Correlation between IQ and YT Success

[MindfulInquirer]

Let's be honest, no one ever went broke catering to the lowest common denominator. It isn't the people who are stupid becoming successful, it's the smart people catering to the people who are stupid. Because if you look at what's trending on YouTube it is not content aimed at college graduates. Expecting people to be smart isn't the way to get ahead.

that's true although on the last sentence, there is still an audience (and by that I mean a vast audience) that's interested in truer, more mature things. Just a glance at now-ultra famous Jordan Peterson's view count, and the stuff he's saying really isn't quite skin-deep. The same goes for plenty of the IDW members (intellectual dark web) and those aren't just a handful of intellectual nerds. The viewcount on those vids are in the 1M at times.

 

[KatyAdelson]

IQ is a weird number -- each IQ test will give you a different result lol. I think intelligence is hard to measure, even in schools. There could be a genius who gets terrible grades because he's/she's bored to death, or a person with average intelligence who is at the top of the class because he/she worked really hard.

But I suspect people who are more intelligent tend to want to be perceived as a smart person, and usually strive for good grades. Therefore, they probably don't really know what it's like to fail or be ranked last at something. This may make them overthink things and avoid taking business risks because they want to maintain the image of being a smart person.

However, folks who have failed before may be less intimidated to take giant leaps that could likely lead to a failure. I think that successful YouTubers (or even startups, for that matter...), need to have some sort of "daredevil" mentality to their strategy, which usually isn't on the agenda of "people who want to be perceived as smart."

But I think hard work, consistency, and being honest with your work to try to find ways to improve are the main elements to get a channel going. None of that has much to do with having a high IQ. I think smarter people might be too scared to experiment with their channel, which could hold them back... The algorithm is always changing, so what worked yesterday might not work tomorrow...

 

[Dave2017]

but generally, do you feel YT is the smart man's game, or on the contrary not so much but rather unpredictable and therefor the success/IQ correlation isn't really relevant ?

I think it is very hard to say and I honestly think there is no "general" when it comes to Youtube cause you see both all the time.

 

[Crown]

but at the same time I do think you have to also work smart, not hard.

Well obviously but "working hard" and "working smart" are not mutually exclusive. And "working smart" is what when it comes to YouTube? That's my point - there is nothing complicated at all about creating a successful YouTube channel. It's simple...... but not easy. By that I mean, there is nothing complex to understand (simple) but yes, it does take hard work and 95% don't do that work.

Here's an example from this very forum from the past. I'm not going to name names or give details They are no longer active here anyway. A person started a thread complaining about not getting any views and complaining other channels were doing better. This person had started many similar threads complaining about this in the past. They had been doing Youtube for at least 2 years and also of member of this forum for 2 years. After about the 3rd time of complaining, I checked out the channel and within 2 minutes I had identified at least 3 fundamental errors. Like really basic errors. Stuff that is explained in day one of the creator academy (which is clearly linked on the dashboard of ALL new channels) Errors that a 2 year old channel should not be making if they had read the YouTube guide and many of the guides on this forum. - Anyway, I replied in the thread and took the time to write a long post giving the detailed steps of what to do to solve these problems. There was about 3 hours worth of work that needed to be done on the channel. I know the person read my post because he/she "liked" it. However, the person didn't reply to my post directly or acknowledge it, preferring instead to continue ranting about other channels doing better. Anyway fast forward 3 months. The same person started yet another thread complaining about the same thing (no views) I clicked on the channel and the person had done NOTHING from my post. That's nothing to do with lack of IQ, creativity or flair. That's just pure laziness.

So many people don't succeed in growing a channel because they are used to getting instant gratification in everything else that they do on the internet. They have a question about something? - Google! They want to read the news? Go to BBC.com or CNN.com ! They want to buy a book! Go to Amazon! They want to watch a movie? Netflix ! They want to watch a gaming video? Go to pewdie's channel and click on a video. They decide they too want to start a YouTube channel and get millions of views just like pewdiepie and they expect the exact same success as him with instant gratification as though they were googling something. But there is no instant gratification on YouTube. It takes time and work and 95% of people don't want to do that work.

