Maybe we don't need that many "content creators" then.
The creator economy can't rely on Patreon
51–60 of 168 posts
Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon
#52The 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.
Just adding to others: not everyone, anyone. The promise was that you don't need to go through nepotistic middlemen and can just directly engage with an audience solely on the merit of your work.
Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon
#53“1000 true fans” are 1000 people who would pay you $1000 in a lump sum and feel happy about it.
Not selling 1000 cups of coffee like this article is acting it is, cup of coffee price isn’t a “true fan”.
And yeah for that you need 1000 people who your content is truly scratching an itch they can’t get anywhere else.
Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon
#54What 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…
What I've done is turn off watch history. That makes the front page blank, but it means that the recommendations next to videos are only related to that video, which in my experience makes for much higher quality recommendations than ones based on watch history.
Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon
#55This 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 t…
Indeed. People need to look at the numerator and the denominator. How many millions of content creators are there out there? How much disposable income do fans really have? The advantage of Patreon-like systems is they let the creators "whale hunt", by taking much larger amounts of money from a small number of more engaged fans. > Eventually, her viewers were asking for more recipes, more elaborate productions, and f…
The couple who make the best pizza in my city opened a (pizza) restaurant but they eventually decided that running a restaurant wasn't part of what they enjoyed, so they're back in a van outside of a pub. The pizza never really changed, a wood fired pizza oven fits inside a vehicle or a restaurant kitchen the same, and beyond that it's about the skill and judgement of the person making the pizza.
If you want to do what you love, and it makes enough money to live on, turning that into something you don't love but which makes more money is a grave mistake. We are mortal, this is all temporary.
Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon
#56Tom Nicholas has a really good breakdown of Patreon's longevity
https://nebula.tv/videos/tomnicholas-the-rise-and-fall-of-pa...
Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon
#57The 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.
Supply and demand means it's probably not everyone. What it has meant is you have a much, much more diverse set of content than before. Realistically, attention-based economies are always going to have a few standout winners. What platforms like patreon give you is a much healthier middle section, where smaller creators that still have some audience can make a bit more than they normally would (which ranges from 'a decent living' to 'beer money'), and that does mean they make more stuff. You still have the long tail of people who mostly don't get enough attention to bother monetising it.
Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon
#58I’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…
I took a look at your YouTube channel and it was exactly what I expected it to be.
What did you expect it to be?
Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon
#59There are always different strategies for advertising what it is that you do. There's a streamer named Caseoh on twitch whose profile you can find here: https://twitchtracker.com/caseoh_ He doesn't do grueling hours, he isn't a top tier gamer who is constantly giving out tips, he's just a guy who discovered a goldmine when he decided to take the jokes his viewers were writing about him and posted his reactions from his streams to TikTok. Tiktok is particularly great about this sort of thing because once you've watched an entire clip, you're more likely to see more clips from or about the same subject.
In March of 2023, he averaged about 1200 viewers. Today, he's got over 2.9M followers and averages 60K viewers and over 50K subscribers. He's not vulgar, he's not rude, he just gets online and does about an hour of reaction videos from his Discord and a few hours of playing random games nobody's ever heard of.
This is a guy who lives in a trailer and hasn't changed his streaming setup in forever. He gets online, streams for 4-5 hours, and then gets off to go live his life. He's making between $60 and $100K a month. He'll be a millionaire by the end of this year after spending the last few years working for a company alongside his dad. He found a niche and owned it.
Re: The creator economy can't rely on Patreon
#60This 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 t…
Indeed. People need to look at the numerator and the denominator. How many millions of content creators are there out there? How much disposable income do fans really have? The advantage of Patreon-like systems is they let the creators "whale hunt", by taking much larger amounts of money from a small number of more engaged fans. > Eventually, her viewers were asking for more recipes, more elaborate productions, and f…
> Nobody "made" her do this
It's not a career, it's more like being in a band. Everyone who is visible doing it, looks like a success. We don't see the 1000 failures.
My advice with all creative pursuits is: don't. Put it to one side and create the next one. If it keeps nagging at you despite your attempts to leave it behind, then you can give it some attention. Only go all-in when you're left with no other choice.
I saw Tim Schafer at Double-Fine express similar thoughts about their Amnesia Fortnight game jams. Even if an idea seems great; don't force yourself to pursue it, take a step back and see if it pursues you.