But then we lose all of the interesting content creators who are motivated by monetizing their videos. RU-vid used to just be filled with people's shitty home videos.
I'm very worried that Patreon seems to be the only game in town for patronizing content creators (as well as being worried about almost anything that's the 'only game in town'). If Patreon ever goes under, a lot of people are going to be immediately screwed.
Well, the nice thing is that Patreon has a pretty stable business structure and model. We've been lucky to be able to be at the table for a lot of the decisions they make, and no one is more creator-focused than they are.
I get almost no revenue from patreon. Granted, it's probably equal to what I'm getting from ads, but it's still disheartening. It seems like only certain types of channels can benefit from patreon.
I have been trained from birth to ignore ads. My eyes automatically skip ads. Fun anecdote: a while ago I was randomly selected to be part of a psychological study. At the time I didn't know what the study was about, they told us to read some stuff on a screen from websites we commonly use and are familiar with. I did so, and afterwards I was told my results. They told me as I was reading the material, I never once looked at the sides of the screen that have ads. And when they replaced the real ads with other images I never showed a sign of noticing, and I honestly don't remember it happening. Do you know that video where they ask you to count how often a basketball is bounced, and midway through a guy in a gorilla suit walks through the frame. You don't see the gorilla, you only see the ball. That is how I am with ads. Ads don't exist to me. This is what happens when you put ads everywhere, they become a part of the landscape and nobody cares.
"Ads don't exist to me. This is what happens when you put ads everywhere, they become a part of the landscape and nobody cares." And that is when you get more and more intrusive adds. Which is why I installed addblock.
But does anyone actually look at invasive ads? It is like a bug flying into your face. You swat it away, you don't sit back and read the post card it is holding in its little bug hands.
i like *advertising*... like, when a company hires an agency and creative people come up with an idea and cast actors and build a set or have a story or something. i'll watch _those_. what i can't stand are testimonials (they _all_ look fake to me), and things that aren't advertising put in a traditional "this is an ad" setup (like when the preroll is a full video from another channel).
Philippe St-Pierre considering I'm around about the same age as Hank I'm gonna say probably not. Although I might be his future son traveling back to the past. I can't tell any more.
Grace LaMonte I try not to skip ads unless they're 3+ minutes. I really don't like this new trend of putting short shows as pre-rolls. That's not what I signed up for, either as a viewer or a creator.
I have never watched with ads, but recently I signed up for RU-vid Red and I am very happy with it. It gives me the feeling that I am helping creators without wasting my time on stuff I don't care about (ads). I spend exponentially more time watching RU-vid than traditional TV, so I feel that the few bucks a month are well worth it.
Azzarinne, I recently checked my monetization settings and youtube had changed them on every single one of my videos. I always uncheck skippable and non skippable ads and they had it so those plus one of the other options were the only things active on every single video. It might not be you fav creator's fault. :/
donations are far far more effective, and mean you don't get advertised at! Advertisers spend money on ads since they work, so really donating and not watching ads more than offsets any cost to you.
I understand why content creators are getting frustrated with RU-vid and are trying to find other ways of making revenue, but as someone who is very broke and has to go to the library to have any internet access I'm really scared that in the near future I won't be able to afford any of these fancy services like RU-vid Red and that suddenly all of my favorite content will be gone
At the moment, no one I'm following is putting their regular content behind a paywall, and I don't forsee that becoming a thing. (Most people just post bonus content on things like Patreon.) If you want to help out people you're subbed to without hurting your wallet, sharing the videos has a HUGE impact. Who knows, you might end up sharing the video to someone who can financially help back them, and that would be awesome! :D
I originally started watching RU-vid BECAUSE it didn't have the ads that had infested Television... Once advertising infects a medium, the content eventually becomes bottlenecked into whatever big business wants it to be.
Let's see how long that lasts.. There's been an exponential increase in the rate of Invasiveness and I don't see it stopping with the advertiser strike..
Yea I'm determined to stay AD-free, I don't want to make a penny off my videos. If my shitty content catches on, I'll sell shirts or make a patreon. I just hate advertisements with a passion :p
But thanks to ads, we have more quality videos. The creators can invest their time and money into their work, otherwise they'd have to find a different source of income and make videos less frequently and of lower quality.
