[XDA Developer TV] azrienoch:
Hey guys, wanted to post this publicly because I think we can throw ideas around, not just between people on XDATV but with anyone interested. Basically, I want to share some of the things I've learned from youtube over the years about optimizing the impact of our videos. If we work together on this, everyone benefits.

I assume everyone wants to see their view count go up. We make videos for people to watch, and the view count says how many times they've been watched. So that's the goal, and these ideas are all about achieving that goal. For each idea, I'm putting what we'd do, and then explain why.

1. Post only on your designated day--or if you must, on a day when no one else is posting--so there is only one video posted per day.

Most of the views come from that Latest Video on XDATV box on the right hand column on the portal. At the very least this idea is a courtesy to one another because we aren't taking time on that prime real estate away from each other. Our videos shouldn't compete with our other videos. We're working as a whole, however disjointedly. I wouldn't post more than one video a day even on my own channel for the very same reason. Actually, that's not true... I have posted more than one video in a day on my youtube channel before, with the explicit intention of burying the first. Because that's what posting more than one video a day does.

Videos do not work like blogs. Especially not when the videos are time-sensitive, as many of our videos are. And looking on every other tech blog that also makes videos, you'll see they do this too. The reason the first video gets so few views is because even the most dedicated viewers tend to check Youtube only once per day. Also, the longer a video goes before the next is posted, the more views it gets. Something to keep in mind if you want to post more in a week than your timeslot allows.

2. Tell the viewers to subscribe to the youtube channel, or at least to check out more of our videos.

Currently, our videos are averaging more views than the xdadevelopers youtube channel has subscribers. While that's a good indication of future growth, it still means that more people are watching than are subscribed. Often, people just forget to do it. Given the linear growth in subscribers versus the radically varying video views, it means that we aren't building a steady viewer base, we're mostly getting one-time views in passing.

Now, I know we're here more or less to provide a service to the forum, and if that's all we want XDATV to be, then there's no reason to follow this idea. However, XDATV could be a great marketing tool for xda-developers, which would make the relationship between XDATV and the forum less parasitic and more symbiotic. Bad analogy, but I can't think of a better one right now. I can't think of any reason why we wouldn't want XDATV to bring people to the forum and likewise, instead of only the forum bringing people to XDATV. Our subscriber count means nothing on the forums, but on Youtube, subscribers mean baseline views. (And if videos are getting far fewer views than the channel has subscribers, something went very wrong. That's the case with my channel, went on too many hiatuses.) Building it needs to be a big focus.

3. Provide links, article titles, tags, and video titles with each video.

For the most part we all provide article titles and links, but the more, the better. Internet searches pick up on everything in the video description, so the more detailed it is, the more traffic your video will get. Tags and video titles are the same, but we don't do them. Tags provide keywords. You know this, I'm just reiterating. Imagine every reason you can that someone might need your video. Your tags should be all the words you think they would search to find your video.

Lastly, the video titles. When I find tech videos for other sites, if it's news they title it with one or two of the biggest headlines, put ambiguously. That way people searching for any related headlines will be more inclined to watch. Stuff like "NEW EVO 3D!!!!" or "Xperia Mini Revealed!" And so on. And trust me, people click it. If it's a tutorial, review, or even interview, the title tends to be what you can do with the info in the video. Chad sorta did that a bit ago, but it should be simpler. Something like, "Root Your Desire HD". Shawn, your interview with Mendozinas could have been titled "Make Your Own Themes on Android". The titles are relevant, but capitalize on what people can get out of it, rather than what it's about or, as we're titling them now, what it is. And then, providing these things for Svetius will make his job a whole lot easier.

I was pretty sure I had more, but I forgot for now. So go make words below this post, preferably in some coherent order and pertinence.