Coogan: YouTube's algorithm favors long-form podcasts by maximizing expected watch time
John Coogan · The Secret Billionaire Party (ep6) · Nov 3, 2024 · at 1:44:32
John Coogan explains the mechanics of YouTube's recommendation system while discussing the high view counts of long-form political podcast interviews.
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“Part of the reason Joe Rogan blew up so huge on YouTube originally was because he chose the three hour format. So the algorithm, like the YouTube algorithm is a expected value machine. So it takes the average view duration, which is how long on average someone will spend watching that piece of content. So for a 10 minute video, if it's really engaging, the average view duration might be like five or six minutes. Mr. Beast is like, he's like the most cracked at like retention. So like you have to watch to the end because you want to see who makes this, the, who wins the million dollars. And then every few seconds he's reengaging you with a new storyline or a new thing. There's no slow parts where you're like, actually, I'm going to go back to whatever. So Mr. Beast on a 20 minute video might be getting 12 minutes of average view duration. Now Rogan with podcasts, it's slower because it's just conversational. So there's lots of opportunities to be like, oh, I'll stop listening. But by going longer, even if he has the same average view duration as a one hour show, he'll have three times the amount of like expected value. And so that's more time to sell ads. And so the algorithm wants to sell more ads and keep you on the platform. And so it gets pushed and then it multiplies all that by the thumbnail click through rate.”
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