anny McMahon [00:00:00]:

You only need 2 huge hits a year that go outside your bubble to completely change the trajectory of your channel.

Jay Clouse [00:00:08]:

That's Danny McMahon, but you might know him from his channel, Doddford. Danny is one of the hottest rising YouTubers right now. His documentaries have done about 20,000,000 views since January of 2023, but Danny doesn't make videos just to get views.

Danny McMahon [00:00:22]:

I started to realize that the reason I create is not really got anything to do with the number that comes after it.

Jay Clouse [00:00:28]:

This interview is a rare glimpse into the mind of a creator on the rise while they're in the thick of it. How did he get here?

Danny McMahon [00:00:35]:

After 3 years of studying film and falling in love with that, it took 2 weeks of doing content creation where I realized, Oh, this is way more fun. This is way more rewarding immediately.

Jay Clouse [00:00:45]:

How is he feeling?

Danny McMahon [00:00:47]:

I still don't see myself as, like, relevant. As soon as you do, that's a a risk to me.

Jay Clouse [00:00:53]:

And what's in store for the future?

Danny McMahon [00:00:55]:

This time next year, there's a type of reputation about the videos we're making that are a league above and could be looked at as as almost a pinnacle of what to seek out when trying to create.

Jay Clouse [00:01:09]:

Danny gives so many good pieces of advice for creators of all sizes throughout this interview, even some things that might contradict what you should do.

Danny McMahon [00:01:17]:

I don't know if this is the best thing for all YouTubers to listen to what I do here. But for me, I went to film school because the plan was always, traditional movie industry and make my own films, become a director to a writer. That was always the number one plan. At least since about age 16, 17 onwards, I was just obsessed with People like Tarantino and like RealCinema. And that was my way forward that I only saw myself pursuing. With that in mind, at the very end of of my graduation year, there was an extra task to try and build a bit of a social media presence. You know? Not saying that they were telling us to become influencers or anything, but it was in preparation for leaving our course, you need to if you're gonna join the film industry, you need to some sort of existence online, whether it was just on LinkedIn or on Instagram or whatever. So I made an Instagram account and just started making little tiny crappy videos for my 40 followers, which is the origin of Doddford.

Danny McMahon [00:02:22]:

That's where it became its first thing. I made a TikTok to match it to. Those started growing. After 3 years of studying film and falling in love with that it took 2 weeks of doing content creation where I realized Oh, this is way more fun. This is way more rewarding immediately. And I just completely abandoned that idea of doing traditional that early on. And now it just went all focused, eggs in 1 basket. But I I do know that that traditional route is will always be there waiting for me one day.

Jay Clouse [00:02:53]:

There probably a lot of peers that you have that are going in and writing scripts and doing, you know, full length features, and you're saying I'm gonna do these short form vertical videos. Talk to me about that. Why did you get started on TikTok and what did you like about it?

Danny McMahon [00:03:07]:

Well, I'll start by saying, I think something that holds a lot of people back in the traditional way out of film school is, yes, you think I'm gonna I take everything I've learned in these last 3, 4 years and put it into the script, and it's gonna be me. It's gonna it's gonna be an essence of everything I've learned, and it's gonna be the best script ever. People are gonna buy it. And people pour months months months into making 1, film or script they're gonna dish out. And as a result, They burn all this time. It goes out into the world. They inevitably stumble, and it doesn't hit the way they dreamed it would. And that holds people back.

Danny McMahon [00:03:44]:

Whereas, I'm not saying this was something that was premeditated, but something that afforded to me straight away by doing short form content was You make something, you try it out, you put it out, you reap the benefits or you you learn the lessons and then do it again the next day. And that was rinse and repeat of just trying some something new, getting better at something random every single day. You've gotta iterate. That's always the key early on, finding out what your mark is, your style, what your identity is as as a creator and as a person. And when that's going to slowly form and evolve. And that's what TikTok let me do. It was a way of just really testing my an audience, testing my abilities and improving them. Looking back now in retrospect, that's where so many of my skills and benefits were birthed and were improved.

