The Challenge
TechnologyAdvice was underperforming in engagement, with a lack of integration between video content and social media, making it difficult to connect with modern audiences. The user experience felt outdated, and the opportunities for showcasing dynamic short form video content were being missed.
Video content that once performed well, no longer performed well. There was also an increased desire to focus on ICP (intent clicks) rather than any other stream of income so the channel was tightly aligned to the content
Video content that once performed well, no longer performed well. There was also an increased desire to focus on ICP (intent clicks) rather than any other stream of income so the channel was tightly aligned to the content
My Role
As a Video Team Manager specializing in social media, I led the effort to modernize our videos, ensuring it aligned with audience behavior and current trends in video consumption. I also altered the production timeline from a breakneck 100+ videos a year down to 1/3rd of that while maintaining oversight of all projects created on this site and 7 active sites + any projects from our social team and marketing team that passed through our department.
Where we started
Old thumbnails from videos. TechnologyAdvice's YouTube always consisted of simple thumbnails using the logo of the software discussed except for Project-Management.com videos which always used a picture of the host.
Note: Don't be fooled, these numbers were acquired over the course of several years. (It's a recent screenshot.)
Note: Don't be fooled, these numbers were acquired over the course of several years. (It's a recent screenshot.)
Initially videos used a formulaic layout that consisted of a slideshow format, where pros and cons were touched on for each piece of software while also not favoring any kind of software.
The Process
Strategic Planning: Conducted a detailed audit of site performance, identifying opportunities for improvement in content visibility and user flow. One of the biggest issues was the use of data ranging from 2013 to (then) 2024. We needed to limit that information when included in reports so that we weren't influenced by numbers from when YouTube was a very different place. It rewards engagement and views from older videos that already had a lot of engagement misconstrued what would work in 2023 and what wouldn't.
Video Integration: We focused on writing for retention. We shifted towards actually giving opinions (as TA's videos were often called out for not actually doing so while the website itself occasionally did) and we leaned heavily into short form video for sharing information.
The site itself had plummeted in viewership over time and what we were faced with was digging ourselves out of a hole. We looked at data month by month and had separate reports for new content within that month and older content.
The site itself had plummeted in viewership over time and what we were faced with was digging ourselves out of a hole. We looked at data month by month and had separate reports for new content within that month and older content.
Social Media Connectivity: By 2024 TA finally had a social media team that would be able to place the content on multiple sites. The idea was to blast out content everywhere at once as that had not previously been possible without much more work.
Collaboration: For many years the video team served as the writers of content. I shifted that back to the actual writers on staff while working with them to understand retention writing for video. We worked with the design team to test several versions of thumbnails to try and focus on ones that would give us the highest CTR. (Using A/B testing and then YouTube's own built in testing.)
Where We finished
Over the course of the next few years, through discussion and negotiation with we were able to:
1. Shift the thumbnail format from a basic insert of the product to a more mainstream subject face format. It was my belief that each thumbnail needed to be made to suit the video, in fact, even prior to the video. Eventually we had the resourcing to do this. This improved click through rate from 7.5% to 13% overall with 7% being the average per video.
Below you can see the progression of thumbnail content from the time I arrived until early 2025. From a simple logo on a white background, to growing complexity, to something created just for that video without a template - this improved CTR.
1. Shift the thumbnail format from a basic insert of the product to a more mainstream subject face format. It was my belief that each thumbnail needed to be made to suit the video, in fact, even prior to the video. Eventually we had the resourcing to do this. This improved click through rate from 7.5% to 13% overall with 7% being the average per video.
Below you can see the progression of thumbnail content from the time I arrived until early 2025. From a simple logo on a white background, to growing complexity, to something created just for that video without a template - this improved CTR.
Over the next few years we'd break down the writing of a style of video common on YouTube: the retention style. Essentially we want to keep people watching as long as possible. While our watch time did increase, I noticed that in general (for this channel) it always hovered around 2:00.
So I thought maybe we'd have success with shorts and we did.
So I thought maybe we'd have success with shorts and we did.
However, there was the matter of viewership.
In 2022: Video would determine the subjects that we'd do based upon research we did into search volume and competition. I introduced VID IQ to our team and we used that along with Google Trends to determine what we'd discuss.
In 2023: Editorial, outside of video, determined the topics we'd discuss. This was by far our worst year. My belief is that you should tailor your content to your
In 2024: We returned to using VID IQ for content research along with news websites across the board. We were able to create new content (in a saturated tough niche) that overall performed better as new content than we did in 2023 while also accounting for content decay in our older content that had received more engagement from almost a decade prior.
The company itself was also notorious for using hosts that were also senior members of the video team. We eventually shifted to talking to experts on the subject the video was about.
While progress was limited by resourcing (as I went from having to cover 2 sites initially to 15 with a team size ranging from 5 to 7), we did see growth in our last year of 7% from our previous. However, the biggest win was that we maintained similar numbers to our previous years while also producing 1/3d of the videos.
Quality over quantity eventually won out with help from a focus on content people wanted to see.
In 2022: Video would determine the subjects that we'd do based upon research we did into search volume and competition. I introduced VID IQ to our team and we used that along with Google Trends to determine what we'd discuss.
In 2023: Editorial, outside of video, determined the topics we'd discuss. This was by far our worst year. My belief is that you should tailor your content to your
In 2024: We returned to using VID IQ for content research along with news websites across the board. We were able to create new content (in a saturated tough niche) that overall performed better as new content than we did in 2023 while also accounting for content decay in our older content that had received more engagement from almost a decade prior.
The company itself was also notorious for using hosts that were also senior members of the video team. We eventually shifted to talking to experts on the subject the video was about.
While progress was limited by resourcing (as I went from having to cover 2 sites initially to 15 with a team size ranging from 5 to 7), we did see growth in our last year of 7% from our previous. However, the biggest win was that we maintained similar numbers to our previous years while also producing 1/3d of the videos.
Quality over quantity eventually won out with help from a focus on content people wanted to see.
Where We Started vs Where We Ended