111–120 of 145 posts
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No I was more surprised that people from 97 are in fact walking and talking adult humans. Time flies. I've got to stop sleeping in Foreverware..
The Internet turns everyone over 20 into Rip Van Winkle.
Ill never grow up
sniff
Im a Toys-R-.... OH NO
I work for a company that's very much like Patreon for podcasters (Supercast). The people who will pay $1K a year to support a creator absolutely exist, but they are a small subset of the people who will pay $100 / year, which is itself a very small subset of the people who will listen to your podcast. Some rough numbers: - A podcast with an engaged fan base can usually get about 5% of their listeners to support them…
This is one reason why medians are used with income/wealth. Some people skew the average.
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That's encouraging if you think of it as a funnel optimization problem. What can I do for the $100 per year set? T shirts or other swag? Signed merch? What can I do for the $10 per year set? Stickers?
I'm not sure about creators, but I get swag and invites from charities and it annoys me. I'm donating to give them resources, if I want a T Shirt I'll buy one myself thanks, I dont need them spending money on me.
A creator would effectively be selling swag at a markup by giving a reward at a certain backing tier. It's like your local NPR'S funding drive - you give them $100, they give you a tote bag or whatever with their logo on it.
Everyone wins - you buy cool branded merch, the creator gets to sell at a large markup as "fundraising".
That's not the same as being sent a free t shirt with the hopes of them wearing it.
What the article is describing isn't "fans" as much as plain old "customers". Almost all the examples given in the article are people doing courses. If you sell a course for $1000, then the person buying it isn't a "fan" who just gives you money, the buyer is just a customer who buys a service. The only thing new about this is that it's happening online; offering courses for $1000 is not exactly a new thing, it's a b…
>What the article is describing isn't "fans" as much as plain old "customers". This doesn't apply to webnovels. There are people there making over $1000 a month (some over $15 000) publishing completely free webnovels.
I don't consider authors of web novels or serials with Patreons like Wild bow or ErraticErrata to be representative of the broader population of authors on places such as Royal Road. I'd assume the total income distribution of web novel authors to be fairly top heavy.
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I've consulted with several hundred live streamers, and none of what you're saying is reflective of their experiences. It is outrageously false and disparaging to claim that the vast majority (or even a significant portion) of large contributors are somehow dysfunctional and that content creators are exploiting them. Some people build cars for fun and spend their disposable income on that experience. Other people enj…
> "The companies" aren't marketing high-cost options in any way. Twitch's highest subscription tier is $25/mo. Patreon suggests a higher tier of $30. Those are not "ruin mom's credit" or "dump your life savings" prices, so it's disingenuous (at best) to suggest that something nefarious and exploitative is happening in regards to platforms' marketing efforts. You're ignoring superchats and tips which is where most of…
Tips represent less than 40% of revenue for nearly every type of content creator, so let's not exaggerate things. Super Chats are also limited to $500, so you're exaggerating the amounts you've seen.
More importantly, you're conflating the original comment's generalization about how "the vast majority" of all highly-supportive fans have "unhealthy obsessions and are trying to have a girlfriend experience." Whereas what you're discussing is a corporate content farm[1] of exactly 61 brands, most of which are specifically designed to create a "girlfriend experience" in order to intentionally develop obsessions. That is an extremely specific situation which is not representative for >99% of content creators.
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> "The companies" aren't marketing high-cost options in any way. Twitch's highest subscription tier is $25/mo. Patreon suggests a higher tier of $30. Those are not "ruin mom's credit" or "dump your life savings" prices, so it's disingenuous (at best) to suggest that something nefarious and exploitative is happening in regards to platforms' marketing efforts. You're ignoring superchats and tips which is where most of…
> You're ignoring superchats and tips which is where most of the money comes from. Tips represent less than 40% of revenue for nearly every type of content creator, so let's not exaggerate things. Super Chats are also limited to $500, so you're exaggerating the amounts you've seen. More importantly, you're conflating the original comment's generalization about how "the vast majority" of all highly-supportive fans hav…
Unhealthy parasocial relationships are an extremely lucrative revenue stream for content creators, just like whales with gacha games. Platforms do nothing to discourage this and in fact even encourage it.
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On Twitch people commonly give $100 for absolute nothing, just to be thanked by the creator live, which they would do for significantly less money as well, often just $5. I suspect the top tiers at Patreon must work the same, there's some benefit there but people are doing it because they are a megafan and want to show it. I'd be intested in how many of them are living in a false belief / parasocial relationship thou…
$100 for 1 piece of content, yes, but $100 regularly per month?
I wanna read an article about the $100/month patreon tiers and the people who pay for them.
Obviously this is HN and not r/Livestreamfail, but the vast majority of Super Fans are not buying courses or supporting the development of content. The real Super Fans have an unhealthy obsession with an online personality and think they are going to buy a friendship, or a girlfriend, or some other reciprocity. I worked in this industry for a bit. A lot of times big donors will dump their life savings or steal a fami…
I've consulted with several hundred live streamers, and none of what you're saying is reflective of their experiences. It is outrageously false and disparaging to claim that the vast majority (or even a significant portion) of large contributors are somehow dysfunctional and that content creators are exploiting them. Some people build cars for fun and spend their disposable income on that experience. Other people enj…
Twitch has a "Gift 100 subs $499" button right in the gift UI. If you haven't noticed that with the several hundred live streamers you've consulted with then it seems by definition the streamers you interact with do not have the Super Fans being discussed yet such fans are common enough for Twitch to make UI for it.
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Two things: 1 - Them sending you a teeshirt is a form of advertising. They're hoping you will wear it and be an advocate for them in your social circle. This is a reasonable thing to spend money on. 2 - Engagement. They're trying to keep you engaged in what they're doing, this is valuable too. Of course, you don't want them spending all their resources on this, but a certain percentage is absolutely a good idea. This…
I disagree that Tshirts are a reasonable marketing expense. For one thing, they're relatively expensive to produce and ship on a per unit basis, and you will need to order in multiple sizes. Second, most 'brand' t-shirts are low effort logo templates made from BigCartel.com that look fugly. They're clearly an afterthought. And because of that, those tshirts will end up in a landfill somewhere, just like the majority…
I'm not getting any kind of volume rate on these for a 2 dozen shirt order of mixed sizes (for friends and family as well). I can't imagine anybody ordering in real quantity is paying more than $10 a shirt, even for good ones.
If you go through somebody whose business is making and shipping t-shirts, you get the benefit of their lower shipping rates and their bulk purchasing power for the shirts). If you're handing them out at a trade show, your unit cost to ship a couple hundred shirts is negligible.
For me, my T-shirts for my business are effectively free: they replace other t-shirts I'd have to buy (or would, once I got through all the company and trade show swag from when I worked software). Plus they promote my business. And when they're too beat up to wear, they become shop rags before they hit the trash.
I think you make some valid points (sizes are a nuisance), but I don't think T-shirts are the clear stinker for the folks giving them away that you think they are.
Also if any of you FAANG types have a thousand bucks a month you're not using, I will gladly take it and convert it to goofy furry porn, and give you absolutely no training or special treatment. https://www.patreon.com/egypturnash