Root Beer: Video Feedback?

I want your opinion. Sometimes, I spend a couple of days making a video, edit it, and then watch it and decide the video isn't good enough. That doesn't mean the content isn't good, it just means if I publish it on YouTube, it won't get the engagement because I'm trying to take a complex topic and put it into a space where most people want entertainment. Low engagement on a video gets it exiled to the YouTube island of forgotten videos. This is one of those videos. It is not fully edited (no text or titles or b-roll) just the basic talking torso and head style.

YouTube was once just a place to publish casual videos, but in the past 5 years, it has become a highly competitive creator platform.  The top creators use every trick to keep people engaged with their videos, which YouTube wants. The basic goal of YouTube is to keep your eyeballs on the site for as long as possible. Videos that perform well get pushed to viewers more often. And there is nothing wrong with that, YouTube is in the business of engagement. But a "good video" does not necessarily mean accurate or truthful content. Many drink and soda-related videos are full of misinformation, but they are engaging, so they rank higher.

So what is my problem? My goal has been to make well-researched videos and provide solid scientific advice in a niche market. Some topics in this niche, like Root Beer, have broad appeal and could generate a lot of views, which would help to support the channel. And yes, of course, I want to be successful at this. I would love for more people to see what can happen when history and science are combined into drinks. And I would love to pay my bills doing something I truly enjoy. Thanks for your support; it is appreciated.

There are a few issues. Obviously, time and skill because I am a one-man show here and I can't be good at everything. Yes, I could hire out editing, but most of the budget goes into buying equipment and ingredients to make the videos. With science topics, a few too many edits could create ambiguities in the message, and that would be fine for entertainment videos. But since many of you take my advice and buy hundreds of dollars of lab equipment and ingredients, I feel my videos need my attention during editing so you can reproduce what I show you.

Many popular creators on YouTube just make videos about making videos. And they do everything right in the context of getting viewers, but they don't have an actual subject. It is very meta. They can spend much time perfecting their video look and shooting copious b-roll. On the other hand, I spend my time doing dry runs of the video to make sure each step is clear and the recipes work and the research is good. Then I usually do two, sometimes 3 or 4, takes of the video All of this uses up at least two days, sometimes more.

Now, the problem is my info is good, but the videos are not dynamic. I have also structured things so that I don't repeat myself. For example, every time I make a video about a soda flavour, I refer to the How to Make A Soda Essence video because I don't want to do that step every time, but new viewers may not want to click to watch another video. People like self-contained information.

I may have a solution to this, but more on that in the near future.

You may see that a video I made gets 1500 views, but within the analytics, only 70% of those views watch past the 30-second mark and about a third watch the whole video. That's a low engagement rate and doesn't inspire the YouTube algorithm to push my videos to more viewers.

This root beer video is a case where hardcore root beer fans would like it, but for the average person who wants some Wikipedia-style info on root beer, it is not for them. It could be, I just need to do a better job of making the videos engaging but still informative on a small budget.  It is the standard triangle test; a video can be engaging, informative or cheap, pick two.

Yes, more quick cuts and b-roll help, but a lot of b-roll on YouTube videos is stolen copyrighted material. And yes, there are fair use cases, but a lot of it on YouTube doesn't meet that definition, and YouTube is passive in policing it because if the original copyright holder doesn't complain, it's not an issue. The truth is there is so much content on YouTube most copyright holders can't police it. Anyway, I avoid using other people's content completely, which means if I need a b-roll, I need to make it myself, which takes more time. A copyright claim on a channel can be a death knell.

So, thanks for making it this far. Now for the question:
How can I make better videos for you?
What is your opinion of the root beer video?
Do you want more simple videos with well-researched content or fewer but more engaging and polished videos?
What is your opinion on the overall production quality?
Do you want me to publish more of the videos that don't make the YouTube cut here?

Comment below. I welcome constructive criticism, give it to me straight. I try to implement suggestions when possible. Who knows, you may have some great advice. Let's make better content together.