Danny McMahon [00:04:36]:

So I do give it as like that's my piece of advice that I give to most young creators and filmmakers who are trying to find their feet, or learn something about the industry is just keep posting content. It doesn't even have to go out really to an audience or people if as long as you make it and you're giving yourself a challenge and doing something different every single day, that's, like, the easiest way forward in my opinion.

Jay Clouse [00:05:02]:

How long until you start to feel like, I think I'm getting more attention on this platform than the average person?

Danny McMahon [00:05:08]:

Never. Never? Well, it depends the average person is. Average person, I guess, well, is someone who doesn't really have an account or post. But no. I always felt like an underdog on TikTok, actually, because I had a few early hits and, you know, some that did really well. But, overall, if you look at my TikTok, you'll see that through most of it. There's I was below average views for my follower count, and I always felt like I was looking up to these huge creators who were raking in millions of views. And it was actually during that period where I started to realize that the the reason I create isn't It's not really got anything to do with the number that comes after it.

Danny McMahon [00:05:50]:

And so no. I mean, I'd still had a few hits, like, in the first, Maybe my 3rd video was an editing tutorial, and that got a couple 100000 views. And it I went from, like, 80 followers to 20,000 followers in, like, 2 days. And so that was my 1st influx with people. In my my true introduction into what this Serotonin, is like in being in as a content creator, you know. I've only had a few of them really in my whole TikTok career. So I I always felt like I was never really a big star on the platform.

Jay Clouse [00:06:24]:

When you were focused on making videos specifically for TikTok, How long do you think it took you on average to make 1 video that you published?

Danny McMahon [00:06:32]:

It changes. I did some, like I said, where it's I've gotta do this idea today and and put it out just because it was part of my routine. Others, I would spend maybe a week on, and I think you'll be able to tell if you went through and watched old videos, you'd be able to tell those ones that were had a little bit more thought and production value put in. I've always felt like the video takes as long as it takes to take to make, you know.

Jay Clouse [00:06:58]:

Yeah. Yeah. It feels When I've put some when I put more time into something than typical like if you're saying sometimes I make 1 video in a day and sometimes I make 1 video and it takes a week. For those videos that take a week if it was me I would feel so much pressure on that video when I finally hit publish like I really believed in this thing. It's going to take 7 x as much time. Do you feel that type of pressure when you put Huge amounts of time into making one of these?

Danny McMahon [00:07:28]:

Definitely at first. And I can't say that I've completely detached from that. Like I said, I think it was during this era when I felt like my views didn't reflect the effort I was putting in to videos. And that's I think it's a a stage that happens with everyone who makes videos online. It's that you have to detach effort with quality and, the the amount of people it's going to engage. Those are completely different things that you can't quantify together. So I definitely feel the pressure still today, but That's not the reason I create. It's got really nothing to do with the that second half, you know, influence it has.

Danny McMahon [00:08:11]:

It's more so the process it was for me as a as a as a filmmaker, as a creative, How did it affect me and change me? And then the things that you can't really quantify, the sort of impact and influence it has, the the the types of comments that you'd get, the people who bring it up to you months later and say that, oh, I shared this with my family. We had a laugh about it. Those types of things, which are they don't come up as a digit or a stat. It's it's something that's, like, more invisible. And Those are the reasons that you actually create, and I I never try to forget that. There is always a a happy middle ground where you try and eliminate that risk by not pouring so much time into something that in the back of your head feel like isn't worth it to you. So it is always having finding a A peaceful place in the middle, but, obviously, the pressure still exists.

Jay Clouse [00:09:01]:

What is your relationship to YouTube been as a platform? Do you feel like You are an underdog there as well. Did things pick up faster than you expected, slower than you expected?

Danny McMahon [00:09:11]:

It definitely was slow at first for a long time. The way it works on YouTube, it felt kind of exponential. As soon as there was a little bit of growth, it all rises rapidly and your whole because your whole library's there just ready to be seen. Everything else grows with it. That felt very rapid. And so there have been a few months in my journey, which I kinda look back on as, you know, real pivoting pivot you know, pivotal defining moments that completely, change the trajectory of the channel. And I I truly feel like you only need 2 huge hits a year that go outside your bubble to completely change the trajectory of your channel, and it's happened to me, maybe 1 and a half times this year. And I can credit most of my growth to just a couple videos, which, is there's there's many ways of seeing that.

