Strategic YouTube advisor · Science × data × video

Don’t think in videos. Think in programming.

If you want to win on YouTube, stop thinking like an advertiser and start thinking like a broadcaster: formats, seasons, viewers who come back. I teach organizations to build a channel instead of uploading videos — direct reach, no middleman.

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Silver Play Button Brand channel built on commission — from zero to 125,000+ subscribers.

125K+

subscribers — brand channel, built on commission

REC

00:00:01:14

I've worked in and with the teams of

subscribers on a brand channel — conceived and built from zero, on commission

clients — from banking and aviation to national government

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Silver Play Button — earned for a client

The manifesto

Primetime hasn't disappeared. Primetime has moved — to YouTube.

There was a time when one head of programming decided what the whole country watched at half past eight. Now the viewer decides — and that viewer is on YouTube. The broadcasters of that era had programmers, formats and a schedule. The brands of today have a channel, a camera and good intentions. That gap is the opportunity.

Loyalty isn't handed to you; you earn it, video by video. The brands that understand this don't make one-off videos. They build formats. They program. And what that earns you is more than reach: a voice of your own, with authority — whether you're selling products, planting a brand in someone's world, or making sure your organization is heard the moment it matters.

That's not a matter of luck. It's a craft. And it can be learned.

10.6 million people in the Netherlands use YouTube

4.9 million watch it every day

Source: Nationale Social Media Onderzoek 2026 (Dutch national social media survey), Newcom

From the field

From a vaccination campaign to an airline. Anyone can start a channel. The real question: how do you get believed, chosen and followed?

HBM Machines · e-commerce in tools

International

Getting followed: from 0 to 125K

At HBM Machines, an international e-commerce company in tools, I built the YouTube channel as an interim. Brand research showed the company wasn't top of mind and was barely recognised within its sector — HBM now grows at numbers competitors envy, praised for the YouTube strategy I've built from day one. From zero to 125,000 subscribers, with the Silver Play Button to prove it — and that success is now rolling out internationally, with well-known faces, starting in France.

Ministerie van Financiën · Dutch national government

Government

Getting believed when it really matters

For the Dutch national government I worked on the national vaccination campaign and the childcare benefits redress operation. Files where every word carries weight and the making and programming must be meticulous. Because the playing field here isn't reach, but whether the message is embraced, accepted — believed. Airtime and budget weren't the problem: one file asked to win back trust, the other asked people to take a step themselves — both asked for the craftsmanship to deliver a message in a way that actually changes behaviour.

Transavia · brand-preference strategy

Brand preference

Getting chosen before the booking

At Transavia I worked as an interim on their YouTube channel (70,000+ subscribers): travel shows (a brand-preference strategy for consumers). And I directed and produced the big YouTube reality programme ‘Pilotendroom’ (an employer-branding strategy) — a year in production, two million cumulative views.

Free channel diagnosis

Where's the growth in your channel?

Leave your channel — or your website, if you're yet to start — and I'll look at it personally: through the eyes of a head of programming, with an analytical eye on the numbers. Even if the question still is: should YouTube be our instrument at all? Within a few working days you'll have my first diagnosis in your inbox: what's working, where it stalls, and the first step I would take. Free, no strings attached.

Reviewed personally — not an automated scan
Concrete: strongest format, biggest brake, first step
In your inbox within a few working days

Free whitepapers

These you can download.

Two whitepapers, straight from practice. Leave your name and email address and you can download the whitepaper right away — plus you'll get my monthly update from then on. Unsubscribe anytime.

Whitepaper

The five mistakes of company channels

The first broadcast

Getting your YouTube start right the first time

Your programming

From one-off videos to a rhythm

For new channels

You only get one first broadcast. This whitepaper walks you through the choices before you start broadcasting: your channel's role, your first format and a rhythm you can sustain. So you don't start with one-off videos, but with programming — and your premiere lands right away.

Whitepaper in Dutch — English version coming soon.

Whitepaper

The channel diagnosis

Find where the growth hides in your data

From filing cabinet to broadcaster

Why your channel has stalled — and where the growth is

The format matrix

Scalable versus lucky

For established channels

The channel already exists — with years of aftermovies, commercials and corporate films nobody ever rewatches. This whitepaper shows you how to turn that filing cabinet back into a real broadcaster: read your channel like a head of programming, find in the data where the growth is, and adjust where it counts.

Whitepaper in Dutch — English version coming soon.

Herman Pierrot

About Herman

The viewer, the algorithm — and the video.

I'm Herman Pierrot. Director and producer, academically trained as a social scientist and computer scientist. A broad combination, until you see where it all converges: on YouTube. There, everything hinges on understanding why people watch, what the algorithm rewards — and then making something viewers stay for. As a director I also work beyond YouTube: with my short documentary Amarins I won the award for best film at the 2024 Art of Documentary, out of more than 110 international entries.

