Erik sits down with John Coogan, co-founder of Lucy and creator of @JohnCooganPlus, a YouTube channel with over 300,000 subscribers that documents highlight moments in Silicon Valley.

Riverside.fm is a presenting sponsor of Media Empires. Go to https://creators.riverside.fm/MediaEm... + use code MEDIAEMPIRES for 20% off individual plans.

In this episode John and Erik discuss the monetization on YouTube, understanding algorithms as a creator, and the value of content on various platforms.

We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.

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RECOMMENDED PODCAST:

🎙️ECON 102 W/ NOAH SMITH - Keeping econ entertaining - Noahpinion author Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg break down business news and politics every week.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1696419056

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6q7Gn5lP8TTtBPuV1NJSGs

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Episode Preview

(02:39) Why John started his YouTube channel

(04:04) What's the value on YouTube?

(07:01) Monetization

(09:16) Evergreen vs News content

(10:45) The Packy Model

(12:44) Audiences on YouTube

(14:29) How to help your video do well

(19:04) Newsletters

(20:54) How the algorithm can work in your favor

(24:26) Separating channels

(27:24) Are niches better?

(30:18) The future of YouTube

(31:49) John's content evolution/philosophy

(37:46) Experimenting then filtering with content

(45:34) Twitch's value

(49:00) What can be built on top of YouTube?

LINKS:

Lucy: https://lucy.co/

John Coogan Plus on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JohnCooganPlus

X / Twitter:

John: https://twitter.com/johncoogan

Erik's Twitter: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

Music Credit: RJQQIL7L6K8BBVRE

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