Provided you can be approved by the YT Partner Program of course.
How do you feel about YouTube being an actual career option in today's world?
Part of me is all for it, part of me detests it. “Influencers” have far too much power over the ignorant.
at least with youtube anyone can be successful at influencing the ignorant. you used to have to be a real 'celebrity' or politician to get away with peddling nonsense.
Same. I've been bombarded with manosphere and right wing bs no matter how hard I try to avoid it, or lock it, or hit "do not recommend."
I'll refrain from going into conspiracy theory mode, but it's deeply concerning how young men seem to be especially targeted with really toxic ideas and ways of thinking.
The career itself isn't an issue for me. I'm all about creativity and the arts if someone is able to make it work. But, somehow, on a macro level, it's turned into something alarmingly insidious.
Enjoy it while it lasts. That sweet monthly income is tied to you doing exactly what YT wants, just like if you had a "real" job. It is not easy work and it can consume nearly all of your time to keep up with the metrics. And if they decide at any time for any reason that they need to demonetize your channel, you'll have to find another line of work.
God bless those who put out tutorial videos on home repair basics. They have saved me so much money over the years and taught me some great maintenance tips.
It’s like being a rockstar or a model when I was younger. Only a tiny percentage of creators are going to be able to make a living off of it
I had about 200 videos posted, mainly about old-school machining tips.
Great feedback, but it took more time to produce good videos as often it was eight hours for a ten-minute video. With time, I learned to storyboard (same as presenting at the conference; have your major bullet points outlined first)—two cameras (one focused on you, one on the work, editing).
I also am well-versed in Oxy-Acetlyene aluminum welding. Often, oils contaminate aluminum castings and are drawn out for TIG welding, ruining the weld. For O/A, they are pulled out, but flux keeps it to the service, allowing an excellent weld. I always thought that would be a good retirement pocket income source.
Alas, Parkinson's has other plans for me. So, my focus is on exercise, eating sensibly, and (trying to) get a good night's sleep.
About 10 years ago, a woman a few towns over from me started a little blog about Appalachian sayings, recipes, ways, etc. (The Blind Pig And The Acorn) and expanded to YouTube (Celebrating Appalachia). Her husband recently was able to retire, she's published a cookbook, and her channel is now both their full time jobs. I think it's fantastic.
indifferent.
It was ever thus. For almost as long as there have been humans, there have been those who managed to earn their keep by entertaining the others. A new technology doesn't change the core essentials.
I think there's a lot of toxic stuff out there on YT, but there's some really good content too, that I'm happy to see people earning money by providing. I'm partial to history, and I love it that there's a guy out there who can make colonial era porridge and build log cabins and make money at it.
You watch Townsends too? :)
It’s like any other job in entertainment: a few will do great, an awful lot will try and fail.
There's a popular channel run by a guy in my country filled with toe ingrown removal videos. About 445k subs if I remember correctly. A peculiar industry indeed.
I recognize the entertainment value. If an influencer can make money by bringing people joy, go for it. Some gamers who are enthusiastic but broke can only experience new and popular games by watching videos. In these contexts, go all out and have fun. But if you’re going full Jake Paul trying to monetize finding a suicide victim in a forest, you deserve all the criticism you get. Same goes for stupid Tik Tok pranks and similar trends.
It's all fine and exciting until YouTube pulls the plug on you and won't even explain why they demonetized your account. I've followed a guy for 7 years who had many videos with 7 to 10 million views(worth about 3000 dollars per 1 million views) who was screwed over by YouTube. He has only put up 3 videos in the last 8 months for less than 100,000 views each as he seems to have given up and his sponsors have all abandoned ship.
Yup. This is definitely a risk for any type of creator platform. Twitch has done the same thing, as has TikTok, and don't even get me started on the TikTok ban that is ripping away people's livelihoods by the government. It's so risky. I have no thing against the idea of this as a career, but I think far too many young people don't understand the risk that goes along with it. If a friend or family member asked me, I'd caution against it, or recommend doing it as a side hustle.
If a person is good enough to create money-making videos, great. But if that’s their only source of income, they need to save a whole lot of money for retirement. If they’re in the U.S., they won’t be paying into Social Security, and they won’t be getting any benefits like medical or matching 401k contributions. If they get sued for libel or copyright infringement, they’ll be paying their own legal fees.
So yes, it’s possible, and it might be a good way to go for a small number of people. But think of it this way: thousands of kids play baseball in the summer. Only a handful eventually earn their living from it.
I think almost every person that puts all their eggs in this basket is going to be sad.
I wonder what they’ll do when they’re 50? I hope they save their money.
Middle tier ones will pivot to other social media, commentary, livestreaming or other entertainment outlets. Some are singers, artists and the like so they would go to that.
