I Don’t Want Their Audience!

Spend five minutes on YouTube and you’ll find no shortage of gurus, growth hackers, and advice channels promising you the secret to content creation success. There’s always a system. A method. A blueprint. “Do this with your thumbnails.” “Use these keywords.” “Edit like this and you’ll hack the algorithm!”

To be fair, they’re not wrong. The algorithm does seem to favour certain things, but the reality is that it’s just responding to what viewers do. If people click, watch longer, rewatch, or interact, that tells YouTube the content is working. So yes, videos with fast edits, loud hooks, intriguing titles and bright thumbnails often do well, but not because the algorithm prefers them. It’s because people do. The algorithm is just finding the crowd.

And that’s the catch.

When creators focus on what gets clicks, they don’t necessarily find their audience. More often, they’re appealing to a general one, a crowd conditioned to expect quick payoffs, big reactions, and surface-level entertainment. That kind of audience will come, but they rarely stick around. They won’t watch many more of your videos unless you continue in the same exhausting style, and in the long run, watch time is what you’re after.

And this is where I part ways with “the system.”

What the Algorithm Likes vs. What I Like

Let’s take YouTube thumbnails. Scroll through your YouTube home feed these days, and you’ll likely see your fair share of open-mouthed, shocked, surprised, sad faces, bright colours, heavy contrast, and text that yells at you. “THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!” “YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!” “I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!”

That sort of thing works for YouTube titans like MrBeast or MrWhoseTheBoss. It’s part of the game that has helped them become hugely successful (not the only part, I fully concede; hard work and consistency also have much to do with it). But it’s not a game I want to play.

Not because I can’t, I simply don’t want to.

And I certainly don’t want to gain an audience that expects something from me that I never meant to offer.

This is the trap.

When you build your channel around purely what the algorithm likes, you often end up attracting viewers who don’t really care about you. They care about being entertained for ten seconds. Or shocked. Or reassured that they’re not falling behind the tech curve.

And sure, some of them might even subscribe. But most will move on as soon as the next flashy channel shows up. So there’s a very real danger that you try to outdo yourself—louder, faster, more dramatic each time.

I feel knackered just thinking about it!

My Channel vs. The “Explosive” Approach

Let me give you a real-world example.

Around this time last year, I uploaded a video about a new Kindle Scribe software update: “The Kindle Scribe - A REALLY helpful software update!”

While I confess to using capital letters and an exclamation mark in the title, the thumbnail wasn’t clickbait (though, admittedly I have a cheesy grin). I’m just pointing at a Kindle Scribe. In the video itself, I didn’t shout, jump around, or act nuts like this is the next big thing. I just discussed what the update brought, what it meant for users, whether it fixed any issues, and what new features it brought.

That video did well for my channel, but it didn’t “go viral.” What it did do was reach fellow Kindle users—real people who care about E Ink devices, thoughtful note-taking, and honest reviews. The comments reflected that: intelligent questions, useful discussion, and even a few thank-yous from people who hadn’t seen the update covered as clearly elsewhere.

That’s a very different outcome from what you see on many faceless, trend-chasing tech channels that have sprung up lately. They’ll often cover the same story—a Kindle update, for example—but package it completely differently: heavy music, big headlines, cropped footage, and wild speculation.

You’ll get titles like “Amazon Just Killed the iPad??”, possibly with a thumbnail of a flaming Apple logo. And to be fair, that might get ten times the clicks. But scroll through the comments, and most of them are shallow. The audience didn’t come for thoughtful insight but for the show. And they’ll be just as eager to click on the next overblown headline about the Sun exploding or AI taking over by Tuesday.

I don’t want that. I’d rather connect with the person who genuinely cares about how the Kindle feels to write on, whether the nib scratches the screen, or how it compares to the Supernote or the reMarkable.

The Slow Growth Trade-Off

I’m under no illusions. Choosing this path has meant slower growth.

YouTube rewards consistency, yes—but also spectacle. If I sat here today and planned a series of videos with AI thumbnails, dramatic music, and over-the-top pacing, I might see the numbers rise. But the numbers aren’t the goal. The people behind them are.

The internet is full of creators who have burned out chasing numbers. You can get stuck in the cycle of feeding the beast (no connected pun to a previous channel mention intended). One viral video leads to expectations. It becomes a cycle—you keep raising the volume, the pace, the drama. Miss a step, and the views drop off, and you start second-guessing everything.

That’s not how I want to build.

I want viewers to find my channel and stay—not because every video is louder than the last, but because they found something useful, honest, and human. I want someone to say, “I like how he explains things,” or “That felt real,” or even, “This is the first video I watched all the way through without skipping.”

That’s far more satisfying than any 10k spike in impressions.

Authenticity Isn’t a Shortcut

It would be easy to dress this up as some kind of branding strategy: “Authenticity is my niche.” But that’s not what this is. I’m not trying to use honesty as a marketing tactic. I’m just trying to be myself. And trust that, over time, the people who value that will stick around.

Sometimes, it means slowing down, skipping the trend-of-the-week, and being honest about how excited I actually am. I’m not going to start bouncing around because an iPad case has a slightly better hinge.

I do care. Just not in the same way

And here’s something encouraging I’ve found about my slower video style: The comments, emails, and DMs are from people who get it—people who watch to the end, who take the time to ask thoughtful questions, and who actually buy the things I review because they trust the review was done properly.

That’s the sort of audience I want to grow. Not a crowd. A community.

So no, I’m not following the guru blueprint. I’m not trying to become the next viral tech guy or the algorithm’s best friend. But let’s be honest—I do want to succeed. I’m building my YouTube channel (and Substack publication) because I’d love to go full-time with online content creation. I want to make a living doing something I actually enjoy. To keep the lights on, feed my family, and put honest work out into the world. I’m just not willing to become a cut-and-paste version of someone else to get there. If that means growing slower, so be it—as long as what I’m building genuinely reflects who I am.

I’d rather build slowly if it means creating something that lasts, something that reflects what I actually enjoy, think, and use.

Not chasing ‘their’ audience.

Finding mine.

I decided a while ago to keep my writing free for everyone. I love doing it, but it does take time and effort. If you enjoyed this article, I’d be chuffed if you’d consider buying me a coffee — it would honestly make my day!

Connect with me here: X | Instagram | Threads

Subscribe to my YouTube channel: The Spark

Buy stuff: Affiliate Page