In 2009 Rasmus Albrechtsen started providing males’s hairstyling tutorials on YouTube. He referred to as his channel “Slikhaar TV,” as in “slick hair.” The channel scaled to over 2 million subscribers.
Then got here YouTube’s synthetic intelligence-driven browse characteristic, displaying viewers the movies that possible curiosity them. Out of the blue, Albrechtsen’s 2 million subscribers appeared much less impactful. He’s now producing movies “for the browse characteristic greater than for the subscribers.”
Albrecthsen relies in Denmark, the place I’m vacationing. He and I lately mentioned Slikhaar TV, By Vilain (his line of hair merchandise), and the influence of AI on video advertising.
The whole audio of our dialog is embedded under. The transcript is edited for readability and size.
Eric Bandholz: What do you do?
Rasmus Vilain Albrechtsen: I co-founded two companies with my twin brother, Emil. We’ve Slikhaar TV, which is a YouTube channel with over 2 million subscribers providing males’s hairstyling tutorials and recommendation. We launched it in 2009.
Then we now have By Vilain, the place we develop and promote hair merchandise for males, resembling waxes, pre-stylers, shampoos, and equipment.
Having a brother as a enterprise accomplice is good, though it has challenges. We’re an identical twins, however we now have totally different personalities. I’m extra into the inventive, imaginative and prescient area. Emil is extra into executing and operations. He’s additionally our CEO. We complement one another fairly properly.
Bandholz: Natural YouTube views might be laborious to come back by.
Albrechtsen: It has been turbulent on YouTube. We will thank the browse characteristic for the turbulence. It’s getting smarter, utilizing synthetic intelligence to assist viewers uncover their distinctive pursuits.
We’ve 2 million subscribers, however we don’t have 2 million viewers. We’ve 2 million individuals who, as soon as in 14 years, selected to push the subscribe button. Their lives could also be totally different now.
So we’re attempting to provide movies round traits for the browse characteristic greater than for the subscribers.
Bandholz: Much like the TikTok mannequin, proper? The variety of subscribers doesn’t have an effect on how a video performs.
Albrechtsen: Sure. TikTok is excessive in some methods as a result of viewers will overlook you tomorrow for those who’re not feeding into the traits. For those who personalize content material and construct your self as somebody that folk wish to get extra of, they may bear in mind you and return to your channel since you moved them ultimately.
To face out, it’s principally a brainwashing course of. You entertain them, however they don’t bear in mind you. To be memorable, you retain at it.
I had an expertise in my health heart. A man approached me and stated, “Are you that dude that all the time pops up in my feed?” It’s tremendous attention-grabbing when people discover you since you should have left an imprint ultimately.
So the problem is producing memorable content material so viewers can discover you. Of us might browse 100 movies an hour, 10 to twenty seconds every. In case your content material makes an imprint, you need to use it in an advert in a while.
Then, in the event that they watched your content material a few occasions within the browse characteristic, they might reply to a business along with your product. They don’t know the place they noticed it, however they comprehend it’s tied to good content material, so that they belief it extra.
Bandholz: Have you ever finished endorsement offers with celebrities?
Albrechtsen: We’ve a couple of endorsements. But when the query is, “Have we paid for endorsements?” the reply isn’t straight. They occur by means of casual networks — some soccer (soccer) gamers, a couple of celebrities — but it surely’s not on formal contracts. It’s often people who use our merchandise. So it’s not a typical endorsement the place you pay Cristiano Ronaldo a few million {dollars}, and he’ll point out you, and you need to use his title within the advertising of the product.
A star endorsement could possibly be a superb technique, however we aren’t pursuing it due to the value level. We might in all probability pay round 80,000 U.S. {dollars} for a 12 months’s contract with a high-end movie star.
I’d fairly keep on with guys who constantly create skilled content material inside a selected area of interest and supply worth in a selected space — not simply entertaining by displaying luxurious existence.
Bandholz: The place can readers observe you?
Albrechtsen: Try our YouTube channel, @Slikhaar TV, or see us on Fb, Instagram, and TikTok. Our hair care merchandise are at ByVilain.com.
