One long video with 100 views, according to Petya English, is worth more than one Shorts with a million views. Petya English, the author of a channel with over 7 billion views, took part in a three-hour video conversation with Pavel Gitelman. Yuri Volgin, who has been working in English-language YouTube without showing his face since 2014 and in the personal brand format since 2023, analyzed this conversation and highlighted the main methods of channel growth.

1. Foundation of the Channel

Before launching the Petya English channel, Petya English recommends defining two things: the channel's concept and its unique selling proposition.

• Channel concept. This is a description of the blog that fits into one line. An example of the Petya English channel concept: "I live in a motorhome in China with two cats."
• Unique hook. The channel should differ from other channels in its niche by at least one unusual feature. The channel should not be completely different from other channels in the niche: in that case, the viewer won't understand the format and won't watch. Examples of features: complex editing, a very cozy atmosphere, the author's physical appearance.

The Petya English channel started out as a channel with English lessons. The pseudonym appeared because the author was teaching English at the time. Later, a unique hook and a unique concept emerged, and the channel began to grow.

Petya English advises planning on working with YouTube for decades, since the platform does not deliver quick results.

2. Preparation before filming

A successful channel begins not with filming, but with preparing the video.

The role of the creative producer. Petya English plans videos together with a creative producer. A beginning creator or a creator without a budget combines this role themselves.

Three preparation rules:

1. Do not film a video that cannot reach one million views. One million views is the Petya English standard, but the bar can be lowered.
2. Think through how the idea will be implemented and whether it is realistic. An idea may require graphics and animation that the budget cannot cover.
3. Remove excess material. Any video contains a small part of interesting content and a large part of empty filler.

Defining the viewer. Before creating a video, you need to picture an audience from different categories. Each viewer gets a personal recommendation algorithm that offers them suitable videos. The creator should check whether the video is clear to both a student and a pensioner. For entertainment content, the audience is not limited by age. In niches with a strong dependence on age, this rule works differently: for example, an estimated 90% of Minecraft channels are watched by viewers under 20. In all cases, the content should be simple and accessible.

3. Seven Rules of a Successful Video

1. Regularity. Viewers quickly forget creators who rarely go live. The YouTube algorithm does not retain the regular viewers of a channel that has not been visited for a month, two months, or half a year. The recommended schedule for long-form videos is once a week, and for Shorts, every two days. Without such a schedule, consistently successful videos are, in the author's opinion, unlikely.
2. Target Audience. The creator must understand who they are making videos for.
3. Studying Competitors. One should follow channels in one's own league or one to two leagues above. These channels should be within reach within six to twelve months. Unreachable celebrities are not suitable for this purpose. The author agrees with this rule only partially.
4. Emotions. One needs to convey genuine emotions and present oneself as one really is.
5. Hook. Strong and attention-grabbing first seconds of the video. The hook is discussed in detail below.
6. Simplicity of Presentation. Clear, human language without complex jargon.
7. Analysis. One needs to analyze results and build content based on audience reaction. If analytics show that the most successful video of the period is a particular one, one should make a sequel or repeat the concept in the next video.

4. Finding Ideas

Videos should not be made at random. The starting point is what has already gained views or performs well on YouTube.

Basic method:

1. Open YouTube search and enter a niche keyword. For example, for the topic of neural networks, the keyword might be Claude or Claude Chat.
2. Apply filters: videos from the current year and long videos, not Shorts. This simplifies the work and excludes outdated data.

The principle of working with others' ideas. The author does not copy a video. He takes the idea, adds his own input, and adapts it to his own style and manner of presentation. Petya English considers this approach not copying, but original reworking.

Searching in different languages. Viral videos should be searched for in English, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. Each language niche has its own leaders, who sometimes achieve viral results. It is necessary to understand why the idea gained wide distribution.

Personal connection to the idea. The idea should resonate with the author. One must not force oneself to make content that contradicts one's own interests.

Order of work. First the idea and the thumbnail are determined, then the script is written. The script confirms the viewer's expectations that the thumbnail created.

5. Attention Triggers

Triggers hold the viewer's attention on the video. They can be placed in the hook, on the thumbnail, in the title, and within the video itself. The more famous the person, the stronger the trigger. A trigger is especially effective if the topic is also covered in the news.

Main triggers:

• A celebrity or well-known person.
• Instincts. The theme of life beyond the ordinary, which has always interested people. Example: Elena Pogrebizhskaya's channel.
• Scandals, quarrels, conflicts. This also includes emotions that provoke indignation.
• Saving time. Showing something that would otherwise take the viewer significantly more time. Example: a flower that instantly turns into a tulip.
• Curiosity. Refers to any material that makes the viewer want to learn more.
• Fear of loss, failure, or mistake. Example: "How Not to Lose Your Apartment in 2027. New Law."
• Money. Combines well with fear and FOMO. Example: "How to Get 100,000 Rubles Back from the Tax Office in a Year."
• Sex. A strong trigger, but Petya English does not advise building the main brand on it. The author notes that in some niches, such as psychologists, this approach may be appropriate, and the question is debatable overall. The author shares Petya English's position: building a brand on female imagery in video thumbnails is a questionable path.
• Major brands. For example, McDonald's or Gucci. These brands are familiar to most people, which creates a psychological recognition effect. Example: "I Tried McDonald's Secret Burger."
• FOMO (fear of missing out). Example: "I Wish I Had Learned This Before Fifty" or "Three Exercises for Longevity."
• Others' misfortune. Interest in other people's troubles, which in German is called "Schadenfreude." Viewers often watch such videos even when they don't like them.

