7 ms·

I follow CGP Grey’s stuff and it’s been interesting and instructive to see how he diversified. * His Youtube channel is his main platform * However, the money

by graeme 6y ago

I follow CGP Grey’s stuff and it’s been interesting and instructive to see how he diversified. * His Youtube channel is his main platform * However, the money mostly comes from patreon subscribers, and you can also have videos delivered there * He also earns income from a podcast, Cortex * The Podcast has its own brand of sellable things, currently journals and Tshirts * He had a second podcast, hello internet, currently on hiatus. If ever something went catastrophically wrong with youtube this could be reactivated via the feed * He has a large email list which he uses to reach people directly and drive traffic to videos if people request these updates * He is also prominent on twitter etc and maintains secondary youtube channels, useful if main one taken down * He runs a large subreddit for his following So it is layers and layers of redundancy, built on a mix of other platforms and also two he controls directly (email and rss) Still faces a youtube risk but it would take a an earthquake across platforms to truly wreck his income streams. As someone who runs an online business and follows him it’s been impressive to watch how diversified he has made his comms channels.

verve_rat 6y ago
Also he has a channel on Nebula, a streaming service set up as a clear hedge against YouTube doing bad things. He was one of the driving forces behind Nebula, but I believe he is no longer involved in running it.
- georgebcrawford 6y ago
  I thought he started standard.tv, or did that become Nebula?
  - BoysenberryPi 6y ago
    Standard.tv is Nebula
simias 6y ago
> However, the money mostly comes from patreon subscribers, and you can also have videos delivered there Did he break that down publicly or do you get your info from elsewhere? I've always been curious to know what a typical high profile youtuber income flow looks like, and how much they're really tied to Youtube.
- saklani 6y ago
  It’s probably an assumption based on the fact that CGP Grey is one of the highest paid creator on Patreon
- rtpg 6y ago
  The thing I've heard is "1,000 views = $1". I don't know how true that is anymore but it's my metric. Mark Brown, of Game Maker's Toolkit, puts out vids on Youtube that get a couple hundred thousand views (1 or 2 vids a month). So he could theoretically get a couple hundred from those. But his Patreon following nets him a couple thousand a month ($11k!) When you have niche content you can end up getting way more per subscriber if people feel your content is worth it.
  - cko 6y ago
    Youtube ad rates seem really high for the personal finance dudes. Graham Stephan and Andre Jikh come to mind. I think that genre allows for showing those scammy get rich quick motivational guru type ads, which pay well. Everyone else has to be sponsored by ExpressVPN and CuriosityStream.
    - geerlingguy 6y ago
      And ridge wallet, apparently.
    - Mauricebranagh 6y ago
      Adds are based on the viewer, I occasionally get adds for Bentley when I watch back the streamed AP games I play in. I also get a lot of Farage's new presumably penny stock product adds ( just let those play out to maker sure he's paying out) What strikes me as odd is those super low quality portrait videos with uncanny valley synthesised like I am going to buy that crap?
- graeme 6y ago
  Just a guess knowing how low Youtube ad rates are and how Grey has mentioned he switched over his income from ad sponsorships to patreon. And Patreon income is public.
vl 6y ago
CGP Grey is strange, so to say. He effectively abandoned Hello Internet. They once mentioned that they have 900K subs. Grey fully controlled HI, and it was way more popular than Cortex. If he wants to diversify so much abandoning project like this just doesn’t make sense. Also he has no basic decency to announce cancelation and left Tims hanging, for many of whom it was the podcast.
- Bakary 6y ago
  He's probably quite wealthy and established already. It doesn't strike me as strange that he might burn out on some projects and not feel as motivated to continue as someone with no online profile.
  - vl 6y ago
    It’s not the point - he should have said “it’s done”, and not leave listeners hanging.
    - Bakary 6y ago
      That would involve confronting the end of the podcast, which is the sort of emotional thing that people typically procrastinate on. It's hard for us to visualize since having such an audience sounds like a responsibility we'd take seriously. But to Grey it's just a small income stream on the side. He doesn't have an actual relationship with the members of the audience, even if the audience might believe otherwise. I'm not saying you're wrong, just that considering the change of perspective is an interesting exercise.
- JProthero 6y ago
  I've watched both Grey's and Haran's videos since their early years on YouTube, and I'd be curious to know what the story is behind the disappearance of their podcast. It seemed like an odd development to me in view of how engaged they both appeared to be with their audience. I know that Haran eventually posted a brief comment on Reddit acknowledging the hiatus, but it struck me as a strangely subdued way to announce the end of a regular series that had been very successful for several years.
jeromenerf 6y ago
> So it is layers and layers of redundancy, built on a mix of other platforms and also two he controls directly (email and rss) Not really. There is some kind of "channel" redundancy but no "revenue streams" diversification outside ads and patreon. Without actually paying for content, one can usually find: - google ads, low effort low reward - brand sponsorships, high effort, fixed reward - patreon subscriptions, high effort high reward - tips and super chats and twitch - sometimes brave BAT rewards
- yoz-y 6y ago
  Eh. If you count revenue streams: - podcast ads - podcast subscriptions - merch - sponsorships - YouTube ads - nebula subscriptions That’s pretty diversified and it includes paying for content three times.

