Rent is Too Damn High for Youtube Stars

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
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"Do your children dream of YouTube stardom? Do them a favor: Crush that ambition now." Not sure what more needs to be said about that. For what it is worth, HardOCP TV makes about 1.5 cents per subscriber a month.


“If you’re a series regular on a network TV show, you’re getting a good amount of money,” said Alice Marwick, an assistant professor of communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Yet you can have half a million followers on YouTube and still be working at Starbucks.”
 
And they made it worse for new people to have fun and make $ lately by requiring x amount of subscribers. No more cute child stars on tosh.o unless their parents are nuts . If anyone has a toddler like me ... f those toy shows.
 
They were foolish in general if they only looked at YT for revenue streams. Most "smart" online personalities diversified a few years ago already into multiple avenues when they saw the writing on the walls. Things like Patreon and Twitch filled quite a few gaps for these personalities..especially those that foster communities (discord, etc). Even smarter was adding in some basic merchandise . Getting people vested into your online presence is not to be laughed at.

https://www.patreon.com/vintagebeef
 
1.5¢ per subscriber? That's an extra $2500 a month with 100,000 subscribers. I wouldn't turn my nose up to that, IF it was something I was doing anyway and just decided to make videos of it. Then again, $30,000 a year isn't a bad living where I live. lol
 
Also, if you're relying on Patreon, diversify there as well.

If you happen to be "on the wrong side", Patreon has exactly zero problems shutting you down for no reason.

Look into things like MakerSupport ,Minds.com, BitChute (which also guards against YouTube deciding to delete/block/etc your videos/channels).
 
prime2515102 said:
1.5¢ per subscriber? That's an extra $2500 a month with 100,000 subscribers. I wouldn't turn my nose up to that, IF it was something I was doing anyway and just decided to make videos of it. Then again, $30,000 a year isn't a bad living where I live. lol
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Well, I guess if you can pull that with no other expense besides a one man team, rock on.
 
2500 a month pretax ain't much if you are taking the risk of doing it full time where that amount can be changed any day by some guy at google. When facebook changed their algorithms to basically only show pages who pay them, my page views dropped 20x because I can't afford to pay facebook. So there is a ton of risk that what you make today will be gone tomorrow. It's certainly not a lot if you live somewhere city like and/or have dependents. Most people who are doing a lot of youtube stuff aren't doing it as a sidejob and often need to sink money in to many other costs, websites, camera gear, hardware, materials used in the episodes etc.
 
I know everyone is holding their breath to hear my opinion; :D
There are very few YouTubers I bother to follow.
For a good Laugh, from just a funny guy and good hands on try This Old Tony. Hobbyist machinist who happens to be a pretty funny guy.
For great car how-to can't beat South Main Auto with Eric O.

The rest of it is pure CRAP! Now you kids get out of my yard!!
 
stren said:
2500 a month pretax ain't much if you are taking the risk of doing it full time where that amount can be changed any day by some guy at google. When facebook changed their algorithms to basically only show pages who pay them, my page views dropped 20x because I can't afford to pay facebook. So there is a ton of risk that what you make today will be gone tomorrow. It's certainly not a lot if you live somewhere city like and/or have dependents. Most people who are doing a lot of youtube stuff aren't doing it as a sidejob and often need to sink money in to many other costs, websites, camera gear, hardware, materials used in the episodes etc.
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Our hard cost to do VR Arena was a bit over $25K. We took every cent we made last year and put it back into the company. Unless you just hit a niche that goes full tilt viral, making a living with Youtube would be a very tough go nowadays.
 
youtubers who were peddling their "merch" early on look so smart right now.
 
While I certainly believe that it is very difficult to make money on YouTube, I also suspect companies like Bloomberg don't want to paint alternative media in a positive light. Reality is probably somewhere in the middle.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
I know everyone is holding their breath to hear my opinion; :D
There are very few YouTubers I bother to follow.
For a good Laugh, from just a funny guy and good hands on try This Old Tony. Hobbyist machinist who happens to be a pretty funny guy.
For great car how-to can't beat South Main Auto with Eric O.

The rest of it is pure CRAP! Now you kids get out of my yard!!
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Eh, I like AVE better than this old tony, funny and learn a bunch more. Also I watch a ton of cooking channels like Almazan kitchen and Food wishes, one for eye candy and one because I learn new techniques by watching. There is also the home steading community which is absolutely massive that is chock full of interesting information for those of us who are working towards getting off grid. There is also Peter brown (lathe resin projects), Binging with babish, Johnny Q 90 (micro mill/lathe work), Cody's Lab (no idea how anyone hates his channel), Ants Canada (I have no idea why I'm utterly fascinated with this channel) and a slew of other incredible content channels.

Not all of youtube is gaming channels and pewdiepie.
 
Armenius said:
Just move to Twitch and become a boobie streamer.
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I know Kyle is a popular guy, but I question just how much revenue he could generate doing this. But then it is Twitch and I have never figured out why it's so popular (well until I learned about the scantily clad girl gamers thing).
 
prime2515102 said:
1.5¢ per subscriber? That's an extra $2500 a month with 100,000 subscribers. I wouldn't turn my nose up to that, IF it was something I was doing anyway and just decided to make videos of it. Then again, $30,000 a year isn't a bad living where I live. lol
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Apartments around here are $2,000+, so $30k a year might cover the apartment, but there would be nothing left for a car, food, taxes, internet, gaming computer, etc.
 
Seems like being a Youtube "star"/streamer is akin to driving Uber thinking you're making money hand over fist... lots of misguided people.

Although wouldn't surprise me if a great deal of these people care more about the attention than the money.
 
