[conspire] on Louis Rossmann & Grayjay

[Ron / BCLUG]

Steve Litt wrote on 2023-12-28 18:06:

> Syeed, I was just talking to my daughter yesterday about creating a
> youtube channel, so the preceding is interesting. Could you please post
> some citations supporting the  assertion that creators haven't been
> able to make a significant amount from ad rolls in a very long time.
> Are there exceptions?

Hi Steve,

I can't point to any specific links¹, but it's pretty widely known from 
watching several channels (and discussed on Reddit) that the channels 
make a pittance from ads inserted by YouTube, to the point that they 
often encourage ad-blocking.

The rate per thousand views depends a lot on the target demographic.

As Syeed alluded to, a buck per thousand views isn't a bad estimate of 
ad revenue.


Hence there are often credit rolls at the end listing top Patreon sponsors.


Also, channels have sponsored videos where the host will discuss the 
sponsor's product in-video. Skip-able, but requires human intervention 
and channel fans are less likely to skip since the channel host is 
presenting.

There are browser add-ons that crowd source sponsored segments and skip 
those too.


When LTT released their ratcheting screwdriver and sponsored another 
large creator (MKHD, I think it's spelled?), the speculation on Reddit 
was that would've cost upwards of $50,000 to sponsor the one video.

Serious money.


Similar numbers thrown about when discussing the scam selling fake 
Scottish Titles: buy a square foot of Scottish land through sponsor 
company, get automatic title of Baron or something.

Why did so many prominent channels continue accepting sponsorship from 
scammers when it was exposed?  Tens of thousands of dollars.


Also, on YouTube there is no option for monetization until a certain 
threshold has been crossed, X subscribers and an average of Y views per 
video...



------------------------------------------

¹ Found a link: a 37 second video explaining online income per views by 
Miki Rai:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8vQJCIJ5uA

Compares TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube *per month*:

TikTok: 20,000,000 views paid $185.52 == 108,000 views per dollar

Instagram: 18,000,000 views (on reels) paid $1,895.38 == 9,500 views / 
dollar

YouTube: 31,100,000 views (7 long and 12 shorts - shorts totalled 
29,000,000 views) paid $1,344.13 for shorts == 21000 views / dollar(?)


So, about $3500 / month (varies greatly month-to-month). Excluding 
sponsorships.