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Hello, audio listeners and welcome to this new episode.
This one is sort of a bonus episode, really.
It doesn't have a number.
And I think you can see from the title what this episode is about.
Because yesterday I got to a million subscribers on YouTube, which is a pretty cool milestone,
which is worth marking in some way.
And basically in this episode I decided that I would try to record my reactions to the
moment when the number changed from 99999, which is 999,999 to a million.
Because YouTube allows you to see the number, a kind of a live update of the number, the
number goes up and down.
Anyway, you'll hear me talking about that.
And I talk with my daughter a little bit at the dinner table.
There's a bit of rambling basically about all of that stuff.
And but I just wanted to say here only in the audio version that despite the fact that
I've somehow managed to get all these subscribers on YouTube and it seems my YouTube channel
is pretty popular, I still consider the audio podcast to be the sort of home of Luke's
English podcast really.
Because this has always been an audio show from the very beginning really 15 years ago when
I first started.
And audio listeners, I think that there must be over a million of you subscribing to the
audio podcast.
I'm pretty sure there are more audio listeners than video listeners.
It's actually a little bit harder to tell exactly how many subscribers there are to Luke's
English podcast, the audio version.
Because people subscribe to the audio version on various platforms.
You know, there's the big ones like Apple podcasts and Spotify, but also other podcast services
like pocket casts or Google podcasts, audible, even, and various other ways in which basically
people like you, I suppose, can subscribe to the audio version of this show.
And that makes it a little bit harder for me to track exactly how many subscribers I
have to the audio show, but I'm certain that I have more than a million now.
So it's just it was a little harder for me to find a specific moment when I went when
I crossed that line and got to a million audio subscribers.
So well, I just want to also say thank you to you for subscribing to my audio podcast.
If indeed you are a subscriber, if you're not a subscriber, it's very easy.
Just click the subscribe button or just add the podcast to your library or whatever it is
on the particular service that you use.
But thank you for being a subscriber.
Thank you for listening to my podcast.
I feel very lucky to have an audience and it's just really cool, you know.
I'll talk more about that kind of thing a little bit later on in the episode, but yes,
audio listeners, hello.
And really, I've only sort of, I've only really been adding videos regularly on YouTube
for the last couple of years really.
A couple of reasons for that.
The first one is that we finally got a fiber optic internet installed in our apartment.
That was a few, that was a couple of years ago.
And so that makes it much, much easier to upload large video files because my videos
are pretty big, you know, because they're like often more than an hour long.
So that was one of the reasons why I started doing video because the internet connection
made it possible.
Also, I got a new laptop which made it again much easier to actually produce and store
video files and stuff.
So anyway, that's kind of why the video stuff has happened recently.
But yeah, audio has been going for such a long time.
And hopefully audio listeners, you know, you get the benefit of the audio side of things
which is, as I've said before, the fact that it's so flexible, you can just kind of do whatever
you want while you listen to this.
It really gives you that extra bit of freedom.
That's the wonderful thing about podcasting.
I love podcast and listen to them all the time when I'm traveling, when I am doing housework,
you know, if I'm just doing the washing up or something.
You know, we all know how wonderful podcasts are.
And in the audio versions of this podcast, you do get more stuff.
You often get extra content that's not available in the video versions.
For example, you get things like this, this introduction part, or often I do rambling
bits at the end of episode, so I do intros and outros and other stuff.
So anyway, thanks for subscribing to the audio podcast and audio lepsters.
You've been with me for a long time.
And it's really cool to have you listening to this podcast as well.
We're going to get started in just a moment.
I would like also to say, premium listeners.
Hello, I just want to give you a heads up that P56, parts 1 to 8 are now all available.
So all eight parts of that series have been finished and they're published and they're
available for you to listen to now.
If you're a premium subscriber, you will see them in your episode list.
And you can just feel free to listen to those episodes, to use those episodes in your
own time at your own pace.
They are there for you now with the PDFs and video versions as well.
Okay, you know what to do.
I've told you about how to use Luxinglish podcast premium before, you know, listening in a
podcast app and stuff.
If you want more information though, if you still don't quite understand how it works,
then you can get that information by going to my website, teacherleuk.co.uk slash premium
info.
Okay.
But P56, parts 1 to 8 available for premium subscribers.
Now you will find them in your episode list.
Right then.
So let's now carry on.
And you can listen to the things I recorded yesterday on my own and also with my daughter
and baby's son making a few funny noises in the background.
