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The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

joanwestenberg.com

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Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

#21

Post by kalleboo »

Roark66 wrote: post #4

What creators need is a better youtube algorithm. Is it just me, or has youtube recommendations become almost unusable by now? Some years ago when I spent "an hour watching YouTube" I'd watch a huge majority of videos recommended by the algorithm based on my current subs. Today it is 1%. Why? I'll give you an example. I have varied interests, I sub and regularly watch a number if channels in each of my hobbies, but f…

> This was a week ago. My youtube feed is still full of car repair howto videos

FWIW, if you go into your view history, you can remove videos from there, and they will no longer influence your recommendations

Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

#22

Post by xxs »

lewismenelaws wrote: post #2

I’m a full-time content creator. I feel like patreon/newsletters/paid communities are more hassle than anything. When I look at the pros and cons of every single revenue strategy, sponsorships has the highest gain and least cons (for me). Sponsors pay at least 10x what ad revenue pays, I don’t have to ask my community for money and the audience are likely to skip the ad anyway if they didn’t want to watch it. Patreon…

Depending on the type of content, there is always a chance the sponsorship deals affecting integrity.

Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

#23

Post by kalleboo »

lewismenelaws wrote: post #2

I’m a full-time content creator. I feel like patreon/newsletters/paid communities are more hassle than anything. When I look at the pros and cons of every single revenue strategy, sponsorships has the highest gain and least cons (for me). Sponsors pay at least 10x what ad revenue pays, I don’t have to ask my community for money and the audience are likely to skip the ad anyway if they didn’t want to watch it. Patreon…

That interesting since several YouTube creators I follow on Patreon (ok, so it's a self-selecting group) say the opposite. They've done sponsors a few times, but the sponsors are so much work to collaborate with (they take too long to approve videos, they want pointless changes done, etc) that they gave up on it and rely on Patreon instead where they can just create the videos they want to on their own schedule without interference.

Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

#24

Post by pompino »

bell-cot wrote: post #15

Sorry, but the "creator economy" is a mostly-malicious delusion. Sure, it can sound great. And for a very lucky few it probably is great. But the 99% reality is that it's just hype from techo-utopians, wanna-be's, get-rich-quick salesmen, and a bunch of mega-corporate platforms - whose profits are built on the backs of virtual-slave "creator" labor. (Yes, maybe this is a bit too cynical. Maybe. A bit.)

That is true, but I'd say that its no different when you're starting any new venture by yourself with the goal of being sustainable. The entertainment business is rough, but it's even harder to sell tangible goods/services and deal with customers, investors, accounting, inventory, shipping, and everybody expecting the perfect shit from you "bEcAuSe tHiS oThEr mEgAcORp dOeS iT". It comes full circle because ultimately you need eyeballs to sell your shit, and its awfully nice when you have creators with an audience, who they can convince to stand in line with an open wallet for the shiny widget that you made.

Let me one up you on the cynicism :P

Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

#25

Post by blitzar »

bruceb wrote: post #6

The TL;DR of this is basically there are too many people creating content. Best thing that creators could do is tell other creators to quit. The author doesn't say this part but really that is what it comes down to. Instead she offers a generic advice about diversifying the medium of delivery.

The irony is that the "creator economy" was meant to democratise content and make everyone able to make a living from being a "creator".

In reality the maximum number that can be sustained in this manner is less than the number of salaried listicle writers at media outlets.

Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

#26

Post by kalleboo »

This doesn't sound as dire to me as the author makes it out to be.

I think it sounds totally reasonable that you need 20,000 or even 100,000 engaged followers to be able to make it full time off creating content. I don't see how, even with advertising or sponsors, a smaller number of followers could ever pay a livable salary (out of 20,000 people, how many of those mattresses are you really going to sell?).

It used to be that a TV show needed viewership numbers of millions of viewers to be profitable, this is still a massive democratization of content.

Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

#27

Post by pompino »

bruceb wrote: post #6

The TL;DR of this is basically there are too many people creating content. Best thing that creators could do is tell other creators to quit. The author doesn't say this part but really that is what it comes down to. Instead she offers a generic advice about diversifying the medium of delivery.

I wonder if monetization with a low subscriber base isn't as hard as we imagine. Afterall, you just need to net like 80K in a non HCOL city to live very comfortably. (assuming no employees, or office rent, or expensive production)

Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

#28

Post by hasoleju »

arthurcoudouy wrote: post #11

My primary guess would be that it's easier to earn your first dollars with fans vs. with B2B sponsorships (or even with retribution from platforms like YouTube). Also, I don't really understand the term illusion in the image if someone could help. 5% conversion from content consumer to "paid fan" does not seem that low

I also struggle with understanding the image. It starts out as a flow chart depicting the conversion funnel. In the end it somehow is a state diagramm of the feeling of the creator. I get the points that are spelled out in the text, but the image is a mistery for me.

Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

#29

Post by bell-cot »

pompino wrote: post #24
bell-cot wrote: post #15

Sorry, but the "creator economy" is a mostly-malicious delusion. Sure, it can sound great. And for a very lucky few it probably is great. But the 99% reality is that it's just hype from techo-utopians, wanna-be's, get-rich-quick salesmen, and a bunch of mega-corporate platforms - whose profits are built on the backs of virtual-slave "creator" labor. (Yes, maybe this is a bit too cynical. Maybe. A bit.)

That is true, but I'd say that its no different when you're starting any new venture by yourself with the goal of being sustainable. The entertainment business is rough, but it's even harder to sell tangible goods/services and deal with customers, investors, accounting, inventory, shipping, and everybody expecting the perfect shit from you "bEcAuSe tHiS oThEr mEgAcORp dOeS iT". It comes full circle because ultimately…

> ...no different when you're starting any new venture by yourself with the goal of...

Perhaps...but in a healthy economy, >99.9% of jobs are not "start a new venture by yourself, trying to sell to the whole world".

Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon

#30

Post by pompino »

bell-cot wrote: post #29
pompino wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is true, but I'd say that its no different when you're starting any new venture by yourself with the goal of being sustainable. The entertainment business is rough, but it's even harder to sell tangible goods/services and deal with customers, investors, accounting, inventory, shipping, and everybody expecting the perfect shit from you "bEcAuSe tHiS oThEr mEgAcORp dOeS iT". It comes full circle because ultimately…

> ...no different when you're starting any new venture by yourself with the goal of... Perhaps...but in a healthy economy, >99.9% of jobs are not "start a new venture by yourself, trying to sell to the whole world".

I don't know what your definition of healthy economy is. 90% of startups fail, but people still do it. Is that healthy?

Aside - The numbers are a lot more sane than I thought. I think its close to 50% the number of young people who want to become creators or think that being a creator is a viable choice for a career.

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