19:57Leroy ter Braak · Essay
How Tony Jeffries Got 400+ Million Views on YouTube
A YouTube strategist breaks down how an Olympic bronze medalist turned years of ignored uploads into a 400-million-view boxing network.
January 12th 2025The argument in one line.
As overstimulating, hyper-edited short-form burns viewers out, deliberately unedited 'yap' videos can grow a channel and convert better, but only when the creator still nails titles and thumbnails, a real hook and payoff, and a clear point of difference.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- You run a small or mid-size YouTube channel and feel like you have to keep adding more editing, more effects, more polish to compete.
- You're considering a low-edit, talking-to-camera format (a second channel, a 'yap' style channel) but aren't sure what still has to be good.
- You want to understand why some creators with modest view counts make more money than creators with far bigger audiences.
SKIP IF…
- Your channel is already built around cinematic, highly produced storytelling and that's the style your audience expects.
- You're looking for editing or camera-gear advice rather than content-strategy reasoning.
The full version, fast.
Gabe Bult argues that YouTube's overstimulated short-form era created a backlash toward low-edit, conversational 'yap' videos, and that this raw style isn't lazy, it's just a different set of rules. Doing less editing doesn't excuse a weak title or thumbnail; it still needs a hook that earns attention and a payoff that delivers on it, and it works best once a creator identifies what makes them different rather than just picking a trending topic. The format doesn't suit everyone; testing roughly a hundred videos reveals whether it fits how you naturally talk. The real payoff is monetization: frequent, personal content compresses trust-building, so even a small, tightly-connected audience can out-earn a much larger one.
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00:00 – 00:42
01 · Cold open: boring is winning
Gabe claims a shift is underway: after years of overstimulating short-form content, low-edit 'boring' videos are pulling ahead, and creators trying too hard may be why their channels are stuck.
00:42 – 02:07
02 · What 'minimalist YouTube' actually is
Names the backlash to hyper-stimulation: creators like Sam Sulik going almost fully unedited daily, others just walking and talking. The core idea isn't doing more, it's doing less: leaning on the idea and the relationship instead of editing, music, and effects.
02:07 – 03:52
03 · Style has to match the channel and the audience
His main channel can't go this raw because that audience expects a produced, movie-esque style; this channel's audience wants chill, unedited talking. The same footage edited two ways reads as two different products to two different audiences, so pick a lane and stay in it.
03:52 – 04:58
04 · Rule 1: titles and thumbnails still have to work
Going 'boring' on the video itself doesn't excuse boring packaging. He calls bad titles and thumbnails the main reason small creators stall: they wing every upload instead of using proven framing, color, and text techniques.
04:58 – 05:47
05 · Rule 2: you still need a hook and a payoff
An unedited video still needs pacing: an opening that earns attention and a payoff that delivers on it. Without editing to manufacture intrigue, the creator has to supply that live, either through something genuinely interesting to say or strong on-camera storytelling.
05:47 – 07:32
06 · Rule 3: find what makes you different
Recounts copying Graham Stephan's early personal-finance videos and losing by default, since Stephan already had the money, production, and experience edge. Success only came from asking what made him different, not what topic to cover next.
07:32 – 08:45
07 · Rule 4: it doesn't work for everyone
If a hundred raw talking videos get zero traction, the format is a mismatch, not a packaging problem. Points to how differently people prep: Ali Abdaal riffs off a few bullet lines, Matt D'Avella and Humphrey Yang script every word, and either approach is fine if it matches how you actually think.
08:45 – 11:17
08 · Where the money actually comes from
Daily, personal, low-edit content compresses the time it takes a stranger to trust a creator, which is what converts. Cites a student who hit her first $12K month on modest per-video views, and Hormozi Platinum Club data showing small, frequently-updated second channels sometimes out-earning much bigger main channels.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- The backlash to overstimulating short-form content is fueling a wave of deliberately low-edit, unscripted YouTube videos.
