How We Engineered a Video to 1.7M Views in 5 Days

Last week, GrowVeg, a gardening channel I work with became the biggest gardening channel in the UK.

One of our latest videos pulled in 1.7 million views in just 5 days, that’s a 13x increase on their video average.

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This isn’t a one-off win. It’s a repeatable system.

If you want massive growth on YouTube, you need to stop guessing and start understanding why people click.

This week, I’m breaking down exactly how we engineered this viral video's title, thumbnail, and idea so you can apply the same blueprint to your channel...

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The Title & Thumbnail Formula for 1.7M Views in 5 Days

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Why it worked:

1️⃣ Curiosity Trigger #1: Perceived Knowledge Gap

Most gardeners are familiar with growing potatoes, so the title immediately disrupts their expectations, prompting the question: “Wait, there’s something better?”

It then deepens the intrigue by suggesting that almost no one grows it, implying the viewer likely doesn’t either.

When we recognize that we don’t know something but believe we could understand or learn it, curiosity is activated.

This is exactly why intriguing titles pull us in by teasing a gap in our knowledge that we feel compelled to itch - especially so in this case if the artichokes in the bucket look unfamiliar.

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2️⃣ Curiosity Trigger #2: Novelty & “Too Good to Be True”

Plant Once, Harvest Forever is an insanely attractive concept for gardeners.

It feels like a cheat code. It’s effortless, unlimited rewards.

When people see something that feels almost too good to be true, they have to check if it actually works.

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This psychological lever works in every niche:

• Fitness – "The One Exercise You Need for Bigger Arms (But No One Does!)"
• Tech – "This Underrated Laptop DESTROYS MacBook Pro (And It’s Cheaper!)"
• Personal Finance – "The Investment That Beats Stocks (And Almost No One Talks About)"

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⚡ Steal This: Your best video ideas come from challenging assumptions and presenting a “better way.”

What’s something your audience assumes is true… that you can flip?

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How We Engineered This Video Using Past Wins

This wasn’t a lucky guess. It was a calculated remix of past winning elements:

🔹 Proven Thumbnail Style: We knew this shot of tipping over a bucket worked because a previous video used the same visual format and performed well.

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🔹 Proven Phrasing: Plant Once, Harvest Forever was used in the thumbnail text of our most successful video.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, we reapplied what already worked.

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🔹 Proven Psychological Triggers: Another past hit tapped into the same “alternative option” framing that made people click.

This time around, we just removed the answer (artichokes) from the packaging to encourage people to click.

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⚡ Steal This: Success leaves clues. Look at your past 10 best-performing videos and reverse engineer what me them work.

Do any patterns stand out?

Is there a recurring phrase, visual style, or idea that resonated? Find your formula, refine it, repeat it.

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For GrowVeg, the formula is:

✅ Common crop → Better alternative (e.g. potatoes → artichokes)

✅ Proven thumbnail structure (Ben tipping a bucket of the crop)

✅ Psychology-backed text ("Plant Once, Harvest Forever")

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Don’t hesitate to reuse what works as your audience won’t remember your old videos as much as you do.

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Want to Go Deeper?

I recently hosted a private workshop breaking down my full YouTube growth strategy, the same approach that helped GrowVeg and other channels explode. It includes:

✅ The exact system I use to develop viral video ideas​
✅ My title & thumbnail playbook (tested across multiple niches)
✅ A step-by-step worksheet you can use for your own channel

If you want access to the full workshop replay + templates, grab it here.

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Here’s what a creator who attended had to say about it:

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Final Takeaway: YouTube Growth is a System, Not an Accident

If you’re still throwing random videos at the wall, hoping something sticks, you’re playing the wrong game.

Growth happens when you:
1️⃣ Study your audience. Learn what actually makes them click by tapping into the psychographics.
2️⃣ Repeat what works. Find winning elements and remix them into new videos.
3️⃣ Use Deep vs. Wide strategy. Make videos that are simple and valuable (I'll talk about this in next week's newsletter).

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Action Point For This Week: Go analyze your best-performing videos. What’s a winning element you can use again?