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