Read something the other day asking you to feel sorry for a 180k a year software engineer in SF due to high rent. Sorry, I don't.
 
Master_shake_ said:
youtube is like fucking PBS these days with everyone asking for likes subs and patreon cash.

fuck off.
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I think for me, I have to really like the content a YouTuber (I subscribe to very few, not a lot of time to watch) to support them. There are a few car guys that I know have made YouTube their full time careers, and it's nice to be able to support the steady content creation. I definitely don't feel that way about everyone.

nutzo said:
Apartments around here are $2,000+, so $30k a year might cover the apartment, but there would be nothing left for a car, food, taxes, internet, gaming computer, etc.
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Agreed, a nice rented space here with two bedrooms is $1,700'ish minimum, factor in utilities, food for a month, car/gas/insurance, and you're fucked. Then again, an EXTRA $2,500 a month is nice, if you're already making $2,000-3,000, is very nice. Surviving on just YouTube alone these day is tough for sure, unless as someone else mentioned, you've already diversified.
 
nutzo said:
Apartments around here are $2,000+, so $30k a year might cover the apartment, but there would be nothing left for a car, food, taxes, internet, gaming computer, etc.
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You must live in NYC or Cali? $6-700/mo for a decent area around here.
 
Depending entirely on youtube payouts only works if you exploit recommendations, trends, and clickbait, which usually means awful content. I find it more interesting when youtubers disable all monetization options for their video and depend entirely on Librepay or Patreon (or one of the many alternatives). They get zero-advertisement hosting through youtube, and still make money. Of course, that's because they are making damn good content.
 
Maybe I’m just old fashioned but, perhaps being a YouTuber shouldn't be your career.
Time was, that shit was a hobby. Then a few people got huge and got rich. Everyone else wants to chase the dream, make videos easy money!

Well, the market can only support so much, same as television viewer numbers. Hell the parallels don’t end their. It’s just like people moving to Hollywood to become an actor and make it to the big time. It’s like playing the lottery.

So whoopty shit to those struggling. Either keep struggling until you do make it, or change your career.

Personally what I watch on YouTube, 99% of it is as a hobby or supplemental income to their actual career. That other 1% Jim Sterling (who used to actually write articles as a journalist. I miss those...) and TeamFourStar, who started as a hobby doing DBZAbridged and made it huge. Pretty sure they mostly became voice actors though so YouTube again, supplementing.
 
Twinsen said:
You must live in NYC or Cali? $6-700/mo for a decent area around here.
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In Lafayette, LA and surrounding areas, $500 for a falling apart(ment), $700+ for a half-decent apartment, or $400-700/mo to mortgage a house that's probably falling apart, recently flooded, or else brand new but tiny and on an equally small plot of land. The trailers are reasonably priced, though.

You'd be in poverty on youtube salary.
 
TV shows also have >20 minutes of commercials, youtube has what, one 15-second commercial at the beginning of the clip?
 
Take a look at many of the gaming videos, they ranks tens of thousands views in a matter of minutes and just by playing freakin MINECRAFT!!!

I know because my son was watching one a couple of hours ago and and the guy asked for 10,000 likes for blasting an atomic bomb in minecraft, he got them in a less than a minute.

Kids nowadays don't even play games anymore, they just watch gamers on twitch/youtube.
 
Twinsen said:
You must live in NYC or Cali? $6-700/mo for a decent area around here.
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And around here is where? Where I am apartments start at 1k, now if you go over to Shotyoumore...err Baltimore you can get something for 400-600 if you dont mind living next door to drug dealers and getting shot. but hey at least you wouldnt actually be paying your rent which is what a good percentage of people in baltimore do these days (one of the highest eviction rates in the country).
 
How much time is put into doing youtube videos? I mean I know there are gamers who stream constantly, but they tend to make more money on average, but you're making series of videos about how you apply makeup or something? How many hours of the day does that really take? You could have a day job, and do that shit for some extra spending money.

Although I see the way things go, I used to love the Demolition Ranch guy, but over the past few months it's become so fucking annoying with the "look at all this merchandise we sell", so I stopped watching. And the dude is a vet too, so I think he's doing ok with money, although judging from what I used to see he spends most of his day making & editing videos.
 
I've always wondered how much some of those YouTubers were really making. Looks like the only big winner.... is YouTube.
 
Twinsen said:
You must live in NYC or Cali? $6-700/mo for a decent area around here.
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Wash DC area is about the same. In Virginia Tyson's Corner you'll be paying 2K for a one bedroom. Clearly can't live on Tube income but on top of a decent job, that's not bad for some extra loot.
 
I can see why YouTube seems attractive.

25fmsu.jpg
 
Perhaps it's time to ban Youtube, it's clearly a danger to our youth. Now excuse me while I go out and buy some AR-15's that are on sale. j/k
 
Interesting. 1 million subscribers = $15,000 p/m, so someone like Linus would be getting $80,000 p/m... ish. I suppose if you can crack at least 2 million followers it's worth it.
 
Not really surprising, YouTube was never ment to be a lively hood. Some got lucky but a lot don’t.
 
Twinsen said:
You must live in NYC or Cali? $6-700/mo for a decent area around here.
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Southern California.

The house next door to me is around 2,100 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 2 car garage, a pool and a nice view.
Currently rents for $3,400/month. :eek: Current value if it was for sale would be around $800,000. :confused: And yes, this is for a basic track home on a 6,000 sq ft lot :wacky:

Only reason I can afford to live in a neighborhood like this, is that I bought my house over 20 years ago, when the prices where a lot cheaper.
Plus, I bought one of the cheapest homes in the neighborhood at that time since it needed a lot of work.
Did most the work myself, since I didn't have the budget to pay someone.
 
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