I once watched a four minute ad because I wanted the youtuber to get some money from it because I liked them and their content. Actually I didn't watch it I went and got a snack but the point is if a creator shows me how good their work is it makes me want to support them and do things like that more often. I don't want to donate all my money to all y favorite youtubers so I do this instead. It's not much but at least it counts.
If the ad runs for 30 seconds, or the full length of the ad if that full ad lasts less than 30 seconds, then the creator gets "paid" for the ad. Sometimes it is 15 seconds.
iamihop but the same happens on tv lol i walk away from ads or if i have tivo i skip it. Difference is on youtube ads can actually see how many people play their ads and click them unlike tv they can't possibly know.
iamihop I "see the problem," but this is part of the reason ads mystify me. Clearly they must be seeing some kind of data indicating that their ads are resulting in a profit if they continue to pay so much into it. Otherwise, it would just be throwing money away for no reason.
iamihop Mm. I see what you mean. You would think that they'd have some kind of way to suss it out. But... it wouldn't be the first time people did something en masse because it's the thing you do, without actually having good proof for it working. I guess maybe with the bigger companies, they look for an increase sales around when their bigger television ads hit and try to suss it out that way? But maybe that's why internet ads are valued less, because it's such an incremental thing, and harder to even correlate between ads and sales.
TV networks are JUST NOW looking at the internet seriously... and the next ones to follow are advertisers since TV execs now have to sell the old school dudes into this "new school stuff that's been around for 10 years".
My channel was one of the ones that went down, and then it went down further. I made $24 yesterday on RU-vid, and I have 120k subs. Not a good feeling.
Okay I've been hearing about all of this for ages but never REALLY got what was going on until now. Thanks for always keeping me an enlightened potato. 🙃
I'd love to see a five-second ad that just says "we support this platform, and the people who make it what it is". Whatever company made such an ad, I would buy from.
I'm always telling people that they can support their favorite RU-vid creators WAY more efficiently with their wallets than with with their eyeballs. RU-vid RED, to me, is the perfect choice. Besides the programming (most of which I don't care about at all) I get NO ADS EVER before, next to, or over-laid on, videos. To me, that's worth the $10/mo.. BUT THE MAIN THING IS: I could never generate that same amount of revenue for the creators by just watching ads. Hank - Please confirm. Am I right that we make a lot more per view from a RU-vid Red subscriber than from an ad watcher?? (assuming a normal rate of skippage.) I feel like no one is talking about this, and YT-RED's marketing is WAY too focussed of their dumb "Exclusive" shows, rather than it's completely new monetary arrangement that favors creators AND viewers. What do YOU think?
ProfessorPuppet Except RU-vid Red isn't "available in your country" yet... I'd love to be able to pay a monthly fee to be distributed, minus googles commission, among the channels I view. But I can't. :-(
It's kind of you to think we could pull this off! But I really think that without a HUGE ad sales force behind you--like the kind that google has through adsense--it's almost impossible to build a platform that could benefit creators and viewers at scale. Facebook could do it, but they seem unwilling to part with the % of revenue that would be needed to really make them a home for high-quality user-generated content. I don't think it's something Hank and I could do--and also I think YT is ultimately trying really hard to be fair and careful and transparent as they struggle through the complexities of running an ad-funded platform that is still extremely open--at least in terms of what can be uploaded and hosted for free here. -John
I like how you ended this on a positive note, because I have been a bit worried about youtube lately, because if they don't get ads, they'll be forced to shut down, and then where do we post our content? But you are also right, that the advertisers need us just as much (and if not more) than we need them
Viewer supported content like subscription services and crowd funding is just plain better. The creator doesn't need to comply with the ideals of big corporations and are free to be themselves and do and say what they want, giving them freedom. Ads aren't just annoying, they CHANGE THE CONTENT.
JoshJepson Ads are the main reason youtubers get paid in the first place. Do you expect small youtubers to easily get money from subscription services and patreon? RU-vid wouldn't even be running without money from advertisers. What reason would the people running youtube have to keep this very expensive site running?