- Doing less editing does not mean doing less thinking: titles, thumbnails, hooks, and payoffs still have to work.
- The same footage cut as raw talk versus cut as produced storytelling reads as two different products to two different audiences.
- A creator can need entirely different content styles across their own channels because each audience is trained to expect something different.
- Copying a competitor's topic without asking what makes you different just makes you a worse version of them.
- Test whether a raw, unedited format works for you before assuming it will: a hundred videos with zero traction is real signal, not bad luck.
- There is no single correct scripting method; full word-for-word scripts, a bare outline, or winging it can all work depending on how the creator naturally talks.
- Frequent, personal, low-edit content compresses the time it takes a stranger to trust a creator, and trust is what converts to sales.
- A channel with 10,000 subscribers posting daily can out-earn a channel with 300,000 subscribers posting weekly, because relationship depth drives revenue more than reach.
- A small but genuinely trusting audience is enough to sell a product, a coaching offer, or a community, no large following required.
The Rules Boring Content Still Follows
YAP CONTENT RULES
Going unedited doesn't remove the requirements, it just moves them: you still need real packaging, a hook and payoff, a clear point of difference, and proof the format fits how you talk.
01Cold open: boring is winning
- A channel that feels stuck isn't necessarily under-producing; it might be over-producing for what its audience actually wants.
- Treat the shift toward low-edit content as a format choice to test, not a moral stance about authenticity.
02What 'minimalist YouTube' actually is
- 'Doing less' means leaning on the idea and the relationship with the viewer instead of editing, music, or effects to carry the video.
- A daily, near-unedited upload schedule is itself the format; it only works if you can sustain the pace.
03Style has to match the channel and the audience
- Match your edit style to what your specific audience already expects; the same footage cut two ways creates two different products for two different audiences.
- If you run multiple channels or niches, expect to need a different content style for each rather than one house style everywhere.
04Rule 1: titles and thumbnails still have to work
- Dropping the edit doesn't excuse a lazy title or thumbnail; packaging is still the first thing a stranger judges.
- Use proven framing, color, and text techniques on thumbnails instead of guessing per upload; wing-it packaging is a top reason small channels stall.
05Rule 2: you still need a hook and a payoff
- An unedited video still needs a hook that earns the first few seconds and a payoff that delivers on what the hook promised.
- Without cuts and effects to manufacture intrigue, a strong story or a genuinely useful idea has to do that work live.
06Rule 3: find what makes you different
- Before chasing a niche or topic, ask directly why someone would watch you instead of the creator already doing it better.
- Differentiation can come from format, such as personal storytelling instead of generic teaching, as much as from subject matter.
07Rule 4: it doesn't work for everyone
- Give a new format a real sample size, roughly a hundred videos, before concluding it doesn't work for you.
- There's no single correct prep method: full scripts, a bullet outline, or winging it can each work if it matches how you actually think out loud.
08Where the money actually comes from
- Frequent, personal content compresses the time it takes a stranger to trust you, and trust is what converts to sales.
- A smaller, tightly-connected audience can out-earn a much larger one; relationship depth beats raw subscriber count when you're selling something.
Terms worth knowing.
- Yap content
- Low-edit, conversational YouTube videos where a creator just talks to camera about an idea, prioritizing upload frequency and personal connection over production value.
- Platinum Club
- An invite-only tier inside Alex Hormozi's Skool community for creators with over 100,000 subscribers, cited here as the source of upload-frequency data across top earners.
Things they pointed at.
00:52channelSam Sulik
09:05channelAlexandra Beauchamp (b-roll credit, walk-and-talk greenhouse example)
08:07channelAli Abdaal
08:18channelMatt D'Avella
08:23channelHumphrey Yang
10:08productAlex Hormozi's Skool Platinum Club
Lines you could clip.
01:06
“This whole idea of like minimalist YouTube is the idea of doing less.”
07:35
“If you've done a hundred videos like this and you've seen zero traction, it's probably not for you.”
