How Adam W Grew Comedy Clips Into A Global Media Company

Adam, a former college football player from Queens, moved to Los Angeles ten years ago with aspirations of becoming an actor. He worked various odd jobs, including valet and assistant, while pursuing acting for a year, but found no success. Observing the rise of online content creation on platforms like YouTube and Instagram, he decided to try making his own videos, hoping it would lead to acting opportunities. He taught himself how to shoot and edit by Googling tutorials. His initial attempt to create a 30-second video took four months to complete. With only 200 followers at the time, the video garnered a mere 90 views, leading him to feel discouraged and consider quitting and moving back home. However, while waiting for his next paycheck to book a flight, he decided to shoot a few more videos. The second video received 70 views, and the third, 60. The fourth video he posted, however, went viral overnight, accumulating 400,000 views by the next morning. This unexpected success prompted him to quit his job, believing he was "famous." Despite the immediate follow-up video only getting 400 views, Adam committed to making a video every single day to replicate his viral success. This discipline led him to gain half a million followers in six months, and now, ten years later, he boasts around 65 million followers across platforms. Adam maintains an incredibly rigorous creative process. For five years straight, he posted a video every single day without fail. Currently, he posts every other day. His process begins at 6 AM on a post day, where he scrambles for hours to come up with an idea. He often dislikes his initial ideas and brainstorms new ones. Once an idea is settled, his team of five gathers props, books locations, and secures actors. The video is then shot, with Adam actively directing, and his editor works on-site for immediate editing and posting. He refuses to think of ideas on non-post days, meaning every video is conceived and executed on the same day it's posted. He shared an anecdote about shooting a one-minute video with a guest that eventually garnered 500 million views. This "short-form" video took nine hours to shoot, involved prosthetic faces, and required nine different locations, highlighting the significant effort behind seemingly brief content. He emphasizes that the attention to detail and meticulous craft are crucial for the videos' success, often comparing them to "mini-movies." Adam also discussed his business philosophy, particularly regarding collaborations between brands and creators. He stresses that brands need to understand the creator they're working with, moving beyond just follower counts or engagement metrics. He advises against "cookie-cutter briefs" and emphasizes that successful partnerships are a two-way street, requiring collaboration and respecting the creator's unique craft and audience. The goal is to create organic content that resonates with the audience without appearing as a forced advertisement. His approach to brand deals involves identifying the funniest and most relatable aspects of a product or service, creating a comedic scenario around it, and then subtly integrating the brand. This method often leads viewers to comment that the brand should pay him, unaware it's already a brand deal, making the content highly shareable. He revealed that he once turned down a significant brand deal from a gambling company because it didn't align with his page's content or his audience's interests, despite the substantial financial offer. Regarding platform usage, Adam advises against putting all "eggs in one basket." He recommends posting content across all major platforms (YouTube, Meta, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok) to increase the chances of going viral and maximize monetization. He notes that his comedy content is an "anomaly" as it works universally across platforms without requiring editing changes. He also highlights the untapped potential of Facebook for long-form content, citing its 3.5 billion active users and significant monetization opportunities. When asked about his secret to building such a massive audience, Adam pointed to consistency and relatability. He consistently produces more content than most. He also focuses on creating content that is universally relatable, ensuring that even someone unfamiliar with him can understand and connect with the video within the first five seconds. A key principle is that his videos must be understandable on mute, as many viewers consume content in environments where sound is unavailable. This visual-first approach allows his comedy to transcend language barriers, expanding his audience globally. For aspiring social media creators, Adam advises against caring too much about what others think, especially in the early stages when there's less pressure. He encourages experimentation and having fun, a principle he strives to maintain even with his large audience. He also shared details about his new app, DoubleView, a software designed to address the challenge of simultaneously creating long-form and short-form content. The app allows users to film vertically and horizontally at the same time, generating two separate files. This effectively doubles a creator's revenue without doubling the work, enabling them to easily produce content for shorts, reels, and TikTok, as well as extended landscape cuts for YouTube and Facebook. He created the app out of his own struggle as a creator, noting that no existing camera or phone offers this dual-recording capability. Looking ahead, Adam envisions a future where he continues creating content, perhaps at a slightly slower pace, but with a focus on making comedy films. He plans to self-distribute his first movie exclusively on YouTube, leveraging his existing audience rather than pursuing traditional Hollywood. He referenced Markiplier's "Iron Lung" film, which was self-released through YouTube and generated significant box office revenue, as an example of this evolving model. Adam has a script ready and plans to shoot his first film in November, self-distributing it with some company investments.