I've stopped YouTube and podcasts...for now!
In October I re-started interviewing people on YouTube and on podcast for my High Signal brand. The idea was to get more newsletter subscribers and possibly some ghostwriting clients as well as have a good time interviewing some interesting people.
It was definitely fun chatting to Millie, Mubs and Lukas on YouTube! If money and time were not an object, I would definitely do this all the time! But at the moment, I feel like it's not really worth it for a few reasons:
Time
I actually mentioned this in a recent interview I did with a YouTuber, but video or audio content just takes waaaaay longer to produce than blog interviews. It's kind of impossible to justify spending 5 hours on a broadcast when I could use this time to serve a ghost writing client, find new newsletter sponsors or find more people to interview for High Signal.
Money
It's not a big cost, but it does cost money to host and edit this content. And if I'm being honest with myself, if this content isn't moving the needle for me financially, it's more like a hobby I'm paying to do.
Performance
I was disappointed at how the podcasts and YouTube videos had performed. I shared them a bunch and my results were way lower compared to my previous videos. We are talking 50-250 views on YouTube whereas previous videos got 5,0000 views.
Some people online were saying that people nowadays want their video content spoon-fed to them. So instead of an hour's interview where they have to pay close attention they prefer a Mr Beast-style narrator laying everything out for them. Maybe as well I just haven't invested enough time in producing the type of videos that people want now. There are lots of long interviews with great guests on other YouTube channels which only have a few hundred views so it's maybe something the algo isn't really promoting.
Ruthlessness
I'm working on being more ruthless in 2025. If something isn't working, it makes sense to cut it out and double down on what is working. If I have more time and money in the future to invest properly into YouTube or podcasts, I may well come back to them as I do enjoy interviewing people! But right now, it's not a priority for me.