The strongest proof of that formula isn't even mine — and that's exactly the point. An international e-commerce company in tools asked me to build their brand channel. I conceived it from zero — the concept, the formats, the programming — and grew it past 125,000 subscribers, Silver Play Button earned. A brand channel, built on commission. And what was built on commission can be built again.

That's how I look at your channel too: as a scientist at the viewer, analytically at the numbers, and as a director at what happens on screen. I've worked in and with the teams of ING, Transavia, VodafoneZiggo, NOC*NSF, BDO, TwynstraGudde, NBD Biblion, NTI and the Dutch national government — from a vaccination campaign to the childcare benefits redress operation. And I never come alone: around me stands a trusted network of seasoned editors, camera operators and production support — the muscle of a production house, without the bulk.

What those assignments have in common? Organizations that want to treat YouTube as a serious channel, are willing to make choices and want to build knowledge and structure of their own. That's where I do my best work. If you're looking for a supplier of one-off videos, I'm not your man. If you're looking for someone who teaches your team to think in programming — we should talk.

I connect data to creation. Not to tame creativity, but to give it direction.

— Herman Pierrot

Growth Platform · Product: Backstage

Your growth. Live on screen.

No quarterly report in your inbox, but your own Backstage: log in and see exactly where your channel stands, which formats are working and what we're adjusting this week.

Your numbers, formats and experiments — always current
Personal guidance from me, right in Backstage
Your own secure environment: your data stays yours

Explore Backstage →

Our collaboration

Your growth journey. Fully in view.

Work with me and you get more than strategy: my entire view on content is built right in. Everything we post gains coherence and hierarchy — from brand integration, cadence and a touch of secret stardust. Those same underlying variables shape the smart mix for your audience, which we test up front with our sounding-board panel. The best practices of mine, plus those of Hilversum and Hollywood, all come along — to make your journey with video unforgettable. In your own secure space you follow it live: so we adjust while the match is on, not after it's been played.

Backstage · your growth journey

The road to 100,000 hours of watch time

78,200 hours · 78% of the goal

✓ Channel diagnosis + goals locked in

✓ 50,000 hours — halfway there

4 100,000 hours — the quarterly goal

Your goals, your yardstick.

One glance and you know where you stand: the goal we chose together, the milestones along the way and the curve toward it — plus insights YouTube Studio and Google Ads don't show. You watch how retention develops while a new ad strategy pulls in a fresh audience, and we estimate the quality of your watch time. Not the platform's numbers — your yardstick.

Your productions, our collaboration.

From shoot days to deliverables: it all comes together in one overview — your analytics, the control room, the test panel and the knowledge base, plus a direct chat with me. Your data is automatically linked to your key sources, so we look at exactly the same numbers together. That's what makes our collaboration streamlined: one place, one truth, and I steer alongside you even from a distance.

Backstage · productions

Pipeline · this month

Episode 12 — The workshop specialin edit

Episode 13 — Client case on locationshoot day confirmed

Thumbnail — 3 variantsreview

Herman · today 14:02Rough cut v2 is ready — care to take a look? Retention at 0:30 is looking strong.

See a demo of Backstage →

Tell me via chat what you're looking for, and I'll walk you through Backstage.

Speaker & workshops

A healthy dose of inspiration for your team?

I come to you — on location, with infectious energy that gets a sleepy team moving again.

Keynote · one hour

On stage

A talk at your event or company gathering that wakes up a room.

Workshop · one day

In a workshop

A hands-on day with your creative team — from inspiration to concrete plans.

Luck doesn't scale.
Systems do.

Contact

Ready to build?

One conversation is enough to know whether it clicks. You tell me where your channel stands, I'll tell you honestly what I see — concrete, no strings attached. Then you decide.

Book a call directly

Wednesdays and Fridays I keep room for calls — suggest a slot and I'll confirm within one working day.

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Comes straight to me, via the chat.

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Rather have a look around first? Find me on LinkedIn · Or email me directly: mail@herman.yt
I work from Leiden, the Netherlands — at home and abroad.

Newsletter

Prefer your inbox? Plus fresh insights every month.

Once a month, my update on what's working on YouTube right now: strategy, formats and what the data shows. No ads, no noise — unsubscribe anytime. (Currently in Dutch.)

I only use your details to send you the whitepaper and my monthly update — no spam, unsubscribe anytime. Rather talk first? Book an intro call.

Don’t think in videos. Think in programming.

Primetime hasn't disappeared. Primetime has moved — to YouTube.

Everyone makes videos. Almost nobody programs.

From idea to system.

Strategy

Coaching

Interim