this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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And how are they going to make a living to keep producing videos?
I’d say ask them to join Nebula.
That depends. If they only make a living with YT ads, then it’s going to be hard.
About half the ads I see on YouTube are already within the videos they post. I wonder what the overall ratio is of YouTube ad revenue versus in-video ad revenue.
Are you talking about sponsors? Because yes, that has nothing to do with YT ads.
I guess I forgot things like Patreon which could be a valid option. Although I’m neither a fan of subscribing to specific creators nor am I particularly fond of Patreon.
With Nebula my perception is that I pay a monthly fee and they can figure out who gets what depending on whose videos I watched. I don’t need to be particular in my action on who to support.
Nebula is a good option, but now you've created a paywall. Now only people who can afford it, can watch the content and what is to keep Nebula from upping the price of the subscription?
If ads is out of the question, then content creators need to use sponsors and patrons, if they want to make a living.
People want a fantasy world where all the main content is free and two or three rich sponsors support the creator by sponsoring little extras only available to Patreon supporters. The ends will never meet in the middle on that. It’s a fantasy where people get what they want for free because someone else pays for it. Won’t work. Get out your cash, kids. Cancel your Netflix and put the money into Nebula.
Don't shift the blame on "people wants" as if they're owed by the people. Most people dont even ask for whatever content that is pushed out. And what's more content creator is just a glorified term for online digital panhandlers. And they frame it as if viewers are meant to owe them something all while contributing as little to their efforts that amounts to no significance as possible. Imagine paying someone to make a facial reaction and talking for a bit everytime you passed a panhandler and they call themselves a content creator. It's bogus way to frame or even justify that especially considering they get payed far larger sums comparison to people who actully work for a living while dodging the taxes. And is unlikely any such platform as youtube as well as its big panhandlers are struggling with finances. Youtube gets $15 billion dollars a year in ad revenue and hey greedily continue the push for more ads. And the digital panhandlers calling themselves content creators can make more money in a week than the typical wage slave can in a year.
Interesting thing here:
YouTube's top 3% of channels now attract 90% of total views, up from 67% in 2006. Even among those elite channels, average annual ad revenue is only $16,800 - less than a third of U.S. median household income. For the remaining 97% of YouTubers, reaching even that modest income level is nearly impossible given the platform's increasingly skewed viewership distribution.
An advantage of funding things via a collective like Nebula as opposed to each individual creator managing their own patrons is that new creators can start making bigger, more expensive projects quicker. Even established creators have this advantage, they can take bigger risks on bigger projects with the safety net of a share of the nebula pie.
I don't think a project like The Prince would exist without Nebula, for example.
FYI, Nebula isn't a collective: https://scribe.rip/@cameron-paul/who-actually-owns-nebula-952a1c12d9c0
Thanks for the link, it was a very interesting read. While it is disappointing that it's not actually a collective (assuming this blog post is accurate), having a platform run and owned by 6 creators is still better than YouTube's governance structure, and still has the advantage in having both the capacity and desire to invest in creators.
Nebula is also priced for the masses. You get an entire video service for one reasonable price. Patreon finally has really low priced options like $1 a month but for the longest time it was like $25/month just for the entry level supporter package and I could never justify blowing all that on one creator. I also hated digging around the Patreon app for the sponsor content and dealing with its stupid push notifications.
I find Nebula is a much more sustainable thing. And I still discover new creators there. Because after all I’m not going to be set for life with one or two YT creators. I want to find new things too. Nebula gives you that.
They also can use sponsors in the video, but that only works when you have enough views.
You could also send money via paypal or kofi if you don't like subscriptions, if the creator has it set up.
Yes if a creator’s main living can be shifted into Patreon or their own independent subscription service, THEN you will see them move off of YT because it actually works against them at that point. Mark Spagnuolo aka The Wood Whisperer has made this transition. He’s been around years (decades?) with awesome quality woodworking content. He’s found independent sponsorships. He’s created his own subscription service and takes direct payments but also uses platforms like Patreon. He plays the social media game very well. He travels to trade shows and keeps up with a podcast. He is the gold standard for what it takes a creator to move off of YT and still make a living IMO. His wife is a driving force behind making the business work and I think it’s a full time job for her too and probably a staff of employees. Mark used YT in the early years to build an audience but he does very little at all on YT nowadays.
He also has very little out there now that is free 🤷♂️
You can’t have it both ways
Remember when people posted on YouTube for fun? It's only when it became a viable business that the platform turned to shit.
Ah yes, youtube now is just one big ad and sponsorship cesspool flooded with clickbait and misinformation and with highly privacy invasive protocol. Its a souless capitalisic corporate machine. I dont know why people would still use it. Just let youtube die.
Third-party clients, ad-block and sponsorblock are the only way I can still use it LOL
Also there simply aren't any alternatives that aren't alt-right cesspools or just awful to use...
All the people I watch on youtube make the majority of their money on patreon or twitch. Youtube is way too heavy handed with demonitization and copyright strikes to be a trutsworthy income source.
Nebula is cool and all, but at the end of the day, it's still a commercial platform, and those do tend to enshittify and depend a lot on externalities.
As creators grow more dependent on Nebula, Sam and the team of original Nebula creators can wield more power and change the rules.
They already dictate the kind of content that is allowed - for example, Second Thought, one of the original creators behind Nebula, was asked to leave as he doesn't agree to change public stance on Israeli-Palestinian conflict (he is pro-Palestine). This has suddenly left him without a source of revenue necessary for the production to expand, and has put him into debt.
Solution? Probably independent sponsorships that would go both on YouTube and PeerTube videos. Or a creator reward system like in Lbry/Odysee. Something that would allow to reward creators without going full commercial.
Patreon and all the other services creators have at their disposal already.
Don't think most Youtubers can make a living these days solely on YT as revenue, and are already exploring other avenues.
They can still post on YouTube.
It might take a tiny bit of their revenue away but I doubt it would make much of a dent, especially for creators that run mostly on patreon anyway.
Direct payment to creators seems like the most simple and efficient method.
Paying Nebula subscriber here 🙋♂️
I can’t stand hearing people whine about wanting everything for free and how DARE people try to make a living so they can eat in between making videos!!!
Same way they do on YT. Viewer contributions + sponsor spots + merch. They only miss out on ad revenue (which I concede is not insignificant).
Nebula is ok but I took 1 look at their privacy policy and passed.
So you want them to take a huge pay cut? To what benefit, just YoUTubE bAd?
To literally everyone's benefit except YouTube.
Viewer don't have to submit themselves to Google's horrific practices and policies, and creators get the freedom to post what they want without some 3rd party determining it's illegal when it's not and taking it down or giving all of their income to someone else.
I'm not telling anyone what to do, I'm just pointing out that it's not impossible.
I just want the videos no creator makes money on. I expect thats about 50% at least. Let’s start there. Put them in the Library of Congress and YouTube will be free to enshittify themselves into oblivion without complaint.