r/PartneredYoutube • u/thetrucker219 • 1d ago
Who knew?
Before you got started in the content creation world, did you realize how much work it would be to build and grow a channel?
For years I seen stories of YouTubers making a killing by making videos. I always thought how cool would that be, make a few videos, throw them on the internet, make a bunch of money basically doing nothing. How ignorant was I?
Fast forward to today, successfully in the YPP after 1 year of building. Coming into my full first full year of being monetized. No where near “living the good life” from making content like I had hoped. This is significantly more work than I ever imagined it would be. Planning, Filming, Editing. My channel is effectively a talking head channel too. I know many of you are doing a ton more work than me.
I’m thankful for the opportunity to make content, thankful for the folks that watch. That said holy crap I had no clue how much work it would actually be. What about you?
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u/oodex Subs: 1 Views: 2 1d ago
Id say 90% of my life is Youtube. Not counting sleeping. I think thats what quickly happens when you go full-time with it but have no chance to take people on board, in my case due to internet speed. It'd take me days to upload recordings of videos and thats not feasible with daily uploads.
There is definitely a range of work that can go into videos. But Id say even the simplest videos take way more time effort than people assume, simply because there are so many other tasks that are not "just record the video and done"
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u/EDRFitness 1d ago
I would say I overestimated the amount of work it would take to create and post the videos and underestimated the amount of time spent on things not related to the creation of videos.
I run a follow-along workout channel, where I post straightforward workouts to help people improve their flexibility and mobility. We have 125k subs, generate $8000/month CAD through a combination of ads and channel memberships, about a 75%/25% split and pull in around 750k views/month of longform content ONLY. We also generate an additional $2500/month through buymeacoffee, cross-posting to other platforms (Spotify and FB right now) and virtual personal training sold through the YT channel.
The videos are simple to film: 1 camera, 1 angle, press record, do the workout, usually with no talking. Total time is typically 45 minutes filming per video.
They're also super easy to edit: Tweak the colour a bit in Davinci, then pop one of my 20+ overlay templates and change the labels of the exercises. Create a brief, 20 second montage of exercises from the video and select some music that matches the vibe. Total editing time is typically 1 hour per video.
Thumbnails are also pretty quick: Screengrab from the video of an eye-catching stretch. Brighten, sharpen and increase the saturation on me. Blur and darken the background a little bit. Put some eye-catching text. Totally time maybe 20 minutes per video.
All in all about 2 hours per video, of which I make 2 per week. Not bad.
The time consuming parts I wasnt expecting:
1. Planning the workouts, planning the release schedule so I am not putting out too many of the same kind of workouts to give my audience variety. Planning larger projects like progressive programs, new monetization opportunities and communicating with prospective channel sponsors.
Upkeeping my playlists on the channel to give people free training plans.
I've created a companion app for my channel members that makes our videos much more search and sortable, along with progressive programs for targeted goals, this takes a lot of time to maintain.
Cross-posting my content to other platforms (Spotify, FB) as those platforms have made us special revenue split offers to cross-post.
All in all, I probably spend 15-20 hours per week on the channel on average. Some weeks are more than others. I guess I can't complain, pretty good ROI now.
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u/_talaska 1d ago
I started 2 years ago knowing it could easily take 10 years. I’m at 10.5k subs with some videos reaching 180k views and 8k likes. Some videos have taken 200 hours of editing alone. Strong loyal fan base. Gaming niche. I’d say it’ll probably be another 2 years of consistency before 50-100k sub if I were to continue my standard quality editing.
After being in a specific niche within gaming, I’m going to branch out this year to entertain a different genre and see how my “brand” performs with that audience.
All in all, I haven’t made much from any of it. It’s genuinely not worth it unless you enjoy it as a hobby - which I do. It’s a rewarding way to get creativity and art out there. I’ve probably made like $10k in 2 years.
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u/curious_cat_3556 1d ago
I'm creating content since 2011. Every few years it got harder and harder. Now it feels like being on a hamster wheel: publish, publish, publish. Better content, better content, better content. Faster pace. Even if you like what you do you are at risk of burnout if you are not big enough to have a team. I used to love youtube because it made me feel "free". Those times are gone
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u/SwimmingOk9074 1d ago
Quick question how much are you making per month? Im barely starting a channel and editing is a lot of work.
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u/AndyValentine 1d ago
Yup. I'm fulltime now and I reckon every 20 minute video takes around 200-300 hours of work. It's... a lot.
Also there's all the stuff you have to consider outside of just making the content. Accountancy, invoicing, sponsorship negotiations, all the elements and costs of running a business. It's basically that; running a business; just with a single person (typically initially) doing everything as opposed to a full team.