Tag: monthly report

In September, I spent 34 hours and released nothing. October increased to 41 hours and produced a single episode — progress, but not momentum.

This is the third Social Media Monthly Report — part of an ongoing effort to show what it takes to build a creative media business from the ground up. The goal isn’t performance; it’s documentation. What works, what doesn’t, and how much time disappears between the two.

October was a slow grind back toward momentum — progress measured mostly in wasted hours.

Executive Summary

October’s target was straightforward:

• Publish 4 videos.
• Invest ~40 hours, with post-production under 50%. 

The aim was to hold a steady output before adding specific targets for views, watch time, or subscribers. Instead, I tried to rebuild the lost momentum from the previous month with limited results. Being away from the camera for so long resulted in wasted production efforts. Some shoots were too poor to use, leading to repeated work that could have been avoided if I weren’t so rusty. Inconsistency remains the major factor plaguing the channel.

Here is the month in numbers.

Key Metrics

	SEP	OCT	Change
Impressions	2,353	8,547	+6,194
Views	138	448	+410
Click-through Rate (CTR)	3.8%	3.6%	-0.2 pp
Total Watch Time (Hours)	7.4	26.6	+19.2
Subscribers	175	182	+7

A single upload this month, compared to none last month, naturally increased impressions — no surprise there. Views and watch hours remain low, and CTR held steady; the problem is still output, not packaging. 

Production Breakdown

	SEP (Hours)	SEP (%)	OCT (Hours)	OCT (%)
Pre-Production	13.00	39%	8.00	20%
Production	3.00	9%	12.50	30%
Post-Production	7.25	21%	10.75	26%
Publishing	0	0%	0.25	1%
Marketing	4.67	14%	1.50	4%
Other	5.75	17%	8.00	20%
Total	33.67	100%	41.00	100%

Of the 41 hours, 20% went into production—mostly shooting and reshooting the same two episodes. One episode was successfully released and the second is in the final stages of post-production — with ~4 hours of work needed for release. Video editing accounted for about 10% of the time; the drop in post-production hours happened because the second video is still not finished, not because editing got faster.

The failed production sessions caused frustration, broke momentum, and led to mundane admin work that didn’t move the channel. Given that pattern, here’s what has to change.

After-Action Notes

Continuing to claw back momentum remains the priority. The main bottleneck is spillage—production waste, the time invested that never turns into a finished episode. Every input hour must move something forward. With a one-man schedule, there’s little margin for inefficiency; progress depends on focus, not volume.

Next Month (November 2025)

The goals are simple:

• Publish 4 videos.
• Invest ~40 hours, with post-production under 50%.
• Minimal waste: Under 5% of time invested in other tasks. Zero spillage in production hours.

The aim is still to hold this output steady for the next six months before adding specific targets for views, watch time, or subscribers. The key is consistency and regaining momentum.

Closing

This is the cost of doing the work — measured in hours, not hype. October was about regaining motion through waste; November is about keeping motion while cutting the waste down. One month, one set of numbers, one small step towards consistent rhythm.

For those who prefer the full data in one go, I’ve pulled the charts into a short deck. The “boardroom version” of this report — 45 seconds, numbers only.

This is the third in a monthly series. The next Social Media Monthly Report will follow in December (after month-end). If you want to keep track of how the numbers move, subscribe.

August took ~35 hours to produce two episodes of The Photography Channel. September took ~34 hours and produced none. Zero releases this month. 

This is the second in a series of Social Media Monthly Reports. Each month, I’ll share numbers, hours, and notes that show what it actually takes to build a creative media business. Even if it means revealing the ugly truth.

Executive Summary

September’s target was straightforward:

• Publish 4 videos.
• Invest ~60 hours, with post-production under 50%.
• Streamline editing to save time.
• Track the same KPIs as August for month-over-month comparison.

The aim was to hold a steady output before adding specific targets for views, watch time, or subscribers. Instead, I tried to recreate outliers, chased perfection, and ended up with nothing: target hours were not met, zero videos were released, and inconsistency remains the major factor plaguing the channel.

Here is the month in numbers.

Key Metrics

	AUG	SEP	Change
Impressions	7970	2353	-5570
Views	461	138	-323
Click-through Rate (CTR)	4%	3.8%	-0.2 pp
Total Watch Time (Hours)	20.9	7.4	-13.5
Subscribers	174	175	+1

No uploads meant fewer impressions, fewer views, and a sharp drop in watch time. CTR held steady; the problem was output, not packaging. 

