Celebrating 300,000 Subscribers: Reflections on 5 Years of Into the Impossible

The Journey to 300,000 Subscribers

It's hard to believe that in just five years of doing "Into the Impossible", I've accumulated close to 500 episodes and over 302,000 subscribers on YouTube as of early January 2025. Add to that another 75,000+ followers on audio-only formats, and we're approaching an audience of nearly 400,000 of the most magnificent minds in the known multiverse.

When I started this podcast, my first guest in the real incarnation was Sean Carroll. We recorded live and in-person in late 2019, though the audio was admittedly horrible. We released it in 2020, right as the pandemic hit. This caused a major shift in my life, as I realized it was basically impossible for my fellow authors to go on book tours. I had been advised to start a podcast, and while I had been running one for years before, it was audio-only and somewhat sporadic.

My very first podcast guest ever was actually the late great Freeman Dyson. You can't ask for a bigger or better guest than that. But at the time, it was sort of catch-as-catch-can with brilliant guests coming through San Diego as part of the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination. I wanted to make their brilliance known to the wider world. I felt it wasn't fair to just listen to them live with whoever happened to be in San Diego at the time. So we started to record these conversations, inviting people going back to 2016. But it really didn't start in earnest until 2020 when the pandemic hit and all book tours were cancelled.

Suddenly, I didn't need to wait for people to come through San Diego, because they weren't coming through at all unless heavily masked and vaccinated. This gave me an outlet and an excuse to interview people I never would have really been able to get otherwise. Let's be honest - I was just a cosmology professor and experimental astrophysicist. I didn't have much to go on other than my love of reading and the fact that I had been inspired to become a scientist due to my love of books and audiobooks.

The Growth of the Podcast

Now I believe podcasts have kind of superseded books in many ways. It's crazy to say as I'm finishing my fourth book in five or six years. But thinking about how many more people listen to one of these episodes than read books by me or even much more famous authors I've had on the show - it's incredible.

One unique aspect of my podcast is that I always solicit questions from the audience for upcoming guests. As far as I know, no other podcast actually does this. You can't solicit questions for Joe Rogan's guests, for example. I do my best to inform you of who's going to be on the show, especially if I think it's someone well-known enough to generate a lot of interest.

But I also have on many lesser-known people who often provide the best entertainment, education and engagement. I've featured many authors and thinkers unknown on social media, and I'll continue to do so. You can always find me on YouTube as Dr. Brian Keating, or if you're listening on audio, you can subscribe there as well.

Audience Demographics

At the end of 2024, I did a survey to learn more about my audience. With over 250 respondents, the results were fascinating:

• About 90% identify as male, though the female audience is growing
• Many listeners have high income levels that would qualify as wealthy in most places
• There's a large international audience from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Israel, and even places like Kazakhstan and Uganda
• Listeners span from those who've been with me since the beginning to brand new subscribers who joined just this past year

The podcast audience has grown tremendously, with 100,000 new YouTube subscribers added in 2024 alone. That means about a third of you have joined just in the last year.

Favorite Topics and Guests

When asked about my favorite topics to discuss on the podcast, it's hard to choose. I love talking about fundamental physics and cosmology, which is my main area of expertise. In the past year alone, I've had fascinating conversations with guests like:

• Wendy Freedman
• Dan Hooper
• Matt Strassler
• Steven Wolfram (twice in 2024)

We've covered different theories of everything, interpretations of the laws of nature and physics, thermodynamics, and so much more.

I also really enjoy talking to instrument builders, though that can sometimes be a harder sell for a general audience. There's often more interest in big, abstract ideas that may not even be provable - things like string theory, black hole information paradoxes, etc. Guests like Nick Bostrom, Donald Hoffman, and Max Tegmark are brilliant at explaining these big ideas, even if they're not necessarily experimentally verifiable.

But as an experimentalist myself, I love delving into the nitty-gritty of how we actually test these grand theories and make observations. Talking about the historical foundations of how we know what we know is endlessly fascinating to me.

Impact on Listeners

One of the most gratifying aspects of doing this podcast has been hearing from listeners about how it's impacted their lives. I recently got a comment from someone saying:

"Dude, I'm an ex-drug addict and I love these videos. They help me not think about relapsing. Thank you sir for your amazing videos."

Another listener wrote:

"Prof, I'm in the same situation as this guy although I'm past the withdrawal stages. Not better than he is having said that. You are very fascinating. Physics, natural history, archaeology consume me. Keep it going please."

Comments like these really keep me going. I never would have imagined when I started in 2020 that these videos would help people overcome addictions or find new passions. It's incredibly motivating.

Balancing Fatherhood and the Podcast

As a father, doing the podcast has been a great experience. My kids don't care so much that I'm a professor and researcher, but they think it's pretty cool that I have a YouTube channel. One of my kids even made me a clay version of the YouTube play button before I got the real silver one for 100,000 subscribers.

It gives me some "street cred" with their friends too. One of my 6-year-old's friends already wants to collaborate with me - he's figured out you need to collaborate to "blow up" on YouTube. I'm convinced he'll have an even bigger channel than me someday!

Looking to the Future

As we continue to grow, I'm excited about doing more live events and in-person interviews. I had the honor of hosting Richard Dawkins for a live Q&A in October, which was a real treat. I think in-person interviews and live audience events are the future.

I'm also working on my next book, which will be a follow-up to "Into the Impossible: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner". This new volume will be called "Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner" and will draw wisdom from the second set of 9 Nobel laureates I've interviewed (out of 21 total so far). It will focus more on how to actually do science - how to choose an advisor, maintain work-life balance, and succeed in a scientific career.

Gratitude and Next Steps

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you listening and watching. It's been an incredible journey to share these ideas with great thinkers, explore different branches of science, and build this community.

If you want to support the podcast, here are a few ways you can help:

1. Share the YouTube channel with your friends
2. Leave comments and ratings on the videos and podcast platforms
3. Join my mailing list at briankeating.com/list for exclusive content and updates
4. Consider who you'd like to see me interview live and in-person

Thank you all for being part of this journey. As Arthur C. Clarke said, "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible." Together, we'll continue to make the impossible inevitable.

Conclusion

Reaching 300,000 subscribers is just the beginning. With your continued support and engagement, we'll keep exploring the frontiers of science, asking big questions, and building a community of curious minds. Whether you're a longtime listener or just joining us, thank you for being part of the "Into the Impossible" family. Here's to the next 300,000 and beyond!

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd0w9ErVm0w