Danny McMahon [00:10:11]:

I'm Grateful for it, but also, again, there's pressure in finding that special video that can do that. And, in the meantime, just trusting your content regardless and enjoying it anyway.

Jay Clouse [00:10:23]:

Talk to me about those one and a half times. Which one and a half videos are we talking about here?

Danny McMahon [00:10:27]:

The main one is Adam Sandler. That one goes without saying. It's by far, in my speed video, about about 5,000,000. Yeah. That single handedly took me from a 100 k to 200 k, essentially. It almost doubled my follower count.

Jay Clouse [00:10:40]:

Wow.

Danny McMahon [00:10:40]:

And I think Jim Carrey recently has been another one Similar and also Donald Glover right at the beginning of the year, that kind of in January, that was one of my first documentaries, maybe the first one really, that truly skyrocketed and people, like, ended up you know, KSI ended up watching that one and tweeting me about it, which is pretty surreal because, you know, that was when I I woke up to the fact that anyone could be seeing it, and all it takes is 1 shout out or one share from the right person, and then everything blows up exponentially. That happened with mister beast for My Adam Sandler video, he just tweeted that he saw it and said it was a good video, and that just makes it go further. I like that that YouTube seems to be being seen by everyone, and you never know who that lucky person could be, which could change your life and that's happened to me many, many times.

Jay Clouse [00:11:38]:

After a quick break, Danny and I talk about when his channel really changed And his plan for the future of Doddford. So stick around. We'll be right back. And now back to my conversation with Danny McMahon. Speaking of KSI, talk to me about your Sidemen video because if you look at the history of the channel, that looks from the outside Like a major inflection point. Did that feel different when you release that video?

Danny McMahon [00:12:02]:

Yes. I I think that one That Sideline 1, I still see as a video essay, but there are moments of it that feel more like a documentary. It was a an objective. It was a challenge of mine from the beginning to have the sidemen see that. I chose them because, one, I've Been watching them my whole life, and I know a lot about them, and so I had a lot to say. But I also knew that they were accessible, and this type of thing hadn't been made about them before. And there was a gap in the market where I could create a video that they could see and react to, which is they put which is what they did eventually. It was An amazing moment because it was the first time after creating for about 2 years, where I'd kind of finally got access to what felt like this inner circle in a way of all these people that I'd looked up to.

Danny McMahon [00:12:52]:

They could now, like, see me, which was a a strange moment where the all those lines kind of get blurred and, there's no that parasocial relationship can falter a little bit and things have to become real. And it was it's a weird feeling when your idols end up. They're still your idols. I'm not gonna say they're my peers, but, you know, they're people who are recognize your existence, which is just weird on its own. And I got you know, I made so many connections. It's when my network really opened up around then. After that video, lots of the UK community sort of noticed me, which was really, really fun. And then after that, it was Donald Glover, and that seemed to be when I got my US audience.

Jay Clouse [00:13:34]:

I wanna I wanna hear more about this because a lot of people listen this probably haven't had that moment yet, but this could be incredibly motivating for them to think about How we get there? So you mentioned you mentioned a few things that I wanna dig into actually. The first thing you said was the subject of this Piece, The Sidemen, you said they're accessible, but something like this hadn't been done before, so you notice this hole in the market. That's a very analytical statement to make. You you create 1 video a month long form on YouTube right now, so the shots that you take seem to be Like, they need to be fairly thoughtful and intentional. How many competing ideas do you have at any given time and how do you ultimately decide which one you're going to Commit to next.

