At the inspiration stage of travel, video content is not a new phenomenon in its ability to inspire, motivate and move audiences.

With infinite content available, there is an onus on content creators to develop highly original content that avoids the clichés captured by your typical travel ad. On top of that, there is pressure to cultivate a defined and sometimes unique audience demographic, and then produce future content according to the tastes of this cohort.

Trickier still, with growing scepticism surrounding media personalities and the ‘influencer marketing’ model, amassing millions of followers is no longer enough. Brands are confronted with the need to build a deeper connection with their audiences that transcends their subscriber count and focuses instead on building engagement.

Content must evolve from prescriptive to interactive

One company that has adapted to these pressures is YouTube’s cooking channel – SORTED. In contrast with many content brands, the channel has cultivated a uniquely reciprocal relationship with its audiences. It has been a key factor behind SORTED’s growth of a strong community not just of keen cooks, but now increasingly, travellers too.

Founded 10 years ago between four school friends, SORTED began as an instructional cooking video series teaching university students how to eat well on a budget. As the business grew up along with its audience, its content has evolved in format from instructional videos and experimental cooking challenges to travel content, taking it upon itself to create a link between food and travel.

SORTED has accrued a subscriber base of over two million on YouTube alone, with over 350,000 people (aged 25-35) voluntarily watching over seven minutes of their content daily.

Beyond just YouTube, the brand has a presence on all social media channels, hosts and runs supper clubs, produces cookbooks, podcasts and tries to position itself at the centre of a global conversation around food.

Co-founder and chef, Ben Ebbrell describes SORTED’s niche as “a group of true friends exploring incredible food at the hands of the audience. The local audience lead, shape and inform the content, making it vastly better than anything than one or two researchers can acquire.”

“We quickly realised that we don’t have all the answers and far richer and more valuable content can be created by working and learning from this huge audience all over the world who were engaging with us at unprecedented levels,” said Ebbrell.

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