20 ms·

They have 18,000,000 subscribers on YouTube... how can they not have enough money to host a website and pay some people to create content?... RIP Epicly Later'

They have 18,000,000 subscribers on YouTube... how can they not have enough money to host a website and pay some people to create content?... RIP Epicly Later'd?

gjsman-1000 3y ago
YouTube payouts have hit rock bottom lately - which has, notably, been part of the reason for so many creator retirements. Ironic, considering the ad blocker ban was supposed to fix this.
- majani 3y ago
  Once YouTube started monetizing videos that weren't in the partner program it was always going to be downhill from there. The supply of ad-eligible videos probably doubled overnight
paxys 3y ago
18M YouTube subscribers can sustain a decent business, sure, but not one with 3000+ employees.
- resolutebat 3y ago
  What? Why on earth does Vice have 3000 employees? I thought publishing companies long since switched to having all their content creators freelance. Edit: I thought OP was exaggerating, but nope, per this random website they have/had at least 2,300. https://rocketreach.co/vice-media-profile_b5c6f6cef42e0cd9 https://rocketreach.co/vice-media-profile_b5c6f6cef42e0cd9
  - doctor_eval 3y ago
    That alone explains what’s happening.
  - sfgunn 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - resolutebat 3y ago
      There are many labels I could apply to Vice, but I'm reasonable sure "propaganda darling" of the "real owners of this country" would not be near the top. Were you thinking of Fox or New York Times or something?
  - user90131313 3y ago
    I assume it was that high to get more funding? like a VC startup style? no other reason make sense
  - _delirium 3y ago
    Vice Media Group is a conglomerate with a bunch of other stuff besides the magazine/website. An ad agency [1], a tv/film studio [2], another film studio [3], etc. It seems like they’ll be keeping a lot of that too. The linked message implies they’re shutting down the ad-supported journalism part of the company and doubling down on contract work. [1] https://www.virtueworldwide.com/ https://www.virtueworldwide.com/ [2] https://studios.vice.com/ https://studios.vice.com/ [3] https://www.pulsefilms.com/ https://www.pulsefilms.com/
ametrau 3y ago
Subscriber counts don't decline, with how old youtube is now, and how little competition there was back in the day, you can have a long running channel (like vice's) with very little active viewership. How are the views on their recent videos?
- mvdtnz 3y ago
  Looks like they're regularly 100k-500k views with a few outliers every few months in the millions and a couple of times a year hitting 5M. I have no idea how this translates to income.
  - notatoad 3y ago
    just anecdotally, among the youtubers i follow those seems like view counts which would allow a solo creator to quit their day job and hire a part-time editor.
    - kombookcha 3y ago
      I'm beginning to see the issue. That's 1,5 employees covered by the youtube money, now for the remaining 2998,5...
      - ejb999 3y ago
        As someone who has never even tried to monetize youtube, I am shocked that having that sized audience still can't make a go at it as a FT job. Guess I will stick to programming.
        kombookcha 3y ago
        I suppose this is why most of the big channels are very upfront about how their bread is buttered by Patreon and merch far more so than youtube adbux.
woah 3y ago
"However, it is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously. Moving forward, we will look to partner with established media companies to distribute our digital content, including news, on their global platforms, as we fully transition to a studio model."
anshumankmr 3y ago
18,000,000 subs,but how many of those are willing to pay for the news they receive?
- berkes 3y ago
  Even if that's a mere 0.1% willing to pay a dollar per year, that's still enough to pay a few freelancers
  - ejb999 3y ago
    Actually, its only $18,000 a year (18,000,000 * 0.001). The would have to charge a lot more than that to pay anyone anything.
    - berkes 3y ago
      A thousand dollars a month pays for quite some freelance gigs though. The Upwork/fiverrr economy is brutal. Also, go ask a freelance writer how much they make. Or the girl in your coffeeshop or the guy behind the bar. There are many jobs that pay peanuts in Europe or America.

They have 18,000,000 subscribers on YouTube... how can they not have enough money to host a website and pay some people to create content?... RIP Epicly Later'd?

gjsman-1000 3y ago

YouTube payouts have hit rock bottom lately - which has, notably, been part of the reason for so many creator retirements. Ironic, considering the ad blocker ban was supposed to fix this.

majani 3y ago
Once YouTube started monetizing videos that weren't in the partner program it was always going to be downhill from there. The supply of ad-eligible videos probably doubled overnight

paxys 3y ago

18M YouTube subscribers can sustain a decent business, sure, but not one with 3000+ employees.

resolutebat 3y ago
What? Why on earth does Vice have 3000 employees? I thought publishing companies long since switched to having all their content creators freelance. Edit: I thought OP was exaggerating, but nope, per this random website they have/had at least 2,300. https://rocketreach.co/vice-media-profile_b5c6f6cef42e0cd9 https://rocketreach.co/vice-media-profile_b5c6f6cef42e0cd9
- doctor_eval 3y ago
  That alone explains what’s happening.
- sfgunn 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - resolutebat 3y ago
    There are many labels I could apply to Vice, but I'm reasonable sure "propaganda darling" of the "real owners of this country" would not be near the top. Were you thinking of Fox or New York Times or something?
- user90131313 3y ago
  I assume it was that high to get more funding? like a VC startup style? no other reason make sense
- _delirium 3y ago
  Vice Media Group is a conglomerate with a bunch of other stuff besides the magazine/website. An ad agency [1], a tv/film studio [2], another film studio [3], etc. It seems like they’ll be keeping a lot of that too. The linked message implies they’re shutting down the ad-supported journalism part of the company and doubling down on contract work. [1] https://www.virtueworldwide.com/ https://www.virtueworldwide.com/ [2] https://studios.vice.com/ https://studios.vice.com/ [3] https://www.pulsefilms.com/ https://www.pulsefilms.com/

ametrau 3y ago

Subscriber counts don't decline, with how old youtube is now, and how little competition there was back in the day, you can have a long running channel (like vice's) with very little active viewership. How are the views on their recent videos?

mvdtnz 3y ago
Looks like they're regularly 100k-500k views with a few outliers every few months in the millions and a couple of times a year hitting 5M. I have no idea how this translates to income.
- notatoad 3y ago
  just anecdotally, among the youtubers i follow those seems like view counts which would allow a solo creator to quit their day job and hire a part-time editor.
  - kombookcha 3y ago
    I'm beginning to see the issue. That's 1,5 employees covered by the youtube money, now for the remaining 2998,5...
    - ejb999 3y ago
      As someone who has never even tried to monetize youtube, I am shocked that having that sized audience still can't make a go at it as a FT job. Guess I will stick to programming.
      - kombookcha 3y ago
        I suppose this is why most of the big channels are very upfront about how their bread is buttered by Patreon and merch far more so than youtube adbux.

woah 3y ago

"However, it is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously. Moving forward, we will look to partner with established media companies to distribute our digital content, including news, on their global platforms, as we fully transition to a studio model."

anshumankmr 3y ago

18,000,000 subs,but how many of those are willing to pay for the news they receive?

berkes 3y ago
Even if that's a mere 0.1% willing to pay a dollar per year, that's still enough to pay a few freelancers
- ejb999 3y ago
  Actually, its only $18,000 a year (18,000,000 * 0.001). The would have to charge a lot more than that to pay anyone anything.
  - berkes 3y ago
    A thousand dollars a month pays for quite some freelance gigs though. The Upwork/fiverrr economy is brutal. Also, go ask a freelance writer how much they make. Or the girl in your coffeeshop or the guy behind the bar. There are many jobs that pay peanuts in Europe or America.