Danny McMahon [00:14:18]:

Back then, in that era, there was no premeditation or planning, beyond the day before I just decided to make the video. So that Sidemen one, it was a good idea that hit me as a spark in a on a weekend. And I realized, okay, here's something I can do. I will start this immediately and do and have it up hopefully by 2 weekends' time. And that was the way it was for a long time where it was just an idea would come. What am I gonna make this week? And it'll be something totally different. And it's not sustainable to keep living like that because, you're always relying on some idea to hit you, and it's, it just it wasn't it's not how my brain works. And so, eventually, I don't know.

Danny McMahon [00:14:59]:

Maybe about halfway through this year, I learned the importance of just the idea alone and the time that it comes. And so the big learning experience really for me was Drew Barrymore. Up to that point, through most of 2023 and immediately following Adam Sandler, I kinda had this confidence where it didn't really matter what the subject was of these videos. It was Just the the way we presented them and the production quality, the type of storytelling we did, the way it was the packaging, all of that stuff. I was just having all these hits, and it was because of us. It was the way we created them. And that definitely is true for a lot, for most of it. But When Drew Barrymore was put out, that was the 1st real stinker.

Danny McMahon [00:15:45]:

It was the 1st time, it didn't hit expectations and we had a it it hurt me in my heart. And I learned then the true, like, this has to, 1, really appeal to your audience and has to come at a time when there's a discussion, whether it's a a conscious discussion that's really happening on the Internet or it's a thing that everyone's just kind of quietly thinking about. And so since then, all these videos have to be planned and thought, months in advance, and we look really far into the future. So I have all the way up until December next year, December 2024, all videos for each month planned out.

Jay Clouse [00:16:22]:

Wow.

Danny McMahon [00:16:22]:

And we've taken into consideration, What is this person working on at this point in the year? If they've got a film out coming, are they working on something? Is there a big stage of their life happening, which means they'll be part of the the discussion, you know, the pop culture lexicon. And so I really feel like we could make the best video we possibly could, and it would just come out at the wrong month of the year, and it wouldn't hit the way that it should or could.

Jay Clouse [00:16:49]:

This may seem like a strange question, but let's see where it goes. You're you're talking now about how you're planning for these videos to be a hit. You want these to be a hit. Why? Why to you, what does it mean to have a hit, and why is that important to you right now?

Danny McMahon [00:17:10]:

I think a hit, an immediate hit isn't really that important to me on a on a cellular level. But I think all creators will attest to that. You can't shake that thing off you that when something is a 10 out ten straight away, you know, and it's or it's or it stinks straight out of the the gate. That's always gonna hurt. And so I think For me, on our channel, it's making these productions that we really believe in and we really enjoy making and speak to us as individuals that mean something that come from the heart. Meanwhile, trying to mitigate that potential hurt of something not finding an audience. So it has to be, again, that balance of finding making something for us, but also making something for the people. And there has to be there's gotta be a Venn diagram where that video sits right in the middle.

Danny McMahon [00:18:07]:

Otherwise, you know, it's going to go to a large audience, but it's not gonna be, fulfilling to you. Or it's the opposite where it's a real big passion project, but no one really cares about it. For me, a hit is when it hits both of those things, when I'm proud of it and other people it really speaks to other people. And a few videos, I think, in this on my channel even recently have fit more into the passion project side of things where it's just truly the type of video I wanted to watch and make. And is fulfilling to me in regard that, yes, I've made that and the people who want to see it will see it. But I do want to grow the audience, and I want to make sure that, You know, we're proud of what we make, so I want more eyes on it, really, but never sacrificing that passion, that way that we would tell stories. It makes that's gonna always be number 1.

Jay Clouse [00:19:04]:

You're using the word we a lot. How big is your team and what's what's the makeup of that team?

Danny McMahon [00:19:08]:

As a core, a team of 3, just me, my researcher, Adam, he assists a lot with the story as well as researching, and my producer, Jaden, who just kind of keeps me on track and makes sure that and it helps a lot with the packaging. I also have Dan who mixes the sound and my manager, Gil, he helps a lot with brands. So it's, don't know. Maybe a team of 5 altogether who work on the videos. But for me, I'm still scripting and editing it all myself.

