Transcription
If you've ever felt like your videos are doing everything right, but they still are not performing the way you expected, I get [music] it because most creators are still formatting their content for phones. While every social media platform has become television, I've been making content for over 15 years. I've worked on digital media projects with over 250 million views with some of the biggest media companies, and I have never seen a shift so big. So, let me show you the signal that everyone is missing. [music]
You are still playing the click game on platforms that are now rewarding binge behavior. So, let's fix that. Hi, I am Darren. I'm a writer's guild award-winning creator and producer who got her start right here on YouTube. And now I help creators and entrepreneurs get your content TV ready by thinking like showrunners, not influencers.
Here's where we're at. Instagram is testing a TV app. Substack just launched a TV app. Tik Tok is investing in micro dramas. In fact, Disney Plus posted basically the entire high school musical movie and clips on Tik Tok last week. Jumping on that trend. Paramount Plus is also exploring getting into short form series and YouTube is now the number one streaming platform on television for three years in a row. So everything is essentially upside down. Stranger Things ended and we landed in the upside down. TV is trying to be social media and social media is now TV. Take a deep breath.
And on that note, YouTube CEO Neil Mohan released a video last week calling creators the new studios. These are not random platform updates. They've been in the works. Social media platforms are not competing with each other anymore. They're competing with TV and they're winning.
Another hint that nobody is quite putting together is that the YouTube desktop homepage changed recently. Now people are putting that together. There's been a couple videos made about it, but what's happening is that the YouTube desktop homepage is showing more shorts and less long forms. A lot of creators have been noticing that they're getting lower views. And there's been a lot of speculation about what's causing that, and some people have hypotheses about it, but nobody's really pinpointed why.
But one thing that I have noticed is that when my long- form videos have higher views, there does seem to be a higher percentage of TV viewership. I usually average anywhere between 25 to 35% TV watch time, but the higher the TV percentage, the higher my reaches. This tells me that the long form algorithm may not be broken. It's rewarding content that performs well on TV. That's just my hypothesis.
Now, you may hear this and think either of these two things. The first being, forget it. I have no chance. And the second being, so I guess I need to make longer videos. And I say not exactly. Television is not defined by length, especially in the streaming era. There's half hour shows, there's hourong shows, and in the streaming era, there's shows all in between. It is actually defined by viewing behavior.
On a phone, people scroll. If you're on Instagram, I'm on Instagram a lot. I'm more of a viewer than a content creator on Instagram. But I'm just scrolling, right? You're kind of mindlessly scrolling. On a TV, people stay. It's the difference between a lean-in experience. you lean into your phone to watch and a lean back experience when you're watching TV you're leaning back you're on your couch you're on your bed and you're leaning back and because of that the sessions are longer but you may be watching halfhour shows in that session you may be watching hourlong shows in that session you may be watching movies in that session I think creators are actually uniquely positioned to excel at this because we move faster we adapt faster and we create faster than TV, but it does change everything about how you construct your content. Or does it?
For the last decade, actually more than a decade, creators have optimized for clicks. That means you've been optimizing for hooks, you've been optimizing for thumbnails, you've been optimizing for trends, you've been optimizing for virality. That made sense in a feedbased world. But television is different. Television rewards continuation. What does that actually mean? Click content answers a question, a specific question. Binge content explores attention. And that is why I released a whole video about narrative tension on this channel that you can watch. If you haven't seen it yet, I will link it in my video description. probably pop it up as an end card at the end of this video because it is a new concept to a lot of creators. It may be a new concept to you.
To put it another way, click content is transactional. Binge content is relational or relationship building. What that means with click focus content, you're promising something and then they get it and then they probably leave. Binge content on the other hand, you introduce a question that does not leave their mind and a world that they want to keep revisiting. If you have ever sat on your couch to watch an episode of Stranger Things and then 6 hours later you have not moved [laughter] is because of this unanswered question, this narrative tension and you just can't stop watching. That is what makes people binge. Like on my channel, the question is, can social media creators become TV ready or are we all doomed? Right? So, you keep watching videos because you're trying to figure that out.
We're at this precipice of social media right now. But this is also probably why you feel stuck right now and your channel maybe isn't growing the way it should. If you're posting on shorts, you may be like, "Wow, that's a vibe. It's going well in shorts." But when you post in long forums, you're a little confused. And I think it's because the platform is making some shifts to content that is meant to be binged. It's because you're optimizing for the wrong outcome. You're building videos while the platform is rewarding shows.
That is something that I'm also working on myself because I talk about this a lot on this channel and I there are a lot of optimizations that I'm doing on my channel. But I have not yet launched my podcast which is going to be conversations with creators and other people in the industry. And do you want to know the name? Should I tell you the name? It's called the binge session. I'm really excited about it. So more on that soon.
Now, before I go any further, I did just want to mention that I have a school community with over 450 creators and entrepreneurs where we explore storytelling techniques and also the latest trends even more deeply than I do on this YouTube channel. We also do weekly challenges and I have a bunch of surprises that I'm working on for the community. So, if you are not a member, I hope to see you there. And if you are a member, stay tuned. Okay.
But here is what everyone misunderstands. And to be fair, maybe I have not explained it as well as I could. Being bingeworthy and being a showrunner or thinking like a showrunner is not actually about making a series. So let me define the difference between a [snorts] show and a series. A show is an experience. That is your channel. Your channel is the show. It is an experience. A series is a container within that show. A series is one piece of the whole experience. It's one piece of the whole show. But the glue that holds it together is the narrative tension. Narrative tension is the unresolved question that keeps viewers coming back. I can't say it loud enough.
So, what you want to do is you want to find that narrative tension on your channel. And if you are making tutorials or craft videos or DIY videos and you think this is not for me, this doesn't fit my channel, I want you to go watch this video that's popping up on the screen because that is not true. Some examples of narrative tension are Diary of a CEO, which is a podcast, and the narrative tension on that show is how do I become successful without burning out or feeling empty? Nikki Saunders is another great example. She's one of the creators that I go to for the latest in AI and how creators can use AI and I think she has a pretty balanced perspective on it. So, I like that. But the narrative tension on her channel is how can I use AI to grow my creator business instead of being wiped out by it. Another example for a very different perspective is the channel Old Me Living Better. Mike's channel. His narrative tension is his motto. If you ain't dead, you ain't done. Another example for a different take entirely is a creator named Matt Diavella and he is a minimalist, very successful creator. He became a new father. I would say his narrative tension, at least right now, would be, can you really still commit to a minimalist lifestyle as a new father and a business owner?
In 2026 here on this channel, I'm going to continue to break down what it actually means to be TV ready as a creator and why most typical content advice is becoming kind of irrelevant. So now is a really good moment to subscribe. I'm just saying because if social media is becoming television, the question is not how to get more views. You need views. That is true. You need clicks. Yes, you do. But more importantly, it's how to build something that people don't want to stop watching.
And if you want help with this, I just launched a new course. It's actually a course bundle. It's two courses together. It's called How to Build a Bingeworthy Brand. The first course breaks down the fundamentals of building a bingeworthy brand. And the second course breaks down binge techniques and systems. I will put the link in my video description, probably also as a pin comment, and you could check out all the details.
In the meantime, if you want to understand how showrunners think and how you can apply the same logic on your channel, watch this video that's popping up on the screen about the four types of narrative tension that you can use in your videos. It may change the way that you see your channel forever. Until next time, keep creating and keep thinking like a showrunner.