Exactly. I don't subscribe to any streaming services or watch “TV”, but I do enjoy getting hooked on random topics and binging YT videos. I just hope YT gives channels I watch some cut of the loot.
@jerzone @lfisk As a YouTube creator who has two "monetized" channels, I can tell you that it takes an awful lot of views to generate a decent amount of revenue. If there's a channel that you like, consider using a donate feature they might include in their video descriptions to send them a few dollars. You could also use super thanks features inside YouTube, but then YouTube gets a cut of the money, too. Ditto for memberships.
I haven't tried those out yet. Been a patreon for a handful of channels over the years, but that fluctuates.
@jerzone @lfisk I had memberships on my helicopter channel for a while but all that really did for me was turn video creation into a JOB. All of a sudden, I had to produce because they were people paying me to produce. It took all the fun out of it.
For a while, the channel was making really good money and I still get new subscribers on it. But despite the effort I put into it, revenue dropped off dramatically. I basically quit it.
@mlanger esrly 2000’s I was making decent money off a couple blogs: a few ads and some affiliate links. But it kept getting worse, less money and weird ads, and me losing interest in trying to figure it out when I had a real job.
@jerzone The weird ads really turned me off. I stopped putting ads on my blog about 15 years ago.
It's not easy at all: the planning, writing, filming, editing, to then trying to second guess the YT algorithm-of-the-week to get viewers. We made a video recording/editing app for tweens and YT was always sabotaging things that were working, including the APIs we used in the app. Just the strangest company, but then again with so many millions of people trying to game it they have a huge task at hand.
@jerzone @lfisk What's really pissing me off these days is the thumbnails and video titles that are getting more and more like Clickbait all the time. It's frustrating. I hardly ever watch channels I don't know anymore. And if I do watch a new to me channel and I think it's poorly done or clickbait or the narrator is a talking head with a big fat microphone in his face, I tell YouTube not to recommend the channel anymore.