Very few YouTubers have managed to stay relevant for over a decade. But Brandon Farris has earned that accolade, entertaining over 6.8 million subscribers since his start in 2013. His style of delivering quirky millennial humor, testing DIY hacks, and scaring himself has earned him over two billion views on his channel.
“YouTube is pretty easy to understand for the most part because it’s just about views,” Farris told Passionfruit. “If people are watching, you’re doing well.”
Over a decade ago, Farris uploaded the first video to his YouTube channel singing on stage with a guitar. Soon, he started vlogging from his car, with car rants complaining about nail biters and being a ginger, which he admits “didn’t go anywhere.”
But after enough trial and error, a video of Farris Google Translating a chocolate chip cookie recipe hit the algorithm. From there, he “just became obsessed with making videos that were funny to other people.”
Farris realized the success of virality is repeatable, consumable formats. He continued posting translated recipes, adding new types of videos that were growing in popularity online (and leaving huge messes), like deconstructing DIY crafts and paying people to scare him for views.
Farris creates content that people want to watch. If a format doesn’t perform as well, he’s quick to push it aside and focus on “what sticks.”
“Whatever people are responding to at the moment is what I want to make,” Farris said. “It’s all about whatever makes them laugh.”
Since videos are mainly just Farris sitting in front of a camera, they tend to only take a “day or two” to film, he said.
“I usually don’t start a video without knowing exactly what I am going to do, so if I have everything I need, it goes pretty fast,” Farris said. “The hardest part is coming up with the ideas.”
To stay up to date on what’s trending in a constantly evolving online ecosystem and get fresh new angles, Farris does a lot of “research.” He says he sometimes asks AI systems like ChatGPT “to get ideas that might be interesting to other people.” It also helps that he has two young children who constantly keep him learning about what’s hip or cool.
Recently, Farris’ audience has been gobbling up videos where he purchases random objects online and opens them up on camera. Videos of him purchasing anything Amazon or his fans recommend have kept his channel steadily afloat.
The most important part of making videos for Farris is keeping his audience happy. Whether it’s a devoted fan who’s been around since the first time he tasked AI or a new follower who just stumbled upon a video they liked, it’s all about keeping them coming back for more.
His advice for new creators was simple. “The things that get you started are the same things that help you stay. Be yourself, put in the work, and be patient,” Farris said. “You’re going to try things that don’t work. Learn from those things so you can make the next thing better.”