Combining triggers. The most effective video is built around a single trigger that runs through the entire video and appears in various places with high regularity.

6. Hook

A hook is what is said and shown in the first seconds of a video, in long-form videos and in Shorts.

The role of the hook. The viewer has already said "yes" twice: when they saw the thumbnail and when they read the title. Those two "yes" answers led them to click. If the hook doesn't deliver a third "yes," the viewer will close the video. This leads to low retention, which the YouTube algorithm does not reward.

Structure with multiple hooks:

1. First hook. Attention-grabbing opening seconds, roughly five seconds.
2. Second hook. The first block of the video, which should be as interesting as possible.
3. Final block. The last block should also be interesting so that the viewer watches the video through to the end.

Hook example: "Five mistakes I wish I'd known before my first million dollars." Then the second hook covers the first mistake. It should be presented as a trigger, for example through a missed opportunity or a major brand.

7. On-Camera Presence

Sincerity. The author should behave naturally on camera and not pretend. Viewers are sensitive to falsehood and gravitate toward sincerity. An image created for the audience is acceptable, for example "the know-it-all" or "the cheerful rude guy," but within that image the author must remain sincere.

A shortage of sincere bloggers. Petya English claims that Russian-language YouTube lacks simple and sincere bloggers. The author disagrees with this claim. In his observations, sincere, simple, and emotional bloggers are encountered often. In the author's view, Petya English mostly sees glamorous and artificial content in his recommendations.

8. Shorts and Long Videos

Petya English doesn't like Shorts, but he considers using them mandatory. The purpose of Shorts is to attract viewers to long videos. As an example, Petya English cites his video about Antarctica.

Petya English's position:

• Long videos reveal the topic. The short format should be used to draw audiences to long videos.
• The short format has no value in itself and is needed only to promote long videos.
• After one of his Shorts was published, according to Petya English, the number of views rose from 1,000 to 3,000 per minute.
• A hundred long videos, even with a small number of views, produce a long-term effect: leads, useful transitions, and sales.
• A hundred quality videos build audience trust. Viewers who trust the creator click the links in the description and buy the product.
• Petya believes the short format creates informational noise.

The author's position:

• The author objects to moving viewers from Shorts to long videos, because such viewers distort the statistics.
• The approach works for Petya English because he has a very large channel, and viewers follow him as they would a main character. The author gives an example: if a viewer sees a Short about a man who lives in a camper van with his Chinese wife and two cats, he will likely become interested in this man and move on to his long videos. By the author's estimate, this effect does not occur in 90% of cases on YouTube.
• The author agrees that long videos provide stronger feedback from viewers. Shorts have a short lifespan, while long videos can remain relevant for years and decades.

Clarification on "low views." The author assumes that by "low views," Petya English may mean results on the order of 100,000 views. Petya English himself says: "100,000 views is really not much."

9. Production Chain

After a video is created, it goes through several stages of preparation.

Stages in detail:

1. Editor. Petya English's right-hand person selects the key fragments, performs editing to music, and makes adjustments.
2. Creative producer. Reviews the edited material and specifies what needs to be added.
3. Repeat revisions. The editor, Petya English, and the producer make corrections in sequence, after which the material is reworked again.
4. Team approval. The entire team agrees that the video is ready.
5. Focus group. The video is sent not to YouTube, but to a focus group whose task is to critically analyze the video and identify its strengths.

Petya English's focus group:

• Consists of 20 people.
• Participants watch the video before publication and provide feedback.
• Participants do not see other participants' comments.
• Recruitment was conducted via stories: Petya English posted an announcement asking for helpers along with an application form.
• According to Petya English, publishing without feedback is equivalent to shouting into the void.
• Working with the focus group in the first and second months, according to Petya English, produced a multiple-fold increase in views. The quality of the content improved immediately.
• Cost: from 1,000 to 2,000 per participant per viewed video.

Production timelines. Petya English spends from 4 to 5 days on one video. The record production time was 13 days. Beyond the main stages, checks, double-checks, and work on hooks and other elements are required.

10. Burnout Prevention

Petya English uses several approaches to protect against burnout:

• A clear schedule and advertising contracts. The author releases two videos per month. A predetermined schedule makes it possible not to rush the creation of a video for the sake of a sponsored integration that the advertiser has paid for.
• An inner mission. Petya English is tired of the camera, filming, and constant travel, but he is not burning out, because his mission is to inspire motivation and provide value. He fulfills it with pleasure in every new video.

11. Growth Formula for the Petya English Channel

1. A concise channel concept and a unique hook.
2. Choosing an idea that could potentially reach tens to hundreds of thousands of views. The idea is found by researching the niche in different languages.
3. Checking whether the idea is feasible. The video should contain nothing superfluous, boring, or empty.
4. Developing the thumbnail and title.
5. Choosing a trigger that will keep the viewer watching, for example, through a celebrity.
6. Developing the hook: how to keep the viewer in the first seconds.
7. Script structure: the hook, a second hook, and an interesting final segment.
8. Filming, recording, editing, and a focus group. Without a focus group, the author can test the video independently.
9. Building a visual experience. To do this, you need to watch dozens, hundreds, and thousands of successful videos in your niche and beyond. Over time, the author begins to intuitively sense whether a video has viral moments.

Choosing examples to study. Do not watch the largest channels with millions or tens of millions of subscribers. Instead, study creators who were little known yesterday and have suddenly risen to the top today. The formula for success is contained in such "supernova" videos. Their results do not depend on time, established authority, or a loyal audience.