Inside Ryan Trahan’s 50-Day YouTube Marathon

0:00The Colin and Samir Show is supported by Microsoft Copilot. This is something I thought I would never say, but can I share with you my favorite prompt? I mean, like when you say something like that, I have to say yes. Were you going to say no? No, but okay. Just let me hear it. So when I'm researching for a guest or I need to know a lot about a subject matter, I say, make me a podcast about. And when you do that, you're going to get a short blurb about that subject. And then in like two minutes, you're going to get a podcast. So check this out. Welcome to Co-Pilot Podcasts. Picture this, a guy working the front desk at a hotel, making lacrosse videos in his spare time, completely unaware that he's about to become one of the most influential voices in the creator economy.

0:38Today, we're diving into the remarkable story of Colin Rosenblum. Wow. Did you pay it to say that? That's crazy. That's very kind. It's crazy, but it's my favorite way to learn about a subject matter. I'm learning about so much more now that I can turn this research into like a seven minute podcast that I can listen to just when I'm walking. Did you tell it that I worked at the front desk of a hotel? Dude, the prompt is just make me a podcast about Colin from Colin and Samir. That's it. I may be biased, but I'm on the edge of my seat. I'm hooked. So if you guys haven't checked out Copilot, check it out.

1:10Try it for your research. Try it for getting variations of your titles, your ideas. It's one of my favorite tools on the internet right now for our creativity. And now back to the show. Yo, can you hear me? Oh my goodness. Well, Rai, first question for you is, why are you making the same video every day? What? Am I going nuts? Am I making the same video every day? Good morning, sleepyheads. Good morning, sleepyheads. Good morning, sleepyheads. Today on The Colin and Spirits Show, we're catching up with Ryan Trahan in the middle of his series, 50 States in 50 Days. Now, every summer, Ryan Trahan does a big series where he goes daily on his channel, all with an effort to raise money for a charity.

1:58This year, 50 States in 50 Days is by far already his biggest yet in terms of viewership and money donated. So at the time that we're recording this, it's been 29 days. So there's been 29 episodes of this show. It's crossed over 100 million views collectively. Each episode is averaging between like 2 and 4 million views a day. You'd have to imagine these are all returning viewers coming back. The episode lengths are like 20 to 30 minutes. So this is truly like a hit show that's on every single day. And then from the fundraising perspective, they raised over$3.6 million for St. Jude's. Now, it's also a very unique show.

2:35It is an incredible feat for Ryan and his small team to bring it together. So we caught up with him to learn, number one, how is he making the show? How is he doing? And what does this show mean about YouTube and media as a whole? All right. After you hear from Ryan, we're going to come back here and debrief to talk about the biggest lessons that we're learning from this series and that we learned from this conversation with Ryan. Here's our conversation with Ryan Trahan from The Road.

3:03Well, first of all, dude, how are you doing? I'm doing pretty good. We're in uncharted territory. We're on day 33 of 50. Any series was 30 days. So we are now beyond our longest daily vlog series ever. Let's just start with, why are you actually making a video every single day for 50 days? What is the series? Yes. So right now, Haley and I are going to 50 states in 50 days. we are staying in the coolest Airbnb I could possibly find in each state along that route this is really something I wanted to do with Haley for before we even got married I wanted to do a road trip where we go see America so I have a minivan like it's it's really something I've always wanted to do and I'd say after the Penny series I was kind of contemplating like what if I did a series with Haley where we do that it's kind of like a daily upload uh series once again just because i think daily series on youtube are so magical like you capture a little bit of like the live stream magic that we all love like on on big twitch creators and everything and uh it's really like the antithesis of what youtube is i'd say so that's why i'm doing it i think it's amazing and the fundraiser that we're doing for saint jude is also incredibly motivating and uh wanted to use my platform for good this year i try to do that at least once a year so So that's that's the it's a conglomerate of reasons, but I'd say it's going really well and I'm really happy that we're doing it.