Jay Clouse [00:19:33]:

Well, one reason that I ask is a team of 5, and I'm I'm sure there's varying degrees of, like, part time, full time, partner Yeah. But there's there's, cost involved and requirements of the business even even for you. So a hit also plays a role in More likely to help support the business and support the team. Do you do you feel that pressure, when you make these videos?

Danny McMahon [00:19:58]:

Yeah. Definitely. Ever since I hired and there are people who are on a payroll and, you know, I have to it's there's an extra layer of accountability now where as soon as that happened and I realized, okay, It takes an investment now every month to get these videos out. It's, I definitely saw the whole business and project in a different way, in a different light. In a way, I appreciate it more actually now because just, one, that financial investment, it makes it kinda feel more yours in a way. I just saw it in a new way where it's it's it's an art just slightly different art, the science of analyzing if If we're gonna invest this much money into something, how can we make sure that it makes a return? How can we make sure that this is a safe bet that's gonna provide the business with more money, essentially. And it was just a whole new way of seeing art for me, which I've never been A financial person, I've never, been driven by that whatsoever. But you do have to, if you want to have a sustainable business, think about it a bit.

Danny McMahon [00:21:02]:

Right? And it it's been fun for me, actually. It's been fun trying to identify how can we just make sure that this Ship stays afloat, essentially. I've never done that before, but here we are.

Jay Clouse [00:21:14]:

In some ways, I almost feel like I'm feeling some pressure from you on the performance of of these videos. And I mean I I exist online. I exist on Twitter and I've been more in the YouTube community over the last year or so. Time after time people talk about Hey. Who are your favorite creators right now or who's who's up and coming? And I just see Doddford come up over and over again. Doddford's gonna be big. Doddford's gonna have A 1000000 subscribers in the next 6 months. So I'm sure you're seeing that because you're literally being tagged in it.

Jay Clouse [00:21:42]:

What is your reaction or relationship to comments like that?

Danny McMahon [00:21:46]:

This is a good question. It's a very good question. I had lunch with Zach Conover, a few months ago, if you know him. And I was having this discussion with him because it was I think it was after the Drew Barrymore video, which was the 1st time my channel would hit a slump all year, and this was in June. And coming right off that cliff of Adam Sandler where every if everything felt easy, I felt like I'd have sussed out the the formula. This was a, trajectory that wasn't gonna falter at all. And then you have your 1st real stumble. And I had to find my feet again.

Danny McMahon [00:22:26]:

I was telling him Slee, for most of the year, the first half of the year, I had seen myself, like, as if my purpose on the platform, my brand was The the the small guy who gets big views, which looking back is completely false. And if I had heard someone else describe that to me, I would've kind of even been offended by it, like, as if that's something that matters to me that much. But because it was that's what was happening. And I was putting the out these videos that were getting hundreds of thousands of millions of views just with, either a small team or just me. It kinda felt easy and I got complacent in that, I think. And as a result, that fall hurt so much because I had to really look at myself and identify why we make my my, why are we making these videos? Why are they being put out by us? What does it say? And how important is the views, to us. I had to, like, really taste the feeling of having less views from for a while just to learn, relearn again why I was making them in the 1st place. And so it was a dangerous thing of rising a bit too quickly and forgetting why you started in the 1st place.

Danny McMahon [00:23:49]:

But that pressure still exists now. I don't see myself as someone who has to get big views anymore, but the The pressure really isn't anything anymore to do with the growth or, the where the channel could be in the future in terms of digits. It's more so, I know people compliment the way that we make the videos and the editing, the writing, how unique they can be. And I feel a bit of pressure in making sure we can sustain that, making sure that I know that I can keep growing as a storyteller over the years and have something new to provide. Otherwise, I don't wanna get boring, and I don't wanna get old. So it's make reexamining myself a lot, thinking of new fresh ways to add to things, but never being buckled down by the idea of feeling like people are expecting you, to do big things or whatever, because I think that's always a dangerous mentality to have.