I hope you enjoyed the episode.
That's it.
All right, then here we go.
We're listening to Lux English podcast for more information, visit teacherleuk.co.uk.
Hello listeners, hello video viewers.
So today is Thursday, the first of February.
It's actually 10, 17 at night.
And if you're watching the video version, you can tell that I'm not in my normal podcasting
room in my podcast, but I'm just in my living room.
And it's the evening.
My kids are asleep.
My wife is out having dinner with her friend.
So I'm on my own this evening.
But today, Thursday, the first of February, 2014, no, sorry, I just forgot about 10 years
of my life there.
And yours.
Anyway, first of February, 2024.
And today just happens to be the fateful day in history when I get a million subscribers
on YouTube.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's right.
A million subscribers on YouTube.
So you know, that changes everything for me, doesn't it?
I'm now, I'm an influencer now.
And so I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to buy my own private jet and just fly
around.
Maybe leave my family and just spend my time on a private jet with lots of women around.
And why would they, why are they are there?
I don't know.
But that's what you do, isn't it?
When you, when you're, when you're a huge internet sensation, isn't that what you're
supposed to do?
And then I'm going to, you know, I'm going to spend all my time on a yacht with sun,
sunglasses on vlogging, vlogging myself.
That's videoing myself, all right?
Yeah.
Vlogging myself.
And I'm just going to be making aspirational lifestyle content on YouTube talking about my
4am workout routine and selling protein bars or whatever.
Now that's not what I'm going to do, of course, that's ridiculous.
But that's just, you know, if you look at a lot of YouTubers who make it really big,
they do sell the dream, don't they?
They really sell a kind of super fake, glamorous lifestyle, you know, and it's aspirational.
Although it's, it's not really the way it works in reality.
It's always funny when you see, when YouTubers video themselves doing something like they're
just like editing a video.
But they're videoing themselves doing it.
Like why are they just, clearly they've just set up that camera to do that?
Anyway, I'm not here to complain or make fun of YouTubers because fair enough, you know,
everyone's got to do what they do, I suppose.
Do they?
Well, anyway, you know, that's not the point.
Anyway, a million subscribers on YouTube today.
Woohoo.
Yeah, here I am celebrating on my own in a, in a, in a, in a, in my dark living room with
one light on.
But I've been looking at, I mean, I, I actually still have more audio podcast listeners.
Although it's just harder to know the exact number because people subscribe on different
platforms, you know, but on YouTube, you got one platform and one number and I don't
know if you know about this, but if you have a YouTube channel, if you create content
and publish it on YouTube, you have your YouTube studio, which is a sort of dashboard where
you can manage your content and change all the settings and you can also look at your
statistics, including quite a cool thing, which allows you to check the number of subscribers
your channel has and it's a like a, it's a live update.
So it's just, it just shows you the number of subscribers and the number goes up or down
as people subscribe or unsubscribe.
God forbid heaven forbid that anyone would do that.
But anyway, as the number changes, you know, it goes up and down and you can see it.
So I've been, today I've been, I've had that, had that open on one of the windows on my
computer and every now and then I've like had a little look.
I recorded a premium episode earlier today.
That's P56 Part 8.
So if you're a premium subscriber, you can actually see that sometimes during the episode,
and I share those moments with you, I have a little look at the number and sort of say,
here's what the number is, it might get to a million today.
So I've been, I have to admit, I've been kind of checking in on that number and having
a look at it quite regularly.
And it turns out that this evening is the time that the number is going to hit a million.
Okay.
So I decided that I'd do a couple of recordings.
I wanted to capture the moment.
You know, I mean, I know it's just a number, but I suppose it's a landmark, isn't it?
It's a sort of a milestone and a significant moment, I suppose.
I've been doing my podcast for 15 years.
It'll be 15 years this April.
That's a long time.
That's a lot of work.
I've worked hard.
I've put a lot of time and effort into this and it's good to see some sort of outcome from
that.
So it's very happy, I'm very happy to get to a number.
It's nice to get to a big round number.
And so I thought that I would sort of capture that moment.
So I was wondering how to do it.
And in fact, earlier on, and so I'm recording this actually, sort of later at the end of
the day.
Earlier on, I was having dinner with my daughter and little baby son.
And so I opened my laptop and said to my daughter, look at this number, look, do you know what
this means?
This is like the number of subscribers I've got on YouTube.
