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TacticalRab has become synonymous with Call of Duty news. If something happens in the competitive CoD scene, you go to his channel. It's a reflex, at this point.

His ability to cement himself as one of the primary news sources in the genre has been impressive, to say the least. And today, we're going to detail 5 principles that have helped him rise to success. Let's discuss.

Every day. Twice per day. For a long time.

That's Rab's cadence when it comes to posting on YouTube — and it's the primary reason for his rise to prominence.

What's even more impressive is his ability to maintain that consistency while dealing with a full workload in university. As a student myself and content creator myself, I can't imagine maintaining a twice daily upload schedule.

When you post that consistently, for long enough, you're going to strike gold at some point. It's almost inevitable, and that seems to be what happened for Rab. He's been posting for 6 years on his main channel. However, it wasn't until about 2 years ago that his channel took off.

And, this inflection point didn't occur on accident. What changed?

Well, if you look back at his older videos, you'll see a lot of gameplay montages and strategy analysis. Those videos racked up around 800-1000 views, on average. Not bad, but not quite "full time" content creator numbers.

Then, the shift happened. About 2 years ago, Rab began posting less gameplay videos and more Call of Duty news videos.

The first video that took off was covering 100 Thieves' acquisition of Kenny and Fero. It racked up 10k views — a 1000% improvement from the previous average view count. Shortly after, a Rostermania rumor video almost quadrupled the views on the 100T announcement video, with 38k. The rest is history.

Now, I don't know if he removed any older videos from his channel that impact that exact timeline, but the overall point still stands:

Rab likely wouldn't have hit that inflection point without consistency. He'd had been uploading for years prior to identifying a content format that took off for him.

That original focus on consistency hasn't gone anywhere, and it continues to work in his favor today. As I mentioned before , his current upload cadence is twice daily. It's almost inhuman, but it works. Here's why:

• 1 - Similar to his origin story, posting so often is bound to result in a video that over-performs. Rab gives himself more opportunities to succeed. And, when a video overperforms and ranks well in search, it can bring in new viewers for months on end.

  Recently, another pair of notable YouTubers, Colin & Samir, posted on Twitter that 3 videos accounted for over half of their views in 2020. By posting frequently, Rab gives himself more opportunities to land on one of those pillar videos.

• 2 - His consistency raises his view-count "floor." YouTube channels garner a certain amount of views daily. By increasing the amount of new videos in circulation, that number increases. Simply put, there are more opportunities for new viewers to find his content — and more content for his current subs to binge.

• 3 - The sheer amount of content on the channel increases the chances of somebody binging his content. This racks up watch-time on the channel, and increases the chances of that viewer being served Rab's content in the future — turning a first time viewer into a loyal subscriber.

  Here's an example. Let's say someone found one of Rab's videos and enjoyed it. If his channel only had 3 other videos on it, there's a finite amount of watch time that the new viewer could bring in for the channel. But, because Rab has a large amount of content on his channel, it's easier for viewer's to fall down the rabbit hole of his content — thus, more watch time.

Next time that user opens the app, there's a solid chance that a TacticalRab video will be one of the first videos recommended on that user's "browse" page. The cycle repeats daily, thanks to Rab's cadence.

The common thread among all three points is that his consistency gives viewers more opportunities to discover, and get hooked on, his content.

Takeaway: No, you don't need to upload twice daily. In most genres, you probably shouldn't. But, you would do well to adopt Rab's level of consistency — just on a slightly less frequent upload schedule. Whether it's once per wee, three times per week, or daily, pick a cadence that you can adhere to religiously for a significant amount of time.

Let me start by saying this. Regardless of the principles discussed in this section, a twice daily upload schedule doesn't happen without pure dedication and willpower. Nothing can make it "easy."

But, some techniques can make it slightly less difficult.

First, Rab doesn't have to "come up with" his video topics — the topics present themselves to him. Since he covers Call of Duty news, potential videos emerge all over his Twitter timeline on a daily basis.

Whether it be pro player drama, CDL news updates, or anything of the other madness in the CoD scene... there's no shortage of topics to report. At this point, viewers proactively tag Rab on Twitter in potential drama, news, etc.

For example, a couple of weeks ago there was drama between Crimsix (no surprise) and Neptune, two pro CoD players. The feud provided content for 3+ separate videos, all of which performed well.

Here's another example. Last week, the Call of Duty League unveiled their in-game team packs. They included gun camos for each CDL team, which got quite the (negative) response from the competitive community.

Yet again, this provided fuel for a TacticalRab video that raked in 24k+ views. Such examples are endless, but you get the point. Rab is able to harvest relevant, interesting content straight from the Twitter timeline.

Second, most videos take on a similar format. Rab hops on camera and runs down the news of the day. There isn't much creative work that needs to go into develop a profound new concept. The format of the videos also requires minimal editing, which aids even more in the workflow.

As a result, Rab is able to pump out seemingly endless videos, without losing momentum.

His thumbnails also follow a consistent format. The vibrant colors, the text in the bottom left corner, etc. If you see a TacticalRab thumbnail, you know it's Rab. There's no question.

Not only is this great for branding; it also helps take even more creative stress off of Rab, since he doesn't have to formulate an entire thumbnail from scratch.

Takeaway: Don't make the process unnecessarily hard for yourself. Once you find a content format that you enjoy — and that performs well — don't be afraid to run with it. Of course, test up varying concepts over time, but don't stress yourself out so much that it leads to a lack of creation.

In short, work smarter and harder.

You can create an amazing video, but it won't get any traction if nobody sees it.

So, how do you get more people to see your video?

One way is to put more effort into your titles. See, YouTube is a search engine — the second largest search engine in the world, actually.

