Javier Torres breaks down five distinct content games: Mainstream Fame, Category Fame, Intuitive Product, Educated Sales, and Authority. Each requires different metrics and strategy. You can win at one, but chasing them all at once is why most creators fail.
Does your content feel confused? One week you're trying to go viral, the next week you're trying to educate, then you're trying to sell, then you're copying someone else's format. Does it feel like you don't actually know what you're building? That confusion isn't random. It's strategic misalignment. And here's the uncomfortable truth. Follower counts don't mean what they used to. Views don't mean what they used to. We're no longer in the just go viral era. We're in the topic or theme media era. And that forces you to choose what game you're playing because now there are 5 complete different content games happening at the same time. And most business owners are playing one with the strategy from another. Let's fix that. So this week I came across a video by a content creator by the name of Callaway. He breaks down the 5 content games that this video was based off of. I want to give him his flowers. I'll make sure to link it below. But what hit me wasn't just the framework. It clarified something that I had been seeing for years. People aren't failing because bad at content. They're failing because they don't know the outcome that they're building towards. And different outcomes require completely different games. And with the algorithm shifting from social media to interest media, it's more important than ever. So let's break them down clearly. Game number 1 is— game number 1 is mainstream fame. This is the broad reach game. This is mostly entertainment. Think MrBeast, Dude Perfect. It's about a big spectacle of content. The big spectacle is the goal because they're trying to reach as many humans as possible. They're not targeting a niche, they're targeting attention. And the game is monetization by scale. They're trying to sell ads, brand deals, and get as many views as possible to get paid through YouTube. For them, the metrics that matters are views, engagement, follower growth. If you're not scaling attention aggressively, this game doesn't pay. It's literally probably pays the smaller end of the CPMs because it's not niche. So you need a big audience to make it worth it. The funny thing is most small businesses should not be playing this game. But I think when people think content, they think we all need to be MrBeast. Don't follow the trap of thinking that it's all about viewer count and views. Game number 2 is this: category fame. This is niching down and being dominant in a certain category. Think Alex Hormozi in business, Cleo Abram in tech. And inside of each category, there's your guardrails. They don't jump around from content to content, strategy to strategy. They build within one category, and the game still monetizes attention, but it's in a particular vertical. It's in a particular niche. This might be slower growth because it's not trying to reach the entire world, but I think it definitely pays off more than trying to go for broad MrBeast appeal. This is being dominant in a certain niche. Game number 3 is an intuitive product. This is clothing brands. This is food. These are things that are very obvious to the consumers, and the goal is getting sales. It's not about getting broad virality. It's not about trying to do something that MrBeast would do. This is something that is creating content to drive people to a sale checkout. That's the name of the game, whether it's directly on a Shopify link or bringing someone into a store. It's an intuitive product that you don't need to educate people on. You could be maybe selling a lifestyle, a brand, a vibe, but the end goal are sales. What matters in this game is conversions, revenue per video. Revenue per view. It's not about followers. It's not about spectacle. A video with let's say 15K views and 10K worth of product sales is a win. Comparatively, a video with let's say 2 million views and zero sales is a loss. Game number four is very similar to number three. It's sales, but it's sales that needs education. It's not obvious sort of things like t-shirts. They could be more like education. Software tools, supplements, and even maybe some certain services. Let's just say for instance, I use an AI company called Higgsfield. Me just saying the name, you're not going to know exactly what this is. So the sort of content is giving people an on-ramp. It's still conversions. It's, but it's probably more email opt-ins, sales per view, maybe getting people within a funnel. Views are a proxy, but revenue is the metrics. Number 5 is this: authority. This one's different. This one's about depth, trust, belief transfer. This isn't broad awareness. This is depth of impact. Think consultants, pastors, strategists, coaches, B2B services where trust is the name of the game. The product is you. It's not entertainment. It's expertise. What's the wins here? It's about getting inbound DMs, email signups, consultant bookings. It's all about the depth of relationship, not about virality. This is built through consistency, non-obvious insight, and definitely this is not built off trends. For me, I'm playing game number 5. This is the first time I'm actually intentionally building my own personal brand and trying to build authority and deep trust with people. And that's why I chose YouTube. I've been investing myself in personal coaching to be able to learn the game of YouTube because I know to be able to connect with the audience and the people that I'm called to serve, it's through content. I have a long-term commitment. This isn't a short-term positioning thing to try going viral. For me, it's all about the long game to find the people I'm called to serve and to make the impact I'm called to make. For me, I know that trust takes time and that's why I'm committed to all of 2026 to start creating content that serves you, the visionary. Here's the thing, you could win at any of these 5 games, but you can't win all 5 of them at the same time. So I want you to do a deep dive question and ask yourself, what is the real outcome that I want? Is it fame? Is it category dominance? Is it product sales? Is it authority? Decide that first. Build with the end in mind, then build your system around that strategy. If you don't know what game you're playing, you're already messing up from jump. That's the first problem you need to solve. So drop a comment below. What game are you choosing for 2026? And if you need any help figuring that out, I would love to help you. Hit me up, javier@javiertorrestudios.com. Book a consultation call today. I love you guys. God bless you guys. Catch you guys in the next one. Peace.
