youtube-rl-tracker

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name: youtube-rl-tracker description: Track YouTube video performance for "poor man's reinforcement learning" - learn what thumbnails, titles, and hooks work license: MIT compatibility: opencode metadata: service: notion, youtube category: content

What I Do

Track YouTube video performance to discover patterns in what works. This is "poor man's reinforcement learning" - manually logging outcomes to improve over time.

The RL Loop

Copy1. PUBLISH  -> Upload video with hypothesis (thumbnail style, title hook, topic)
2. WAIT     -> Let it run for 48-72 hours
3. LOG      -> Record in Notion with views, CTR, retention
4. ANALYZE  -> Compare winners vs losers
5. REPEAT   -> Apply learnings to next video

Key Insight from First Data Point

Video 1: "Using AI agents to pay bills and send invoices"

• 8 views in 1 day
• Plain talking head thumbnail
• Generic title

Video 2: "Paying My Contractor Through Claude | AI-Powered Finance"

• 133 views in 5 days (16x better!)
• Thumbnail shows: Face + Product UI overlay + Text "I Let AI Pay My Bills"
• Title has: Specific action + Brand name (Claude) + Category tag

What Made Video 2 Win:

1. Thumbnail has TEXT overlay - "I Let AI Pay My Bills" creates curiosity
2. Shows the PRODUCT - UI screenshot proves it's real, not just talk
3. Face + Context - Person looking at the UI, not just talking
4. Specific title - "Paying My Contractor" > "pay bills" (concrete vs abstract)
5. Brand name in title - "Claude" attracts AI-interested audience
6. Category tag - "AI-Powered Finance" helps discoverability

Hypothesis to Test:

Thumbnails with TEXT + PRODUCT UI + FACE outperform plain talking head thumbnails by 10x+

Database Schema

Core Fields (Outcomes)

Input Features (What You Controlled)

Reference Fields

First Entry: The Baseline

CopyVideo 1 (LOSER):
- Title: "Using AI agents to pay bills and send invoices"
- Views: 8
- Days Live: 1
- Thumbnail Style: Talking Head
- Has Text: No
- Has Product: No
- Title Hook: How-To
- Has Brand: No
- Notes: Plain talking head, generic title, no visual hook

Video 2 (WINNER):
- Title: "Paying My Contractor Through Claude | AI-Powered Finance"
- Views: 133
- Days Live: 5
- Views/Day: 26.6
- Thumbnail Style: Face+UI
- Has Text: Yes ("I Let AI Pay My Bills")
- Has Product: Yes (shows invoice payment UI)
- Title Hook: Story
- Has Brand: Yes (Claude)
- Notes: Text overlay creates curiosity, UI proves it's real, specific action in title

Thumbnail Patterns to Test

Based on initial data:

Title Patterns to Test

Weekly Review Process

1. Sort by Views/Day - normalize for time live
2. Filter by Worked? = true - what patterns emerge?
3. Group by Thumbnail Style - which visuals win?
4. Group by Title Hook - which hooks work?
5. Compare Has Text vs No Text - does text help?
6. Compare Has Brand vs No Brand - do brand names help?

Integration with YouTube Studio Skill

Use skill("youtube-studio") to:

• Upload new videos with test hypotheses
• Update thumbnails based on learnings
• Track which changes improve performance

Reference Image

The winning thumbnail (133 views) vs losing thumbnail (8 views):

Key visual differences:

• Winner: Face looking at UI, text overlay "I Let AI Pay My Bills", product screenshot visible
• Loser: Plain talking head against brick wall, no text, no product context