Do you think having youtube as a full time job is a good thing?

I know quite a few people who make quite a lot of money from YouTube. Not sure how it would be for a permanent things, but if you have an audience and you get lots of views you can make some serious money off that if you do it right. I remember reading somewhere that that Philip Defranco makes enough money off of his YouTube accounts to make $100k a year for himself, and employ and entire staff.

If I remember correctly (my account has adsense) you make something like 10 cents every video view. Now lets just say that you make 3 videos a week and each video gets 10,000 views, that would be $3,000 a week. Now imagine if those same 3 videos get 2 million views each week.... You do the math. And the more videos you make, and the more views you get, that number will increase. And that's not even counting older videos that people stumble upon later.

Youtubers have exactly the same thing to put on their resume as Jeff Gerstmann does. "Between 2008 and 2013, I founded and operated an online entertainment company, with this big of a presence across Youtube, Facebook, etc, with X number of employees, X number of subscribers and X number of ads streamed out".

Trust me, if the ad clicks and views decrease to the point where it's not covering their expenses, CBSi will cut their income, as in completely. It might not be a one month thing, but if by the end of the year, Giant Bomb is streaming half as many ads or receiving half as many paid subscriptions, I wouldn't expect the team to grow.

And what would you have said before they got bought by CBSi? The Whiskey Media period relied purely on seed money and collecting from an audience. How is that different than any Youtuber relying on their personal money and trying to sell books or premium videos to their audience?

Basically, this topic seems like a big "dats not a real jerb!" circle jerk, which is completely out of place when it happens on a site that does the exact same thing but with a wider audience... an audience they built from nothing other than producing content people wanted to consume. Just like any youtuber.

@brodehouse: Yes, but the GB crew still have the "I helped run a relatively popular website which was eventually bought by a multinational media corporation" thing to put on their resumes. Yes, they're essentially doing the same thing, but there's a name behind Giantbomb. There isn't much of one when all of your videos were on Youtube. They're doing the same or similar things, but the perception is different.

Giantbomb also has contacts all over the industry, from smaller indies (Brad Muir, Greg Kasavin) to bigger names. And they have contacts in other gaming press places, too. If for some reason GB goes under, I doubt that the GB crew will fade into obscurity.

@believer258: The point remains that during the Whiskey Media period, what most people here should have been saying was "no, don't make a living based off running videos, what if not enough people watch, it's not stable". Instead of a start-up based on seed money and audience contribution, like any Youtuber, Jeff would have been more secure if he went back to pumping gas.

And it would've been what everyone would've said for just about every major online entertainment source. Look at Penny Arcade, they were running on donations and click-throughs and just about quit a couple years in. That would've been the 'stable' thing, or that they should go to the back-up plans (working at Circuit City and working tech support at libraries!). Now they're richer than astronauts.

Now absolutely, not everyone is entertaining enough to make a living off it. I'm not entertaining enough. But I'm not going to put my foot down and say "making a living based on the content you post online is unstable, impossible and a foolish decision!" when the majority of the content I consume, and pay for, is by people who do exactly that for a living.

There's nothing inherently wrong with making a living on YouTube, but seeing grown adults act like preteens to appeal to the demographic is cringe inducing.

I dont know why you people think that having a youtube channelk for x amount of time wouldnt count as job experience? Anything you do to generate is job experience and I would probably have more repect for them than more traditional lack of enterprise salaryman.

@bigjeffrey:Robbaz is where its at.

@brodehouse:

I also think what people underestimate is that most youtubers work by themselves. Giantbomb has a small video production crew of two people. Most youtubers have zero, they do it themselves. Giantbomb has a dedicated website engineering team and graphic designer. Most youtubers don't. Giantbomb is backed by a big media company that can supply them with livestreaming studio equipment and tickets to big events like E3. Most youtubers don't.

I find it funny that people scoff at youtubers for not having these things, but turn a blind eye to the content they push out regardless of lacking the manpower, equipment, and resources and brushing it off as lazy let's play videos.

If people can make money off of YouTube then more power to them. If I managed to do so as well, I'd have a backup plan and probably try to continue working and use YouTube as a side thing to make some extra cash. I don't think anyone can live off of YouTube solely, it's best to have a plan B.

