Dan & Phil Part 101: Gays In The Wild

[rizzo]

Did Phil change thumbnail and title of his squid game video?

huh. it looks like he did! maybe it was to make it more like.... family friendly? same content though so idk.

New (but actually old) short:

i'm getting less and less enthused about these shorts. sue me for thinking they were going to be fresh content.

[alittledizzy]

Maybe he changed it to be less dated in the future? I mean with the way media moves, Squid Game is already out of the headlines but Tootsie Rolls... they are forever.

(Also same on shorts. I mean I will never really complain about more of his content, but I really did think that we were gonna get mini bites of stuff like the beep review and not just years old ig stories reposted.)

[Amiaw]

I am convinced there’s something going on behind the scenes because Phil’s been so ia and then he’s been making odd choices like changing his thumbnail almost two weeks later and it’s very unlike him to be so scattered at the end of the year. I know there’s been a lot of discontent with his videos lately but tbh even if his videos haven’t been great I still prefer this to Dan’s method of going silent until he drops something.
As for the fall video, I don’t really have any expectations for it anymore and don’t even expect it to be attached to a bigger company but I am still looking forward to it because it’ll be nice seeing Phil somewhere he’s comfortable and if it even has small DITL vibes I’ll be glad for it.

[alittledizzy]

The Amazing Phil has come down from on high and spoken to his people!

Happy November my spiky dudes.

Hope you're well. Now bonfire night is over I feel like we're all on a train headed directly into Mariah Carey's mouth and it is increasing in speed.

Speaking of bonfire night, someone is currently having an entire daytime display outside! You can't even see the fireworks as it is so bright?? Maybe they're all about the bang? idk

I celebrated by forcing some friends to eat 'parkin' (a treacle/ginger cakey delight) and it really is a god-tier seasonal food. Maybe I'll quit everything and dedicate the rest of my life to giving parkin the recognition it deserves. You better come to my parkin café when it opens in your town.

Over the last few weeks I did a whole bunch of filming for the 'Think with Google UK' channel which was fun to dust off my presenting hat and also weird as we filmed Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas over the course of a week so now I feel like I've been put in a seasonal blender.

It's aimed at srs bsnss peeps who are into learning about advertising etc but we also do a festive (usually food related) activity if you want to check it out and see me almost setting the google kitchen on fire. The series is called 'Peak check-in.'

I also visited my parents house for the first time post-apocalypse, I didn't realise how much I needed to see some nature or the sea! Living in the city is great but I do feel like I need to sniff some sea air at least once a year and exhale all my London smog. I got them to watch Squid Game and my mum just texted me the word 'marbles' and a crying cat emoji so I assume they are enjoying it?

Before I go, thanks for providing some of the spooky 2 sentence horror stories for my shorts! If you didn't see, check out http://www.youtube.com/lessamazingphil to see if you made it into a vids.

ps. the bigger video we filmed for my channel in summer is coming this month! There may even be a trailer this week? We somehow shot it on the only day it wasn't raining in my hometown so I'd give it a watch just for some healthy looking green hills to refresh your eyeballs.

pps. got some particularly snazzy new merch on the way next week!!

ok actually going now.

See u later crocodile
AmazingPhil

[Phantasy]

A thirst tweet… from Phil? How rare.

Maybe Dan accidentally logged into his account.

[Grey]

I haven’t been on here in ages because I just didn’t have anything to say. But Phil reposting a years old Instagram story to fulfil his shorts contract brought me back. Ever since he said he was feeling dizzy, I’ve been feeling worried about him (even though I realize he’s super rich and has great access to medical care and also doesn’t really share personal stuff with his audience so he could just be busy). I find his content kind of strange these days. Not sure what to make of it. He’s probably just busy doing other things that he doesn’t tell us about, right??

I feel cautiously excited about the November thing though. I had kinda thought we might get some fish content too because I thought he said Dan was aquascaping again? Did I imagine that?

