The problem
A format is everywhere. Every creator on the product is doing the “I was skeptical” video. Do you brief it too? It is clearly working. It is also clearly crowded.
A format works because it is new to the viewer. By the time it is everywhere, viewers have seen it and they scroll. The videos that made money in week two do not make money in week eight.
| Stage | What it looks like | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Early | A couple of videos, one converting, nobody has noticed | Best time to join. Highest risk it is a one-off. |
| Building | New videos keep arriving and keep converting | Join now. This is the window. |
| Peak | Lots of videos. The newest get views but the sales rate is dropping | Only join with a real twist. |
| Worn out | Views drop on new versions. Sales rate is below the money line | Do not join. Take the constants and build something new. |
The example
“I was skeptical” on a gut health product, week by week.
The creators who joined in week 7 saw 110 videos “working” and copied them. What they were copying was a format that had stopped working three weeks earlier.
Look at the newest three videos in the format, not the biggest. If the newest ones still clear the money line, it is building. If the biggest ones did but the newest ones do not, it has peaked.
Do this in Verdict
- 1Open Waves. Each script family carries a stage, set by what the newest videos are doing, not the biggest.
- 2The synopsis under it says what to protect and what the next move is.