---
title: "Formats over ideas"
description: "A repeatable format beats a one-off story, because the audience can guess what comes next. Repeat it until it becomes a show."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/glossary/formats-over-ideas/
updated: 2026-10-25
---

# Formats over ideas

A repeatable format beats a one-off story, because the audience can guess what comes next. Repeat it until it becomes a show.

## Why does it matter?

People want to guess what your next video looks like. A format repeats, so the audience comes back for it, and the team can make it without starting from zero.

## How does it work?

1. Name the format before the topic: the set, the structure and the length.
2. Run two formats that are never up for testing, every day.
3. Spend 80% of the output on formats that work and 20% testing new ones.
4. Judge a format over weeks. One video tells you very little.

## Where has Tom used it?

At [TheBurntChip](https://tomsharman.com/case-studies/theburntchip/), the top 3 most watched videos on the channel are one format, the 24 Hour YouTuber Race: 12,790,765 views across the three. For [Sam Stoffel](https://tomsharman.com/case-studies/sam-stoffel/), the three formats Tom found are still the ones he runs.

## Related terms

- [Outlier](https://tomsharman.com/glossary/outlier/index.md): A post past three times the median views of the last 30. The outlier is the brief for what to make next.
- [Selfie video](https://tomsharman.com/glossary/selfie-video/index.md): Phone, front camera, one argument. The top of funnel format and the spine of the content engine, also called a yap video.
- [Creator Therapy](https://tomsharman.com/glossary/creator-therapy/index.md): The hero long form format: a real creator brings a real problem and it gets taken apart properly, problem, diagnosis and fix.

## Where is it explained?

- https://tomsharman.com/playbooks/content/formats-over-ideas/