Yes. Especially independent news channels are being encouraged to _self-censor_ their content. *Money is literately a disease* everywhere. It is a roadblock to cultural and scientific evolution. In politics, in media, ... and as *Griorgi Perelmann* has confirmed, even in the global math curriculum. It is why the USA has Trump and the entire western world keeps moving to the extreme right.
Honestly I'm surprised advertising is as big as industry as it is. I think the only ads that actually affect what I buy are ads for new movies. I will go see a movie in theaters if the trailer looks cool. Other than that and the occasional coupon (if that counts) I don't think I've ever bought anything because of an advertisement. I assume I'm not really the norm, but I also doubt I'm the only one like this.
There are a couple of places in town that I actually WON'T go to specifically because of their ads. One is obnoxiously shouty and the other is downright sexist. You'd think we would have moved past this by now.
vlogbrothers That's true, I guess advertising does subtly affect my opinion about things, in a similar way to other media. It definitely does play a large role in our cultural expectations of appearance and body type, and tends to enforce traditional gender roles. But do any of these things result in me spending more money than the amount that was spent on putting the ads in front of me? I'm not sure.
I guess if I really think about it individual advertisements are pretty ineffective, but advertising as a whole has a huge cultural impact, which obviously has an economic impact as well.
Tbh the only real impact is for entertainment or new products. It's not like a Dorito commercial magically makes me want to go get a bag. However, movies, video games, tv shows, all these things are benefited by ads.
Question: I am a member of the Guild since it was formed. I loved the idea since I heard of it. How can I volunteer/help/contribute to the guild aside from my subscription fee?
Just like to point out the middle image from the Daily Mail where you referred to the content as "Very Vile" was a false characterization of a harmless youtuber by a tabloid newspaper. He narrowly avoided getting his channel shut down because he did a *review* of a stab vest and demonstrated it to be incapable of stopping a straightforward knife attack. The Daily Fail spun it as him demonstrating how to kill cops and he was hard pressed to recover from it despite no wrong doing. Joerg Sprave, slingshot channel, you should look into it.
I sorta think that was the point of him including it. That helpful videos like that one are being characterized as "very vile", to the same extent actual ISIS beheadings were being considered vile -- since adverstisers were equating the two and deciding to pull out from basically everyone in a dramatic wave of the wrist. ....despite being entirely wrong about it.
Opposite is actually true.We need advertising more than them needing us.We will never be free from advertising hell that our brains created long time ago.
Although I understand the need for ads, I've never clicked on an ad, acted on an ad, changed my consumer behaviour because of an ad, or bought anything based on an ad I've seen on the internet. I generally ignore 100% of all ads
I never understood how anyone could gamble making a living off You tube revenue. RU-vid didn't just start being a temperamental and capricious beast recently. It's always been this way. Were I a content creator I'd just as well assume that the entire platform will fall off the map next week in a hail of bad business decisions and PR mistakes. I could never trust this platform to supply my livelihood. That just seems crazy to me.
I had no idea about any of this, thank you for explaining what is going on in the advertising world. My social teacher loves to talk about consumerism and advertising, but he never seems to cover ads from RU-vid or the internet.
I want to tank you guys for being an inspiration, even though it might be hard to get started, I have started my own youtube channel. thank you for your honesty and inspiration.
And that's why I'm glad that RU-vid Red & Patreon exist: I might not have any money right now as a college student, but when I do, I can fully support the online people who make things that matter. Thank you for making things :)
Hi Hank! Thanks for the video. Definitely not a RU-vid creator, but I love supporting channels that create content I relate with. Crash Course is definitely my favorite content to date, and I love getting to contribute to keep educating myself and others!
My biggest problem with ads is just the sensory over load. It's one thing to see a video, a list of recommended videos and a comment section. It's another to have a video play before that video, have an ad right next to that video, and then have an ad at the bottom of the video. And that's just youtube. Facebook is groaning with adds and feeds to the point where I legitimately used to feel panicked every time I looked at Facebook. I use adblock and FB purity (which I recommend to everyone btw) because it really makes browsing the web less stressful. There's just too much information being thrown at us everyday.
I currently spend $10 on RU-vid Red. Best money I spend each month. I spend alot of time watching youtube videos being able to avoid add but still support creators is great. I'm really hoping that RU-vid gets some competition though as there is currently many incentives for them to do better.
