry: The Baseline

Video 1 (LOSER):

• Title: "Using AI agents to pay bills and send invoices"
• Views: 8
• Days Live: 1
• Thumbnail Style: Talking Head
• Has Text: No
• Has Product: No
• Title Hook: How-To
• Has Brand: No
• Notes: Plain talking head, generic title, no visual hook

Video 2 (WINNER):

• Title: "Paying My Contractor Through Claude | AI-Powered Finance"
• Views: 133
• Days Live: 5
• Views/Day: 26.6
• Thumbnail Style: Face+UI
• Has Text: Yes ("I Let AI Pay My Bills")
• Has Product: Yes (shows invoice payment UI)
• Title Hook: Story
• Has Brand: Yes (Claude)
• Notes: Text overlay creates curiosity, UI proves it's real, specific action in title

Thumbnail Patterns to Test

Based on initial data:

Pattern Example Hypothesis

Face + UI + Text Video 2 Best performer - proves reality + creates curiosity

Face + Bold Text

May work for controversial takes

UI Only

Good for tutorials, may lack personality

Talking Head Video 1 Worst - no visual hook

Before/After

Good for transformation content

Title Patterns to Test

Pattern Example Hypothesis

Specific Action + Brand "Paying My Contractor Through Claude" Winner - concrete + searchable

Generic Action "Using AI to pay bills" Loser - too vague

Question "Can AI Really Pay Your Bills?" Untested - may drive curiosity

Number + Outcome "I Automated 5 Hours of Finance Work" Untested - quantified value

Weekly Review Process

• Sort by Views/Day - normalize for time live

• Filter by Worked? = true - what patterns emerge?

• Group by Thumbnail Style - which visuals win?

• Group by Title Hook - which hooks work?

• Compare Has Text vs No Text - does text help?

• Compare Has Brand vs No Brand - do brand names help?

Integration with YouTube Studio Skill

Use skill("youtube-studio") to:

• Upload new videos with test hypotheses

• Update thumbnails based on learnings

• Track which changes improve performance

Reference Image

The winning thumbnail (133 views) vs losing thumbnail (8 views):

Key visual differences:

• Winner: Face looking at UI, text overlay "I Let AI Pay My Bills", product screenshot visible

• Loser: Plain talking head against brick wall, no text, no product context