Going Deep On Policy With GoodFellows

The Hoover Institution (located on Stanford’s campus) has found significant YouTube success lately, not by embracing Shorts or some viral trend outside of its subject area – but instead leaning into deep policy discussions that are defining our time, while getting viewers to tune in for extended periods.

Data from Tubular Labs reveals the Hoover Institution secured U.S. YouTube minutes watched (103 million) in the same ballpark as brands like My Little Pony and LEGO in October, as it more thoroughly inserted its “GoodFellows” program into the center of current policy discussions.

The show, featuring senior fellows John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson, and HR McMaster, explored tariff and economic conversations in its most popular video (1.6 million) of the month. And for the year, four of its five most-watched videos were all published in October as well.

Success like this for a policy-driven show (and institute) shows a clear appetite for longer-form from news & politics audiences, and further reiterates how there are multiple ways to succeed on YouTube. Though the key focus, of course, is to post content that is authentic to the creator’s expertise – as this clearly does.