Observations about YouTube

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This has been an interesting read.

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In regards to being an industry paid content creator and anyone's doubts on their freedom to be honest and unbiased, I haven't found issue with this so far. Initially, I had similar concerns as some of ya, but quickly discovered them to be unfounded. The way I achieved a mutual understanding with my 18 sponsors was simple... I told them up front to expect an honest review and that if they weren't comfortable with this, to please not send the product. I've also discovered that they all think as I do... and that's that I NEED to be honest, because if I'm not, I won't have a following, hence will be of no use to them & the community. I've actually been kicking around the idea of making a "full disclosure" Vlog vid on the inner workings of AEAC. Would something like that interest you guys?

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Best, Steve
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I enjoy your videos for the very reason that you are up front about your sponsors. You list them at the front and ask your viewers to support them at the end. You have no hidden agenda which is refreshing.

The other parts I enjoy is that you prove the rifles worth by demonstrating its capabilities. The vlogs are helpful when you demonstrate the pellets you tested to achieve the best accuracy from the rifle you are testing.

There are lots of other things you do that add value in demonstrating the rifle's capabilities or weaknesses, but what I listed above are key to me in proving you don't have bias toward a product whether sponsored or not.
 
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I've actually been kicking around the idea of making a "full disclosure" Vlog vid on the inner workings of AEAC. Would something like that interest you guys?
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Yes!
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Maybe you guys could come up with some questions on things you'd like to know about?
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How do you decide which guns to review or give away?

How do you decide which retailer to work with?

Do you pick the caliber or does the supplier?
 
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Steve - actually that's quite interesting. Perhaps after the initial over-reaction, YouTube is easing off a bit. Also interesting your observation of firearms channels making significant $$. I guess quite a bit of this is in the perspective of the observer. Me being an outsider and watching the reaction of some channels to up merchandise sales, and seek other sponsors to reduce YouTube's control, and you seeing YouTube perhaps coming around a bit. Maybe good news on both sides??
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I feel like it's their house and that we need to be very careful to play by their rules. I also feel like any good graces they extend us is not due to an increased tolerance. Gun business may be significant enough to hurt if it were gone.
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You are correct, it is their house and they do make the rules, it is important to play by the rules. I do hope the shooting channels are big enough to pinch YouTube if they disappeared. Channels like Demolition Ranch get millions of views a week, so draw people into YouTube advertisers.

I've worked for global companies before, and do know that sometimes mid-level people make decisions for unknown reasons that have massive repercussions for the whole business, perhaps the initial overreaction was one of those mid-level decision makers. Ya just never know. Once the higher up's got involved, damage control kicked in, but the algorithms had done their damage. Now that YouTube is eliminating dangerous stunts, I hope they have a better roll-out of the computer algorithms this time. Maybe lesson learned.

With proper understanding of a stable set of rules, I think we can survive, but it takes both sides to play nice.

Thanks for the updates on how YouTube life really is
 
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This has been an interesting read.

I can share that from my side of things, YouTube has never been much of a financial contributor to AEAC. While all 106 of my vids are monetized, and I averaged 234,000 views a month in 2018... I earned an annual total of $2,400. If you guys do want to encourage your favorite content creator to upload, blocking adds certainty isn't going to get that accomplished for ya. The big firearm and airgun channels are still making good money off of YouTube... with the largest airgun channels easily making $3,000-6,000 a month from YouTube monetization....and the big firearm channels making much, much more.

If you are subscribed to a channel and are not receiving notifications, be sure you are both signed into your YouTube account AND that you have the notification bell for that channel activated. If you do both of these things, you will receive YouTube notifications. I've helped A LOT of people with this and still 2/3 of my subscribers do not receive notifications of my new postings because they are not signed into their YouTube account, do not have their notification bell activated, and/or are receiving their notifications into their email spam folder.

In regards to being an industry paid content creator and anyone's doubts on their freedom to be honest and unbiased, I haven't found issue with this so far. Initially, I had similar concerns as some of ya, but quickly discovered them to be unfounded. The way I achieved a mutual understanding with my 18 sponsors was simple... I told them up front to expect an honest review and that if they weren't comfortable with this, to please not send the product. I've also discovered that they all think as I do... and that's that I NEED to be honest, because if I'm not, I won't have a following, hence will be of no use to them & the community. I've actually been kicking around the idea of making a "full disclosure" Vlog vid on the inner workings of AEAC. Would something like that interest you guys?

On a final note, YouTube has upped the traffic algorithm for airgun channels quite a bit over the last 90 days. I've confirmed that Ted & Giles are seeing what I am. For example, my 2018 subs added averaged a rock steady 1,500/month. Over the last 90 days, it's averaged almost 2,000/month. Views have done the exact same for AEAC with a 2018 average of 234,000 a month... and a 90 day average of 250,000 a month. For those of ya that don't like watching videos, I've always got plenty of good pics & reading on AEAC's Facebook and Instagram, search "hookedonair."

Hope this helps shed some truth light on things as they actually are.

Best, Steve
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Interesting perspective on the issue. I have a question regarding views over the last 90 days compared to the rest of 2018. Do you suppose that YouTube did indeed change their algorithms for this, or maybe it is for another reason (or a combination of): It used to be my understanding that sales of air rifles and accessories heat up a bit leading up to Christmas. I tend to use YouTube from time to time to watch product reviews, tests, etc. I use this as a tool to gather as much information as I can about a product(s) so I can make an informed decision before spending my hard-earned cash on a product.