This is what a zero-release month yields.

Production Breakdown

	AUG (Hours)	AUG (%)	SEP (Hours)	SEP (%)
Pre-Production	9.25	27%	13.00	39%
Production	3.42	10%	3.00	9%
Post-Production	18.08	52%	7.25	21%
Publishing	0.50	1%	0	0%
Marketing	0	0%	4.67	14%
Other	3.50	10%	5.75	17%
Total	34.75	100%	33.67	100%

Out of 33.67 hours, 39% went into pre-production: planning and ideation loops. Video editing accounted for about 20% of the time; the drop in post-production hours happened because nothing was finalized, not because editing got faster. Publishing was zero.

Second-order effects followed. Trying to recreate a prior outlier pushed more scripting and “one more pass” in the edit; two videos’ worth of footage ended up in the recycle bin. With no releases, momentum broke and hours drifted into mundane admin work that didn’t move the channel. Given that pattern, here’s what has to change.

After-Action Notes

With momentum, inertia works in your favor and production runs efficiently. Break it, and you pay dearly — clawing back to where you were takes extreme effort. 

In an earlier post, I wrote about the mistake of chasing outliers. That’s where I slipped this month. 

The correction is simple: protect the weekly release schedule, and accept imperfections in the cut so videos actually get released.

Next Month (OCT 2025)

The goals are simple:

• Publish 4 videos.
• Invest ~40 hours, with post-production under 50%.

The aim is to hold this output steady for the next six months before adding specific targets for views, watch time, or subscribers. The key is consistency and building momentum.

Closing

This is the cost of doing the work — measured in hours, not hype. If you’re building your own machine, start by tracking your inputs.

For those who prefer the full data in one go, I’ve pulled the charts into a short deck. The “boardroom version” of this report — 45 seconds, numbers only.

This is the second in a monthly series. The next Social Media Monthly Report will follow in November. If you want to keep track of how the numbers move, subscribe.

August took ~35 hours to produce two episodes of The Photography Channel. More than half of that time disappeared into post-production. On average, each finished minute of video required about two hours of work. That’s the multiplier — the real cost of running a YouTube channel.

This is the first in a series of Social Media Monthly Reports. Each month, I’ll share numbers, hours, and notes that show what it actually takes to build a creative media business.

Executive Summary

Two videos went live this month out of a target of four. In total, I spent 34.75 hours on the channel. Views came in at 461, a slight dip of 6% compared to July; watch time rose by 25% to 20.9 hours. Subscribers grew to 174, up 12 from last month.

This month I fell short of the four-video target — not because of lack of ideas or problems in production; time slipped away in the edit, and I didn’t maintain the schedule.

Production Breakdown

	Hours	Percent
Pre-Production	9.25	27%
Production	3.42	10%
Post-Production	18.08	52%
Publishing	0.50	1%
Marketing	0	0%
Other	3.50	10%
Total	34.75	100%

The plan for August was four videos; only two were completed. July delivered four videos after a long gap since February, so inconsistency remains a factor.

Out of 34.75 hours, 52% went into post-production, with video editing alone accounting for 37% of all time spent. Pre-production (ideas and scripts) continues to take a significant share, while production itself is lean and efficient. Admin and other tasks made up around 10%.

Key Metrics

		Change
Impressions	7970	-23%
Views	461	6%
Click-through Rate (CTR)	4%
Total Watch Time (Hours)	20.9	25%
Subscribers	174	12
Total	34.75	100%

The numbers are modest, but they’re honest. After a long break from YouTube and an uneven month, they set a baseline for what a small channel produces under strain.

Next Month (SEP 2025)

The goals are clear:

• Publish 4 videos.
• Invest ~60 hours, with post-production under 50%.
• Streamline editing to save time.
• Track the same KPIs as August for month-over-month comparison.

The aim is to hold this output steady for the next six months before adding specific targets for views, watch time, or subscribers.

Closing

This is the cost of doing the work — measured in hours, not hype. If you’re building your own machine, start by tracking your inputs.

For those who prefer the full data in one go, I’ve pulled the charts into a short deck. The “boardroom version” of this report — 45 seconds, numbers only.

This is the first in a monthly series. The next Social Media Monthly Report will follow in October. If you want to keep track of how the numbers move, subscribe.