She knows what YouTube is.
Sometimes she watches YouTube kids.
She watches like, it's really quite stupid videos on YouTube kids.
They're quite entertaining.
And she watches like Netflix and stuff.
So she knows what YouTube is.
And I think she knows what the million, she's six years old.
I think she knows how big a million is.
So it was, I just decided to share the moment with her and we made a recording.
So what you're going to hear now is me speaking with my daughter, our baby, I mean, my wife,
the baby's there as well.
And so first of all, you're going to hear a little conversation with my daughter talking
about my number of subscribers, you know, and just sort of rambling with her.
It's quite silly.
It's quite fun.
And then after that, you're going to join me again, sitting in this position in my living
room as the number hits a million.
Okay.
So if you want to join me for that experience, then you're welcome.
Stick around and keep watching the video, keep listening to this episode.
Obviously a lot of people will not be watching the video.
You'll just be listening to this in audio land in podcast land, which is great because
there isn't really that much to see on the video.
My daughter and my son are not in the video.
That part is just audio, but you can see the number of subscribers changing.
So I did record my screen.
You can see the number changing going up and down because it goes down as well when
people unsubscribe.
So if you're not watching the video version, don't worry, you're not really missing anything.
You're really just missing a number going up slowly, going down a bit and then going
up again.
Okay.
But anyway, if you are watching the video version, you can join me and watch the moment
when the number goes from a six-figure number to a seven-figure number, one and six zeros.
It's very exciting.
And if you want to stick around and enjoy that moment with me, then you're welcome and
you can do that in this episode.
All right.
So now let's listen to that recording I made with my daughter earlier.
And I have to say, so we recorded this at the dinner table.
I don't think there are going to be sounds of eating.
It's all right.
I know that bothers some people.
But you do hear the baby in the background making some sort of baby noises.
All right.
I hope that's not too distracting.
I think it should be okay.
But now you can join me, my daughter and my son at the dinner table earlier, talking about
the number of subscribers I've got on YouTube and some stuff about penguins as well.
I don't know how we ended up talking about penguins trying to take over the world, but
we did.
Okay.
Here we go.
Okay.
So we're sitting here technically at the dinner table.
We don't normally do recordings at the dinner table and also we shouldn't really speak with
our mouths full.
Right.
Is your mouth full?
No.
Is it?
She's nodding.
She's nodding.
Try not to talk with your mouth full, okay?
I know that's difficult because we've got pizza and we're enjoying eating it.
But anyway, do you know what you're looking at here on the screen?
Do you know what these numbers mean?
No.
No idea at all.
No idea.
So you see this picture here, do you know what that is?
That's you.
That's me, that's right.
Do you know what it says underneath?
The key.
It looks like that.
So this blue line actually just represents the growth in subscribers over the last 24 hours.
But to be honest, I could change this line to show, oh, the line's gone away.
Let's just change that to all life time from when I first started the channel in 2009
to now.
You can see it's really jumped up over that time.
Why is the number changing now like that?
I don't know why.
Because it was on 999.
Yeah, that's up to date now.
So it's gone up like this.
I kind of do know why it went up in this way because I published a few, sort of around
this time where it started going, you can have more pizza here, where it started going up.
That's when I started doing videos properly.
And then this is when I published a few videos that were especially popular, which is, which
I really pushed the channel towards a million.
Oh, look, someone unsubscribed.
Did you see that?
The number went down, who unsubscribed to Luke's English podcast on YouTube?
They made a terrible mistake there, didn't they?
And so you can see the number of subscribers is going, hopefully going up steadily, although
sometimes it goes down because someone makes a mistake and they slip and their finger
presses the unsubscribed button by mistake.
I mean, that's the only possible answer, only possible reason why someone will unsubscribe
from my YouTube channel.
Maybe not.
Really? What could be what could the other reasons be?
Well, they don't like it.
Why would they not like it?
I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know either.
Oh, look.
Oh, it went down again.
What's going on?
Should we stop talking about the number going down?
Maybe that's...
Maybe I've got another theory as well.
So actually, I've got some theories about why the number might go down sometimes.
So one of those reasons is at the beginning of the year, I published an episode which has
been especially popular because it was all about sort of stop feeling with Apple.
Because it was all about, like, basically, it was a very popular episode and that got a
lot of subscribers.
A lot of people subscribed to the channel because of that video and a few months before I did
a story episode which was very popular.
