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We grew by over 1000% since last week!

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Anyway - onto this week’s breakdown.

The Audience Sucks

Meet Chris Spargo

This week I want to highlight a YouTuber who went from uploading his first video to going full-time, with 100k subscribers under his belt… all in less than 2 months.

It might be one of the biggest overnight rises I’ve seen on the platform recently. And the mental bit - The guy’s making videos about car parks. And signs. And supermarket architecture. He’s an even lower-fi Tom Scott.

In February, Chris Spargo uploaded a video titled:
“Why Do British Supermarkets Have Clock Towers?”
….and somehow, that video now has 2.5 million views.

It’s kind of amazing right? But i’m also a little perplexed, and to be honest maybe i’m pissed off - or maybe i'm just jealous.

Chris himself says he doesn’t really know how this happened. He blames luck. Says he’s just a guy with a camera and too much time in multi-storeys. And I get that. But also…I don’t believe him. So I spent the weekend watching every video on his channel, to try and decode what’s actually going on here.

Here’s what I think:

It’s not the storytelling. (Well, not entirely.)

Chris is a good storyteller.

He admits he focuses on structure, clarity and narrative arc, the usual shit. And that definitely helps with retention, we should all know that by now. People come back because they buy into him and his storytelling. But that’s not why his first video blew up.

Because no one knew he was a good storyteller yet. You don’t get 2.5 million views by accident. The algorithm doesn’t go “Hey, this guy seems trustworthy.” No, it starts with something way more shallow:

The packaging slaps. But the topic selection slaps harder.

Chris’s thumbnails aren’t that revolutionary, actually they could be described as shit. No giant overly contrasty faces, No cringey red arrows. Just a still frame, an often bewildered face, and maybe a confusing sign. But the subject matter, thats where he comes into his own. 
They’re hyper localised, evergreen, and very relatable.

“Why do British supermarkets have clock towers?”
“Why are UK parking apps so awful?”
“Why are road signs lying to you?”

These are questions you didn’t know you had, until you read them. And then suddenly you're 3 mins deep in an explainer about retail architecture and municipal bureaucracy, and honestly? You're having a fucking great time.

It’s YouTube curiosity crack.

The format is pure value. It’s promising to deliver. And do it quickly.

Every video is under 4 minutes.

 No fluff. No long intros. No b-roll montages of reactions.

Just:
Here’s a weird British thing. Here’s why it exists. Here’s how it got messed up. Here’s a mildly devastating twist.
boom.

It’s almost like he’s engineered his videos for the post-TikTok brain. But in a good way. Like… the YouTube version of microdosing BBC Four.

And the consistency? Kind of genius.

Every video feels like part of the same weird British documentary universe. The guys is slowly building a cinematic universe out of planning permission laws and 1970s signage.

And that repeatable feeling is what creators like Paddy Galloway always talk about. The best channels don’t just have a good idea. They turn that idea into a formula you can trust

TL;DR: Here’s how Chris Spargo hacked the algorithm

• Hyper-local, curiosity-fuelled topics – Every title feels like a question you didn’t know you needed answered

• Short runtimes, high retention – Value in 4 minutes or less. A Promise of quick delivery. The Amazon Prime of quirky british topics.

• Consistent vibe – Every video feels like the last one’s cousin. British, a bit bleak, but oddly compelling.

• Understated but effective execution – No crazy edits. Just well-told stories with a camera, a mic, and a brain full of random council trivia.

Chris Spargo might not think he has a strategy.
But if you squint… well, he’s one of the most strategic creators on the platform right now.

And he’s doing it all… from a car park. Or an industrial estate. Or a bench. Or slough.

P.S - Someone on linkedin (shoutout all your crisp lovers) asked me about the dip in this chart - and I hadn’t really paid it much thought - but i did some digging, and I found that chris has a video on his channel - a music video he made 4 years ago that sat on around 1.7m views. So that would account for SOME of that pre growth view-count. the remaining 1.5 million or so, well that remains a mystery…. for now.

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