Jay Clouse [00:24:48]:

I think a lot of people have had this experience of relative to me, this thing was a success, then after that, Relative to me, this thing was less of a success and we feel that thing you're feeling of that like, why? And it sucks. And but we don't go deeper than that because I wonder where that fear actually comes from, you know. Is it a fear that, like, It's over. I guess every video is just gonna get progressively worse now because when you say that out loud that's a ridiculous thing to assume like just because you had this 1 video go down That's probably not indicative yet of a trend that everything's going to 0. So what is it? What what is it about a down video that that sucks so much?

Danny McMahon [00:25:31]:

Yeah. I think well, for me, it was the fact that I had to it was immediately followed by such a good run. And just that contrast of something that came so easily, felt so easy, then suddenly felt and looked so hard. It was like as if you have to look at yourself and think and remember how you did it in the 1st place even though nothing really changed. That's why it's so scary just because it's you're looking at your history and thinking, well, this doesn't match up with the trajectory I already had in mind. But that doesn't exist. Nothing exists besides what we're living in right now. And so it's Super easy to look forward and think, oh, yeah.

Danny McMahon [00:26:14]:

Okay. This is the path. This is where I'll be. That is irrelevant and impossible and something that you can't ever predict. It's just it's going to go have ups and downs. That's really the only thing we can predict.

Jay Clouse [00:26:28]:

How much do you look at the analytics in YouTube Studio?

Danny McMahon [00:26:31]:

Very rarely.

Jay Clouse [00:26:32]:

Very rarely. Mhmm. Say more about that. Why don't you look at those things more closely?

Danny McMahon [00:26:36]:

I mean, I'll start by saying, I don't know if this is the best thing for all YouTubers to listen to what I do here. But for me, I can make something that I'm really, really proud of and know that as an old man, I'll look back on one day and think, oh, yes. This is one of my most projects I'm most proud of, and I'm so happy I made this. It really speaks to who I was at this point in my life. And I can feel so strongly positive about something. Open up the analytics and see a, a low lower AVD, you know, or some, some type of data that contradicts that and says that the general consensus was that this was an underperformer. And I will read that and Shift my perception of my own video, which was completely concrete solid before into this new arbitrary, analysis of it, which I hate the feeling of that when even if the the data isn't bad, just by looking at it and seeing that the the ups and downs, the real science of it, that can detract from the overall message, and the impact it has on me. My producer, Jaden, he does a lot of that for me where he will go through and find a lot of the Big picture stuff.

Danny McMahon [00:28:04]:

I'm very cool on big picture analytics of thinking about, okay, what is, the types of audience, the type of platforms people are using, and and learning about the the science behind the whole brand and where we should take it, what people are enjoying the most. But on a very granular minute level, I I just don't think art should be viewed that way where it's you're looking at every time a little bump and and trying to smoothen it out. It doesn't That doesn't compute in my head. And I'm more of just a, okay. Let's take a big Excel spreadsheet and learn about the data of everything combined and, learn about psychology of people in terms of the audience and behavior. But I'm not gonna go through And, like, I've never studied a retention graph and found a little dip and tried to rewrite that in my head of a way of re of doing it again. That's Like, the way I made the video is the way I wanted to make the video, and it will be the way I want to make the video in the future. And I'm trying to People who don't wanna see it that way don't belong on my channel, and I've got no fear of that, of there being of of that in general, you know.

Danny McMahon [00:29:18]:

It's, like, if you if you're here, I want you to be here and I'm happy you're here, I'm not gonna try and appease everyone.

Jay Clouse [00:29:25]:

Well, think about data. The data is objective like it'll show you here's some true statistics about the video. But then when you try to rationalize And understand well why is it that way? That's when things get tricky because you you can make very plausible sounding arguments for why did

Danny McMahon [00:29:41]:

Yeah.

Jay Clouse [00:29:42]:

Retention drop here that may not actually be true. That's that's the hard thing about looking at analytics is actually understanding what they mean and getting it right. There's lots of plausible explanations. And if you just make an assumption and then change your entire approach to how you make videos based on that, That's a that's a tricky, dangerous thing.

Danny McMahon [00:30:02]:

Mhmm.