A lot of people subscribed because of that as well.
And then I go ahead and publish other episodes that are not story episodes that are different
to the ones that they subscribed because of.
And then so there's other episodes that I do.
And then, like, this isn't what I expected.
This isn't what I wanted.
I'm going to unsubscribe like that.
It went up again.
Yay.
Can you actually read that number?
18?
18.
It was good.
It was good.
It was good, but it's a bit bigger than...
19.
19.
19.
19.
19.
19.
19.
19.
19.
19.
19.
19.
19.
Right.
So, excuse me.
Let me just finish my mouthful.
You are speaking...you are chewing with your mouthful.
Well, of course I'm going to chew with my mouthful.
Oh, yes.
I mean, you're...you can't chew when you are eating with your mouthful.
Yeah, I can chew when I'm eating with my mouthful.
You can't talk when you think of your mouthful.
And you can't eat when you're...when you're talking.
Yeah, you're right.
Of course you're right.
And you might be voicing the thoughts of some of my listeners right now who like,
I can't believe that he's recording something at the dinner table.
When there's food...look, it went up again, didn't it?
So how do you say this number?
It's a big number.
But this is 999,920.
999,920.
Now, I think to be honest, it might take an hour before it goes up to a million at this rate.
At this rate, we might have to wait a minute.
It went up again.
Okay.
So, I mean, what do you think?
Do you think this is...if you think I'm going to get to a million?
I think that I'll have a million people subscribing to my YouTube channel.
I don't know. Can I have more pizza please?
Yes, yes you can.
But you can't have more pizza.
But...
What happened?
It's gone up.
It's gone up.
Again, excellent.
Two two.
Right. What does your little brother think of this?
I think that's a yes.
Yeah.
What do you think?
Okay, let him speak.
What do you think little brother?
Okay.
So, big sister.
A million. Is that a big number, a small number?
A big number.
Really? Is it the biggest number you've ever heard of?
Yes.
Is it?
No.
You've heard of bigger numbers and that.
Can you tell me a bigger number than a million?
I can't remember.
A trillion.
A trillion?
Yeah, definitely.
That's much bigger than a million.
A trillion.
A billion.
A billion as well.
Which is a thousand million.
Right.
And I suppose...
You want me to cut the pizza?
No.
You mean, Daddy, can you cut?
Daddy, can you cut my pizza?
What's the meaning?
Sorry?
Pigs.
No, say it normally because...
Please.
My listener wants to hear a polite little girl.
Please.
Daddy.
Go on.
Be steady.
Are you?
At my pizza?
Can you cut my pizza, please, Father?
How you cut my pizza, Pigs, Daddy?
I think you're listening to a little girl.
Don't what?
Don't go up.
Because of that.
Because of your little brother going,
This is exactly the sort of thing they want to hear, isn't it?
Wow.
Yeah, look at that.
You want them, Dad got the tissue.
Okay, let's try and keep it fairly sensible.
It's a big number, a million.
And it's surprising, isn't it?
Really?
There's a million people out there subscribing to this.
Although, as we said before, maybe some of them subscribe
because they liked just one of my episodes.
Like that story episode I did.
And then they're just waiting for me to publish more things like that.
And then again, you know, there are other people who like,
I like the story one.
I subscribe because of that.
But then I'm also interested in his other stuff as well,
because he does a variety of different things.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Right, I'm eating now.
So, can you say something?
Somehow.
My daddy is lovely.
Sorry?
My daddy is lovely.
So, she's now thinking of what other lovely things,
nice things she can say about me.
I didn't pay her to say this, by the way.
I've not bribed her with pizza.
I don't know what else.
Okay.
You learned something interesting about geography.
Oh, yeah.
So, my audience are in many different countries in the world.
On different continents, you learned about continents.
How many continents are there?
Seven.
Can you name them?
I got Asia, Africa, Northern South America,
and Antarctica, Europe,
from Italy, Australia.
And finally, Australia.
Okay, where are we now?
You're up.
Mmm-hmm.
Very good.
Wow.
My cousins are in Australia.
Your cousins are in Australia.
New.
I can't remember what.
The number went up again.
You know what that was?
Oh, and again, you know what that is?
It's those people before who've changed their mind.
They unsubscribed,
and then they immediately had a deep sense of regret.
Oh, no, I'm going to miss out on all this wonderful content.
What was I thinking?
Quickly re-subscribed.