[glitterintheair]

Honestly I don’t think Phil having medical issues is the only reason why his content is weird. It doesn’t seem very fair to him either because it’s like when Dan wouldn’t upload and people would justify it with “he has depression”. My general opinion is that Phil seems a bit lost at the moment and doesn’t know what to do. Maybe he’s just waiting for his project to come out and therefore doesn’t care that much about the other things he’s making (and that would not be 100% true either because changing thumbnail/title on his videos that are performing poorly is a sign that he *does* care) but I am seeing a lot of people not happy about his current stuff and I can’t blame them, especially ‘cause, you know, his content is the only content we get.
I hope that his November project will be good. I don’t wanna be too excited because I don’t wanna be let down but I really hope it will be worth it. For him and for the survival of the phandom.

[Grey]

Yeah I get the “lost” feeling from his content too… or it could be distracted by other stuff (work or otherwise). I guess what I’m perceiving as “weird” is partly that it DOES seem like Phil is trying. It doesn’t seem like he’s just purely throwing some low effort crap on his channel and calling it a day- he hired an editor and is even going back and making new thumbnails and stuff. That all indicates to me that he cares. And I really appreciate that. I guess it’s tough because he is a private person and doesn’t want to share his life with us but his life is kind of what most of his fans are here for. (Like I said, where’s the new fish??? /jk).

It reminds me a bit of when he switched to doing those really structured liveshows. It was extra work for him (vs the old relaxed model of liveshow), clearly indicating effort. But I remember some people on here not being very happy about it. I personally didn’t mind them, although I understood why people missed the casual liveshows.


Neeeeeewwwwwwwwwwssss story of the weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkk:
Fans wait with bated breath for amazingphil’s new project

[lefthandedism]

I hope that his November project will be good. I don’t wanna be too excited because I don’t wanna be let down but I really hope it will be worth it. For him and for the survival of the phandom.

I don't disagree with you, but that's a bit dark! My feeling is that the phandom can't survive if Dan checks out. The longer we go with nothing from Dan, the more people shrug and give up, and most of them won't come back again whatever Dan (or Phil) does. And Phil can't stop that process on his own.

[glitterintheair]

I hope that his November project will be good. I don’t wanna be too excited because I don’t wanna be let down but I really hope it will be worth it. For him and for the survival of the phandom.

I don't disagree with you, but that's a bit dark! My feeling is that the phandom can't survive if Dan checks out. The longer we go with nothing from Dan, the more people shrug and give up, and most of them won't come back again whatever Dan (or Phil) does. And Phil can't stop that process on his own.

Lol yeah I was a bit dramatic there but yeah I agree about Dan. If Phil’s project has Dan in it, the phandom will be revived because whether we like it to admit or not, this is a two-person fandom and people want to see them both and it’s just not the same when one is missing. It’s obvious that the fandom engagement has slowed down a lot and for that reason I don’t know how much longer it can go on like this if nothing changes, that’s all.

[Amiaw]

I still enjoy Phil’s videos and since I’m not waiting for joint content I don’t mind that he’s the only one posting but I do wish he’d switch things up a little. I really enjoy the videos where he leaves his filming spot or even does something different like baking but I don’t see baking happening because I can’t see him showing off the kitchen so that’s probably gone too.

It really just seems like Phil’s going through that weird pandemic rut a lot of us are going through and hopefully he’ll figure things out and adapt.

[Grey]

I do think that Dan being active helps with engagement (obviously it does looking at views) but I enjoy solo Phil too. Personally, I’m not waiting for Dan to do anything. If he does, it’s like an extra bonus.

@Amiaw ‘s comment made me think I really liked Phil’s sensory deprivation tank video and also the saving the pigeon one, which both involved Phil moving around and doing stuff. The sensory deprivation one in particular was not really about his personal life at all. So it can be done. He could do a “try new things” series, doing interesting things like the sensory deprivation tank thing. It would even fit with his merch!
…ok but probably not during the pandemic. So yeah pandemic rut makes sense. Plus whatever projects have maybe been cancelled… that’s difficult.

[alittledizzy]

New peak season video!



On the topic being discussed - I do cut Phil a lot of slack in general. I think if he's feeling bad plus the whole weirdness of the past year and probably some personal burnout/dejection from projects canceled or that he couldn't do because of covid might be playing into the situation. I appreciate so much that he's still showing up and I think it proves that it's important to him - certainly at this point he and Dan both could have non-camera-facing careers and do just fine. We've seen plenty of youtubers transition to that and their bottom lines don't seem to be impacted, plus Dan and Phil have the benefit of channels that even when dormant bring in millions of dollars/pounds. So the fact that Phil is still making content, even if some of it is a bit phoned in? Yeah, love him for it.

