The New Era of YouTube Has Just Begun (get ready) — Transcript

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1. 0:00YouTube, as we know it, has just changed
2. 0:02forever, and we've quietly entered into
3. 0:04a brand new era for content creation.
4. 0:06The game has been completely reset for
5. 0:08literally everyone making videos on this
6. 0:11platform. Now, the good news is that
7. 0:13there are loads of new ways to win that
8. 0:15weren't possible five years ago, but
9. 0:17there's also some things that YouTube
10. 0:19are actively trying to move away from.
11. 0:21And I know this because I spend
12. 0:23literally all day, every day creating
13. 0:25content and being deep inside of this
14. 0:27industry. I've got well over half a
15. 0:29million subscribers. I've done hundreds
16. 0:31of millions of views, and lately I've
17. 0:33started noticing some pretty major
18. 0:35patterns that the average creator hasn't
19. 0:38picked up on yet. So in this video, I'm
20. 0:40going to show you the three things
21. 0:42YouTube are moving away from, and then
22. 0:44I'll show you the four biggest
23. 0:45opportunities that are coming next.
24. 0:47Let's get into it. All right, so there
25. 0:49are three major things that YouTube are
26. 0:51actively phasing out from the platform,
27. 0:54and it's important you know about these
28. 0:55so you don't continue playing the wrong
29. 0:57game. Now, the first thing YouTube are
30. 0:59moving away from is being a mobile first
31. 1:02platform. And this is probably the
32. 1:04biggest shift we're going to see over
33. 1:06the next few years because between like
34. 1:082015 and 2020 up to 70% of all of the
35. 1:13content watched on YouTube worldwide was
36. 1:16watched on a mobile. And that is
37. 1:18absolutely massive. And whilst this
38. 1:20obviously did really well for YouTube,
39. 1:22especially in the shorts game, they've
40. 1:24now made it public and very clear that
41. 1:27they envision the bigger opportunities
42. 1:29are actually moving away from mobile and
43. 1:32going into the TV space instead. And
44. 1:34we've already seen this transition
45. 1:36quietly happen behind the scenes.
46. 1:38YouTube themselves say they've been
47. 1:40America's number one streaming service
48. 1:43by watch time for nearly three years in
49. 1:45a row, and you guys probably didn't even
50. 1:48know this was happening. Podcasts alone
51. 1:50on YouTube generated more than 700
52. 1:53million hours of TV viewing in October
53. 1:56of 2025.
54. 1:58And that's mind-blowing. So what this is
55. 2:01that they intend to make a huge push to
56. 2:03dominate the TV market, and it's going
57. 2:06to open up a whole new world for
58. 2:08creators and viewers. Then the second
59. 2:10thing that YouTube are actively phasing
60. 2:12out is the outlier theory. Now you
61. 2:15should already know what the outlier
62. 2:16theory is because it's been one of the
63. 2:18main ways creators have grown their
64. 2:20channels over the last few years. But if
65. 2:23you don't, it's basically where you look
66. 2:25at the best performing videos from
67. 2:27creators in your niche, like your
68. 2:28competitors, and then you take that
69. 2:30video and you basically recreate it for
70. 2:33your own channel. And for a long time,
71. 2:35this worked really well as a growth
72. 2:37tactic. But anyway, fast forward to 2026
73. 2:40and the outlier theory is something that
74. 2:42YouTube are actively trying to
75. 2:44completely stamp out. They realized that
76. 2:46if every creator just keeps copying the
77. 2:48same viral videos from the same niche,
78. 2:51then the platform will quickly lose its
79. 2:53originality and viewers will eventually
80. 2:55get bored. So to tackle this issue,
81. 2:58YouTube now uses Gemini AI to analyze
82. 3:01new videos and compare those new videos
83. 3:04to other videos already out there in
84. 3:06your niche. So behind the scenes, your
85. 3:09new video will receive a similarity
86. 3:11score based on how close it is to
87. 3:13content already out there that exists on
88. 3:15the platform. Now the more similar your
89. 3:18video is, the worse your score will be.