Maybe.
I don't know.
Yeah.
What?
Hey, it changed.
It changed.
It changed.
It changed.
It changed.
It changed.
Nice.
Okay.
Your brother's making some funny noises.
Okay.
I think we're going to stop recording.
Okay.
And then maybe if it's on 9,999, 990,
we might record something again.
So we can react when it gets to a million.
If it gets to a million, we can go,
yay, a million, yay, hey.
And then we'll stop at the recording again.
What do you think?
Plus, you've got homework to do.
Yes, you do.
You have a spelling test to do.
Mm-hmm.
You will learn to spell those words.
Mm-hmm.
All right, so we're going to do that as well.
You don't tell that all that.
It's still recording.
Yeah.
Yeah, no.
And it's it.
926 now.
Okay.
It's amazing, isn't it?
That we can see the number just going up live.
Who are these people?
Where are they?
What are they doing?
You imagine just people in their kitchens,
on their phones or people in living rooms or libraries.
Like looking at my YouTube channel when they should be studying.
Or people in offices when they should be working.
Instead of secretly watching my videos and subscribing.
People sitting on the toilet, on their phones.
People on the bus or the train.
It went up again.
Another one.
Another commuter, travelling somewhere,
one of those seven continents, probably not Antarctica.
But who knows?
Why not answer?
Again.
Why would they not be in Antarctica, do you think?
Yeah.
What do you know about Antarctica?
I don't know.
Well, it's all just snow and penguins, isn't it?
Yeah.
Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum.
Is that the music of Antarctica?
No.
It's just penguins and snow.
Yeah.
And snow and water.
Maybe it's penguins that are subscribing.
Maybe it may.
Maybe the penguins are all learning English.
And one day, they'll be like, right, we're ready now.
We're ready to take over the world.
And then the penguin revolution comes.
Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum.
Here come the penguins.
Dum dum dum dum dum dum.
Dum dum dum dum dum dum.
But they wouldn't be going, grrr, grrr.
The penguin power.
Grrr, grrr, grrr, grrr.
You know, the thing about penguins is that the advantage they have over us is that they
can fly underwater.
Did you know that?
We were tiny.
No, they fly really well underwater.
Have you never seen a penguin flying underwater?
No.
You have, you have at the zoo.
Oh, yes.
Can they fly in the air?
Yes.
No.
And not unless someone throws them into the air.
Oh, yes.
Which you shouldn't do.
Never throw a penguin in the air.
Why?
Unless you're throwing it in towards the water.
Although, because it would be cruel, wouldn't it, to throw it as a throw a, grab a penguin
and throw it in the air.
Yeah.
Unless it was like, unless it had invaded your campsite and was eating your sandwiches, then
you could maybe legitimately sort of defend yourself.
If it was coming to get you, attacking you, if it was an act of self-defense, maybe you
could grab it and throw it back into the sea.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, this talk of penguins is not helping the, the number, is it?
Yeah.
But it's okay.
That little noise your brother made is like a review of the conversation.
No, it's like a little perisian person reviewing.
Not very good.
The penguin thing was funny, but I mean, really.
Hmm.
Okay.
Well, we'll stop now, shall we?
No.
Maybe carry on later.
I need to eat my pizza.
I can't just talk, not eat.
I want my pizza.
Of course you do.
Look, we're going to eat a little bit more pizza.
Oh, it went up again.
Yes.
We'll eat a little bit more pizza.
What numbers that at the end there?
Nine.
Yeah, the, the first one as well.
Two.
Nine.
So, nine, two and nine is?
Nineteen.
No.
No, two.
Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight.
Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine.
Twenty-nine.
Twenty-nine.
Persons.
It's ninety-two.
Twenty-nine people.
Twenty-nine people.
And twenty-nine people.
Imagine twenty-nine people in a room.
Right?
Imagine, remember your birthday.
There was about twenty-nine people in the room then.
Now, imagine if, if there's a knock at the door,
well, twenty-nine people, that's a lot of people for a birthday.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, open the door. Hello.
Yeah, it's nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and other people.
And imagine.
Oh, but different.
There's a lot of people, isn't it?
Okay, yeah, you'd have some people in a second. Just say this for me.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and twenty-nine.
Nine hundred and twenty-nine.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand.
Nine hundred and twenty-nine.
Nine hundred and ten-nine.
Okay.
All right.
We'll stop and we'll continue.