by graeme 6y ago

verve_rat 6y ago

Also he has a channel on Nebula, a streaming service set up as a clear hedge against YouTube doing bad things. He was one of the driving forces behind Nebula, but I believe he is no longer involved in running it.

georgebcrawford 6y ago
I thought he started standard.tv, or did that become Nebula?
- BoysenberryPi 6y ago
  Standard.tv is Nebula

simias 6y ago

> However, the money mostly comes from patreon subscribers, and you can also have videos delivered there Did he break that down publicly or do you get your info from elsewhere? I've always been curious to know what a typical high profile youtuber income flow looks like, and how much they're really tied to Youtube.

saklani 6y ago
It’s probably an assumption based on the fact that CGP Grey is one of the highest paid creator on Patreon
rtpg 6y ago
The thing I've heard is "1,000 views = $1". I don't know how true that is anymore but it's my metric. Mark Brown, of Game Maker's Toolkit, puts out vids on Youtube that get a couple hundred thousand views (1 or 2 vids a month). So he could theoretically get a couple hundred from those. But his Patreon following nets him a couple thousand a month ($11k!) When you have niche content you can end up getting way more per subscriber if people feel your content is worth it.
- cko 6y ago
  Youtube ad rates seem really high for the personal finance dudes. Graham Stephan and Andre Jikh come to mind. I think that genre allows for showing those scammy get rich quick motivational guru type ads, which pay well. Everyone else has to be sponsored by ExpressVPN and CuriosityStream.
  - geerlingguy 6y ago
    And ridge wallet, apparently.
  - Mauricebranagh 6y ago
    Adds are based on the viewer, I occasionally get adds for Bentley when I watch back the streamed AP games I play in. I also get a lot of Farage's new presumably penny stock product adds ( just let those play out to maker sure he's paying out) What strikes me as odd is those super low quality portrait videos with uncanny valley synthesised like I am going to buy that crap?
graeme 6y ago
Just a guess knowing how low Youtube ad rates are and how Grey has mentioned he switched over his income from ad sponsorships to patreon. And Patreon income is public.

vl 6y ago

CGP Grey is strange, so to say. He effectively abandoned Hello Internet. They once mentioned that they have 900K subs. Grey fully controlled HI, and it was way more popular than Cortex. If he wants to diversify so much abandoning project like this just doesn’t make sense. Also he has no basic decency to announce cancelation and left Tims hanging, for many of whom it was the podcast.

Bakary 6y ago
He's probably quite wealthy and established already. It doesn't strike me as strange that he might burn out on some projects and not feel as motivated to continue as someone with no online profile.
- vl 6y ago
  It’s not the point - he should have said “it’s done”, and not leave listeners hanging.
  - Bakary 6y ago
    That would involve confronting the end of the podcast, which is the sort of emotional thing that people typically procrastinate on. It's hard for us to visualize since having such an audience sounds like a responsibility we'd take seriously. But to Grey it's just a small income stream on the side. He doesn't have an actual relationship with the members of the audience, even if the audience might believe otherwise. I'm not saying you're wrong, just that considering the change of perspective is an interesting exercise.
JProthero 6y ago
I've watched both Grey's and Haran's videos since their early years on YouTube, and I'd be curious to know what the story is behind the disappearance of their podcast. It seemed like an odd development to me in view of how engaged they both appeared to be with their audience. I know that Haran eventually posted a brief comment on Reddit acknowledging the hiatus, but it struck me as a strangely subdued way to announce the end of a regular series that had been very successful for several years.

jeromenerf 6y ago

> So it is layers and layers of redundancy, built on a mix of other platforms and also two he controls directly (email and rss) Not really. There is some kind of "channel" redundancy but no "revenue streams" diversification outside ads and patreon. Without actually paying for content, one can usually find: - google ads, low effort low reward - brand sponsorships, high effort, fixed reward - patreon subscriptions, high effort high reward - tips and super chats and twitch - sometimes brave BAT rewards

yoz-y 6y ago
Eh. If you count revenue streams: - podcast ads - podcast subscriptions - merch - sponsorships - YouTube ads - nebula subscriptions That’s pretty diversified and it includes paying for content three times.