James Jani is a documentary YouTuber who is known for videos on niches like business, money, life and entrepreneurship.
In today’s article, Thedistin.com would look at his early life, what he was doing before YouTube, his first video, how he beat the YouTube algorithm, net worth, how much he earns per video, and many more.
Age
According to another YouTuber of the same niche as James Jani called Magnate Media, James is 20 years old.
Hometown
James Jani is based in England, United Kingdom
YouTube Channel Information and journey
James’ channel explores discoveries and perspectives on various topics through entertaining documentary-style videos!
On 27 January 2020, James Jani posted his first YouTube video and publicly set a goal of 1,000 subscribers by 2021. James’ first video was titled “Is University Worth It Anymore? My Honest Advice on the state of universities in 2020”.
In reality, he ended up reaching over half a million subscribers.
And if you make videos yourself, you’ll know the YouTube algorithm is like your God. It can bury you or it can change your life.
In James’ case, and in just a couple of months, he went from $0 to over $30,000 a month in YouTube ad revenue alone.
And at just 20 years old, in less than 10 videos, he now averages more than 10x the views of some of the biggest business and entrepreneurship channels.
Early Life and how he turned into a YouTuber
James Jani originally planned to be an actor, but after failing to get into the drama school he wanted, and having virtually nothing in his bank account, he decided he needed to figure out a way of making money.
A few google searches later, and he found himself in the world of online entrepreneurship.
Here, he heard a lot of bad advice which would later lead to his ‘fake guru’ video, but he also heard some useful lessons, such as the simple concept of making money by creating solutions to problems which would eventually lead to an idea.
“The problem that I noticed was a lot of ingenious people in the entrepreneurship niche on YouTube. The solution that I came up with was getting into that space with more a genuine voice but also standing our with what I learned through my acting and bringing that into the niche as well”, James Jani revealed.
And so when the pandemic hit, and James found himself out of work, it meant he had time to double down on this idea for a YouTube channel.
And thus he began learning video editing, and researching how the YouTube algorithm works.
And whilst you may think from here it was all sailing after 5 months of doing YouTube, James Jani had about 400 subscribers.
It was actually in the next 2 months where the magic would happen because without posting a single extra video, his subscribers increased to over a quarter of a million. What did the hell happen?
How James Beat The YouTube Algorithm
“And I just wake up one morning, I just go through my morning routine, and I looked at my phone and I see normally I get like 0-10 views an hour, and suddenly it’s 15-25”, James Jani revealed when speaking about his breakthrough.
YouTube started recommending its content to others. But then, the insanity began. The views per hour kept rising. 100 views an hour. 1000 views an hour. 5000 views an hour the number jumped up and the momentum kept building.
“It was just nonstop, my heart was going crazing nonstop”, surprising James Jani stated.
Now, you have heard that nobody knows how the algorithm works, and it is true that nobody knows all of the exact intricacies, because it uses machine learning.
However, we definitely know enough, including what the algorithm looks for when it decides which videos to promote.
The basics of YouTube algorithm
The YouTube algorithm wants to keep people on as long as possible – that means the viewers have a good experience, they consume more content, and as a result, they see more ads so YouTube can make more money.
But of course, the algorithm can’t judge what’s good content, it relies on user data. And whilst there are countless metrics it looks at, there are two (2) big ones that matter most:
Number one is Watch Time: how much time do people spend watching a video and what percent do they watch?.
And number two is Click Through Rate: which means when YouTube displays the video, what percent actually click on it?
And this makes sense, YouTube has limited spaces to recommend videos so they’re going to promote the ones that people watch more and click on more.
However, you might be sat there thinking this is pretty common knowledge, and it doesn’t really give us anything practical to focus on. So, what did James figure out that most creators don’t?
James Jani’s 4 strategies that beat the YouTube Algorithm
James Jani’s strategies fall under 4 key things, these are packaging, emotion, scarcity, and mass appeal. These are best explained below;
#1
The Packaging
When it comes to YouTube, information is a commodity, there is no shortage of people talking about pretty much any subject imaginable, including the topics James talks about; entrepreneurship, money, and business.
James’ most popular video titled “The untold truth about money: how to build wealth” is highly based on the books of M.J DeMarco who also has a channel where you can hear from him directly, and yet, it has far fewer views. This is because, with YouTube, the crucial part is not just the information itself but the way the information is delivered and packaged. And yet, many people focus on what they are going to say and not how they are going to present it.
Unpredictability
And so, one great way James really hooks attention is keeping his videos unpredictable. You don’t know if it’s going to be an animation next, a movie scene, a YouTube clip, or James talking.
His videos are filled with all these different elements, and so of course that’s going to keep people watching longer than if the whole video is just a single shot of someone speaking to a camera.
Story
Another way James keeps his videos more engaging is by using stories. Because once a story starts we instinctively want to keep watching to know how it ends.