Maybe when I'm about to get a million,
but that might be a sleep when that happens.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Okay.
Bye for now.
Bye-bye.
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Okay, so it's late in the evening now.
Both kids are asleep.
I'm all on my own at home.
My wife is actually out this evening having dinner with her friend.
But anyway, so have a look at this.
$999,999.
I thought I'd do some sort of live reaction.
I'd say live.
I thought I'd record my reaction to this going up to a million if in fact it does.
There's still part of me which thinks it'll get to $99999.
And then suddenly everyone's going to change their mind.
And it's gradually going to climb back down to where it was before.
But anyway, if things continue to go as they have been going,
then this is going to become a million.
How fascinating.
And I had loads of things to say, which I can't remember now.
I don't think I should start congratulating myself just yet.
You know, I'll have to wait until this gets to a million before I start doing the kind of typical
one million views YouTube reaction video where I'm very, where I very humbly thank everyone
for subscribing to my channel.
Which, you know, is true.
I do.
I am grateful for everyone for subscribing because obviously each number represents one person
who went, whom I will subscribe to this.
There's another one.
$999,999.
Wow.
So thanks for subscribing.
Thanks for all those people.
Thank you to you if you are a subscriber and you're one of those numbers.
Really, thanks a lot.
It's very satisfying to see that number going up.
And obviously it's very satisfying for someone like me who makes content for learners of English
or content for anyone to actually see that people are interested in it and that they like it
and that they like it and they want to see more of it.
And so they subscribe.
It's amazing really, isn't it?
I mean, you know, when I went, when I left university, I had no idea what I wanted to do
with my life.
And, you know, I always sort of thought that I might end up working in the media in some way
after the degree I did and stuff.
But it just didn't seem that appealing to me because I didn't feel like I could really,
and this is a bit of a cliche, but I didn't feel like I could make much of an impact.
Plus anyway, my dad had had his career in the media, right, in the sort of, you know,
the, let's say traditional media television and radio a little bit.
That was his world and he'd built a really successful career in that world.
And for me, it felt like, I don't know, I just don't feel like I've necessarily got any place in this world.
But I always wanted to create things and make stuff.
And when I first started, when I was first a teacher, an English teacher,
I had this vague idea that I wanted to make video content for learners of English.
But there wasn't really a platform for it.
And now of course there's YouTube.
Obviously YouTube is really well established now.
It's been going for ages and ages.
And in fact, it's now so well established
that a lot of, a lot of YouTubers actually quit the platform this year.
Quite famously, I don't know if you follow lots of YouTubers.
But that's been a trend over the last few weeks of people quitting
and other people making videos about the fact that apparently everyone is quitting YouTube.
So I mean, it's, oh, I went down, someone changed their mind.
I went down from 9,999.
998 to, back down to 997.
That's a pity, isn't it?
Anyway, so what was I saying?
So YouTube, well, the cool thing about it, this and podcasting.
Because really, I do a podcast.
It's Luke's English podcast.
So first and foremost, it's a podcast with a YouTube channel.
But the YouTube has really sort of blown up recently since I started videoing myself
recording my podcast. But YouTube is so cool because it's so direct.
And so kind of do it yourself.
I love that about this new media.
Not that it's new media. It's not really new media so much anymore.
But just this self publishing, it's so great.
In the sense that you can just make something on your own.
You don't need producers.
You don't need all these other extra people.
You don't need to work your way up in the career ladder.
You can immediately start making content.
And that's great and just publish it.
And the same day that you make it, your audience can start watching it.
Obviously, it takes a long, long, long time to get an audience.
I'm lucky. I'm very lucky, of course, because you know, I've got something that my audience,
oh, another person, changed their mind back up to 9998 and then back down to 997 again.
Is that just one person subscribing and unsubscribing and then subscribing and unsubscribing again?
Maybe.
What was I rambling about?
I don't know. It's a bit late in the day.
And to be honest, I'd rather be just sort of sitting on the sofa drinking a cup of tea.
Not really thinking about anything.
But here I am doing this. Not in my podcasting room, but just in my living room.
With most of the lights off and just one lamp on the table here.
And just me and sort of in semi-darkness staring at this computer screen, waiting for a number to arrive.
Anyway, I was saying that YouTube is great because, and podcasting is great because it's so direct,
that you can just make something, publish it, and then people get to consume it right there
and then. It's a bit like stand up comedy that's, oh, 99999, we're on the cusp.