4:30Will you also show us out the window? Like, what are you looking at? Oh, yeah, for sure. You guys are never going to believe this. Oh, God. There's the road. OK. Can you see it? Wow. So a little sneak peek. We spun the Wheel of Doom and recently, because we had three million dollars raised, we had to switch out a bunch of penalties that we've already landed on. and so one of the penalties that we switched on was it's called anticlimactic and we have to go to the lowest rated tourist attraction in the state that we're in before continuing on to the road trip we are in new york because we were driving from vermont to pennsylvania if you look it up it literally is times square um no way we are on our way to times square i did not expect to go there we were trying to avoid it because of how much traffic there is and how crazy it is but yeah uh yeah we're going to times square thanks to the wheel of doom shout out to that guy wow how does the mechanism work like who triggers the wheel of doom is that like zach and cohen yeah yeah my team my team activates it whenever we have a donation hayley and i actually despise it like it's kind of funny we're not playing it up for the video because we are doing the road trip you know like we've been on the road for over a month we're like we just want to get there we just want to drive our seven and a half hours but now we're going It's been honestly really fun to watch.

5:47And I'm sure Samir and I will get into like why we've enjoyed watching you go through this. But when you say that daily uploads are the antithesis of what YouTube is, I believe that's because it is incredibly difficult to make a YouTube video. So to make one every day for 50 days at some level of quality when it comes to storytelling, when it comes to production is really hard. And I would imagine that you had to think really hard about how you're doing this. in preparation to make sure you could actually pull it off. Yeah. What did you have to put in place with this daily show to make sure you could do it every single day?

6:22Yes. Well, you're totally right. It is very hard. It's pretty interesting because I'd say the Penny series actually taught me a lot about what committing on YouTube looks like because I say I talk to a lot of creators and we all have like lofty dreams and we all have big ideas. and it's so interesting to commit to something if you don't know you'll be able to pull it off and for me I've always gravitated towards things like that even in my life where I'm like that type of ambition and dream scares me and that's almost why I want to do it it's almost feels like I know that part of the reason it will work is because so few people are willing to try it and uh I don't know in in many ways I feel like a lot of my life has prepared prepared me for stuff like this, where I know that just through a decent level of discipline, you can actually accomplish a lot more than you might expect of yourself.

7:19And so, yeah, the Penny Series taught me like, it is so worth committing yourself to something great and bigger than yourself and following through with it. And I was just so proud of that fundraiser, so proud of how it felt like a big positive movement on YouTube. And really just like for a human to human interaction level. And so when it came to this Airbnb series, almost double the uploads, double the days, and this time going to a new state every day. Whereas the Penny series, I was in, I think like four or five states. There was like an Austin, Texas, I was there for nine days. And you can almost like get into a routine in the Penny series, but to keep moving every day, it's like, it's a lot.

7:58And so I think you guys kind of hit it early on when he asked me if he making the same video every day. For me, I really feel like you have to create segments that are repeatable and satisfying. And also just like for me and Haley, it's like the same thing we do in our normal life. We want to create routines and that's how you get through life. It's how you find the things you enjoy and find the little things throughout your day to look forward to. And so do whether it's like jammy time or the game plan or getting coffee in the morning, by the way it was dunking this morning um it's it's really like something to look forward to every day and i think it creates structure for viewers to where it's not overwhelming of like wait where are we like what part of the video are we in like i understand i'm just hot if you skip a few episodes you might miss something but at least you know like okay here's the game plan for today i can catch up uh and understand where we're at and orient myself and there's like universe that we're in um and so i just love the structure and it makes things easier for editing too which By the way, Zach and Cohen, shout out to those guys.

9:04They have been grinding. Like, I just have to brag on them for a second because I don't know if anyone has ever made 20 to 30 minute daily vlogs like this before. And by far the hardest part, I think, is the editing. We think about that much footage and creating a good video that's 20 to 30 minutes every day. I think what they're doing is like completely excellent and they're amazing. A hundred percent. Like to be like, so by the way, to say like, you know you're making the same video every day like we're saying it as a uh obviously like joking around but like almost as a impressive feat of this rule book you've created because again as a creator like it's very hard to do what you're doing both from like the production and the and the post perspective um but a couple of things like one thing that we were looking at is as human beings, somewhere between 40 and 50 % of our daily life, like what we do today, between 40 and 50 % of that is what we did yesterday.

