Today, content creators are an integral part of the board game industry. And Shut Up & Sit Down is without doubt the most influential. Ever since uploading their first video review of Citadels and Memoir '44, SU&SD has gained a massive following of 254K YouTube subscribers, and this doesn't even include their forum community and podcast listeners.

With this in mind, I took a deep dive into our google analytics to see the extent of SU&SD's influence on a game page's rate of traffic. Here's what I found after looking at a week by week comparison for each of SU&SD's 100+ video reviews.

Before we get into the numbers...

Here's how I got them and what they mean:

The data I present is based off of a combination of Board Game Atlas and Board Game Price's analytics (we acquired BGP late last year).

The impact of SU&SD's coverage is represented by the % increase in number of views on the game page. This is based on the change in number of views a week after the review (including the day of release) vs. the week before.

If a game page had zero (or practically zero) traffic prior to the review, I categorized them as "Underappreciated". Otherwise, I chose to present only the top 5 "SU&SD success games" for each year starting 2016.

I've noted SU&SD's subscriber count at the start of each year so that you can see the progression of their growth and influence. I only managed to get the numbers starting from May 2017 so I extrapolated to estimate the past subscriber counts. See here for where I got the data.

If you're curious about any of the games not mentioned here, or if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

With that out of the way, let's take a look at the results.

2016

Subscriber Count: ~8K Estimated

Memorable Moment: Matt's Cooking Lesson in Arboretum



General Observations: SU&SD is in its growing phase but continues to drive significant traffic to a number of games they cover.

Top SU&SD Success Stories:

5. Lords of Vegas (+157%)

4. Ra (+330%)

3. Concordia (+543%)

2. Captain Sonar (+692%)

1. Loony Quest (+750%)

2017

Subscriber Count: ~43K Estimated

Memorable Moment: Paul in the "Cuddle Room" in Caverna

General Observations: SU&SD is making leaps in subscriber count and average number of views on videos, and starting to generate significant traffic to underappreciated games. There's also a noticeable improvement in production quality which makes a full transition in style starting 2018.

Top SU&SD Success Stories:

5. Troyes (+212%)

4. Spyfall (+450%)

3. Flamme Rouge (+650%)

2. Watson & Holmes (+1317%)

1. Tigris & Euphrates (+1514%)

Underappreciated:

2. Secrets (+3400%)

1. Imperial 2030 (+3500%)

2018

Subscriber Count: 78.6K

Memorable Moment: Quinns achieves Networking Nirvana in Railroad Ink

General Observations: There's an overall air of professionalism in their approach. Better camera quality and angles, clear audio, and use of animations and voice-overs.

Top SU&SD Success Stories:

5. Brass: Birmingham (+373%)



4. Lowlands (+395%)

3. War of the Ring (+414%)



2. Railroad Ink (+414%)

1. 878 Vikings - Invasions of England (+658%)

Underappreciated:

3. Cockroach Poker Royal (+1900%)

2. Container (+2500%)

1. Bargain Quest (+6400%)

2019

Subscriber Count: 153.3K

Memorable Moment: Matt has 5 minutes to review Altiplano

General Observations: SU&SD doubles its subscriber count and passes the 100K mark. Their reviews are changing the industry landscape and most of the top SU&SD successes sell out in days after the release of the video.

Top SU&SD Success Stories:

5. Klask (+354%)

4. Dune (+518%)

3. Too Many Bones (+1006%)

2. The Quest for El Dorado (+1119%)

1. Treasure Island (+1462%)

Underappreciated:

3. Crokinole (+4000%)

2. Don't Get Got (6900%)

1. Combo Fighter (20600%)

2020

Subscriber Count: 222K

Memorable Moment: Quinns shows that great card games are everywhere.

General Observations: If you're part of any online board game community, you've probably seen a number of posts from people sharing about these underappreciated card games. SU&SD's voice in the industry is only magnified as a result of COVID-19 and the shelter in place.

Top SU&SD Success Stories:

5. Nemesis (+189%)

4. Wavelength (+512%)

3. Unmatched: Battle of Legends Vol. 1 (+988%)

2. Undaunted: Normandy (1016%)

1. The King's Dilemma (1914%)

Underappreciated:

5. Bruxelles 1897 (+2030%)

4. Mandala (+3400%)

3. Air, Land & Sea (+3500%)

2. Tournament at Avalon (+6143%)

1. A War of Whispers (62600%)

Final Thoughts

If you're a fan of SU&SD, you may have noticed that some of these games didn't receive their "Recommends" badge. I think this goes with what I love about their reviews. They walk you through the ins and outs of the game and strike a nice balance of giving their own opinions. By the end, even if there's a surprising mid-review turnaround, I typically have all the info I need to judge the game based on my preferences. I think this is why a number of games like Too Many Bones and War of the Ring only benefited from getting their spotlight. Here's what Matt had to say about Taverns of Tiefenthal that I think it sums this up nicely: "It's not perfect, but it doesn't have to be a 10/10 for you to really enjoy it".

Phew. That's it everyone. Thank you for reading and if you want more content, you can take a look at this article I put together showing the changes in rankings of top 50 most visited game pages during April. You'll get a clear look at how SU&SD's reviews have completely changed the hierarchy of the game pages.