Overview

Love them or hate them — the Tate ecosystem mastered attention. But as reposted clips multiplied, quality fractured and messaging diluted. We were brought in to run a closed-loop testing system: control the chaos, preserve the edge, and maximize reach without redundancy.

Approach

We created a replication-tolerant funnel, focused on feeding dozens of editors from one source clip and tracking impact via audio fingerprints and retention tags. Each video variant was tested across 3 platforms using a matrix of:

• Hook formats (dominance, motivation, taboo)
• Subtitle pacing templates
• Thumbnail contrasts (face-forward, full body, text-only)

Top variants saw a 3.7× lift in share rate over organic reposts — with no paid boost.

We also mapped out content polarity cycles — alternating between soft power narratives and controversy-based visibility spikes. These insights informed the long-term cadence of Tate’s clips and gave editors clarity without filtering voice.