Why Every Cleo Abram Video Goes Viral (Interview)

After 5 years as a journalist at @Vox , @CleoAbram made the jump to solo-creator in 2022 with the launch of her show Huge If True and making videos with @NASA @mkbhd and @BostonDynamics. The ‘optimistic tech explainers’ explore everything from NASA’s supersonic planes to Formula 1, artificial wombs, quantum computers, and electric cars.

Thank you to Firebrand Media for filming this episode and VidSummit for providing the space.

Credit to David Mora's video "Why every Johnny Harris video goes viral" for inspiring the title of this video.

Previous title: The Art of Quitting Your Job to be a YouTuber (Cleo Abram Interview)

0:00 - 0:33 Who is Cleo Abram?
0:33 - 5:46 Leaving Vox to Start YT Channel
5:46 - 7:28 Cleo's first sponsorships
7:28 - 9:38 Hiring a team
9:38 - 11:56 Cleo’s 4-Step Video Process
11:56 - 16:18 Step 1: Pitch
16:18 - 20:47 What Are Key Visuals?
20:47 - 22:17 Step 2: Info Doc
22:17 - 23:56 Step 3: Outline
23:56 - 27:53 Step 4: Script
27:53 - 32:52 Lessons From Vox
31:15 - 35:43 Breaking Through Your Niche
35:43 - 44:16 Cleo’s Cold Email To NASA
44:16 - 48:48 How Do YouTubers Be Better Journalists?
48:48 - 51:04 Short Form Process
51:05 - 53:52 Future of YouTube

#Cleoabram #mkbhd #Hugeiftrue #Vox #NASA #YouTube #Creator #formula1 #elonmusk #journalism #technology #simonegiertz #marquesbrownlee #bostondynamics #applevisionpro #interview

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ABOUT JON:

One of few marketers to work at both YouTube and Instagram, Jon Youshaei has been featured in Business Insider, Time, and Inc Magazine and known as the "Creators' Creator"

During five years at YouTube, Jon was Head of Creator Product Marketing where he worked with YouTube's top creators and brands to grow their audience and their incomes. During three years at Instagram, Jon helped build their creator team to empower even more creators to grow and monetize.

Now a creator himself, Jon has garnered 500K+ followers, 300M+ views, and has interviewed Logan Paul, Paris Hilton, Terry Crews, Charli D'Amelio, Danny Duncan, Mark Rober, and more. He's been sponsored by top brands like American Express, HubSpot, Fiverr, and Microsoft and got signed by Gary Vaynerchuk to his speaking agency, VaynerSpeakers.

Jon is also a sought-after advisor, investor, and speaker who serves as a Head Creator Advisor for TubeBuddy (analytics platform used by 9M creators), and recognized by NPR as one of the best commencement speakers since 1774 alongside Steve Jobs, Oprah and John F. Kennedy. He has also been Forbes 30 Under 30 and LinkedIn named him as one of their Top Voices on the platform.

[CleoAbram]

Thank you for such a wonderful and detailed conversation, Jon! This was so much fun.

[matthew_berman]

The amount of care she has put into her brand is clear from this interview, and why she has grown on YT so quickly.

[MikeSigsworth]

I think her tag line of "If you like optimistic science" is what did it for me. Also, it's never clickbait! It's always worth the click.

[RbNetEngr]

Cleo is very humble, which makes her videos so much more enjoyable. She is also very intelligent, so when she conducts interviews with people to discuss complex topics, her questions and comments are very intelligent and well thought out, and reflect the questions that we (the audience) would want to be asking. Cleo’s success is a result of her personality, motivation, intelligence, and the strength of her team.

[aldunlop]

The best thing about Cleo's videos is that she never treats the viewer like a moron (like mass media channels do). Like if you watch a space travel news story on mass media they have to make some awkward cringe joke because the journos are morons who think being smart is weird and childish. Cleo's videos treat the audience as intelligent adults, although they can appeal to kids, she has infographics to help explain complex subjects and makes them relatable. Her presentation style is also friendly and welcoming. Her space suit video was terrific. If I had to make one any advice it would be to slow down a little bit, she tends to get excited about the subject and talks very fast at times.

