While he’s often compared to everyone’s favourite blond-haired, hot-tempered celebrity chef, this Gordon Ramsay look-alike does a different kind of cooking.
Known for his videos on various informational and opinion-driven topics within the realm of F1, Aldas first started on YouTube in 2018, and since then, his community has grown to 162K subscribers where he sits today.
Last Friday we had the amazing opportunity to chat with Aldas about his experience as an F1 content creator over the last couple of years.
What got you into F1 in the first place, and how did you get into being an F1 content creator?
So in terms of Formula One, it was quite natural for me because I’ve always been into cars, and Formula One just seemed to make sense, I grew up watching a lot of Top Gear on TV so that helped a lot.
But to be honest, content creation was never on the table while I was in school, I never thought about doing it. But as I started watching Formula One more and more in 2016-17, I tried to look for people to talk to about Formula One.
So it started as something I’d do if I had time in between my studies, to talk about a race or something, but then I started making money off of it, and all of a sudden, I realised it could be a career for me.
Was there anybody you specifically looked up to in the industry that guided your content? or is it something that you figured out along the way?
In 2019- 2020, which was around the time when I started doing YouTube, there were only about 3 or 4 channels with over 100,000 subscribers, that did IRL content talking about Formula One.
It was still a super new space, but channels like The F1 Word were really open to doing content with me early on, so definitely those kinds of people.
Over the last 5 years, What has it been like jumping from 10,000 to 162,000 subscribers? Does it feel different talking to 10,000 versus 160,000 people?
“Talking to a bigger audience hasn’t changed much, and it’s actually one of the reasons why I called my channel my name because, at its core, my content has always just been my opinion. So whether it was two subscribers, or 100,000, or 200,000, it’s always been based on this idea of sharing my thoughts with the F1 audience.
There was a change in my mentality in 2020 when I made it my full-time job, and I was constantly looking to improve the quality of my videos and raise the level of my content.
But it was a scary one, taking that leap, especially going to my parents and saying, well, I’m graduating now, but what do you think about me making videos on the internet for a year?
In a media world that’s pushing towards short-form content? Is it difficult to maintain your success on YouTube through long-form content?
It’s definitely viable and long-term. I think there are pros and cons to both, but my channel has never been really about short-form content in the first place. It’s just not what I do.
I like talking, if you couldn’t tell, so short-form content has never been my niche. It’s always been those longer-form, almost docu-series videos that are 10, 15, 20 minutes long.
I’ve always kept it long-form content because that’s what has allowed me to make a living off of this, and I think that’s what my audience wants.
What keeps you motivated and prevents you from burning out through those periods of low viewership?
Content creation is like every other job, even if you enjoy it, there are always going to be rough moments. And I’ve had loads of rough months and weeks where videos didn’t do well.
“But I think it’s about having a really good mentality, if you enjoy what you’re doing, you’ve just gotta ride the rough with the smooth. That’s when it’s really tested how much you love what you do. But, as long as you keep improving that’s the important thing. “
What do you do differently when you experience massive upticks in viewership over a couple or even just one video? How do you capitalize on that?
It’s just about analyzing YouTube closely, so when you do have a moment where some videos pop off, you can find out why those videos are doing well, and how you could replicate that going forward.
Not in the exact same way, since you don’t want to create the same content over and over again, but finding what engages your audience and working from that.
And it’s a balance as well, I’ve had a few short-form videos in the past that did really well, but I didn’t continue to make them because it wasn’t what motivated me. So, while it’s important to use those analytics to find content that engages your audience, you should make the kind of content you are motivated by.
Do you find it difficult to find content to talk about during those off-seasons?
“I know how dry the off-season can be for viewership. It always goes down in that December / early January period, and I remember the first time it happened, I was shocked, thinking “Oh my God, is my channel dying?”.
But I got used to it, and I know it’s just something that happens, it’s part of riding that wave out, you just have to trust the process.
It’s not as difficult now, I always plan ahead of time, months in advance, for the videos I’m going to make during that dry period. I try to focus on history videos or other kinds of evergreen content that’s always going to be relevant, even when nothing is going on in the F1 world.”
If you could meet and collaborate with any F1 driver who would it be?
“I mean literally anyone would be amazing. I think it’d be amazing to hear from drivers like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, especially the older drivers who not only have won stuff, but just have such a wide breadth of life experiences. Anyone would be amazing, I think Max (Verstappen) would be interesting as well, but Lewis and Fernando are my #1 and #2.”
