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I have had my perspective challenged a great deal, not by this article, but instead by checking my assumptions against the numbers using the Graphtreon[0] site
by lelandbatey 6y ago
I have had my perspective challenged a great deal, not by this article, but instead by checking my assumptions against the numbers using the Graphtreon[0] site linked in a sub-article[1] to the parent article.
I'd assumed that there was a solid, or at least "quiet but present", middle class of content creators. I believed this because I felt like I follow a set of content creators which where pretty far outside the "mainstream", since I didn't observe them having "superstar" numbers, nor did I ever see them casually mentioned outside of their own content.
Looking at the data, all of them are in the top 2,000 Patreon users and most of them are in the top 1,000. Here's a compacted list:
| Creator Name | Patreon Rank | Estimated Monthly |
| | | Income (Patreon) |
|---------------------------|--------------|-------------------|
| Well There’s Your Problem | 108 | $11,196.00 |
| LoadingReadyRun | 411 | $14,772.00 |
| Jay Foreman | 995 | $2,620.00 |
| Summoning Salt | 1478 | $2,026.00 |
| Wendover Productions | 1684 | $2,220.00 |
| Practical Engineering | 1872 | $1,600.00 |
The creator that stands out most is the #1 spot holder, the "Well There's Your Problem" podcast. It's a podcast about engineering disasters, each recounted in a very irreverent and roundabout style. I primarily watch this podcast through YouTube, and their YouTube content gets what I'd consider very "acceptable" view rates, on the order of 50k - 90k total views. From that, I would have expected them to fall more in the ~$1,000 tier of monthly Patreon income, but instead they're enjoying wild success.
I have to assume their success comes from them doing well on platforms outside of YouTube, and their consistent marketing of Patreon rewards (additional content for Patreon subscribers).
Goes to show that there's more than one way to find success, though the number of paths still seems pretty constrained.
[0] - https://graphtreon.com https://graphtreon.com
[1] - https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/01/02/patreon-content-creators-monthly-minimum-wage/ https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/01/02/patreon-content-...