Some of the bigger ones of the 2010s already retired as millionares
It would be a pretty iffy thing to go for. Maybe go for a good trade and then try to supplement that with YT on the side, a farmer that shows life on the farm while actually making a living milking cows for example.
But for pete sake learn how to run a camera and have interesting dialogue that doesn't require loud music to cover it up.
I wish more people would watch my videos and subscribe.
I think it's a scourge on society and ads no value to the world.
I am not that old but I still can't wrap my head around the concept. To me YouTube is like "American's Funniest Home Videos" - some amateurs recording themselves. Why should there be any money in it?
Yet someone was making money off other people's videos on the very show you reference. it's always been a thing, it's just who gets the money now has changed.
It’s not but amateurs
Its basically like printing your own book or newspaper or tv station.
I just saw a documentary about geopolitics in Asia, other people use it for finding recipes or cartoons or math lessons.
There are plenty of polished channels putting out good and interesting content. I watch Undecided, Matt Risinger, Tech Connections, and Techlinked, among others.
Of course, the money comes from ads YT runs against the popular shows, and the producers get a cut. Many channels get enough income to support several employees full time.
It's a legit business, but I think YT keeps squeezing them harder and paying them less.
It's a legit business, but I think YT keeps squeezing them harder and paying them less.
I have noticed that some channels nowadays with almost 2M subscribers get as low as just 10k views on some of their content. Plus it's becoming less common to reach even 3M views on a video. I sometimes contemplate on how high the algorithm is gonna set the bar for videos in the future as the platform gets more and more saturated.
I don't mind. I watch a lot of YouTube and subscribe to a few channels. I do have Premium now because the ad version was just awful, so many ads. I wish they didn't have sponsored content and I kind of hate that they all have to say "like and subscribe" all the time. Maybe I hate that YouTube doesn't pay content creators enough that they need to do sponsored content to supplement their income. I also don't enjoy that many have Patreon accounts and encourage you to donate money, again, may be due to YouTube. I don't mind paying for YouTube but that's all the money they are getting from me.
I worked with a guy from Rwanda and he mentioned a word in one of the languages he spoke that referred to someone who was good at talking and telling stories, commonly someone who would do this in a bar to get food and drinks. I kind of recall it being Kifumbi or Kivumbi or something like that. Its the zame all ovee thw human world, just different ways to accomplish it.
It's the same with online media. Entertain or instruct and you get paid for it. The social media companies need content. Pay people to produce content. It's a simple transaction, but you have so little control over popularity or the pay rate.
It's great if you're lucky, but it's mostly luck.
For me, there is too much need to trust in an unregulated business relationship where you have no input into any decision. I'm not that niave.
I think it will work out they way things work out for those who have an inordinate amount of attention for doing very little of real value. A bit like faded beauty.
I think these folks will struggle when they realize it's not sustainable for most people.
Walking into a store or restaurant and expecting everything to be free because they're on YouTube is obnoxious. That said I've seen some maker channels I really like. I think the " influencers" have too much influence over young and gullible people.
the ones who can live off it are 0.001%. and even when they make it work they usually burn out. I think these people should have a backup plan.
Youtube has become a ego-maniac convention. The ads on Youtube are like flies in your face on a hot day...It has no real world value aside from it's educational material.
Which is great if you're trying to fix something...
It isn't the people doing it, it's the people watching and following them that are the issue.
Why TF not?
I don't do/watch/participate in either Utube or Tik Tok, but if people can make money doing it, more power to them...as long as it doesn't (negatively) effect me.
Channels in niche areas can do well, and are highly unlikely to run into trouble. I watch reselling, storage unit cleanouts, and retirement finance channels.
I'm all for it. As for the low-grade content, who cares? No dif than TV was in that context.
Google reportedly pays rather well, and it certainly looks good on a resume. So if you can get hired working on the YouTube codebase or systems that might be a decent job to have for awhile when you're young and starting a career.
But they also reportedly are very competitive, push pretty hard, and routinely axe people and cancel entire projects all the time. And although they show off a bunch of perks (breakfast bars, laundry service, pingpong tables, etc.) but those are not for your benefit but to get you to spend more time at the office. And you might get stuck working on something mind-numbing like ads.
Those are probably not qualities you might want later in life. Stability and the ability to go home to your family, friends, and hobbies are things you'll likely appreciate more later in your career. And you might want something more fulfilling than trying to get a few percent more revenue out of ads.
So maybe if you can get in while you're young, and save/invest some of the salary, that might be decent. But you might not want to (or be able to) stay there long.
If folks can make a living creating content while leaving the middleman out of it, or least more out of it than in the past, I'm all for it. I would give up TV from January to August before I would give up Youtube.
For those who can make a living doing it, more power to them.
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