Paddy Galloway

This YouTube video with a client got 18 million views.

So f**k it… I’m gonna break down the entire strategy behind it.

This will be the most useful thing you read about youtube this week: 

First of all, here's the actual video itself on the Red Bull official channel. 

It's done more than 10x the channel's average views at this stage. 

So what made it such an outlier for us? 

Well, let's start with some YouTube 101. 

To make a viral video, you need 3 things:

1. Video idea with large TAM (total addressable market)

2. Packaging that core, casual &amp; new viewers click 

3. A video that retains viewers for as long as possible

Let's breakdown each:

1. The idea 

I love thinking about YouTube the way an entrepreneur thinks about a market of customers. 

Your idea really sets the ceiling for how far your video can travel, how far it can reach. 

What made this Red Bull idea so far reaching? 

Here are the biggest factors:

Novelty: No drone has ever kept up w/ f1 car

Superlatives: Racing the ''fastest'' drone vs the ''fastest'' car with ''fastest'' driver.

Name association: Max helped give extra credibility

Easy to convey in title &amp; TN: Anyone can understand this

It hits pretty much all of the ''hallmarks'' I typically look for with high TAM ideas. 

2. Packaging 

Why did this work?

- We built the concept from a viral format with a twist
- The contrast in size is interesting, the drone itself looks crazy!
- The stands, crowd + grid lines adds some extra detail making it feel ''live'' 
- Nothing complicated, it's so simple 

As for the title...

You could argue it's a little long, but myself and the Red Bull team went through 10+ variations and landed on this. 

Why? 

- Get's key info across
- The Vs. frames it as a competition, great format
- Max's name is big enough to justify title inclusion 

3. Retention

Let's start with the intro, here's what we did:

- Immediately opens on Max, showing he's involved. 

- Captures his reaction to drone + sets up the challenge

- Showcases a glimpse of the drone and the footage

- Seamlessly transitions to first action 

We then followed a formula I love for challenge videos:

1. Early action - Drag race (this serves as a benchmark)

2. Build - Use the benchmark to build better drone 

3. Test - Do test lap against another f1 driver 

4. Final lap - Climatic final lap where it all comes together 

This means the viewer has multiple ''wow'' moments, and everything works together to make the end more high stake and climatic. 

Also note the video length, 12 mins is a lot longer than the average Red Bull video. 

We wanted to capture those Tv viewers.

The result? Well that's a 1/10 anyway. 

I don't usually reveal client videos like this. If you found this valuable, I'll do more.

I'll pick someone who likes + RT's the top tweet & literally help you come up with an outlier idea myself. 

Also follow @PaddyG96 (100k so close!)

The credit for this belongs to the super talented people who made it happen at @redbull from producers, videographers, drone pilots etc. 

My team just helped with that crucial strategy element + made the thumbnail. 

I think this is one of the best videos of 2024.

1.3k bookmarks holyyyyy

Ok I get it. I’ll do more of these.

You gotta get me to 100k followers though, so close :)