So, titling your videos in a way that makes them show up in search is one of the most effective ways to get your content in front of more people. This is called search engine optimization (SEO). To do this, you need to include words and phrases in your title that people are actively looking for when they come to YouTube.

Rab does this perfectly. Every title includes at least 2-3 key words that viewers are actively searching for. Take this title, for example:

"LA Thieves DEMOLISHED in OpTic Scrims?!. Can They RECOVER for CDL?"

There's "LA Thieves," "OpTic," and "CDL" in the title — all terms that viewers would be searching for, whether they watch Rab or not.

Another example:

"Pros FUMING as League Play AWFUL?!. BROKEN Jump in Cold War Update?"

In this title, we have "League Play" and "Cold War Update."

Since Rab posts so often, it's reasonable to assume that at least one of his videos is ranking in a high-volume search fairly often. A single video might not stay there for more than a few hours or days, but that's fine. As long as Rab maintains his cadence, he'll (likely) have videos in search.

Occasionally, a video has the potential to remain ranked in search. This results in the "pillar" content mentioned before, and can bring in views for months or years to come.

Takeaway: Especially as a smaller, newer YouTube creator, being mindful of search engine optimization (SEO) is a great way to gain traction. It's not a golden ticket to virality — nothing is. But, it can increase your chances of a video gaining traction.

So, think about how you can phrase your titles in a way that includes popular search terms. This could be a whole article in and of itself, but hopefully you understand the basic premise here.

I'm sure you've heard this before, but it bears repeating. The video itself doesn't matter if you can't get people to click on it. While the statement may be a hyperbole, there's truth to it.

So, how do you get people to click?

Create titles and thumbnails that drive curiosity. Don't give all the answers away upfront. Leave the viewer hanging, just a little bit — just enough to click on your video. That's called the information gap. To fill in that gap, they need to watch your video.

YouTube superstars like MrBeast have been on record saying that they spend just as much time on the title and thumbnail as they do on the video itself — for good reason.

Take this title from one of Rab's videos, for example:

CDL Team Camos ROASTED?!. Disappointing for Cold War!! 😬

When you read that title, a few questions come to mind. Why were people roasting the new CDL camos? Were they really that disappointing? Does what I think of the camos match up with the rest of the community?

And to answer those questions, you need to watch the video. An alternate title, "Cold War CDL Team Camos Recap," just doesn't have the same flare to it.

On the surface, this might feel like clickbait. It depends on what your definition of clickbait is. I'd beg to differ. Any good title should be working to get clicks — that's its job.

True "clickbait" is when you promise something in the title that isn't delivered on in the video itself. For example, if Rab were to title a video "Scump EXPOSED for cheating??" and then mention nothing of Scump cheating in the video... that's clickbait.

That doesn't happen though. Rab delivers on expectations created by the titles. He answers all of the questions that viewers have in their heads. He's just great at wording the titles in a way that makes viewers want to click.

When it comes to growth on YouTube, there are 2 core behaviors that matter:

• Get people to click.

• Keep people watching.

If you can accomplish these two simple, yet monumental tasks, your channel will be in a good spot.

The previous section discussed how Rab gets viewers to click, now let's break down how get gets people to stick around.

The first key here is to just put out good content. Create videos that your audience wants to see. Deliver on the promise you make in the title and thumbnail. It's stupid simple, but it's true.

Rab does this with every video. No matter the title, he delivers on it. And, he's consistently publishing the type of content that his core audience wants to see. He's covering all of the latest drama in the CoD scene, he's covering the latest updates related to the competitive scene, etc...

Now, the topics matter, but so does the way you present it. Think about a professor lecturing on a topic. It could be a subject you're super interested in. But, if the professor sounds like a depressed robot, good luck staying engaged...

Thankfully, Rab doesn't sound like a depressed robot. Rather, he's sure to present the daily news with high energy. And more subtly, there are minimal pauses throughout the video. There are no long breaths between statements. He presents the information at a rapid pace, and this keeps the viewer engaged throughout the video.

Also, the visuals on screen change to match whatever Rab is discussing at the moment. Most of the visuals he needs can be found on Twitter, so they require little or no editing to include in the video. This goes back to point #2 when we analyzed how he's able to streamline his process.

Another subtle, but relevant, feature of his videos that can help with retention is the background. Rather than a static image or texture, Rab rocks an animated background in most of his videos. I'm not sure if this was an intentional choice focused on viewer retention — but, the motion of the background elements is another simple way to keep viewers from getting bored.

Of course, in relation to the topic and delivery, the background graphics likely have minimal impact on retention. But, it's worth it if it results in even a slight increase in viewer retention.

Takeaway: If you're creating content on YouTube, view retention matters — a lot. There are a view ways the optimize this: create content around a topic that your viewers care about, deliver the content in a way that's engaging, consider faster paced delivery & edits (if that's your style), and look for little opportunities to bump that retention rate up!

Looking back on this case study, I want to make it abundantly clear that the key principle you should walk away with is Rab's consistency.

If you can do this — whether 1x per week, 3x per week, etc — you'll be in a great spot in a few years. It's not the exciting answer, but it's the answer.

Here's a quick recap of what Rab does excels at with his content:

• He's relentless with his consistency.

• He's standardized his production process.

• He creates titles that get YouTube to show people his videos.

• He creates titles and thumbnails that drive clicks.

• He delivers his content in a way that's good for retention.

I'm stoked to see what Rab continues to do in the future. This is only the beginning for him, and he's already gained an impressive amount of traction.

I also want to highlight yet again that even with these strategies, YouTube growth doesn't happen overnight. It takes a serious amount of time to hone in on a content genre and format that works. And even if you have said format, it still takes time for it to gain real traction. These principles can simply help reduce that learning curve.

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Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.

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