Total Bisquit VLOG: Really struck true for me

[Ferrus.Manus]

IMO this can be used as a very eloquent explanation why FC acts the way he does and why it is good (and why 99% people with suggestion should shove them where sun don't shine).

[icynewyear]

This was a fascinating listen. Thanks much for posting :)

[Bluephoenix49]

I agree with all the things he said for the most part, but at the end, when he mentioned you don't need to care about the people leaving, and that it's better to care about getting new subscribers, that made me puzzle a bit. I thought in business, it's always better to keep long term customers than to get as many new customers as possible... If that's the way for-profit YouTube channels work, than that makes me a little sad.

[Ferrus.Manus]

It the same thing FC is saying - if you don't like it, don't play it (or in TB's case, don't watch it). You can't please everyone so instead of listening to vocal whiners you should just make a quality content and your fanbase will stable.

[DumbassTurtle]

I agree with all the things he said for the most part, but at the end, when he mentioned you don't need to care about the people leaving, and that it's better to care about getting new subscribers, that made me puzzle a bit. I thought in business, it's always better to keep long term customers than to get as many new customers as possible... If that's the way for-profit YouTube channels work, than that makes me a little sad.

I don't think having a youtube channel really follows the standard business rules. I know that I have subbed then unsubbed later from many channels, for many reasons. I might have gotten what I wanted out of the information/entertainment provided, I thought the channel might be interesting and gave it a chance only to find out it wasn't my cup of tea, and the list goes on. For the reasons I left there wouldn't have been anything the owner could do to make me stay. So I think I understand what he meant, I don't think he was saying forsake your current customers, more just keep looking forward.

Edit: Ninja Ferrus, you said it better than I could think of. +1 :)

[Thalarctia]

In all business where branding is applicable, your long term customers / fanbase are the ones who appreciate you doing what you do. If you start changing up the formula too much, or suddenly start delivering a sub-standard product, then you will lose your business. Alienating the people who keep you in business is really bad business, and that is what would happen to TB if he started making videos he didnt want to. As with all works of passion, as a consumer you can usually feel that passion and thus share into it - But if the passion is gone from the creators side, the same will translate to the consumer, thus creating disappointment.

[Gilberreke]

I thought in business, it's always better to keep long term customers than to get as many new customers as possible...

Not really. Return customers are usually better than new customers, because customer acquisition has a price attached to it. Basically:

Average customers spend $5.
Customer acquisition is $1.
A customer that returns once: ($5 x 2) - $1 = $9
Two new customers: ($5 - $1) x 2 = $8

However! This is only valid when the cost of maintaining customers is lower than the cost to acquire, which is usually the case. In terms of Youtube though, I'm not convinced that it is. You just want your subscriber count to get up as high as possible and it's very cheap to acquire a subscriber. It's also very expensive to maintain a subscriber.

So yeah, producing content that attracts new people is always preferable over trying to maintain your user base. All you have to take care of is that you attract more new people than you lose current viewers, which is exactly what these for-profit channels manage to do. How? By jumping on hypes. New subscribers for hyped and trendy games is always higher than the amount of people leaving, since, for starters, a large part of your old customers will be interested in the new hype.