4th&1 with Cam Newton - A YouTube First Sports Show

I served as the YouTube Director and Director of Production for this groundbreaking sports show, leading the creative team to strategize, shoot, edit, and distribute content that resonated with millions. From the inception of the idea—“We should do a sports show”—to achieving over 200 million views in its first full year (2024), this project was a testament to innovation, teamwork, and audience-focused content creation.


Summary Section

4th&1 with Cam Newton was a YouTube-first sports show built from the ground up with a lean, agile team. The strategy was “Social First,” tapping into viral sports moments and transforming them into engaging content. The show was meticulously designed to be broken into clips for YouTube and Facebook, as well as vertical content for all major social platforms.

Initially conceived as a single-topic format—Cam Newton talks about "___"—the show rapidly evolved based on viewer retention and performance data. What began as short-form discussions grew into a 2-hour weekly show that produced over 90 videos monthly across the channel, solidifying 4th&1 as a dominant force in sports commentary.

Success hinged on workflow efficiency and scalability. By building a robust, repeatable content machine, the show grew from zero to 917,596 followers, generating 150 million monetized views in its first year. With audience definition, competition analysis, and a focus on clips and verticals, we not only thrived in YouTube's ecosystem but also competed with network TV and top creators.


Key Metrics/Results


Role and Responsibilities

  1. Organized and led the creative team, focusing on strategy and execution. Directed and tested new thumbnail strategies, continually analyzing performance data to maximize Average View Duration (AVD). Adjusted intro strategies—from "jump right into it" to highlight reels, tension-building segments, and freestyle raps—based on audience retention insights. Regularly identified top-performing segments through rigorous content analysis and shared findings with the production team to refine workflows.
  2. Held frequent 1-on-1 meetings to address team challenges, monitor creative energy, and ensure peak performance. Managed communication through Slack, streamlined projects, and created templated documents for note-taking, content planning, clip workflows, and vertical editing. Fostered team collaboration with clear structures and a supportive environment.
  3. Led the "Vertical Bois," the vertical content team, fostering a culture of experimentation and risk-taking alongside regular editing responsibilities. To motivate creativity, awarded a $10 gift card weekly to the top-voted vertical, as determined by the internal team. Compiled digestible data reports for team retreats to inform decision-making and celebrate successes. Directed the Super Bowl live stream, prioritizing speed and efficiency to get clips and verticals uploaded in real time, maximizing daily impact and engagement.
  4. Embraced a mindset of experimentation and learning from failure. While some thumbnail experiments flopped, others became our biggest performers, defying expectations. Through deep analysis of competitor strategies, the team achieved channel-wide performance rivaling shows with 2-3 times our viewership, focusing on strategies that aligned with our audience and the YouTube algorithm.

Challenges and Solutions

  1. Massive Content Output with a Small Team
  1. Channel Move and Audience Clarity
  1. Thumbnail and Content Optimization
  1. Data-Driven Strategy and Reporting
  1. Crisis Management: The Fight

Best Moments/Highlights

  1. Creator Hacking for Viral Growth
     Leveraging the strategy of creator hacking, we crafted transformative content centered around notable figures in sports and entertainment. By weaving Cam Newton’s personal experiences into these stories, we created engaging, additive narratives. This approach not only drove significant traffic but also strengthened audience connection.
  2. Football 101: A Breakout Segment
     What began as a lighthearted idea—Cam explaining humorous off-field realities of NFL players—quickly became a viral sensation, garnering millions of views overnight. Recognizing the demand, we made Football 101 a recurring segment, offering unique, behind-the-scenes insights that consistently resonated with our audience.
  3. Evolving Intros to Boost Engagement
     To enhance Average View Duration (AVD), we revolutionized our intro strategies multiple times. Early variations included highlight reels and tension-building teasers, each adding 1-2 minutes of viewer retention per video. Today, the show opens with an engaging freestyle rap between Cam and Peggy, a format that continues to captivate viewers and set the tone for each episode.
  4. Notable Collaborations
     4th&1 featured collaborations with iconic figures such as Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe, Shedeur Sanders, CJ Stroud, Boosie, Warren Sapp, Sauce Gardner, and the hosts of 2 Bears 1 Cave. These appearances amplified the show’s reach and credibility, creating memorable moments for viewers.

Learning and Insights

  1. Audience Alignment and Channel Strategy
    The biggest lesson was the critical importance of audience alignment when moving 4th&1 to its own dedicated channel. By understanding the demographic mismatch between the original channel and the show’s target viewers, I successfully restructured the strategy to maximize growth. This decision was pivotal in allowing the channel to thrive independently, with clips driving the majority of revenue and engagement.
  2. Maximizing Viewer Behavior
    I learned that YouTube podcast success is built on maximizing clips. This insight led to a strategy that prioritized breaking down long-form content into digestible, shareable segments. Additionally, we adjusted the show’s length based on audience behavior—longer episodes when retention was strong—to capitalize on viewer engagement.
  3. Evolving Platforms and Viewing Habits
    After attending a YouTube event, I learned that 41% of our audience was watching on TVs. This shift in viewing habits shaped how we optimized our content for larger screens, ensuring visuals were engaging and impactful for TV viewers.
  4. Continuous Data-Driven Innovation
    Weekly analytics rundowns became a core part of our process. We used these sessions to identify what worked, what didn’t, and how we could improve. From refining thumbnails to tweaking intros, every decision was guided by data. This commitment to constant iteration helped the show consistently outperform its own benchmarks.
  5. Experimentation as a Growth Tool
    Experimentation was the backbone of our growth strategy. Whether testing new intro styles, experimenting with thumbnail designs, or incorporating unexpected content segments, we weren’t afraid to try, fail, and learn. This iterative approach ensured we stayed ahead of YouTube trends while keeping the content fresh and engaging.

Want to work together? Reach out at kent@kentheckel.com.