Why Most youtubers lose 30%-50% of viewers within the first 30 seconds of their video starting...

1.Instant title & thumbnail delivery 

This might seem obvious, but when people click on a video, they want to see what they came for. The best intros give instant delivery. Ryan Trahan even recreates his thumbnail as the opening shot here...

2.Jumping into a storyline 

The earlier the first storyline/challenge/point can begin the better. If you look at a typical retention curve, the best holds are during these moments, we don't need 2 minutes of build up to get there.

3.Cutting down unnecessary context  

This follows on nicely from the first 2 points. The biggest mistake I see is WAY too much context. People feel the need to overexplain what's about to happen, show don't tell, where-ever possible.

4.Putting your best foot forward

A lot of people are stuck in the mindset of ''saving'' the best moment. Often it works better to stack the opening of the video with the best moments. I've helped pull 300m+ views on reaction content, we put the best clip first. Always.

5.Setting some level of stakes

Beyond just action, intros need a compelling reason to keep watching. This comes down to your idea in the first place, is there a challenge/enemy/problem you need to overcome? Could you add a forfeit/reward?

6.Flow into the rest of the video

The best intro, doesn't feel like an intro. Don't use highlight reels / cinematic b-roll / fancy transition sequences. The data from 1000s of videos shows these moments placed right after an intro lead to heavy retention fall off.

7.Set a goal

Intros are heavily influenced by how many views a video gets, the niche, the content format etc... so this tip needs to be taken with context, but set a goal to increase your average retention at 30 seconds by an extra 5%. You'll be amazed by the results.