[GeorgeHolden]

Love Cleo. This is the most intense note taking I've done while watching a podcast, she is truly ahead of the curve

[eartohear]

This is the equivalent to a YouTube course. Thank you for the free content!

[xurtis]

watching Cleo feels like technology journalism presented by an engineer with the communication capability of a journalist rather than a journalist an interest in technology and engineering. The focus is on the detail and the concrete goal for how the technology improves people's lives and the detail in the plan for getting there. Typical technology journalism seems focused on spectacle rather than detail either in service of how the technology is a disaster or that it will be revolutionary with no concrete information on how.

[leadgenjay]

Cleo's journey from Vox to YouTube is truly inspiring. For any entrepreneur looking to make a similar leap, diversifying your content across platforms can significantly amplify your reach. Also, don't underestimate the power of strategic collaborations to boost credibility and audience engagement.

[ThugDevil]

For me personally it was Cleo's enthusiasm and her delivery that really kept me engaged and maintaining peak interest. Cleo is a naturally curious human being, and it comes out genuinely.

[cf]

Some work their whole career working to master just the journalism part. She's how old and already systemically dissected and documented the process? And leads other people in it? Impressive.

[joshn]

Cleo is amazing, love her voice, love looking at her, but absolutely love how genuinely excited she is about the stuff she makes videos about, it's so much fun. Her content makes stuff like Mr. Beast look like a joke, her content is fun and you learn so much. It's brilliant and she's going to continue to become huge, because her personality is magnetic, it's so much fun to watch Huge if True.

[ivan.bucher]

She's a Keira Knightley look alike. Beauty attracts eyeballs and that's a good thing. Yet importantly, she's smart and purposeful and likeable and positive. She's a great example of doing the most with what you're given.

[gabrielgrassmayrtoo]

I love the way how Cloe has such a Traditional approach to modern media and succeeds with it

[SullyAfgarshe]

I think Cleo is one of the most thoughtful creators on YouTube. Her channel is genuinely informative and just fun to watch because she herself enjoys all the behind the scenes work and nuance that is required to produce captivating content.

[Cab]

Because 1) she's pretty 2) smart 3) great voice 4) makes high quality content. Why is this a surprise to anyone ?

[AsianFoodNerd]

🔥Cleo actually spends time on quality videos such as providing motion graphics. She is master visual storyteller.

[jogaway]

The best walkthroughs of process I've seen. My takeaways:
17:30 One of the things I care a lot about is that I’m not the main character of my show. I am the proxy for the audience and I introduce them to a new main character in every episode.
19:48 The visual needs to actually help the explanation. Is it answering the question? Is it doing explanatory work? If you’re saying ‘this’ it’s a cue for a key visual.
28:25 Never underestimated your audience’s intelligence and never overestimate their prior knowledge. No jargon. No acronyms. Very simple language but very complex ideas.
Keep head and hands as close together as possible. The person who came up with the idea should be involved in the work.

[Lighthouse_Leadership]

Can I like this more than once??

I’ve watched this twice now. @ChloeAbram is absolutely brilliant and I could listen to her talk all day. I’d be so much smarter at the end of that day on so many topics. Film making, story telling, tech. Amazing human.

And this is my introduction to this channel. Amazing interview, great questions. And no notes?? Surely loads of prep - but then contemporaneous questions for an hour? Is that really what’s happening here? Man! 👏👏

[kapitidon]

What sets Cleo apart is the integrity and quality of her journalism. She doesn't come with an agenda: which is science and technology is rare these days. Her investigations and research are second to none. Her enthusiasm sells her product. Any expert who doesn't allow her access to their project would miss out on the best quality exposure.
Thank you Joe and Cloe for being honest YouTubers