10:03And that is like how our life works, right? As we work in habits and rituals. And I think as we've been looking at this show itself and like why it's so different on YouTube, it's actually part of a bigger trend that's happening in entertainment, which is this return to appointment viewing. So like in 2023, 75 % of the most popular shows in the US were weekly releases, not binge viewing. And so we're starting to see like, I think people want shared experiences again. I think people want like water cooler TV. And whenever you do a daily series on YouTube, it gives us all like a thing to talk about because we're watching the same thing at the same time.

10:43Otherwise we're watching a bunch of different things at different times. And, you know, maybe we could talk about it, but when there's this thing happening, we get to, we get to talk about it at the same time. And I think the familiarity of every day, like I, I have like a deep sense of joy when I watch you guys get coffee and it happens every single time. I'm like, I just, I like look forward to you getting an iced coffee. And I think one thing we wanted to ask you is like, what's the rule book for the show in terms of what stays the same every day and what changes? What has to stay the same?

11:17What has to change to keep it interesting, but also doable? Yes, I would say what stays the same every day, like the way that I'm directing all these videos is literally my notes app. I'm writing out the next episode segments before I wake up the next morning. So when I go to bed, when we say, thank you guys, see you in the morning, I basically upload all the footage to Zach and Cohen. And then I go on my phone and I write out, okay, what does tomorrow look like? And the first four bullet points are always a good morning, morning routine, full ranking, game plan. And I know that that's going to be the same every morning.

11:51So in a way, it's kind of a relief. It's like kind of hard creatively to start up your engine and get things rolling. But if I know, OK, those are my first four segments. I know I can almost do those ritualistically. And it's essentially the same structure. I just have to plug in the new information instead of it being day 32. Now it's day 33. and oh yeah, this time we're heading to Pennsylvania. And it's really simple in that way. But then the variables come in of like, okay, how is the route different to Pennsylvania? What problem does this long road trip pose? If the wheel of doom goes off, how big of a threat is that versus, you know, if it's a two hour drive.

12:27And so I'd say that there's so much genuine interest from Haley and I of seeing these new places. For us, it's really about capturing the road trip of going to all 50 states in the best way possible. And really the biggest storyline is raising money for St. Jude. And the amount of generosity around that has been completely mind blowing. And I'd say it's just like, for me, the structure allows the real stories to thrive, which is the adventure and the fundraiser. I mean,$3.6 million right now is completely insane. I texted you about that, but like that number is, it's pretty hard to wrap your head around that.

13:04and like what you can do with$3.6 million and where this is going to be at the end. I would also say one thing that's so interesting to me to think about the fundraiser. The fundraiser also offers this opportunity for it to be interactive, right? Like one of the unique pieces of this show is that it's interactive media, that we can participate in it, that you've done such a good job of creating these stakes and these incentive structures for us as viewers to engage or to get excited when someone triggers a donation, whether it's Dollar Shave Club and they're now impacting the fact that you can't shave your beard, right?

13:38Or if it's like the split, like you've done a great job of creating this game that we get to play in. Or Airbnb with the chef and the experience. Yeah. One thing I wanted to talk about and wonder how much you thought about in advance is like character development. Because another thing like you are exceptional at within formats is building characters, even down to the fact that you and Haley are wearing the same clothes every day. Like that makes you guys into characters for me. There's familiarity to that. Like there's a sameness that makes me comfortable. Um, and there's like the wheel of doom is a character.

14:12Uh, the Airbnbs are characters. Like how much do you think about within each episode, who the characters are and what they represent? Even people who donate our characters, Jeff Probst is a character. Oh my goodness. He is. He's an amazing character. that question's really interesting and i think it makes me realize how much things move slowly and then feel like they're moving all at once when it comes to your like development of your creativity or your style because i'd love to take credit and feel like a genius for all of these things like being highlighted as oh yeah that's like now an element of the series and our clothing is a way that we can feel more like characters but i feel like it's almost like over the course of years.

