Jun Sasaki / Log

2026-03-27

Who to deliver what to whom, a simple marketing story. Rt2112 Development Log | March 25 - March 27, 2026

I run a YouTube channel called Road to 2112. This is a log of its progress.

Latest Channel Data

Main Channel (Road to 2112)

  • Up to Vol. 13 published (Vol. 14 and 15 scheduled)

  • All 2-hour videos have been set to private >> Transitioning to +Lo-fi2112

  • Impressions for the new structure are starting to rise

  • Thumbnails unified under "COZY STORY"

Lo-fi 2112

  • Published up to Vol. 3

  • 1st video: 19 views, 2.4 hours of watch time, and an average view duration of 8:29 on the first day of release

  • 63.2% from suggested videos, 21.1% from browse features; the algorithm is delivering it correctly

  • Operating on a strategy of releasing the next one once impression growth stalls

Title Format Finalized

  • Old: 4 Cozy Stories from a Gentle Future

  • New: 4 Cozy Bedtime Stories from a Gentle Future 🌿 | Road to 2112 vol.##

  • A simple edit adding just one word, "Bedtime"

  • Capturing the massive search volume for "bedtime stories english" via exact match

Division of Roles Between Thumbnail and Title

  • Thumbnail "COZY STORY" -> What the content is (a story)

  • Title "Bedtime" -> When to use it (before bed)

  • Sneak #StudyBGM and #FocusMusic into tags and the description box → Pick up the study and language learning demographics through search nets as well

  • A hack to widen the search reach without lowering the title's CTR

Complete separation of the two channels confirmed

  • Main channel: Bedtime demographic (demand for falling asleep, language listening)

  • Lo-fi 2112: Study & Work demographic (BGM for tasks)

  • They won't cannibalize each other. "Cozy" acts as a buffer that works for both

  • It will serve as a safety net if the Boring History-style content gets banned

Roughly like this. For now, I'll try a 20-video sprint release, creating 10 videos at 2 hours long and 10 videos at 1 hour long, with the idea of splitting them across channels and linking each demand demographic.
I considered covering both study and work purposes along the way, but I decided on a stance of not wavering from the core sleep demand, and picking up listeners from there based on their individual needs.

Now, the term that came up here:
Boring History
This strategy actually aims to slide into the demand of this demographic.


Acquisition strategy for the Boring History demographic

  • The demographic that 'wants to listen to something with a soothing voice while falling asleep' is in the millions

  • Boring History channels are popping up everywhere with AI slop, some even hitting 2.3 million views per video

  • However, they are being criticized as AI-generated slop and are highly likely to be banned

  • Rt2112 can differentiate its quality with original stories and an anime style

  • Added tags: sleep stories, bedtime stories for adults, fall asleep, stories to sleep to, calm narration

This is the genre that made headlines when a 22-year-old in the US reportedly earned 100 million in a year. It's a genre where you have an AI voice read history, and in short, it's for 'falling asleep demand'.
The structure is 2-3 hours long, using a flat, non-inflected AI narration voice to put the listener to sleep in 30 minutes to an hour.
By having it play for an hour, the algorithm determines that 'this channel is high quality' and pushes it to recommendations.
While it makes sense, it has become a hot topic, leading to more imitations, and since the quality is generally considered poor, I expect measures to be taken soon.

The user's goal is 'falling asleep'. If you separate that from the means, which is 'history', I think the means can be anything.
Personally, I was thinking about how to use the content I had been steadily building up on Kindle under Road to 2112, so I decided to insert it here.
In addition, the biggest disadvantage of the history genre is that perceptions differ depending on the person and the country. Auto-dubbing becomes a source of controversy.
In that respect, the future genre has no such risk. In the short term, history is easier to get views, but from a medium- to long-term branding perspective, the future hypothesis genre is the best choice of means.


Optimal solution for BGM dB and auto-dubbing

  • -15dB to -18dB: Auto-dubbing activates

  • -10dB: Auto-dubbing does not activate

  • Auto-dubbing activation = YouTube distributes to 20 language regions = massive increase in impressions = direct link to view counts

  • Going forward, base at -15dB, adjust to -18dB if it's too loud

  • Never exceed -10dB

→ This is the current optimal solution, but it depends on the AI voice, so it's quite intuitive.

Optimization of posting strategy

  • Instead of waiting 14 days, build up content and increase scheduling to ensure waiting days as a result

  • Prioritize not stopping algorithm learning

  • By building up the number of videos, you create leeway in the release schedule and can wait for auto-dubbing to activate

Demand read from the trending tab

  • ambient music for studying

  • bedtime story english

  • slow english conversation

  • sleep ambience, cozy library ambience

  • Viewers have a demand similar to 'English audio ASMR'

  • An experience of immersing oneself in the tone of the voice and the BGM, rather than understanding the content

→ This trend is interesting. Honestly, there are many light users who don't really care about the content as long as it's somewhat comfortable.
For example, some people dig deep into AI novels to try and win the Akutagawa or Naoki Prize, but there is an overwhelming number of users who just want a story they can immerse themselves in that is reasonably pleasant. It's a question of where to focus, but for a commercial writer, the latter is the way to go.


Spotify BGM distribution policy

  • Lo-fi 2112 distributed to Spotify as a podcast -> banned for being classified as music

  • Audio-only content requires music distribution, not podcasts

  • Distribute as music using TuneCore Japan Starter (¥4,400/year)

  • Break-even line: 1,500 plays per month per track for 10 tracks (break even in 6 months)

  • BGM-style content gets repeat plays by being added to playlists. The structure is different from YouTube

  • Spotify has 750 million active users worldwide. Latin America's 98 million is growing rapidly

  • However, there are tons of people doing the same thing with Suno

  • Differentiate based on YouTube x branding. Do not compete on Spotify alone

  • Introduction timing is in 3 months. After YouTube gets on track

→ When I put Lo-fi directly onto Spotify, it was removed. Since Japan can't monetize it anyway, I'm just keeping it as stock, thinking I'll start monetizing within the year.
Since I can post story-side videos, I'm thinking of using that as stock,
and distributing the music via TuneCore.
However, there are probably many people doing the same thing using Suno. Here, branding on the YouTube side is everything. In that sense, building the 2112 brand is a higher priority.

Current production status

  • Main channel: Up to Vol. 13 released, 14 and 15 in stock

  • Lo-fi 2112: Up to Vol. 3 released

  • Total of 17 videos. 13 more to go until the sprint goal of 30

Next steps

  • Focus entirely on reaching 30 videos for the main channel

  • Release additional Lo-fi 2112 videos while monitoring impressions

  • Add sleep stories-related keywords to tags

  • Add #StudyBGM #FocusMusic to the description

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