The channel was a month old. The makeover did 4.5 million views.
them. was Condé Nast’s first LGBTQ+ brand, and its YouTube channel started with nobody watching. This is what a launch looks like from the inside, when the first videos have to find their own audience.
Watch the full Drag Me playlist on YouTube →Starting from zero
A new channel has nothing to lean on. Nobody is waiting for the upload, and YouTube has no history to recommend it from. So the first videos have to work for people who have never heard of you, and they have to be the reason anyone finds out you exist.
What I worked on
I worked on the channel’s first video franchises, from set design to shoots to delivery. them. opened with Former Bullies, where queer adults sit down across from the people who bullied them in school. Drag Me followed in the first month: Gia Gunn gives Kyle Krieger the full drag treatment.
What happened
Gia Gunn’s makeover did 4.5 million views, on a channel that has about 280,000 subscribers today. That is roughly sixteen views for every subscriber, which only happens when a video travels well past the people who already follow you.
Also from the launch
If you have a channel nobody is watching yet, I would like to hear about it.