14:52Like we've known each other for so long. And I feel like it's almost these little realizations about your style that, uh, almost inform how your content comes out. And like, I just really like wearing white in my videos. Like I had the white tank top during the penny series. It feels like this blank canvas. It's super simple, makes me look more tan at times. And I feel like it works really well on my thumbnails. And, uh, so I, it was almost a no-brainer like okay i want to wear like a simple outfit i'll wear a white t-shirt um i started wearing jean shorts this past year because my friend mitchell took put me on them and it just feels like it felt like uh okay that's gonna be like sort of like my outfit for the series it just felt like a thing that was almost obvious and same for hayley like it just felt like we just wanted to be like a simple thing and when it comes to the characters i had this realization like five years ago that if you just put a camera on an everyday person they would probably be like a superhero.

15:47Like I, I really feel like the day-to-day average person you interact with, if you just put a spotlight on them, everyone would fall in love with them. And that's the amazing thing about YouTube. And I feel like my channel especially is I've kind of felt liberated to be like, Hey, do you need the video? And a lot of people are like, yeah, sure. And they end up being the most hilarious, likable person way more than I could be in that moment. And so I think that's just encouraging for humanity in general, just be like, Oh, okay. Maybe the everyday person when I just breeze past as I walk by them, maybe they actually have a really funny thing to talk about with me, or they would be really positive and encouraging to interact with.

16:23So I think that that's been a big realization. And it kind of naturally comes down the content because I've been doing it for so long. But then when it comes to the wheel of doom and the fundraiser, and trying to make that as fun as possible, like that is a thing I've definitely put so much passion and time into. And like, when I'm going to sleep, thinking of different ways to make the fundraiser more interactive and thinking of ways to make it to where brands want to donate and so the fact that like this time around we are having like fortune 500 companies donate whereas in the penny series is mostly creators and like really really generous people just like supporting in a big way like this is a huge deal to me and also i hope for like the youtube platform to see like it's awesome for these huge brands who have huge marketing budgets to interact with something that feel so communal and feel so, what were you talking about earlier?

17:12It was like the water cooler conversation. I'm just like, yeah. Yeah, it's water cooler TV. Yeah, exactly. I feel like it's so cool to see huge brands interact with this content because it feels so lo-fi. It doesn't feel produced and it feels like we're just literally on a road trip going across America. So I'm happy to continue highlighting brands and just like the way they're interacting with us feels so not corporate. And I think that's what feels good about it. Was it intentional to not get a brand involved as like the presenting sponsor or something of this series. Um, because I'd imagine there's a lot of opportunities for that, right?

17:45Like where a brand wants to be like 50 States and 50 days presented by, you know, I saw Kia donated or T-Mobile or like, like, you know, even Airbnb, I think there's probably some people who still in their head think like, oh, this is a deal between Ryan and Airbnb. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's not, it's a, for me, I think when it comes to fundraisers on my channel, I think this is like the fourth or fifth fundraiser I've done. and I've always wanted them to feel just pure. And I've always wanted them to feel like we have a single goal and that's to raise as much money as possible. I feel like if we had a sponsor or a partner in that way where they were paying my team and I, I just feel like it wouldn't come across as genuine.

18:24And for me, I think people are way more excited about brands donating than, hey, this series is sponsored by this person. Try their product. My viewers are a lot less likely to actually try their product than if Airbnb donates$250 ,000 and gives us the ability to have a chef come to our house as part of their new services that they're offering. What I love is I feel like these brands are actually so smart about how they're donating. And it almost feels better than if it was just a traditional sponsorship because they're affecting my adventure in a way that I wasn't in control of. And they're also highlighting it as a natural integration.