I also have to say that I LOVE youtube red as both a viewer and a creator. It makes the RU-vid experience way more pleasant, and it's a much better deal for creators than adsense. But it's not available everywhere, and lots of people can't afford it, so we need lots of solutions for a variety of creators and viewers. -John
Great video. I am happy you brought up Rooster Teeth's First membership. I like that you are pointing out that eventually youtube will suffer if they keep messing with creators. While I am not a creator myself I support you guys so much because you are what I want to watch.
A lot of the ads on youtube I've actually enjoyed watching. I'm a big fan of the high quality, informative ads that encourage discovery of a new brand or product that I may actually be interested in. I love movie trailer ads for this reason as they're not something I would usually go out and watch but they allow me to discover new entertainment that I may be interested in seeing and wouldn't have known about otherwise. I just wish there was a system to limit the number of times an ad is shown to a person because I'm never gonna click on an audible, amazon, or trading 212 advertisement yet have those pretty much every other video. I want to see new content and I want advertisers to be encouraged to make high quality, engaging adverts.
This whole thing is why I became a Patreon patron for Dear Hank & John, and why I was super pleased to hear Hank say than any excess from that Patreon went to other Complexly projects.
I am of a split mind on ads. Most of the time I want nothing to do with them, I am happier to skip or completely ignore them. Every once in a while I come across something that isn't trying so hard to make me spend money, it's just a notification saying, "Hey, this is a quality [product/service] and if you need it, we are here for you." These kinds of ads I feel positively towards. They are much fewer and far between, but when I see them my response is more grateful, like, "Thank you, I will keep that in mind in case I ever need your service!" I guess, though, with such a competitive market it probably doesn't pay off as well to sit patiently for clients to come to you, you have to be the go-getter. It's unfortunate.
I block ads because I have yet to see a single RELEVANT ad to anything I'd be interested in. However, Patreon seems like a much better way to get a predictable income for projects and content - from people who want to support it. Some get enough to work full time on what they (and we) love.
We were just talking about alternative methods for funding besides advertising in my communications and media class. My favorite model currently existing is currently crowdfunding, places like Patreon and Kickstarter are super awesome in my opinion.
I used to make money off RU-vid every month or every other month, and it was great because I could focus on RU-vid instead of getting a "real job." But now, well... Thanks RU-vid, I'm making 10 cents a day and have to get a job and sort of put my dream on hold. I'm still working really hard every day to make quality content but this adpocalypse has really hurt my channel. Other than that, have a great day. Just a really small RU-vidr relating to these ad problems:( BTW I'm not making youTube videos just for money, it was just nice making money to put towards my videos to make them better and pay for things like food while I'm in college, bu now I'm getting none of that. I'm still making videos, I just thought I'd relate so if there's any other really small channel out there that's been hurt as well, just keep grinding my friend.
Thank you for the video, I had heard the term adpocalypse and read about advertisers dropping from RU-vid but I hadn't connected them so I'm more informed now.
I was watching cat videos while depressed a few days ago. I was surprised to see cat food commercials with cats playing. It was the first time the ads didn't actually throw a wrench in what I was doing. I opted not to skip those ads.
Patreon has been great for our D&D stuff for sure. I wonder if YT will ever adopt anything like Twitch has with their partners and subscriptions? Seems like another revenue stream that could help both more directly
I have RU-vidRed and WHY do I see a sidebar ad on your video (you know the little side ad in the left corner that slides away - I don't know the name). I pay not to see ads...why am I see them!?
maybe instead of tweaking the ad algorithm, maybe tweak the algorithm that detects videos with graphic violence, hate speech, drugs, et cetera? then everyone wins?
Jason Bubbenmoyer I mean it's a good organization but they need people that aren't just family friendly. They need people like Philip DeFranco and Ethan from h3h3 to be in that guild because that guild only represents half of RU-vid.
I finally got RU-vid Red and I wished I did it forever ago. The abiltiy to listen to music on my phone with the screen locked is everything. Plus, as a creator I know how much more creators make from RU-vid Red views, and it feels good to support the RU-vidrs I love.
This is the earliest I have ever watched a vlogbrothers video. But also, this is a very interesting conversation. Phil Defranco has talked about this as well.