Yes, but Giant Bomb has these things because they are a website with professional backing, with all of the perks and amenities that being employed by a large company provides. But their situation is still a far cry from their early Whiskey Media days, when the staff was throwing things at the wall to see what stuck and they were working out of a dingy basement entirely on investment capital and weren't a profitable venture. They've also done a lot more than just produce videos, as they have text features, podcasts, and the like, which the average YouTube angry man does not.

More importantly, however, is that the staff has professional experience with established websites. The majority of them cut their teeth and honed their craft at GameSpot. Patrick took a different route, but he's no less experienced. The point is, before Giant Bomb, everyone save Drew had experience working at a video game news/review site of some sort. And that experience, combined with their recognition, is much easier to take seriously than some jackass Lactose-Intolerant Gamer that posts sarcastic Youtube videos and who at least for now has enough of an audience to make some money. But Youtube superstars are a dime a dozen, and for every figure that manages to find a niche and cling to it, there's a hundred Ask a Ninjas that burned through their fifteen minutes of fame and are never heard from again.

eCommerce is a large business these days

@minipato: Cant wait to see another video from that guy who rushes through games on easy and comments on ass and tits 90% of the time. I guess it's pretty logical that people who provide strategies and insightful commentary actually dont hope to see financial gain from their venture. Because they care about the game. But you cant make substantial money uploading once every two days.

I think becoming a Youtuber is dope, but mostly because I would hope it's something you're doing because you love it. The only big problem I see with it is it's so damn impenetrable these days. I've seen some quality LPers, tech reviewers, and things of that nature who just never found a substantial audience for whatever reason. It doesn't help that in the case of video game-focused Youtubers, there seems to be a lot of just legal bullshit everywhere you look. Stuff like signing with partners like Machinima is an absolute nightmare, companies like Nintendo and Sega removing LPers' videos (i.e. their source of income), certain channels/networks getting exclusive rights to certain games so no one else can post them, etc etc.

I would always worry that the revenue stream would dry up. And as someone who has had non-traditional self employment before, it isn't something that's valued on a resume. But I certainly wish the best to anyone who can make a go of it!

It's not exactly the best thing on a resume, if you enjoy it and you don't have a family to care for than I think it totally fine. No different from playing in a band or doing comedy gigs.

If you are trying to pander and doing stuff you don't enjoy for a bit of "youtube money" I think you would rather just work at McDonalds and at least not have to kiss someone's ass.

And if you are in the hundred of thousands of subs "tier" and making dozens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year than you just hit a jack pot, if you do something you like that's even better if you do something you dislike you can think of it the same as you would think of playing a role in a series as an actor.

I hate the way YouTube turns people into empty shills but if you can make money from little to no effort and having a terrible on-screen personality - well then you're a horrible person but at least you're getting paid for it.

Not sure how up-to-date or accurate these rankings are but they seem relevant to the discussion;

Top 100 gaming channels on youtube according to subscriptions

Top 500 gaming channels ranked by subs and by views

I find it interesting that there are more publisher/developer channels on the lists than review/QL outlets. It's also surprising how many people with just a webcam and a headset can outperform "professional" outlets.

Grabbing random channels from the list - Jesus, there's a whole lot of Minecraft going on.

(Before you scour the rankings; No, GB's channel doesn't come close to making either list.)

Why wouldn't it be?

@hailinel:

Youtube angry man? I guess you're basing every youtuber off of Angry Joe and Angry Videogame Nerd. Because there's more than that out there and more than people who just do LPs. Yeah, there are some people who just record shit and put it out without any editing, but there are also people that put some craft into their videos, edit out the fluff and don't put up fake pandering personalities while still being entertaining.

Also my point was that Giantbomb has more manpower and resources so they can put out more varying types of content when most youtubers work by themselves. You really expect one person to do a podcast, editorial section, and videos? Also what the hell is with the hate against lactose intolerant people?

Is there something wrong with doing something you like for a living? I like drawing and hope to land me a job that pays me for it, but that doesn't mean I'm not passionate about it and don't want to share my art with people. I guess starving artists should just starve. I'm not trying to glorify youtubers as tragic figures. I'm trying to make a point that getting paid for something you do doesn't mean you aren't passionate about it. Going by your logic, I guess everyone at Giantbomb is just slumming it for a paycheck then right?

I guess it's easier to hate when you turn a blind eye to anything that contradicts your narrative. Yeah, all youtubers are Pewdiepie, angry rants, and CoD montages.