Strong agree with Amiaw and Grey - Phil getting out of that room does wonders for the freshness of his content. You know what I'd love? A (grocery) shop with me video. I think he'd probably be too anxious to film in a store so it's purely a wishlist idea and not something I think will happen. But can you imagine the chaos of Phil doing the shopping by himself? But really anything that's just not that same setup... gimme gimme. It's one reason I'm enjoying the peak season videos so much, too. It's just Phil doing something different.

[Catallena]

I was definitely annoyed at Phil using that ancient tiny window clip as a SHORT, but I know that it has gone sorta viral before so the choice of clip wasn't that weird I guess? But that kind of re-posting only works when posting a good amount of other stuff as well, which is currently not happening. If it had been sandwiched between more clips of him rating noises in the house or whatever, nobody would've given a damn about the tiny window. Somebody needs to tell Phil that with short-form video content, the quality over quantity rule does not apply. Also plz remember Instastories exist

Since I really loved the two videos before the Halloween one I'm overall still vibing with most of Phil's content and don't think he's particularly lost at all. But I can see things that can be improved. I really miss the little sketch pieces he used to do, those always gave a little more flavour to his story telling. I get that those take a lot of time and that he'd have to show more of the house (but like green screens exist sooo...) but I think that alone would already be more enjoyable to watch. Especially for viewers who have only recently not been feeling Phil's content. People are definitely just bored of him just sitting in that chair. I understand his options are limited with COVID making yet another comeback but I genuinely believe he can do it when he's no longer as busy with ~things.

God I need that trailer for Cripsy Leaf Project yesterday.

But I guess another peak season video will do as well. Who knew I'd grow to enjoy Phil collabing with people who aren't that other guy? I can already see that "Dan and Phil was a thing" quote becoming an out of context monster living its own life outside the core phandom. #phandivorce

[shan]

Oh wow, I needed this peak season vid after more Cornelia nft drama.

I see Harold lives on as Phil keeps the awkward fist bumps going. Also, Phil totally abandoned his cereal fiend persona and asks to come to Google for some toast.

I don’t think Dani was quite prepared for the whirlwind of chaotic energy that Phil brings to the kitchen. He really feels like a kid in the kitchen. I mean, the comment when he realized he’d ruined her smoothie of ‘you enabled me!’. He’s such a cheeky little brat. It reminds me of the poll he did for one of his videos asking us to rate how difficult a person we think he is. After watching this, I think my rating would go up a bit

Bonus cursed comment of the day: “caring for the inner you, like you’re pregnant with yourself and you’re giving yourself a soothing spa treatment”. Love to see some of Phil’s infamous wisdom on a serious business Google video.

For the discussion on Phil’s content, the shorts have been a bit hit or miss for me but I do appreciate any new content he gives us. I don’t think I’m ever going to be jazzed about reused content though unless he’s doing something with them to make it new. For his actual AP videos, I think the Halloween one is the only recent video I haven’t enjoyed that much. That said, I can understand how when he’s only posting videos once a month, one not great video can make it feel like everything has been more of a flop than it maybe has been.

But I definitely agree that getting out of the filming room would be a nice change visually. Seems like the rest of the house is going to be off-limits so our best chance is an outside adventure. I love the grocery shopping idea! At least the secret project is most likely the next video and we'll obviously be getting a change of scenery with that one.

Edit: ok, I just noticed that the tiny window short was apparently edited by Elliot. Lol what? Of all the shorts to give him, he gave an old insta story and asked him to throw the captions on or something?

[kavat]

Typical Phil to ruin a perfectly good smoothie with his sweets and cereal addiction. Poor Dani didn't have the heart to say no.

The "Dan and Phil was a thing" is fascinating though. I know it was an offhand comment but it still confirms that DnP the double act is over. We already knew this because of how they've acted post II, but this was a verbal confirmation I don't think we've heard before. Makes me think of how they talked during II about how "if this is the last big thing we do, what do we want it to be" (paraphrased).

Very curious about the fall project. I'm hoping for the trailer today!

[Megancita75]

Did not expect algorithm thoughts from Phil in my inbox this morning, but I like it!