It's like stand up comedy because you can think of a joke or a story or routine.
Go down to a club, get on stage, do it that evening.
Have your audience hear it. Hopefully it gets laughs.
So it's so straight and so clear and direct. It's similar to doing this.
But it takes a long time, you know, it really does take a long time to build up to the point where you've got an audience
and not everyone gets that far. There it is. Look, it just changed a million subscribers.
Oh my goodness, 1,000,000.
Unbelievable. I can't believe it. A million people.
Just incredible.
Thanks a lot for subscribing to my podcast. That's going to go down in it. Oh, it went up. It's gone up.
1,000,000 and 1.
Someone out there is the 1,000,000 and 1st subscriber to this show on YouTube.
It might go down. It might go back down. That would be an anticlimax.
If it suddenly started going backwards, you know, I've got a weird feeling it's going to do that.
I wonder how many subscribers I'm going to get it eventually.
Right. How long am I going to do this for? As far as I'm concerned, I'm happy to keep going doing this podcast.
You know, I don't really have any plans to stop. I'll have to stop eventually because I'll just be too tired.
You know, because it's work.
So anyway, I was saying that it does take work and it takes time to build an audience.
And I've worked hard, you know, I've worked hard to get to this point.
Just making content week in, week out.
But to be honest, it hasn't really felt like work that much because it's always just been the thing I wanted to do.
And that's just I love just making stuff. Even just just talking even.
You know, it doesn't have to be some big production.
Again, that's another thing I like about this. It's not some big production.
I've got friends who work in television, who've worked in films and things like that.
It's an incredibly big project, you know, it takes so much time to get the project off the ground.
There are so many people involved.
There are so many complex factors, so many frustrations, so many meetings, meetings with producers, meetings with writers, with casting directors, with actors, with finances.
You go round and round in circles, even making the damn thing.
Even if it's a small project, it's still a huge thing.
But with this, you know, it's just so straightforward.
It really can just be a person with a microphone and a camera, you know.
Not even a camera for years and years. I've been doing this without a camera.
It's gone up again. One thousand, one million and three.
So I like that. I like that about this medium that you get. It's very simple and clear.
But yes, I've been lucky because, you know, being an English teacher means that I've got something to offer to the world, right?
I've got my particular set of teaching skills, or at least I've got English.
I'm, you know, very fortunate. I know that.
I know I was unfortunate to have, you know, grown up being a, being someone who just learn English in childhood.
You know, that's very lucky because it means that I've got this thing that a lot of people want to learn.
And I'm happy to help them learn it. It's cool. It's really cool.
I love sharing my language and culture.
And, you know, I do love learning languages. I know I beat myself up about my French, but, you know, I do actually love speaking French.
And getting it right and communicating in another language. It's so cool, you know.
It really is like learning a whole other language and operating in, it's like a different, a whole different world, isn't it?
That opens up to you when you speak another language, a whole different, a part of your life, a whole different sort of medium.
That's another language. And it's just a really cool thing to, to do.
I had the same experience and feeling, speaking Japanese when I lived in Japan going out to my local bar and hanging out with my local friends who I only ever saw in that bar.
And we would just chat together and drink cocktails and play darts.
And I learned to hold down some basic conversations in Japanese. And that was so exciting, so refreshing and so invigorating.
So language learning is brilliant, very lucky that, you know, that I have a language that people lots of people want to learn.
And that, you know, I've spent a lot of time working really hard on being an English teacher and working in classrooms and really sort of like trying to do my best, trying to learn the ways of the English teacher to try to help people learn this language effectively.
And also trying to learn how to make people laugh and practicing entertaining people on stage.
I've worked hard at it, but I've also been lucky in the sense that, you know, I've got, I've got like a language that people want to learn.
And also I've got some, some experience, you know, like teaching for many years when there weren't things like podcasting and YouTube, just teaching and just trying to improve as a teacher.
But anyway, thanks to you for subscribing. If indeed you have subscribed, if you haven't subscribed, well, you know, you could consider subscribing, couldn't you?
And I think I know why a lot of people have subscribed to this channel. It's like what I was saying earlier when I was talking to my daughter, not the stuff about penguins.
That was fun. But no, I mean, like why why people have subscribed to the podcast?
And you can see the blue line, which sort of marks the progression of my subscriber count that there are several moments when the line definitely goes up.
And those I think those are episodes, that's when I published episodes that kind of went viral that got picked up by the algorithm.
