How do I follow up that last video, a video which is blowing up my analytics? When I get a success like that it’s kinda paralyzing. I mean I hope every video does well, but this one raises the bar! Now I have to make sure that all of my videos are critical analysis with provocative titles that potentially damage my relationships with companies adjacent to my content. So what’s next? 10 reasons why you don’t want a 3D printer for Christmas?
…actually, that might be awesome. As long as every reason is actually a thinly veiled reason to actually buy one.
Well, what I decided to do anyways was go back to the series that is constantly performing on my channel. The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Blender for 3D Printing wasn’t a big hit the week I published it But it continues to get views. That series hasn’t had the drop off that other videos on my channel have, and for good reason. My initial plan was to record a a new series extending the last, but I realized that there’s been a video that I’ve been needing to do for a while explaining the whole playlist, so I decided to make that today. Hopefully this will shake me out of my doldrums.
YouTube recently updated their terms and services with this doozy (paraphrasing): “We have the right to make money on every video on our platform, and so we will put ads on every video regardless of whether you want them or not.” If it weren’t for that I would have skipped video ads on this video. I don’t see any reason why the intro to a playlist should have an ad on it, I’ll get paid for your participation in my other videos in this playlist. But YouTube has decided they need to do some biggering.
I don’t blame YouTube. They’re hosting more video every second than people can watch in a year. Hosting isn’t free. It’s cheap, but it isn’t free. And at the quantities they’re working, and the people they employ to keep things running, yeah, I can see this being an expensive venture. But they’ve also added midroll ads to every video, whether it makes sense to have them or not, and they’ve disincentive content creators by lowering how much they’re paying for click-throughs. I suspect they won’t see a significant pushback, nothing that they’d even feel. Because, where else will any of these creators go? It’s not like any attempt at making a competitor has managed to gain any traction. They’ve got a monopoly, and they know it. So chances are we’re going to see more ads paying YouTube as well as more sponsored content for earbuds and audiobooks as content creators scramble to make ends meet.
This isn’t anything new. Even Johnny Carson had to pimp dog food.