Jay Clouse [00:30:02]:

What about right after you publish a video, though? Are you refreshing YouTube Studio as often as I am?

Danny McMahon [00:30:07]:

I've had so I mean yeah. So I think in the past in the past 6 I don't know. In the past, like, second half of this year, I've told myself, okay, post a video, don't look at YouTube studio for the whole weekend. They go up on Friday. I will have a look on Sunday evening. Usually that's when I'll, like, for first to open it up and because the one out of 10 scale within the 1st 7 days to me is completely redundant. A lot of my older videos that have hundreds of thousands of views now or or some of the bigger hits didn't get any views for to 3 weeks. And, again, you're falling into the trap if you are trying to analyze straight away if something's a hit or a miss because those things those 2 adjectives don't really exist on each video that early.

Danny McMahon [00:30:53]:

It's anything can completely change. And so, yeah, in the past, I've got I've beat myself up and thinking, oh, this could have been better straight away or gotten too excited early on and things fall flat. And so I do I try not to judge it too early and just let things breathe and simmer for a bit.

Jay Clouse [00:31:10]:

When we come back, we talk about the way Danny integrates Sponsors into his videos, which really caught my attention. So don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. And now please enjoy the rest of my conversation with Danny McMahon. You do sponsor integrations better than anyone I've ever seen. It seems as if the sponsor integrations themselves are small vignettes that Would probably take most people days, maybe longer, to complete themselves and you put them in so seamlessly as transitions between points in the story. So open ended. I just want to hear how you approach Sponsor integrations.

Jay Clouse [00:31:55]:

You know, what you accept and how you think about how this will live in the video.

Danny McMahon [00:31:59]:

In terms of okay. Let's let's I'll I'll give you a cool little a point of analysis again, which, like the Sidemen thing, I I spotted that the bar is very much on the flaw when it comes to brand integrations. And the average person, the average creator doesn't try. And so I still feel like mine aren't very good. They are, they maybe they're just a little bit different to what people expect and remember. And I've tried to cash in on that. I've tried to, to capitalize on the fact that if you put in that extra 10% of effort or even just a 10% of a more of a abstract unique idea when it comes to sponsorship. It stands out to people so much.

Danny McMahon [00:32:41]:

Like, I think it also came from these videos. There's such a scale to them. There's such, like, a, I don't know, a depth to them. When they started becoming more serious and the the brands were getting introduced, I, didn't want the these sponsorships to just feel like I don't know. I didn't want them to detract away from maybe even the emotional intensity or the production quality of the rest of the video. They weren't gonna be conventional talking heads. That was important to me because, like I said, I kind of want These videos, they exist on YouTube, but in my mind, they're cut they're in a way being made for a cinema. You know, that's They're something that deserves to be seen on a large screen or that's the way I I that's what I picture in my head in a way when I'm making them.

Danny McMahon [00:33:31]:

And so if it just cuts to a more conventional YouTube talking head where it's clearly a YouTuber talking about a brand, that feels like a complete step away from the the direction I was taking the video in. And so it was early on, I was like, we've gotta try and do something unique, and those transitions are the most important part. The actual, Meet of a brand integration isn't really that important. It's those transitions in and out where People are you know, you're just seamlessly guiding someone into something different and then out of it again to tell a a different point. In my latest video that's coming out end of November, early on in, like, a discussion, I was like, I don't really care about what we say in this brand integration. Let's just tick the boxes, what they want us to say. But how can we find the best possible way to to transition in from the story we were just telling and then use the integration to convert a new idea into a transition out. And those are the only 2 points that I'm looking at.

Danny McMahon [00:34:31]:

And then it's just finding how those 2 points meet in the middle for the brand integration. And so It's it's part I enjoy a lot of the time, and people, you know, people might spend a lot of, time on it. I do. You know, I usually spend about a week on them.