06:50
“You got to ask yourself, am I just a worse version of somebody else?”
10:30
“Sometimes those smaller channels with 10,000 subscribers made them more money than the ones with 300,000 subscribers because of the relationship of the daily upload.”
Word for word.
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metaphorstory
Boring videos are taking over YouTube right now in a way that I have not seen before. I've been making content for eight years now. And so if you're stuck with your channel, you're looking to get ahead and to grow, maybe the reason why it's not working is because you're trying too hard.
so let's go back a second there's this thing that has happened over the past maybe five years or so maybe a bit longer i don't know i'm not good with time but regardless things have gotten out of hand there's been short form content everybody's brain has started to get completely fried there's this over stimulations like whole beastification or whatever we want to call it everything has just become entertaining flashy flashy or faster and faster and faster and then there's this movement of people who say like you know what this whole over ai'd Everything, this whole, you know, like fast paced thing is destroying my brain and I can't think anymore.
And this content is kind of stupid and I don't want to be mindlessly entertained. And those people started going the other direction. We saw people like Sam Sulik doing daily vlogs that were like mostly unedited.
Even like on a smaller scale, there's been a lot of creators who are just going for walks daily. A lot of people think that in order to have success, like the reason with your video, the reason it's not doing well is because you have to do more. When in reality, this whole idea of like minimalist YouTube is the idea of doing.
less right it's more about the concept more about the idea the relationship that you have with the person then the editing then the music then the explosions that are happening right behind me so real quick i want to get into some lists that like if you want to take this boring style of content which i think actually will make you a lot more money but regardless if you want to take that i want to give you some steps of like what it still needs to look like and how to have success on that but i also think you need to realize that it's not the same on every channel right like on my main channel this one right here i can't do the as boring videos as I'm doing right here, right?
I just sat down and I'm just talking. There's hardly any edits in this video because you guys are here for the sauce and you're just kind of like used to what I'm offering here. I'm not trying to go mega viral.
I don't really care if this gets like a thousand views plus, like I'm pretty happy with it. Drop a like if you want it to get more regardless. But like, I don't super care about that.
I'm not here to go viral. I'm not here to make AdSense or sponsorship money or whatever. And so I don't need to be hyper edited.
And that being said, these videos can still do really well. The top videos on this channel, a lot of them. I just like had an idea.
I sat down and I talked about the idea and that was pretty much it. A lot of other people do as well, but it's a different style. So when some people watch a channel, they get used to a certain style, right?
Like on my main channel, they're used to this more produced movie -esque type of style. And that's what works there. On this channel.
i don't really do that and you guys don't really expect that or need that we're more of like chilling vibes and so i don't need to do that and there are certain channels where if people are used to one style of content if they're used to the walk and talk content and you sit down you make a documentary they're like they don't really know what's going on here they're not used to it might not do as well and so you even have to have like content styles for different channels and make sure that your niche is used to this style more or less what i'm saying is like if you want to do this chill Walk and talk.
very unedited type of style you kind of need to stick with that because even if you make the exact same video but once hyper edited one is very raw it's going to be two different audience even if it's the exact same video and concepts a lot of times different things work for different audiences and once you have one audience if you start screwing around with stuff they won't like it so regardless whatever naturally works for you go with that for me naturally about youtube and stuff i'm okay with just kind of talking i have like an idea of something that i've learned or a conversation that i've had with a student or something i want to share it and i can just talk about it for 10 minutes generally but when it comes to minimalism and whatever because of the subject that i'm talking about i can't really do that i'm talking about six habits i want to walk around the house and show the six different habits i want to open up and visually show what i'm talking about whereas with this more like teaching style it just doesn't make sense right so different subjects different audiences different niches all have different content styles and that's something you have to kind of test and then kind of
stick with one if you're pretty early on you can test a bunch of them and see what works but regardless so let's say you want to do this more chill relaxed yapping style of content which generally has like a screenshot for a thumbnail it's incredibly fast to make very low lift you can post very often let's say you want to do that and you're naturally good at just talking a lot and have a lot of ideas to share this is what you actually need to do to make that happen one you still need to have compelling titles and thumbnails so many people overlook this i think this is the main problem with most small creators that i see is that they don't focus on their titles and thumbnails they're not good they just experiment they don't take anything proven for their space they just wing every single one they literally have no chance of success if they do it's just like some random roll of the dice so you still need to have high quality titles and thumbnails well researched using all the proper framing techniques color techniques text techniques all that type of stuff regardless just because you're doing the style content doesn't mean you can have really bad packaging some people get lucky with that very very few get lucky with being able to just post a random screenshot that's like actually bad and have it do well or put in text that's whatever anyways next up we need
good story format and just like general pacing for your video. So just because you're doing a raw style video doesn't mean that. you can't have a good hook, right?
