 Do you know what really grinds my gears when people get mad about youtubers for trying to make money? Everyone knows that ad revenue is not what it used to be nowadays ad sense rounds out to about one dollar for every thousand views That means that that really well produced video editorial that you were watching with like a hundred thousand views Yeah, that will be probably made about a hundred bucks t-shirts are pretty awesome to check out my merchants pretty sick They only make like five dollars a pop and like be honest how many youtuber shirts do you own not a lot? That's what I thought merch isn't really as lucrative as a lot of people think even music side projects rarely pan out Remember that Bobby Burns mixtape that thing probably made like four bucks on Spotify And you know that nobody actually paid mine to listen that dumpster fire on iTunes Not everybody can be a hobo Johnson or a cave town YouTube is pretty brutal when it comes to trying to make a paycheck very few people can actually make into a career because it's Really tough to squeeze money out of it So when people actually make efforts to support themselves financially it seems that people get really grouchy about it Oh, you're a sellout. Oh, you're following trends. Oh, you just want to make money. Yeah, we do want to make money Yeah, we do want to make money doing what we love God forbid. I'm do this full time so I can make more videos I remember when I was younger I'd watch youtubers asking for money to make more videos and I thought well Why do you need money to make more videos? Can't you just make them? Well, I'm older now and I completely understand that everything costs money food clothes shampoo gas rent insurance Doctors visits dog food internet dude It's expensive to just exist and these bills don't go away on their own So let's just pretend that you're a youtuber who gets 1 million views every month dude You're doing great your way ahead at most creators and you've accomplished a massive milestone. Good job But that only means that you're making like a thousand bucks a month Assuming that nothing gets demonetized or copyright striked So a thousand bucks a month will probably cover rent food and maybe internet That means that you have no savings no emergency funds forget about car payments gas and insurance You cannot live on a thousand dollars a month in this economy and keep in mind that these estimates are coming from Idaho Where the cost of living is like way down I can't imagine living on ad revenue somewhere like Seattle or Portland or Los Angeles or New York. Holy cow That's unthinkable. So now you have two options You can get a job and work 20 to 40 hours a week and support yourself taking Incredible amounts of time away from YouTube and content creation or you can take brand deals and make the same amount of money doing what you love So this hypothetical youtuber that you're a fan of is now able to make more videos more free Content for you to enjoy and they're living a dream that many people only fantasize about doing YouTube full-time Granted they're only making if they're lucky 24k annually, but they're still getting by They post new video and they get backlash because audible sponsor their video Do you see the struggle here? YouTube is a ton of fun and it's the best job I've ever had it's awesome because I can draw pictures meet amazing creators make new friends and do things I've always dreamed of doing but I still have bills to pay I still need to shampoo my hair and save for my future and buy clothes and go the doctor and feed my dogs I want to do what I can to make money My friends are gonna do what they can to make money the thing is this only stands to serve you as well Brand deals merchandise Patreons ad revenue if they can't support themselves off of just YouTube They're gonna look for quintessential needs elsewhere that might be at a fast food place That might be a best buy or something and they'll be working and doing stuff that isn't content creation That's bad for everybody So next time you see me or a different creator coming out with a sponsored video or they're capitalizing on a trend or selling Merch or whatever please think about the humanity behind their decision. They're human and they need money They're the folks keeping this platform YouTube alive and if they're not able to make videos for you to watch this site goes down ad revenue merch Sponsors this stuff is keeping the culture alive and it's a necessary evil But sitting through sponsored bits interacting with ads using patreon and buying and sporting merch you're all Supporting all your favorite youtubers. So like go with the flow dude. This stuff is important and it's helping you not hindering you It's a tough world out there and understanding and helping people whose content you watch only makes it better for everybody Support artists be a good audience member and stay spicy. Thank you very much