19:04And so for me, I just want the fundraiser to be as successful as possible. And if partnerships come after this, because of, you know, like our ability to see how well we work together, like with T-Mobile or Kia or Airbnb or whoever, I would love that because I like working with brands that support my fundraisers and support my vision for my channel and how I want to do things. And so, you know, we'll see how that goes. But as of right now, I just love keeping the fundraiser as focused as possible. And if we can, And if we can just like keep pushing it forward, then I just know the good stuff will come later.

19:36I know those opportunities will come and I'm not too worried about it right now. That's awesome. So in terms of like accessibility of putting a camera on someone, like one thing that I'm looking at too is like 99 % of this series is shot on iPhone, correct? Yes. That's like one of the things that makes it wonderful is how accessible it is. And when you do go to New Haven and someone's outside the pizza shop and you want to film them, like if you had a big camera, that's a different, that's a different experience. Yes. Right. And even the graphics that you put on screen are generally iPhone UI graphics or they're Airbnb graphics.

20:10They're incredibly familiar to us in that way as well. Yeah, it's very native. I think that I'm a big fan of Apple and Airbnb and their creative direction. Obviously, as I've been building Joyride, I've thought a lot more of like how a brand talks and how a brand has like their own voice. And so I've just kind of like looked around like what brands I feel like are doing UI the best and also feels the most accessible and relatable. and I just love it everyone has like the emoji keyboard on their phone or everyone has the animojis so that's why Hayley and I have like animojis on the map um of whenever we're progressing towards the next Airbnb it's just all things that feel very native to your phone and I think that what you're saying Samir is totally right where even if I brought a DSLR to 7-Eleven to do a joyride run it's like who's this guy coming in here and like filming and talking to his camera it's it's really obnoxious at times and I found like the irony is I just get uncomfortable filming in public But if I have an iPhone, I feel much more like, okay, everyone kind of films in public.

21:06Like a lot of people take photos on their phone. You know, even if you're doing a tourist, like activity, like everyone gets their phone out. And so I feel much more comfortable and much more like not a nuisance. And so it makes other people more comfortable to film with me as well. So right at this point, I feel like your style has become so distinct over many, many years of creating these daily series. and now I feel like people will copy parts of it. Similarly to when Casey did daily uploads, we did it and tons of creators were like, okay, I'm going to go daily now. And we probably made that decision without much thought.

21:40It was just like, oh, he's doing it. We like it and we want to replicate it. And then we all kind of were like, wow, that's really hard and he's really good at that. And I, you know, maybe I learned something about myself and I'm not going to do that anymore. What advice do you have for creators who are watching and they're very inspired by what you're doing and they're so inspired that they're like, I've decided no matter what, I'm going daily. But obviously you've put a lot of thought into it and you've had many years of experience. So what would be your advice to creators who are like so inspired, they know they're going to go daily, but they haven't thought much more about it?

22:11Well, first of all, I really appreciate that idea that people can be inspired by me because I've always been, I feel like I've always been in the position where I've been the one inspired by other creators and other people that are just like doing cool things. So the idea that I can do that for someone else is really cool um but i'd say the biggest thing for me just personally i think youtube's in a place where it's good to create an event i always tell my other friends who are creators like audiences really gravitate towards memorable moments it's the same with brands i'd say like it's the same with baseball teams or football teams or um really anything we're fans of like you really latch on to even musicians because of that one album or that one concert you went to.

23:01And I think it's very similar with creators where like, you know, Ludwig, he always puts on these really cool events. And I feel like that's the type of water cooler conversation you're talking about, Samir, where it's like, did you see this person do this? And I'd say that that's really one of the only ways that we mentally gravitate or like latch on to a person. even when PewDiePie did his Minecraft summer uh series and whenever he was like trying to pass t-series it's like these moments that are like fixtures in YouTube history to me and so I was trying to tell like my my friends who are creators like what could be like a week-long series that you could do like something that you feel like you're committing to that feels scary but it's like an adventure that people would would love to cheer you on for I think Preston Goes and his Train series was the perfect example and it wasn't even daily I think he uploaded over the course of three weeks.

