The Six Laws of Captivation

I’m ashamed to admit the number of hours I’ve spent watching YouTube videos over the past three months.

With just some quick math, I’m confident the number has to be well over 30 hours.  That’s an entire day of my life.  Gone.

Travel vlogs?  Check.  Leadership interviews?  Check.  Orangutan magic tricks?  I’m afraid so.

You name it…  I’ve probably watched it.

There’s just something I find fascinating about creating and sharing video content on the internet.  With over 300 hours of footage uploaded to YouTube every minute, some people have devoted their entire lives to sharing videos.  A select few even make millions each year doing just that.

Rather than let all of my YouTube-watching time go entirely to waste, I decided to share what I learned over the course of these 30+ hours.

As you might imagine, there are a few central themes that apply not only to successful YouTube videos but to the popularity of any creative endeavor in general…

1) Collective Experiences — We as human beings crave out-of-body experiences.  We want to be a part of things that we deem “bigger than ourselves.”  Nothing is more satisfying than watching a movement form before our eyes, both in-person and through video.

In this example, Irish rocker and part-time planet saver Bono, gets 80,000 screaming Italian fans to teach him how to dance on stage.  It gets me every time.

2) Confidence — Confidence is arguably the quality we find most attractive in others.  We will follow someone for no other reason than they act like they know what they’re doing.  Confidence is so alluring because it brings order to an otherwise messy life.

Hate him or love him…  Tony Robbins is the master of confidence.  He oozes a high degree of certainty and seems to effortlessly instill it in those around him.

3) Pleasure — Call it what you want, but there’s something about beautiful people, exotic locations, risk, and adventure that will be forever intoxicating.  We can’t help but crave what we don’t have.

Jay Alvarez and Alexis Ren capture the essence of seduction on an unprecedented level in their so-called “travel” videos.

4) Relatability — As a caveat to the previous point, seeing other people go through the crap life dishes our way (from boring grocery store trips to more major life events) makes us feel comfortable.

It is through this theme of relatability that daily “vlogging” (à la Casey Neistat) has become so popular.  Watching others navigate their lives is addicting.  Apparently, so is watching people eat dinner…?

5) Humor/Cuteness — I realize I’m not doing either of these themes the justice they deserve, but I’ve lumped the puppy videos, SNL sketches, hiccuping babies, and stand-up comedians into one category.  Anything that makes us laugh or smile provides a much-needed respite from the day’s monotony — and as a result, we’re hooked.

6) Relationships — Why do you think engagement/wedding videos of normal people you’ve never heard of get tens of millions of views?  The same reason Nicholas Sparks has built an empire of tear jerkers that rivals the Marvel comic book dynasty.  And the same reason we’re enthralled with videos of childhood friends getting back together for a road trip across the great ole USA.

We love relationships.  More importantly, we love the ideal, picturesque version of relationships.

See you next Sunday at 8:30pm.  🙂