You still have to engage people's interest. You still have to have some payoff at the end of the video. So they feel like they were promised something, you told them what you were gonna deliver, and then you delivered that thing in an engaging way.
If you're not editing to add some type of intrigue to it, you either have to have something very interesting to share or add some type of visuals to it by going for walks, sitting outside, doing whatever. You either have to give the sauce. or you have to just be very engaging in your storytelling.
And I'm not personally like the best storyteller. I'm not great at like yapping and whatever. I'm more of like just straight to the point, which is why I struggle with like just these unedited talking for 10 minutes thing.
I can't really do that. I have to have some edits. But if that is your gift.
then absolutely go with that. But you still have to have a good hook, right? You still have to have the general format for a video down if you're going with that approach.
Next up, you still have to have something different about you. This is something that I feel like a lot of people overlook. They're like, oh, this is a good niche.
This is a good topic, whatever. And they really research that. But then they never spend the time researching themselves and saying, what makes me different about this?
When I look at myself earlier, I was making the same content that maybe Graham Stephan was making, like very early doors, like the first year of my stuff. like some of the ideas were like okay this is graham stefan's talking about roth iras i'm gonna do a roth ira video the problem is if he had already done that why would somebody watch mine if he has more money he has better video production he understands the concept better he's older and more you know like whatever what makes me different and when i really leaned into that whole of like okay what is my unique advantage what's my unique disadvantages what makes me different than everybody else why would somebody watch me that's when i started to have success so you got to ask yourself am i just a worse version of somebody else and if so how do i differentiate myself and like that just kind of comes down to i don't know like being being honest with yourself and asking why would somebody watch you instead of somebody else what can you add to this that makes you stand out makes you different for me some of it was my visual storytelling on the main
channel where I had similar ideas to other people let's say in the frugal living space but I was able to really outwork them and be different and have different life experiences and really focused on instead of teaching here's seven things that you should do it was seven things that I did and that made it personal to me and then also I was like I was different than most people and so that just really helped me when I started to lean into my differences instead of trying to be like other people next up is that it doesn't work for everybody if you're going to try this raw normal style video whatever this is called the app style it's not going to work for everybody there are some people that just not naturally good at this there's some concepts that just don't fit like we talked about earlier and so if that's you you're gonna have to pivot you're gonna have to try something else so if you've done a hundred videos like this and you've seen zero traction it's probably not for you you can do a hundred videos in a hundred days that's
one way to get really good at talking on camera and get in whatever but if it's still not working something has to change right your titles and thumbnails probably suck maybe that space isn't good whatever you have to figure out what is different and figure out like what is going on that's not making this work and some people just naturally not good at this yap style of content and that's okay i was watching mac d bella interview with ali abdul and ollie does something similar to what i do where he comes up with an idea in his head writes down a few lines like i literally have this many lines written down like eight lines and that's my entire video here and matt diavella scripts every single line word for word i have a lot of other friends like you know humphrey yang something like that where he scripts everything word for word even on my main channel with my more complex videos i have an outline and i just kind of wing it whatever happens happens right and so you got to look into your own advantages and disadvantages some people can't just talk some people can just talk some people can talk a little bit like i can talk for a minute at a time and that's generally why i have multiple points in a video because i can only talk for like a minute before i run out of words and then i move to another point right
And so you have to find out what are you good at naturally? And this just takes time. Make videos and find out.
