I really do appreciate the effort you put into these videos, and I definitely understand you want something out of this as well but the user experience of having to go through your site instead of a link to a youtube playlist does put me off quite a bit.
Either way, the first few videos I've watched so far are great, thanks.
I'm not sure how much views get lost, but I wonder is it worth it? There is a short video as introduction which doesn't tell much, I'd much prefer a random video from the series.
Now by making these private, no one will find this from youtube, other sites won't link it and there is no playlist so I will have to click each url every 5 minutes or so, which is not the end of the world, but not fun.
He could have asked for my email for the project files(videos and project files get sent to your email currently as I understand it), and gave videos for free. Anyone actually interested in this would definitely give their email for the files. If he wants my email to teach me something else later -- or sell me something, I think someone who entered their mail while watching the series will be more interested in what he could use the emails for, and now he won't be able to reach these kinds of people from random views, in exchange for the initial email count.
I don't think this is a nice deal, but I have no data, so just an opinion. Maybe something to consider.
I'm a big fan of Wes' and don't want to mess up what he's doing, but as a clue.. the URLs for the preview graphics of each video contain each video's YouTube ID :)
Either way, the first few videos I've watched so far are great, thanks.