90. 3:20But the more original, fresh, and new
91. 3:22your video is, the better your score
92. 3:24will be. So if all you're doing is going
93. 3:27out there and copying someone else's
94. 3:28videos without actually adding any new
95. 3:30value of your own, YouTube will now make
96. 3:32an active effort to hide and restrict
97. 3:35that content. So the old outlier theory
98. 3:37of copying videos from within your niche
99. 3:39is being stamped out. But the new way to
100. 3:41use it is actually to look at successful
101. 3:43videos in completely unrelated niches,
102. 3:46take that idea and concept and then
103. 3:48adapt it into something that's genuinely
104. 3:51new and fresh for your own audience in
105. 3:53your own niche. So it means you've got
106. 3:55new ideas, new concepts that your niche
107. 3:57hasn't seen before, and YouTube are okay
108. 3:59with this, but they are not okay with
109. 4:01taking videos and concepts from within
110. 4:03your niche already and trying to
111. 4:05recreate them because there's no
112. 4:06originality there and your viewers in
113. 4:08your space have already seen it, so they
114. 4:10don't want to see it again. Then the
115. 4:11third major thing YouTube is moving away
116. 4:13from is traditional SEO and that's
117. 4:16search engine optimization for those of
118. 4:18you who don't know what it is, things
119. 4:19like your tags, your hashtags, and your
120. 4:21keywords, that kind of stuff. Now I do
121. 4:23need to make it clear that keywords
122. 4:25aren't going to be completely useless
123. 4:27going forward, but the old way of using
124. 4:29them, like using like one or two
125. 4:31keywords and then stuffing them into
126. 4:33your title, descriptions, tags, and
127. 4:35hashtags is actually going to become far
128. 4:38less effective. And this is because
129. 4:40since YouTube integrated Gemini AI into
130. 4:43the algorithm, it can now fully analyze
131. 4:45what's actually happening inside of your
132. 4:47video, including like what you're
133. 4:49saying, what you're doing, what the
134. 4:50video's about, what's going on, all that
135. 4:52kind of stuff. So instead of the old
136. 4:55algorithm relying on you, the creator,
137. 4:58to include your own metadata to
138. 5:00basically tell it what your video's
139. 5:01about, the new Gemini AI algorithm can
140. 5:04now actually understand all of that for
141. 5:06itself. It's going to analyze your
142. 5:08entire video and it's going to make a
143. 5:09data profile about all of the metadata
144. 5:11from your video, which makes things like
145. 5:14tags and hashtags far less important.
146. 5:16And it's going to completely change how
147. 5:18people discover videos too because
148. 5:20instead of the old way of someone just
149. 5:22basically searching something broad into
150. 5:24the search bar like YouTube algorithm
151. 5:262026, the new features like Ask YouTube
152. 5:29and Custom Feeds now allow viewers to be
153. 5:31much more specific about what they
154. 5:33actually want to see. So this means
155. 5:35YouTube is gradually moving away from
156. 5:37matching videos to keywords and instead
157. 5:40they're moving towards actually matching
158. 5:42videos to what viewers actually type in
159. 5:44and want to watch. So in other words,
160. 5:47SEO is becoming much more about intent
161. 5:49matching and much less about keyword
162. 5:52matching. So going forward, what you
163. 5:55actually talk about in your video and
164. 5:56what you actually do and how relevant
165. 5:58that is to your viewers is going to
166. 6:00matter far more than how many times you
167. 6:02can squeeze a keyword into your
168. 6:04metadata. All right, so those are the
169. 6:06things that YouTube is actively moving
170. 6:07away from, but now let's look at where
171. 6:09the platform is actually heading because
172. 6:11this is where the biggest opportunities
173. 6:13are starting to appear. Now the first
174. 6:15major change we're going to see over the
175. 6:17next year or two has already actually
176. 6:18started happening behind the scenes
177. 6:20without most people realizing. And that
178. 6:22is that the YouTube you see on your
179. 6:24phone and the YouTube on your TV are
180. 6:26soon going to be completely different
181. 6:28worlds. This is because YouTube are
182. 6:31moving into multi-format creator
183. 6:34ecosystems. Now as I mentioned earlier,
184. 6:36they are actively moving away from just
185. 6:38being a mobile-dominated platform and