Do you try scripting an entire video word for word? Try just making an outline. Try like multiple different things.
Try using a teleprompter. Try not. Teleprompter, I cannot sound like a normal human with a teleprompter.
Terrible experience regardless. What works for you just because it works for others doesn't mean it'll work for you. Just the truth.
Now let's get into the making money side. Daily videos and especially yap content that is very personal, very real, builds a lot of relationship. If somebody shows up every single day, they're used to .
You're going. walking and talking you're being very vulnerable you're posting five videos a week and therefore you're spending let's say they're 15 minute videos or something like that you're spending an hour a week with this person within a couple weeks you're gonna know them pretty well you're gonna know a lot about them their fears their struggles their whatever you're gonna relate with that person you're gonna trust that person and therefore that content converts extremely well we had one student in my community that averages a couple thousand views per video does this yap style and she just made her first i think it was twelve thousand dollar month left her job after not making much before that and a lot of that was because she had built such a deep relationship with her audience even though it wasn't huge but it converted into making real money and so when you have this yap style when you spend a lot of time with people which can be done in very long videos or in a lot of videos back to back that are delivering value building relationship personal whatever all of that can convert very well to offers i was also in hermosi's school games alex mosey has this thing called like the platinum club on school or whatever and it's for people with over 100 000 subscribers it was like an invite thing and
i was watching a lot of the interviews and the the stuff they studied all the top people making the most amount of money there a lot of them had daily or very often uploads so some of them even had second channels where like their main channel they posted once a week and then they'd have second channels that were small and they would post every single day on those and sometimes those smaller channels with let's say 10 000 subscribers made them more money than the ones with 300 000 subscribers because of the relationship of the daily upload i cannot come up with enough ideas to daily upload like i'm terrible at this i have multiple channels that I run, whatever.
I don't do this personally, but if that is your skill, it can convert great into money. So I would just really encourage you when you have something of a product, if you can get that to stick, you don't need a large audience because the relationship is so deep that you can convert really well when it comes to your own offer or coaching somebody or making a community or anything like that.
So yeah, that's what I got for this video. If you enjoyed, don't forget to drop a like, and I'm hosting a free YouTube monetization workshop. down in the comments check that out it's totally free it'll be fun and i'll see you there
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Gabe Bult opens with a blunt claim: if your channel is stuck, the problem might be that you're trying too hard. He spends the next eleven minutes making the case that YouTube's most overstimulated era is quietly giving way to videos that barely try at all, and laying out what that raw style still has to get right.
Named ideas worth stealing.
03:52list
What Yap-Style Content Still Needs
- Compelling titles and thumbnails
- A real hook and a payoff
- Something different about you
- Accept it doesn't work for everyone
The four things Gabe says a deliberately low-edit, talking-to-camera video still has to get right, laid out as a checklist right after he pivots from theory into 'here's what you actually need to do.'
Steal forany minimal-effort content or content-adjacent format, not just YouTube video, where the temptation is to assume less production also means less strategy
10:15concept
Daily Upload / Relationship Depth Data (Hormozi Platinum Club)
Studying the highest earners inside Alex Hormozi's Skool community, Gabe found many ran a small, frequently-posted second channel that sometimes out-earned their much larger main channel, because daily contact built deeper trust with a smaller group.
Steal fordeciding whether to launch a low-stakes daily second channel instead of only scaling the primary one
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
11:07link
“I'm hosting a free YouTube monetization workshop, down in the comments, check that out, it's totally free.”
A single soft pitch tacked onto the very end after the value is fully delivered, no hard sell, pointed at the comments/description rather than interrupting the video body.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
Visual structure at a glance.