As far as YouTube pandering to the International community as a hole, I have a sense that there is some truth to that, but not exclusively. I personally think that the powers-that-be at YouTube/Google have their own agenda in this regard. However, there are numerous filters that YouTube uses to trace IP addresses from providers to block certain content in different countries. An American music performance uploaded to YouTube may not be visible to users in the U.S. or Canada, but someone in Russia may be able to view it, and vice-versa.
 
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I don't know about the rest of ya, but I get just as much enjoyment and education from READING about things as I do watching videos.

The popularity of everything being in a video format these days is somewhat annoying actually.

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I'm with you, Fish! But then again, I am a self-described throw-back Neanderthal techno-grouch... and a writer!
 
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REALITY CHECK: 

Youtube commercial payouts are pathetic. They pay like maybe 1 penny if ten people watch the commercial. So if your video got 500,000 views, you might make $100.00

Airgun videos and channels will never get those big #'s. The Biggest Airgunner (Ted) only has 500k subscribers, while many ordinary people who just VLOG everyday have 2-25 million Subscribers. No Air gun video maker will make a living off Youtube. 

So anyone who monetized and air gun video is uninformed, very greedy, or very poor. What you want to do is gain "Influence" The "influencer economy" is a big thing. If you have 100k-1 million Subscribers, and they are going to hear whatever you say, then companies will pay you $5000-$20,000 to say something about their product for 5 minutes at the end of your video. 

The other way alot of Youtubers make an actual living: It doesn't matter how many Subscribers you have (10k or 900k), as long as you have "1000 hardcore Subscribers" that will "buy anything you put out there". Then 4 times a year you print a new $20 T-Shirt. = $80k a year.

In my case I have 10k Subscribers.....if I wanted to make $ I would just sell some stupid airgun product I either invented or got cheap...or even just some bowties or pink socks....and I would make 100X more than "Monetizing" my video for a fraction of a cent (literally) per view. Am I the only one who hates commercials? 

Here are the Airgun # Stats:

Ted 500k Subscribers

Airgun Gear Show 120k Subscribers

Pyramid Insyder 74k Subscribers

AEAC 40k Subscribers

American Airgunner 45k Subscribers

Airgun Depot 27k Subscribers

Cyclops Video 13k

Airgun Channel 10k Subscribers

Airgun Evolution 7k Subscribers

Hajimoto 3.5k Subscribers

Southern Gunner 3k Subscribers




 
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Interesting numbers. I think that was one of the observations I was making early on was that the YouTuber's that make money are doing it from outside sponsors, not YouTube. What I've learned here is that the YouTube payments are pathetic anyway, so being demonetized isn't that big a deal, as long as you have other sources of income from outside sponsors.

YouTube makes money on the advertising people watch while trying to watch your video (I skip almost all the commercials, just don't apply to me), so very little goes to YouTube.

Last I heard a couple years ago, YouTube was still losing or just barely breaking even. The profit model they use is based on incredibly skinny profits. At least as far as I understand. The economics are just strange to me
 
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Interesting numbers. I think that was one of the observations I was making early on was that the YouTuber's that make money are doing it from outside sponsors, not YouTube. What I've learned here is that the YouTube payments are pathetic anyway, so being demonetized isn't that big a deal, as long as you have other sources of income from outside sponsors.

YouTube makes money on the advertising people watch while trying to watch your video (I skip almost all the commercials, just don't apply to me), so very little goes to YouTube.

Last I heard a couple years ago, YouTube was still losing or just barely breaking even. The profit model they use is based on incredibly skinny profits. At least as far as I understand. The economics are just strange to me
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I wonder how much some of these guys get for wearing shirts and hats from different brands in their videos. I suspect they get more money from that than actual views.
 
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Considering that AEAC didn't make much from views, wearing a strategically placed bit of advertising could net much more than YouTube views. Seeing more and more outside influence where YouTube monitization policies may mean less and less. Maybe that's a good thing.
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Maybe, maybe not. For those of us that do channels more for the love of it and not to make money or a living, I think its a bad thing that we're hampered without corporate sponsorship. There is no question that Youtube gives more leeway to sponsored channels than channels that aren't.

I don't lament the loss of what little bit of money I was making, I'm aggravated about the dozen or so videos I worked hard at making that went viral, that Youtube then changed the rules on and restricted, while not doing the same to hundreds of other videos with the same content. Those videos were how my channel got out there. 

Its simply hypocrisy all the way around related to the making of money mixed with politics and agendas. Life is full of it, and it is what it is, but its still aggravating. 
 
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Bullfrog 

I had an entire rant going about YouTube and those that are oppressing the shooting videos without understanding what it's all about. Lack of knowledge is really a dangerous thing. They think that suppressing information will make the problem go away, but history shows that isn't true.

As for corporate sponsorship, it's an option for those that want to take advantage. Demolition Ranch is heavily sponsored now, and has a full line of merchandise with their logo. To them it is a profit making enterprise. YouTube is simply the vehicle.

While only a viewer of YouTube content, I also lament the loss of freedom at the hand of those that don't have knowledge. It'll be interesting now to see what they do with the new policy about dangerous stunts. That ought to cost them a penny or two as those videos probably generate some serious $$. In the end, we'll see if YouTube has the stamina to do what they say, and really eliminate channels that have millions of views. My bet is there will be some waffling.
 
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