186. 6:40instead they're trying to capitalize on
187. 6:42the TV market too, but they're not
188. 6:44making a direct shift from one to the
189. 6:46other. They're actually trying to do
190. 6:48both. They envision that their mobile
191. 6:51market is going to be dominated by
192. 6:52short-form viewers and that their TV
193. 6:55market on the other hand will obviously
194. 6:57be dominated by long-form viewers. And
195. 6:59they are fully aware that 99% of viewers
196. 7:01watching on TV do not consume shorts
197. 7:04because they'd instead actually choose
198. 7:06to watch long videos that allow them
199. 7:07just like to sit back, relax and settle
200. 7:09in. So they're actually slowly starting
201. 7:12to adapt the two platforms to suit each
202. 7:15kind of viewer. And over time the
203. 7:17homepage you see on your TV versus the
204. 7:19homepage you see on your phone are going
205. 7:21to look massively different to each
206. 7:23other. And so the biggest opportunities
207. 7:25for creators here is building one
208. 7:27audience that can actually exist across
209. 7:29both of these viewing behaviors rather
210. 7:32than creating like disconnected content
211. 7:34strategies of just either long forms or
212. 7:36shorts. Now I actually started doing
213. 7:38this with my travel account years ago. I
214. 7:40made bingeable, TV-friendly long-form
215. 7:43vlogs, but then I also clipped those
216. 7:45vlogs up into multiple different shorts
217. 7:48so I could tap into both short-form
218. 7:50viewers and long-form viewers and those
219. 7:51two ecosystems. Now I'd basically just
220. 7:54watch my vlog back and I've just
221. 7:55identified specific sections of my
222. 7:57long-form videos and then clip them up
223. 7:59and turn them into shorts. Now I know
224. 8:01that clipping up long forms into shorts
225. 8:03might sound like a daunting task to some
226. 8:05of you, but a tool you could use for
227. 8:07this is called Nexus Clips. It's an AI
228. 8:10tool built around clipping and it will
229. 8:12automatically clip your long-form videos
230. 8:14up into multiple different shorts by
231. 8:16picking out the most engaging or viral
232. 8:18moments of those videos. So it gives you
233. 8:21the opportunity to create extra bits of
234. 8:23content around one specific video topic.
235. 8:25You can then also add things like
236. 8:26captions, subtitles, and much more
237. 8:28within the app. Now if you do want to
238. 8:30check them out, I'll leave all the links
239. 8:31down below. Then another massive
240. 8:33opportunity is that YouTube is now
241. 8:35becoming much more of an e-commerce
242. 8:37platform because at the moment if I was
243. 8:40to recommend a product in one of my
244. 8:42videos like I have done, I would have to
245. 8:44tell you guys to click on the link in
246. 8:46the description, which means if you
247. 8:48click on that link you will then leave
248. 8:50YouTube and you'll go onto that website
249. 8:51to check out that product. And this
250. 8:53means that basically YouTube is losing
251. 8:55control of you as a viewer because
252. 8:58you've clicked off and you've gone
253. 8:59somewhere else. And obviously YouTube
254. 9:02don't like that. So they're trying to
255. 9:03change it. They basically want to own
256. 9:06that whole process. They don't want
257. 9:08someone clicking off and clicking
258. 9:09somewhere else. And we've already seen
259. 9:11YouTube shopping expanded to smaller
260. 9:13creators already. And more retailers
261. 9:16like Amazon are now being integrated
262. 9:19directly into YouTube to try and make
263. 9:21purchasing products from videos much
264. 9:24easier and without you guys clicking off
265. 9:25and going somewhere else. So the
266. 9:27opportunity here for small creators is
267. 9:29huge because it means you no longer need
268. 9:32millions of subscribers to build a
269. 9:34really profitable channel. If you've got
270. 9:36a small but highly targeted audience
271. 9:38that actually trust what you say and
272. 9:40they actually buy things, that audience
273. 9:42could genuinely potentially become a far
274. 9:44more valuable audience than a much
275. 9:47bigger one that basically just watches a
276. 9:48few videos and then clicks off. So this
277. 9:50is a really exciting change coming up
278. 9:52for those of you who want to earn good
279. 9:54money on YouTube. And then this leads us
280. 9:56onto another huge opportunity, which is
281. 9:58what I call the televisation of YouTube.