For example, in James’ most watch video “The untold truth about money: how to build wealth”, where he had a prologue asking you to come on this journey with him, and then in the next part he puts forward the problem that gets you amped up before eventually getting to the solution. It’s like he’s guiding you through the topic from start to finish and so a lot more people watch to the very end of the video, which we know the algorithm loves.
#2
Emotion
Research has shown that almost all viral videos have one thing in common; they elicit an emotional response – joy, fear, laughter, outrage. It doesn’t matter if your emotion is either positive or negative, what matters is the content makes you feel something.
Background music
One simple but massively underutilized way of influencing this is the music of your videos. Whereas most YouTubers just slap a random repetitive generic song behind their content, James clearly spends a long time searching the exact track that sets the vibe of the video.
Connection
Another way of creating a deeper emotional connection is by talking directly into the camera.
He hits on real pain points for people and makes the video feel personalized to them. However, despite all these engaging emotional triggers he uses, James would not have had such explosive growth if it weren’t for his third factor;
#3
Scarcity
Now, if you look for YouTube advice, you’ll constantly hear that you need to post more. And sure, consistency is good but not at the expense of quality. The idea of just churning out videos every day can often lead to burnout with very little to show for it.
Because it is incredibly hard to make a video that has great watch time without putting much thought into it. That’s why James literally plans and scripts his videos before filming anything.
Well, this might not work for everybody but think of it this way, if you have 10 hours of creating videos, I think creating 1 amazing video has so many advantages over cranking out 10 average videos. This is because it increases click-through rate and watches time, an important YouTube metric.
Just like most things in life, Scarcity increases perceived value and it also increases channels returning victors.
Priorities quality over quantity. Build up a reputation as a channel of quality so that when people want more content, they’re left looking forward to your next video wanting to go through your back catalogue of old videos. Each video feels more special and has that instant click factor.
#4
Wide Appeal
A crucial thing to bear in mind is that viral videos almost always tend to have a pretty general appeal that almost anyone could enjoy because it means YouTube can keep pushing it to a wider audience.
He focuses on niche topics like the fake guru video but he presents the information in a way even if you are brand new to the concept, you can still enjoy the video and find it interesting.
Fame Jacking
To increase wide appeal, one way to go about it is to fame jack. Fame jacking is where one rides the waves of someone else’s fame.
This is done by using other well-known people in your niche as thumbnails or include a small part of their videos in yours. The audience probably recognizes some of the people in your video and they are always eager to click to same these familiar faces.
Searchability
YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world, integrated with the first, google, to focus on keyword phrases that people are actually in the search box like specific questions, is a great way to reach a wider audience.
For example, James is the top for “is university worth it?” – an incredibly searchable question that so many people have. Whereas nobody is searching for “my thoughts on uni or uni vlog”.
So focusing on searchable evergreen content that people can keep discovering for years to come, can give your videos a much wider reach.
The best YouTube keyword tool for your researchable terms and VidlQ and Tube Buddy that can help find keywords just make sure you can repeat them your titles, tags, the start of the description, and video file name to maximize the chance of ranking for it.
How to gets traffic when you have 0 subscribers?
Promotion
James Jani posted teaser clips on his social media, shared links on relevant subreddits, some forums, and in a non-spammy way. And also, got his name out there by commenting on other YouTube channels in a similar niche.
Other most asked questions about James Jani:
What video editing tool does James Jani use?
James Jani uses editing tools like SkillShare to learn video editing. SkillShare is an online community with thousands of inspiring classes.
In particular, James said he really likes Daniel Scott’s premiere pro essential class and that has helped him learn a large amount of the technique.
How is James able to legally use other people’s copyrighted content?
The short answer is that the way he does it falls under fair use.
How James comes by with his thumbnails?
He browsers YouTube more often and when he stumbles on a thumbnail that catches his eye, he downloads it into his folder of inspiration when it comes to making his own.
James Jani net worth
James Jani is a famous YouTuber with more than 929K subscribers, his main source of income is from YouTube. Unfortunately, there is no information available about his income or Net Worth.
However, James Jani makes over $30,000 revenue from each of the videos he uploads on YouTube. From this, it is estimated that James Jani has a net worth of $1.2 million.
James Jani website
James has been promoting a particular website called patreon.com on his social media pages.
Below is an overview of James Jani
| Real Name | James Jani |
| Date of Birth | Not Known |
| Age | 20 |
| Hometown | England, United Kingdom |
| YouTube channel name | James Jani |
| Subscribers | 929K Subscribers |
| The date he joined YouTube | Joined Dec 5, 2019 |
| Total Views till now | 17 videos |
| Total number of videos | 22,792,389 views |
| Most viewed video | The Untold Truth About Money: How To Build Wealth From Nothing with 7.4 million views |
| Instagram account | @james.v.j |
| Revenue per video | $30,000 |
| Net worth | $1 million |
| Video editing tool | SkillShare, Daniel Scott’s premiere pro |
| Education | He was a drama student |
| Investing website | Patreon.com |
| Twitter account | @jamesvjani |