The Client
Stronghold is a payments infrastructure company, committed to providing fast, secure, and accessible financial services for all. Their developer APIs enable seamless integration with legacy and next-generation financial systems.
In 2018, they launched their digital token, SHx, facilitating real-time settlement, fee discounts, and decentralized finance solutions. Recognized for innovation, they were featured in the Forbes Fintech 50 in 2022.
Vireo Services
YouTube Strategy
Thumbnails
YouTube SEO
YouTube Ads
TLDR
Stronghold partnered with Vireo Video to strengthen its YouTube presence through data-driven strategy, video optimization, and targeted ad campaigns. This work resulted in +862% subscriber growth, a +500% increase in watch time, and a +178% boost in organic views.
Also, by implementing our strategic content improvements and retention-focused techniques, Stronghold saw organic watch time grow by +373%, average view duration (AVD) increase by +223%, and average percentage viewed (APV) go from 1.2% to 38.5%.
These results were achieved through strong execution and collaboration from both the Stronghold and Vireo teams, between August 2022 and October 2025, compared to the previous period.
Strategic Priorities
As a fintech brand, building brand recognition in a competitive space was a constant hurdle. Their content wasn’t reaching enough viewers to drive engagement or build a strong audience.
Additionally, their videos struggled to retain viewers, with watch times and audience retention rates below industry average. Without early traction, videos weren’t gaining momentum within the critical first 24 hours of publishing. Stronghold needed a strategy to not only attract more viewers but to keep them engaged and convert them into long-term subscribers.
The Execution
goals
Stronghold came to Vireo Video looking to achieve a few things:
- Increase viewer retention and overall content performance
- Drive more brand engagement on YouTube
- Grow their channel's subscriber base
- Start creating and capitalizing on trend-focused content
As a fintech leader, they needed to position themselves as an authority in the space. So with these priorities in mind, we developed a plan focused on strategic content improvements, video optimizations, and targeted ad campaigns to maximize Stronghold’s YouTube success.
YouTube Strategy
Our monthly strategy calls were a key driver of our success. We didn’t just advise on video topics—we helped them make informed decisions on channel growth, audience development, and content direction alongside tactical recommendations for video style, structure, and pacing.
This led to longer audience retention and more engagement (as seen in the graphs below) which strengthened their overall YouTube presence.
Average View Duration (AVD)
Stronghold increased their average view duration from 0:30 to 1:37, more than tripling the time viewers stayed engaged.
Average Percentage Viewed (APV)
The average percentage viewed of Stronghold’s videos jumped from 1.2% to 38.5%—a 3108% increase.
Examples of recommendations that lead to these improvements:
- Strengthen video hooks: before the host introduces themself, capture attention. Hit a pain point, ask a question, or use a statistic or bold statement for example. Or use a clip from later in the video to tease something interesting that is coming.
- Improve upload consistency: rather than just suggesting a content calendar, we worked closely with Stronghold during monthly strategy calls to plan upcoming videos, align on production timelines, and establish a steady upload cadence. By getting clear on what to publish, when, and how often, we helped them build momentum and maximize audience engagement.
- Prioritize evergreen content: we advised them to create more evergreen explainer or how-to videos to help maintain consistent organic viewership on the channel. This type of content continues to bring in new viewers.
YouTube Video Optimization
Video SEO
We optimized video titles, descriptions, tags, and chapters to improve discoverability on YouTube and Google. By structuring metadata for search and aligning content with audience intent, we helped Stronghold rank higher for competitive search terms such as this example below (iso 20022), which drives more organic traffic to their videos.
Video Packaging
By refining thumbnail designs, titles, and overall packaging with the Stronghold team, we made each video more compelling in the feed. That clarity lifted CTR and helped the channel compete more effectively in its niche and on YouTube overall.
A/B testing also played a key role in improving packaging. Comparing different title and thumbnail variations helps us spot what works, giving us insights that guide future decisions and drive stronger results.
This work has led to a period-over-period increase in CTR from 3.5% to 4.5%, showing that more viewers are not only seeing Stronghold’s content but deciding to click and watch.
YouTube Ads
We managed targeted ad campaigns to increase both subscribers and video views. By refining audience targeting, optimizing bidding strategies, and continuously testing creatives, we lowered the cost per subscriber from over $1, to just $0.16.
Driving Subscriber Growth
Subscriber conversions have grown steadily over time, showing improved efficiency and stronger creative performance. The campaign has built sustained momentum, driving high-quality subscriber growth at scale and reinforcing channel credibility.
Generating More Video Views
Video views have increased across the full campaign period as cost-per-view has come down, delivering greater reach and visibility for less spend. These ads have helped Stronghold’s videos gain traction faster and amplify overall channel performance.
These campaigns have also supported Stronghold’s channel by signaling both social credibility to viewers and strong performance to YouTube’s algorithm.
The Results
Overall
Through our work together, Stronghold grew it’s YouTube impact and saw incredible results across all key metrics, strengthening their brand in the highly competitive fintech space.
Timeframe
These results were achieved between August 2022 and October 2025, compared to the previous period from June 2019 to August 2022.
Highlighted in blue, you can see Stronghold’s period-over-period gains across views, watch time, APV, AVD, CTR, and impressions, driven by our strategic improvements and collaboration in partnership with Stronghold.
Subscribers
From 11.4K to 110K
Period-Over-Period
Organic Views
From 175K to 487K
Period-Over-Period
Watch Time
From 18.8K to 113K
Period-Over-Period
Avg-View-Duration
From 0:30 to 1:37
Period-Over-Period
CLick-Through-Rate
From 3.5% to 4.6%
Period-Over-Period
Impressions
From 779K to 4.86M
Period-Over-Period
Project Contributors
Vireo Video
Ash Hussain
Account Manager
Kenzie White
Senior Strategist
Mazid Ansari
Marketing Assistant
Benji Castillo
Ads Manager
Ignacio Benitez
Thumbnail Designer
Stronghold
Barry Pousman
Head of Content
Sactica Nhem
Product Marketer & Content Manager