Great post by the way Crown...who was the motivational speaker that you quoted?

The quote came from a compilation motivational video The quote I mention is at the 2:06 mark and it's by a gentleman called John Assaraf. For anyone interested in beating procrastination and working harder and smarter, then I'd recommend a book called "Eat that frog" by Brian Tracey. It's a life-changer.

 

[MindfulInquirer]

Well obviously but "working hard" and "working smart" are not mutually exclusive. And "working smart" is what when it comes to YouTube? That's my point - there is nothing complicated at all about creating a successful YouTube channel. It's simple...... but not easy. By that I mean, there is nothing complex to understand (simple) but yes, it does take hard work and 95% don't do that work.

Here's an example from this very forum from the past. I'm not going to name names or give details They are no longer active here anyway. A person started a thread complaining about not getting any views and complaining other channels were doing better. This person had started many similar threads complaining about this in the past. They had been doing Youtube for at least 2 years and also of member of this forum for 2 years. After about the 3rd time of complaining, I checked out the channel and within 2 minutes I had identified at least 3 fundamental errors. Like really basic errors. Stuff that is explained in day one of the creator academy (which is clearly linked on the dashboard of ALL new channels) Errors that a 2 year old channel should not be making if they had read the YouTube guide and many of the guides on this forum. - Anyway, I replied in the thread and took the time to write a long post giving the detailed steps of what to do to solve these problems. There was about 3 hours worth of work that needed to be done on the channel. I know the person read my post because he/she "liked" it. However, the person didn't reply to my post directly or acknowledge it, preferring instead to continue ranting about other channels doing better. Anyway fast forward 3 months. The same person started yet another thread complaining about the same thing (no views) I clicked on the channel and the person had done NOTHING from my post. That's nothing to do with lack of IQ, creativity or flair. That's just pure laziness.

So many people don't succeed in growing a channel because they are used to getting instant gratification in everything else that they do on the internet. They have a question about something? - Google! They want to read the news? Go to BBC.com or CNN.com ! They want to buy a book! Go to Amazon! They want to watch a movie? Netflix ! They want to watch a gaming video? Go to pewdie's channel and click on a video. They decide they too want to start a YouTube channel and get millions of views just like pewdiepie and they expect the exact same success as him with instant gratification as though they were googling something. But there is no instant gratification on YouTube. It takes time and work and 95% of people don't want to do that work.



The quote came from a The quote I mention is at the 2:06 mark and it's by a gentleman called John Assaraf. For anyone interested in beating procrastination and working harder and smarter, then I'd recommend a book called "Eat that frog" by Brian Tracey. It's a life-changer.

Well I don't mean to make this exchange into a brawl over what intelligence is or isn't, but I'd say that's definitely low IQ you're describing. If a person goes through the trouble of subbing to a forum online, making a thread, reading long posts from others, and then even goes back to his channel and returns again to post yet again, that person is obviously not being intelligent at all and is wasting a ton of time.

And I'd insist I'm not as sure as you are about the non-importance of intelligence as far as YouTube success. YES, you can be avg/low intelligence and brilliantly successful at YT with millions of subs, but, that's due to hitting the jackpot, right place at the right time sort of thing. I'm not as sure diligent work and beating procrastination alone propels the YouTuber to guaranteed heights, although they definitely can't hurt.

 

[Ezrider92356]

This post reminded me of the YouTuber who cemented his head in a microwave and then had to call emergency services because....not surprisingly...he couldn't get it out again.

Possibly one of the dumbest people on the planet, but his channel has over 4 million subscribers and is close to getting a total of almost one billion views.

The reason for this is because although his IQ level is close to zero, he has all the attributes that @Crown mentions; self discipline, a good work ethic, and refusal to procrastinate. I took a look at his channel a moment ago (TGFBro) and he uploads very regularly, the editing of his videos is done well, and he keep on trend.

Great post by the way Crown...who was the motivational speaker that you quoted?

But is he really dumb or is he playing dumb to get views watch time and revenue