@hailinel: I agree that there's a ton of "sarcastic gamer" youtubers out there that are a dime a dozen. But like I said earlier in the thread there are a few exceptions to the lazy stereotype that work their butt off and do a pretty good job. I hate to bring him up twice but I watched some of Angry Joe's E3 interviews and I learned some stuff about some upcoming games long before most mainstream sites reported on it. Hell I think he should drop the whole "angry" tag since he's more likable as a nice guy and has a really good TV personality

I mean come on!!! How can you hate this??

"If we're having fun, then it's worth it." -Into it. Over it.

Here's my YouTube earnings call for the period 28/01/07 to 16/08/13:

I'm fucking rolling in it, yo.

That's a free grande double-soy mocha latte with an extra shot of espresso and a whipped cream top. Enjoy, you've earned it.

@fattony12000:

MY GOD! Making the youtube moneys! You didn't earn that $8.87. Where's your occasional editorial review? Where's the podcast? Where's your website?! You don't deserve that money you lactose intolerant gamer!

I love how people don't think Giantbomb is just some tricked out Youtube channel.

There's this guy with a gaming channel (not going to mention his name) but he seems to complain alot about views. He make's his money off of youtube vids ever sense he got fired from his job afew years ago. At one point his channel was more popular then it is now, but he ended up getting arrogant with his fans and lost views. Over the past few months he made vids complaining about not getting enough money from views, which isn't a good look and people started to dislike him.

I'm sure some GB users knows who I'm referring too, and like people said on this thread. This is why you should have a backup plan if youtube doesn't workout.

@falserelic: This is why you should have a backup plan if anything doesn't work out.

It's not.

I'm not saying that there's nothing wrong with doing it. What I'm saying is that it's much, much harder to take a Youtube celebrity seriously than someone that's worked in game journalism through more professional channels and that the Youtube celebrity career path is not one with viable, long-term legs for the vast majority of people out there. By all means, show me some positive examples that don't depend on absurd names or manufactured personalities that are also good at what they do.

I'll admit, I'd take Angry Joe a lot more seriously if he'd drop the Angry tag; it really isn't necessary, and this trend of Youtube gamer personalities with titles along the lines of "______________ Gamer" or similar variations have become a ridiculous dime a dozen. But so long as Angry Joe keeps using that ridiculous moniker, it makes me less inclined to pay attention to him.

It's fine, but basing your entire career on making youtube videos is a bit risky. Just look at DarksydePhil; his youtube views have plummeted to less than 1000 per view due to incompetence and sheer non-enthusiastic LPs. He barely scrapes by and shits on his fans, but I digress.

Personally I would do it on the side as long as it didn't interfere with my main job. Don't quit your dayjob, kids.

LOL! that was the guy I was referring too.

@hailinel: I agree, I still wanted to post this part of his Dragon Age 2 review though =p

@hailinel: Lets see, there is Totalbiscuit(who also runs a podcast, commentator for starcraft and runs a starcraft team). Jesse Cox(mainly LP's but has branched out to other things). Hat Films(extremely high quality editing on their videos). YogsCast(after their original channel gained popularity they hired a good portion of the people that help them in their shadow of israphel videos, and have since expanded beyond just LP's. event coverage and stuff). Day9tv(starcraft commentator, runs a day9 daily for educating and entertainment).

also the TGS network(rebranded Polaris) runs quite a few shows made by the people they are partnered with(such as Total biscuit, huskystarcraft, jesse cox, presshearttocontinue, warp zone, thecompletionist, etc.)

and there are probably plenty more, these are just a smattering of the gaming related channels i watch on a daily basis.

Perfectly happy for people to do it, but I have no interest whatsoever in watching any of it.

Giant Bomb is enough for me

I JUST MADE A WHOLE CENT IN THE PAST DAY.

BOW BEFORE ME, PEASANT.

Also, here is my website. Please like it on Twitter, Minecraft and your nearest HP LaserJet MFP M725z printer.

@falserelic "WOW! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!", "How do you use rations?" *BELCH!*

Just an example to others who don't know who I'm talking about. Thanks to AJ for trolling through 10s of hours of irritating footage to find the best bits, and incase you're wondering; This man has over 90 000 videos and plays games for a living. He never learns from his mistakes.

Yep, even in the original mgs he still did bad..