There is no shortage of "reaction" videos swirling around the internet, particularly since Kalen Allen became famous and landed a job on The Ellen Show just by watching recipe videos, but Ben Osborne of Osborne Woodcare in Hertfordshire, England, may have hit upon an as-of-yet untapped genre: reacting to videos of hardwood floor refinishing "fails."
Osborne's catchy video, "Wood Floor Refinishing FAILS (YouTubers Called Out!)," made waves on the platform and in hardwood flooring social media groups in July, raking in more than 18,000 views in just a few weeks and earning roughly 2,000 hits a day at one point.
"I had been learning about the YouTube algorithm and I was thinking of ways that I could get more views," Osborne says. "Also, I was just kind of flabbergasted by these videos of people giving really bad advice [on YouTube] and getting so many views."
With a green screen of the featured clips behind him, the 22-minute video features Osborne simply watching a compilation of wood floor refinishing attempts and advice on YouTube, unleashing witty ribbings about the content and expressing disbelief. Although the final result appears casual, everything about the project was carefully calculated. "The title and the thumbnail come from a lot of research that I've done," says Osborne, who notes that using a parenthesis "(YouTubers Called Out!)" as an explainer in a title has been shown to increase clicks by 38 percent.
Osborne's first foray onto YouTube was in 2013, and his first instructional video has more than 1.5 million views and helped him grow to 10,000 subscribers. Because he allows ads on his videos, they generate revenue. Previously he was earning around $400 each month from his views, but after releasing his reaction video, he says that number doubled. "It's the same with any kind of internet content," Osborne says. "If you can produce better content that attracts people and keeps them, you win." Osborne says he has plenty of other video ideas lined up, but he hasn't heard from Ellen … yet.
Osborne also runs howtosandafloor.com.