[alittledizzy]

Did not expect algorithm thoughts from Phil in my inbox this morning, but I like it!

omg same!! What a pleasant bit of behind the scenes.

A NAME CHANGE??

Hello! Just thought I'd let you into some behind the scenes of my YouTube channel today..

Sometimes you might see me change a name of a video after a few days or a week. Mostly it's because I decide something I like better, or occasionally I'll check how a video is doing and see if I could give it an ~algorithm~ boost.

In the latest example, I thought the thumbnail and title of 'I bought a 1 Star Rated Halloween Squid Game Costume' was pretty solid - it's a topical show, Halloween was happening, and I personally always want to click when someone reviews something terribly rated. HOWEVER, according to my analytics only '50% of normal viewers' even clicked on the video when it showed up to them?! Something went wrong Watson. 50% is an anomaly! Did ThE sUb BoX fAiL? Did they get Thanos'd?

Well *puts on science goggles* I think the problem was the thumbnail. My face was completely covered by the hilariously terrible costume, so a casual viewer of Phil who always clicks on my thumbnails, might perhaps scroll past thinking it was just some random other YouTuber. This was further confirmed when a friend told me.. "oh I saw that, I didn't realise it was you!"

This video was in two parts and the second part was Halloween candy tasting, so it wasn't difficult to come up with the new title of 'British guy tries USA Halloween candy'. I've recently done an American cereal review video which went down well, so the #ALGORITHM might decide to give people some more US food related reviewing action! Also it's more evergreen, there will always be Halloween, there will always be candy, but Squid Game is probably going to be out of everyone's minds until Season 2.

So I made the change! For 1 minute. I was poised to change it back after a 1 minute test. Youtube allows you to see minute by minute viewing data of each video, and as soon as I'd changed it, the views quadrupled. Wow, my annoying face makes the difference apparently. I then left it for a further 48 hours and the quadrupling is consistent. So it was either seeing my strange face, the candy, or a combination of both that magically made it normal.

Is it a nice moral of the story that I just need to be myself for the subscribers to click the video, or the candy?Probably the candy.

Titling and thumbnailing is literally 50% of being a YouTuber and such a mysterious beast to master ..so I'm sure there will be more *title changes* in the future. I think staring at view counts and obsessing over weird graphs isn't the healthiest activity, so I tend to just check them every few days in case something ANOMALOUS has occurred, or if I didn't accidentally upload my full iphone video camera roll to my channel.

And that's what you missed on that-one-video-I-changed-the-thumbnail-for.

BYE
AmazingPhil

[Amiaw]

I really enjoy reading more in depth posts from Phil like this most recents members posts. I am absolutely convinced he saw the tweets, some constructive and some downright mean, and I’m actually glad he addressed this because it’s a good explanation but also a nice little way to remind us he sees what’s going on and has reasons for his decisions.

[laurenbacall]

that was fascinating to read

when phil uploaded the video, i was surprised by the thumbnail and title that he went for. it was very unmemorable, very basic, very un-phil. i thought that i was bringing all my hipster prejudice against popular things into watching the video, but i'm very interested to learn that a lot of other people felt the same way. admittedly, the new thumbnail is very un-phil too (phil is an imposed transparent picture guy, rather than a full background picture guy), but the title is very phil

i'm late to this discussion but i was also interested to read that other people on here have felt like phil's content has been..... odd lately. i enjoyed the cereal video, but the assumption one and the halloween candy one felt very rushed and a bit phil-by-numbers. i don't want to say superficial, but that's how it feels. he knows what people want to see, he knows what people find funny, so he's doing that. there's no..... verve?

[Catallena]

this crumb tastes like a whole meal

Also yes, very into Phil sharing a Behind The Scenes process with us like that. That's what we want!

[kavat]

Very happy to know that rat as a term of endearment still lives on

[LAshleigh]

Okay, that Phil tweet made my day

[Grey]

What I’m wondering is why do they just have electricians and delivery people unexpectedly walking into their house? Don’t they lock the door? Lol

I really liked that members post too. Interesting!

[Levitating]

"Dan and Phil was a thing"

I hadn't registered that you were quoting HIM, but now I am watching the video and cannot believe he actually said it!!

... but also, so happy and reassured by this last tweet