Red Bull operates one of the most ambitious YouTube channels in the world. With over 6,000 videos, 25 million subscribers, and tens of millions invested in production, they've built an impressive content library. Yet despite this scale, they face a critical problem: less than 1% of their subscribers actually click on their videos.
At Owen Creative, we recently audited Red Bull's YouTube channel to understand why a brand of this caliber is underperforming. What we found was a series of strategic missteps that are collectively costing them millions of views each month. More importantly, we identified exactly how to fix them.
Our analysis is built on the VID Framework—the same system our clients use to generate over a billion views annually. VID stands for Viralize, Interact, and Develop. When a brand executes all three elements effectively, they don't just post content—they dominate their category on YouTube.
Here's what we found when we applied this framework to Red Bull.
The issue: Red Bull's thumbnails look like video screenshots rather than engineered click triggers.
Take their video of someone jumping over a moving F1 car. Despite featuring an objectively thrilling concept, it garnered only 600,000 views in eight months. For a channel with 25 million subscribers, this represents catastrophic underperformance.
Compare this to a similar concept from a smaller channel—someone jumping on a moving train—which achieved 22 million views.
The difference?
The successful video used a thumbnail with bold colors, clear subjects, prominent text overlays, and visual contrast. Red Bull's thumbnail, by contrast, blends into the background with tiny subjects and zero text.
The solution: Red Bull needs consistent thumbnail standards across all content. When they do apply proper thumbnail strategy (clear subjects, strong contrast, strategic text), their videos regularly exceed 10 million views. The formula works—they're just not applying it consistently.
The issue: Red Bull's YouTube homepage generates over 220 million visits, yet it's structured to minimize engagement rather than maximize it.
The problems are systemic. First, they rely on YouTube's "For You" algorithm to surface content, rather than showcasing their proven best performers. Second, their homepage features 15-second cartoon advertisements that build neither loyalty nor trust. Third, they prominently display YouTube Shorts—a format that generates views but fails to build the deep engagement that creates brand loyalty.
The solution: Treat the YouTube homepage like a website's landing page. Remove algorithm-driven content, eliminate shorts from the homepage, and feature only the highest-performing long-form content. Remember: 100,000 short-form views deliver less value than 10,000 long-form views because trust is built through time spent with content, not impression count.
The issue: Red Bull uploaded only 10 long-form videos in the past year to their main channel. That's less than one video per month.
This infrequency is strategically devastating. Consider MrBeast's Feastables, which reached a $1 billion valuation in under a year. The secret? Consistent content that maintains mind share. By uploading twice per month and featuring Feastables in every video, MrBeast ensures his audience encounters the brand repeatedly. When consumers see Feastables next to a Mars bar in stores, they choose the familiar brand—the one that occupies mental real estate.
Red Bull's sporadic upload schedule means competitors are capturing that attention instead. Every week Red Bull doesn't post is a week another brand occupies their audience's mind share.
The solution: Make two videos per month non-negotiable. Trust isn't permanent—it must be re-earned consistently through regular presence.
The issue: Red Bull fails to guide viewers to the next logical step in their content journey.
Their videos end cold with no direction. A video with 12 million views simply states the winner and ends—no suggestion to watch related content, no pathway deeper into the Red Bull ecosystem. If just 10% of viewers reached the end, and 1% clicked through to a suggested next video, that's 120,000 additional views from a single video. Applied channel-wide, this represents 5-10 million monthly views being left on the table.
Their YouTube Shorts strategy compounds this problem. While some shorts with 20 million views correctly link to long-form content, many link to other shorts or don't link at all. This keeps viewers trapped in a low-value engagement loop when they should be transitioning to long-form content where real relationships are built.
The solution: Implement three changes immediately:
First, add clear next-step CTAs at the end of every video directing viewers to related content. Second, ensure every short links to long-form content—not to other shorts. Third, place key conversion links at the top of video descriptions, not buried at the bottom where friction kills action.
Additionally, Red Bull should leverage their main channel's 25 million subscribers to funnel audiences to their specialized sub-channels (Red Bull Motorsports, Red Bull Snow, etc.). A single mention in a video with 1.3 million views could drive hundreds of thousands of qualified viewers to these properties, de-risking their entire YouTube strategy by building attention across multiple owned touch points.
Red Bull's YouTube strategy suffers from execution gaps, not concept problems. Their content is world-class; their distribution strategy is not. By implementing the VID Framework—viralizing thumbnails, interacting consistently with audiences, and developing clear viewer pathways—Red Bull could easily capture an additional 10-15 million views per month.
For enterprise brands investing heavily in YouTube, these aren't minor optimizations. They're the difference between content that sits dormant and content that drives measurable business outcomes at scale.
About Owen Creative: We help global brands dominate YouTube through strategic content optimization. Our clients have generated over a billion views this year using the VID Framework. To discuss how we can optimize your YouTube strategy, contact us below.