Jet Lag The Game

Jet Lag The Game is a cool concept. Its a Youtube channel featuring 3 people (Sam, Ben and Adam) with a guest helper usually following Sam. The idea is that they use a country and then play the country in a game playing challenges on the way. So it would be things like:

Hide and Seek in Switzerland
Capture The Flag in Japan
Connect 4 in the US

It is broken up into (usually) 6 episodes. The positives:

the production quality is high. It isn't needed either, but it adds a dimension that could easily be classed as part of the brand as the same style of graphics are carried through each season.
its fun
episodes are anywhere between 25-55 minutes which doesn't seem to make a dent on viewership
they build in to the episodes tension and there are a few cliffhangers (which is a good thing)
you get invested in the hosts
the videos are getting good views (late hundreds of thousands)
some of the episodes are re-watchable
the three. Ben, Adam and Sam are good together or at least Ben and Adam vs Sam and a (good guest). It is also fun when they get frustrated and "bloopers" happen. It just grounds the hosts.
theres a Podcast (?regular uploading)
when they highlight the area and travel vehicles is fun. Seeing the ICE train zoom past the countryside and seeing it from the outside is cool. You don't get to see some of the sights everyday.

Now remember, this is not a sleight on Jet Lag (we think it is cool), it is a helpful idea generator.

The negatives of Jet Lag The Game

Now the negatives of Jet Lag The Game can be turned into positives but we just have to recognize the negatives first. Or at least understand that non-constant factors can go straight into being negative. So, the non-constant factors?

The guest star. For me this can make or break a series. I can tolerate some of the guests but sometimes I will not rewatch some episodes mainly due to the guest star being annoying (not pointing at anyone Brian). For me Jet Lag The Game is a rewatchable concept. You should be able to rewatch episodes- more so if different things are happening per episode.
There is a Jasonera Law 2 effect coming into play where some of the episodes reduce in viewers as the more episodes of the same idea are released. It happens to all Youtubers. The second episode is usually lower in views than the first. The more episodes the less views unless there is a something hinted at in the previous episode (Jasonera Law) or it is usually the end episode. If the end episode hasn't got an uptick then the season might not have been that engaging. In the Japan season the main reason was that the four (3 main hosts plus guest) became individuals which upset the feel of the episodes.

The complexity of the game. Some of the games can be simple to understand (the first few seasons) but as time continues you find that the games became overly complex, odd and once you got ahead and are winning then you could easily keep ahead (New Zealand Board Game). The skill level was off and in some cases the challenges seem to be picked with the guest in mind.
Where the games are. Understandably the games can only be played where there is a suitable transport system. However some of the games (circumnavigate the globe and tag across Europe) were great at this. Others were poor- North To Southern US.

So how can Jet Lag The Game moniterize more?

Jet lag seems to have done a lot. But for us there seems to be something lacking which could be explored.

Merch. Seems to be a top one. Now we have looked everywhere and can not seem to find (easily) their merch, but I noticed Sam wearing a Jet Lag hat in one of the episodes, so there is something there. Now, someone might say to look XY and Z but we looked on their Youtube channel and found nothing. [UPDATE]. Ooh, we found a pre-order page on Youtube description through the Wendover company on Nebula (really?). But, can only be found on the Switzerland videos and onward. And its only a hat...

Nebula. They are promoting Nebula where you can see episodes 1 week early or even bloopers from each episode. This is cool. But for us that hasn't really promoted our senses to go to Nebula. It appears on YouTube, we can wait. If I am already subscribed to Nebula then that would be OK. Nebula might be a different day/ topic.
Nebula issue 2. Most people watch Jet Lag through Youtube, but it is a large wait until another season. There needs to be more videos to shrink the gap. These can then start to soft promote the next season.
Website. Can't find one. Now, we found Wendover Productions (which is the production company behind Jet Lag and the other stuff the group does- they also have a Youtube channel, but on their main website (see picture below) they don't have any signs of Jet Lag The Game.

They do have a Reddit page and someone has done a Wiki page as well, but unsure why no real homepage? And this seems to be the point of the issues to do with Jet Lag. There seems to be an overly complicated way to do something. So there seems to be 2 companies present- Wendover and Nebula. One mainly promotes the other (Wendover to Nebula). Now I know Sam is lead of Wendover and Chief Content Officer of Nebula. But in this case I believe that the products that they are producing are not being able to breathe. Jet Lag is tight within Youtube but there is Wendover hanging over it. No other social channels or website that get linked to (even though they use social media prominently within the games). From Youtube:

So how about Proctor And Gamble? Multi brand business house. They sell Pantene- a hair product. It is linked to on P and G website but it has its own website and social media presence. If you want to keep your entity within Wendover then Fox owns the Simpsons. TheSimpsons.com directs you a specific area on Fox all about The Simpsons- with Insta, Facebook and X.com links. TheSimpsons is very easy to spot. So you either keep the brands under one umbrella or you have brands "separate" but still link back to their main holding company

Syndicate. Now some people have mentioned to go onto Netflix or some other subscription based services which have a bigger reach. However, the issue is not necessarily that type of syndication- it might be a good idea but it might be better if you could find a trio to do challenges in their countries. You lease the format. Now this opens up Jet Lag The Game to a wider audience and starts to pick up more subscribers.
Outtakes. Sure some of the outtakes are on Nebula, but how about at the end of the episode (also allows Youtubes logarithm to kick in)
Travel. Jet Lag is technically a travel show but there are no links to the places, hotels, etc that you see. Again, this would be website fodder, but (v)blog would be cool. Sure you get Snack Zone but what are the meals like, any local cuisine? This could be affiliated through travel companies, or even sponsorship through those. But the opportunity to take Jet Lag The Game into a holiday/ tourism destination website would be a cool spinoff.
Subscribers. There was a early showing on one of the episodes done through subscribers only. But each episode now has very little subscriber interaction- apart from when a poll is done through their social media accounts (linked from where?). Bringing in subscribers from the country that you visit, incorporating them into the game for 1 day would be a cool idea. They would know the local areas, we would see more of the place and subscribers would enjoy the dialog/ interaction. The need for subscribing would also be meaningful.
Trailer videos. Are cool for the next season, but I am not sure if they need to state the destination, that is something people like to work out.

As per always we wish Jet Lag The Game all the best

Want to find out more article on small business moniterization, check out the Jasonera blog here.