The Formula for Science YouTube Success

More and more, YouTube is filled with really good videos, along with garbage, clickbait, and AI slop. Popular channels, like Veritasium, have been sold to private equity firms for increased monetization.

Veritasium has revealed its formula for success:

V = (M + (Q -> E) x (A + B)

The founder, Derek Muller, uses a catchy title and starts telling you that you have been fooled by a misconcention. The he launches into style of questions followed by explanations. He is really good at keeping the viewer engaged.

The final trick is having an A plot interwoven with a B plot. This increases the chance that you will follow one of the plots.

As more and more videos are AI generated, I expect to see more following this formula. It works. I am not sure if I should be happy about getting more polished content, or sad that I am getting manipulated by bots. Regardless, this is the future.