23:49He uploaded one video a week, but it still felt like this is a thing that Pressing Goes did. It's probably the thing he did at this point. And so I'd say when it comes to daily, like just asking, is daily really the way that I need to create that experience for my audience or my future audience? Or can I do it through just some sort of other endeavor? But it all comes back to like, is it memorable? Are there phrases and terms that people can spread via word of mouth. Like I, even with this series, like 50 States in 50 days feels like it's been coined as the term that people are sharing verbally.

24:25Whereas the penny series is the penny series. I didn't even call it the penny series. Um, it just like started getting traction in that way. So I think thinking of all of that together as a creator can really help you understand like, okay, what's the thing that I feel passionate about that can make me stand out. and then honestly not not to ramble too much but I think you can really balance something like that with just like the the bread and butter of posting every two weeks on YouTube posting a really good video and being there for your audience who does like your videos and showing up consistently because I think you can do an event and then just like vanish for like six months and then you almost like miss out on the whole point of doing something special which is connecting with viewers and doing that consistently.

25:09So I think finding a balance is really important as well. So one thing that makes you unique in doing this is while the videos are relatively lo-fi, they're like rooted in your personality, they're accessible. The thumbnails for this series have been out of this world. There's one for Maryland that is like one of the most beautiful thumbnails I've ever seen where you're like peeking through the grass or the one for Alabama where you're like in the keyhole like Colin and I were talking about how this is like a gallery like I would go to a gallery to look at these thumbnails and like they're all beautifully designed works of art and you know I've watched you work in titles and thumbnails before like I've never seen anyone do it in the way that you do it and this series I think is really emblematic of how you operate with titles and thumbnails and I'm just curious about like the process of making 50 did you make all 50 thumbnails prior to the series and then how you thought about packaging the series?

26:10Because I know there's actually been some changes along the way. Yes. First question. Yes, we did make all 50 thumbnails before we left. It was a grind. I mean, I think I made 50 thumbnails in the past two years combined. Like obviously with ABC testing, that's going up. But like the amount of work that went into ideating before we even started shooting them, like, oh my goodness, there's months and months. And that really comes back to what I've talked about before on this channel, which is like that concept of redemptive work of just like you you might notice it because you love youtube and you love thumbnails and titles but i'd say the everyday person probably won't think of the thumbnails and think too much of it they might think like oh yeah it's cool like he's kind of like at a farm this time but uh i just love that concept because it really is like i doesn't matter if we get credit or recognition for working hard or for you know having the most creative thumbnail or process, as long as people are enjoying it and the fundraiser is successful, and it feels like we've given a gift to my viewers and to St.

27:08Jude, hopefully, then it was a success. And I feel like that redemptive framework is still serving me to this day. And it inspires all of my team just to work to give people a gift and the rest will take care of itself. But I'd say beyond that, when it comes to the overall packaging, we wanted to start with an Airbnb concept in the title. And we changed the original title from I tried the top 50 Airbnbs in America to now it says I visited 50 states in 50 days. And the reason we wanted the Airbnb concept at first is because one of my favorite videos I've ever made on my channel is I stayed in OMG Airbnbs.

27:45And it was an outlier on my channel. It did really well. And so I was like, okay, doing the top 50 in America feels like a really strong packaging concept. And so if you look at all of the thumbnails, they now have states in the thumbnails in terms of the text. But before it was sort of like Airbnb categories. The biggest thing is we noticed a lot of people started calling it 50 states or 50 states in 50 days. And if that was the element of the series that people caught on to, I thought it's probably better for us to package it in a way that people remember and people are already talking about via word of mouth.

28:17And so we switched the title from I tried the top 50 Airbnbs in America to I visited 50 states in 50 days. And I'd say so far it's been a good change. And I just feel like it embodies the series a lot better. And I feel a lot more proud of like how it comes across and how you could click on each state, the state that you live in and watch that episode much more easily. Yeah, I actually totally agree. I think it actually makes you feel like you're in the middle of the journey. Yeah. Right. If I went to 50 states in 50 days, or I visited 50 states in 50 days, and I see Nebraska, I know that that's one of 50.