Jay Clouse [00:34:45]:

One One of my favorite questions to ask people is kind of a hot take on something they believe to be true but don't necessarily have the data to back up. So when it comes to YouTube and what you're doing to grow your channel, is there any type of, like, hunch or assumption you're operating off of right now That you don't necessarily have data to prove, but it's influencing how you're creating videos. I

Danny McMahon [00:35:12]:

I'm trying more and more in each video to tell my story only with music or sound. You become a stronger creator by eliminating things from your toolbox. And so Starting out even just a few months ago, I felt like I had such a big toolbox of all these skills and things that I, needed to use needed to use because they were there and they existed. It means I had to utilize them to make anything I made. Over time, I've been cutting these things out. So even just face cam was the first thing to go. Those are no longer in my video, because it felt like, yes, That was what was that was what was expected on YouTube. You know, you have your face in it, and it felt like it felt like a cop out.

Danny McMahon [00:36:03]:

I was using that and in sacrifice of trying to tell better stories. Then, voice over has been re started getting reduced and then completely eliminated. So there's no me in them whatsoever anymore. It's all just the editing and the writing. And as a result, because you're taking these things away, everything else has to improve. You know? It's like if you go blind, your hearing gets better. You know? It's it's a it's a shift there. I think those decisions that I've made so take away the face cam in Adam Sandler.

Danny McMahon [00:36:36]:

That was the first one. Huge skyrocket. Take away the voice over in Jim Carrey. Huge skyrocket. Those are 2 videos that have completely blown up because I made a decision in it to do it in a different way. Try take something out of the equation and see how everything else, is affect is affected by it. And I don't know if this is something that I could completely, replicate over and over and over again, but I'd there is something there. There is something to really examining your process and the way that you've gotten used to it, and then just reinventing the wheel almost.

Danny McMahon [00:37:11]:

Just taking, what seems like an integral core part out of your pipeline and taking it out completely and just letting it evolve in a new way. And those are the ones those are the times that I've made videos that have really hit new heights or I feel the most proud of.

Jay Clouse [00:37:30]:

What are your expectations or even goals for the Doddford Channel over the next 6 months or 12 months or whatever horizon you have?

Danny McMahon [00:37:37]:

It's kind of an invisible thing. I I wanna just keep growing from strength to strength as a creator. And, I mean, before we hit New Year's last year, I said I put out a tweet saying I will hit a 1000000 subscribers in 2023. And that was just a very arbitrary thing. It's like, okay. That's the goal I'm gonna try and seek out. It's not I don't think it's gonna happen. It would take a miracle now.

Danny McMahon [00:37:59]:

But, For next year, I'm I'm not gonna give myself an objective like that where it's just a a number to hit. It has to be something more with the impacts or the or or an influence that we're creating. I think I've got quite an identity that people are trying to replicate. Things like thumbnails that that those have been duplicated a 1000 times. But so I I would like to exaggerate that where this time next year, There's a type of reputation about the videos we're making that are a league above and could be looked at as as almost a pinnacle of what to seek out when trying to create. I don't know. That's, don't really know what I want. I'm not I'm just gonna take one day at a time, try and make the best videos we can make, and try and keep having fun with it.

Danny McMahon [00:38:49]:

And wherever we are in 2, 3, 5 years, that's cool with me as long as the process is fun. That's really all it is.

Jay Clouse [00:38:57]:

I think about the idea of relevance a lot. I think when you start getting the The dopamine hits of success online you suddenly at least on a subconscious level become aware of your own Relative relevance in the spaces you care about. Yeah. And it's and it's a hard thing to think about not having anymore. Do you have any reaction to that?

Danny McMahon [00:39:22]:

I still don't see myself as, like, relevant. And I think that's as soon as you do, that that's a a risk to me, like, for that reason alone because that's not something that exists forever. For most of my career, I've seen myself as an underdog, and I I don't think that will ever go away, really. I don't want it to ever go away, to be honest. Because I think that idea of always chasing a future version of yourself or trying to The idea of there being competition, the idea of you having to keep 1 up 1 upping yourself is the formula to becoming a better artist. And yeah. So I'm just gonna I'm just gonna keep creating and not think about I think really eliminating the noise is really important, and keep focusing on yourself as a person and as a creative and just see where the road takes you.