282. 10:00And this is actually a different point
283. 10:02to the point I made earlier about people
284. 10:04watching more YouTube on TV. But
285. 10:06basically what I mean here is that
286. 10:07YouTube itself is starting to structure
287. 10:10content more like traditional
288. 10:12television. So, instead of creators just
289. 10:14uploading loads of random individual
290. 10:16videos, YouTube increasingly want you to
291. 10:19build recurring formats that viewers
292. 10:21recognize and come back to. So, think
293. 10:23less like individual viewers that don't
294. 10:25really have many links and think more
295. 10:27like shows, episodes, seasons, and even
296. 10:30franchises. YouTube are already adding
297. 10:32more ways to organize content like this.
298. 10:35Like here in your YouTube Studio, you
299. 10:37now have this option, shows, which is
300. 10:40right between videos and shorts, like
301. 10:42the two main ways of creating content.
302. 10:45So, it's clear they're making a huge
303. 10:46push on this. Now, the way they see it,
304. 10:49the way YouTube sees it, is that if
305. 10:50someone enjoys one episode, YouTube
306. 10:53wants them to immediately watch the next
307. 10:54one, the next one, and then the next one
308. 10:56after that. Basically keeping that
309. 10:57person on the platform for as long as
310. 10:59possible because the more people on the
311. 11:01platform for as long as possible, the
312. 11:02more money YouTube makes. The more money
313. 11:04YouTube makes, the happier they are. And
314. 11:06this then creates a really big
315. 11:07opportunity for creators because instead
316. 11:09of constantly having to come up with a
317. 11:11completely new idea every single week,
318. 11:14you can now build repeatable formats
319. 11:16that your audience already understands
320. 11:18and wants more of. So, if you have one
321. 11:20solid video that already works really
322. 11:22well on your channel, don't just move on
323. 11:24from it. Turn that video into a series.
324. 11:27Build a recognizable format around it
325. 11:29and create a library of content around
326. 11:31that style of video that your viewers
327. 11:33can binge. Because going forward, the
328. 11:36creators who can actually build shows
329. 11:38rather than just individual videos are
330. 11:40going to have the biggest advantage.
331. 11:42Then the last huge platform shift and
332. 11:44opportunities for you guys as YouTubers
333. 11:47is becoming what I call a global first
334. 11:49creator because up until now in 2026,
335. 11:52one of the biggest limitations of
336. 11:54YouTube like 10 years ago was always the
337. 11:56language barriers because if I made a
338. 11:58video in English, only people who
339. 12:00understood English could actually watch
340. 12:01it. But now YouTube is quickly breaking
341. 12:04down those barriers and through things
342. 12:07like automatic dubbing, like captions,
343. 12:09and more realistic actual expressive
344. 12:12voices. So, now I can actually upload a
345. 12:15video here in the UK, and that same
346. 12:17video could be watched in English in
347. 12:19London, in Spanish in Mexico or
348. 12:22Portuguese in Brazil, or even like
349. 12:23Japanese in Tokyo, without me having to
350. 12:26create that same video five different
351. 12:28times. And I genuinely think this is one
352. 12:31of the most under-discussed and
353. 12:32underrated opportunities out there on
354. 12:35YouTube for the next five years, because
355. 12:37if you guys can create videos or ideas
356. 12:40that people can understand regardless of
357. 12:43what country they're in, your potential
358. 12:45audience is about to explode and become
359. 12:47much bigger. And YouTube are making a
360. 12:49big push on this. Now for those of you
361. 12:51who are worried about the new YouTube
362. 12:53monetization requirement updates with
363. 12:55watch time going from 4,000 to 8,000,
364. 12:58which is a massive jump, you're
365. 12:59basically going to need to try and hit
366. 13:014,000 hours as fast as you possibly can
367. 13:03before they bring these new rules in in
368. 13:05February 2026. So if that's you, watch
369. 13:08this video here where I'll show you
370. 13:09exactly how to get there as quickly as
371. 13:11possible so you can completely skip the
372. 13:138,000 requirement.