Especially you can see one around about March, April of last year. I think that's the one called Parsons pleasure. Learn English with a short story, which is now like probably my most popular video.
And you know, I get regular comments on that from people saying that they really enjoyed it and that they felt like they learned a lot of English from it and stuff. So it's learning English with a short story, mostly that has really lifted the channel like this.
Those learning English with a short story episodes are the ones that I think are most popular and that have attracted most subscribers. So I know that.
Of course, I will be doing more of that kind of thing. I know that that's what people have subscribed for and that they want. I'll be doing more of that sort of thing.
But at the same time, I will continue to do what I've always done, which is to make the kind of content that is ultimately that I would like to make.
And I think that may be one of the keys to if I know anything about anything about doing this stuff, it's that you've all it's easy to burn out.
You know, you can you can burn out by making content all the time and sort of trying to please the subscribers or trying to bring in new subscribers, trying to catch the algorithm on YouTube or on a podcast feed or whatever it is.
You know, you can it can be a struggle to play that game.
And to come up with content all the time can be demanding, but really what you've got to do is you've got to kind of make sure you keep enjoying it. And that does also mean making content that you want to make as well.
And so I sort of try and balance.
You know, just keeping up the variety, for example, talking to friends and family, having enjoyable conversations, which I really hope will also be enjoyable for for you as well. And just following my sort of inspiration and just talking about whatever thing I want to talk about.
While also trying to present it in a way that hopefully everyone out there is interested in, was that a good sentence? I don't even know if that was a correct sentence.
Sometimes you just have to just you just talk and you have to just do your best, don't you?
And hope sometimes that you the grammar actually holds together, even in your first language.
So yes, short story episodes and probably some other ones like some of the rambling episodes, some episodes with certain guests have been the really popular things.
And of course, I will continue to do to do those things. I'm always looking for good stories that I can use, but at the same time, you know, I understand that I've got to kind of keep things fresh and have a variety of stuff in my show in order to make sure I don't burn out and that I can continue to do this.
And I enjoy it. Someone unsubscribed because they were like, he's not going to do stories episodes every time I'm out of here.
Of course, this isn't happening live. So actually, I've got no idea why that person unsubscribed.
Dear, but it's that's painful. It's this pain hurts when the number goes down.
But anyway, you know what, what's a million? What's the difference between a million and 999,999? I mean, you know, it's just numbers, isn't it really?
Oh, it's that person changed their mind and went back against like, I'm only joking Luke, I'm still subscribed.
It's not about the numbers, is it? It shouldn't be anyway. Obviously, it's important that your work is popular and that you try to be a success.
That's important. But and also it's important, you know, for the money side, you know, let's not forget that.
Obviously, that's important. And through ad revenue, you know, there's normally an advert at the beginning of my episodes, one in the middle and one at the end.
That ad revenue does bring in, you know, money, which I need to buy pizza and yoga and pencils and things, you know, and to pay the bills. Obviously, you understand.
So that's important too. So the numbers are important to an extent. But also, they are just numbers and
ultimately you've got to just try to enjoy your work as well, you know, and I must not lose sight of that.
Okay, it's probably time to stop rambling now, isn't it? I think so. And I think it's time for me to make that cup of tea and sit down and just relax.
Okay, and take just take the rest of the evening off. Okay, but thanks so much for subscribing. Again, if you have, if you haven't subscribed, you know what to do.
And thanks for listening to my podcast, whether you are in audio land or in video land on YouTube. Thanks so much for subscribing and listening.
And for commenting and stuff like that, it's good. It's great. Very happy with a million people, not that not that all of them watch every episode.
Because you get a million subscribers, but you know, you don't get a million views on every video.
It's a funny, it's a funny thing YouTube, the way it behaves. But anyway, a million subscribers, I am happy with that. That is great.
Okay, right. Okay, well, speak to you again soon then. Okay. All right. So for now, goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
Round about season two, presented by Nissan is live now. And we're back to share more stories from the road and the memories made along the way.
We're talking rest stops if we're stopping to get gas. You will be timed.
Miss guided plans. I grew up in the city. So I have like, you know, a healthy fear of real extreme darkness. A lot of laughs.
Yeah, we were you. You were different. And so much more. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
You will be directly supporting my work and making this whole podcast project possible. For more information about Luke's English podcast premium, go to teacherlook.co.uk slash premium info.