That Daily Mail article named Google Blood Money was pure, pure crap! It was about The Slingshot Channel, which is run by one of the most friendly and funny RU-vidrs ever. Joerg, who runs the channel, already managed the situation. Some "journalism" nowadays is utter crap! 💩 Oh... And regarding ads. I'm still getting the same couple of monthly cents for my shitty content.
I've never used ad-block (because I choose to support creators), but I am more likely to not "skip" the ads, as much, living in Japan; I love to see what crazy ads will pop up on RU-vid.
You know, I watch this channel and followed the vlogbrothers intermittently over the years, and every time I watch one of their videos, I wonder why I spend my time checking out all sorts of other content when the stuff that is funny, relevant, informative, deep, scientific, and quality is right here. Not that others aren't, but it can certainly be a hunt to find all in one.
There are several studies that show that advertising doesn't really work anymore on people under the age of 30, millennials and the generation after us basically. After decades of over saturation, that industry has run itself into the ground. The only reason it is still a multi-billion dollar industry is that the old people that run every other industry still think it works.
The thing that bothers me the most is that people want their advertisement to be on family friendly videos but the ads are mostly about alcohol in my region
I want to learn more about what the Internet creators guild is doing. I've been interested in it because I feel like for them to have true leverage over RU-vid, they will need to do what most unions do... Go on strike or use other traditional methods. I feel like RU-vid doesn't care about their creators very much, nor do they seem to have acknowledge the power the creators have. If the biggest creators took a two week break... Heck if the complexly channels alone stopped uploading for two or three weeks, then RU-vid would loose millions of views. That being said, would it even have an effect on RU-vid? Would it change anything? RU-vid is such a new thing with such little competition... I just don't know if they would respond to creators using traditional methods of gaining leverage as companies and industries historically have. This is all just very complex, but I'm glad the Hank is at least trying to find solutions.
I'm currently in my pulmonology class but I'm commenting on youtube instead. More fun. Good News Channel, I'm in massive debt so that pays the bills... for now. #medicalschoolloans
On the internet it's also much easier to calculate how little impact ads are having. On TV, you get Nielsen ratings, which don't show a whole picture, and then you have to wait to see what effect the ads have over your sales cycle. With the internet, you can see people clicking away from that shiz.
Hank, individual "good" companies are responsible, to fix this is by advertisement departments which provide rational services should, instead of trying to WOW people with old techniques, use basic information which will make customer lives easier & connect them to their product. These advertisements would look like a minute long crash course in a service/problem such as a drug/disease commercial. What we all see to want is fun & educational content which relates to the channel we already find interesting. The job of any leader, mentor, advertiser, is to find the way in which the audience can relate deepest. We love to learn about ourselves & society has defined our motivation much better in the last century. I believe this is advertisement competitiveness in the new age!
Hank mentions radio and how the advertising system we have was founded with that industry in mind, but actually it's kind of funny how most big full time RU-vid channels are basically using the public radio model of funding to support themselves.
I think that one of the reasons that advertisers pay more for the same ad on TV (as well as on the internet the ability to skip ads), is that there is more competition for advertising. On TV there is only an allotted number of hours dedicated to ads, but on the internet and RU-vid, there is a world of content that is continuously being pushed out and can be advertised, making it cheaper because there is more to advertise on.
and there's me making pennies monthly, I was doing so well as well. really getting into it. video every other day but now I have to be three videos everyday just to get up my view count day :-(
I always ignore ads on TV. Either I'm grabbing something out of the kitchen or looking at something on my phone while I wait for the show to come back on. It's a waste of money for the target markets companies are trying to reach. On RU-vid/Hulu/etc. I'm in front of my device--I'm a captive audience and am more likely to pay attention. It's a better way for ads to be actually viewed. Hopefully advertisers will figure this out before they waste another $5 million on NCIS: Santa Fe ads.
All market research, yes all, we've conducted pre during and post our advertiser's campaigns show higher consumer-impact via TV ads vs ads online. This means, folks (all of us) are more likely to "buy into" a brand when we are exposed to TV ads rather than ads online. I live online and these research studies make me sad :( but reality for now is our eyeballs aren't worth as much on RU-vid then they are on TV.
