YouTube isn't social media anymore. It's television
More and more of your viewers are on a couch, not a phone. If you make videos for your business, that changes how you should make them.
Sam Chabal Founder, OmniAmplifyYouTube says people now watch more than one billion hours of YouTube on TV screens every day. If you make videos for your business, this changes how you should make them.
YouTube itself is calling the living room the new prime time for creators. The number of channels earning six figures or more from TV screens grew by over 45% in one year. And the number of top creators getting most of their watch time from TV grew by over 400% in three years. So what does that mean for us?
1. Long videos start working again
Somebody on a couch is not trying to kill 30 seconds. They want something they can sit with. Creators are already saying their one-hour videos are their best earners.
For a business channel this is good news. Long-form is where trust is built. Someone who watches an hour of you on their TV knows your method and how you think before they ever book a call. It's also why I recommend the monster video: one 60 to 90-minute free course.
2. Storytelling matters more than retention editing
A cut every second is made for a phone. Not for a 65-inch TV. On a big screen, fast cuts and constant zooms feel tiring. What keeps someone watching is a story: a question, a reason to want the next part, and a payoff.
I wrote more about this in retention is decided in the script.
3. Optimize for the big screen
- 4K video, so it looks sharp on a large TV.
- 4K thumbnails. YouTube raised the thumbnail size limit so they stay crisp on TV.
- Clean audio. TV speakers and soundbars expose bad audio fast.
- Graphics you can read from the couch. Text that works on a phone held close can be too small two metres away.
One more thing: the phone is still in their hand
A lot of people use their phone while they watch TV. So the TV is where they watch you, and the phone is where they search for you, comment and click. Your call to action has to work for that: a short, simple link or a name they can type, said out loud and shown clearly on screen, not a long URL.
Sources: YouTube Blog, new features to help creators shine on TV screens; Neal Mohan's 2024 letter (via Tubefilter).