- YouTube is an awesome platform,
but it doesn't have everything going for it.
There are very significant problems and issues here.
So when do you know
when it's time to abandon YouTube
and go to a new platform?
The YouTube channel Alltagsabenteuer
commented and asked this.
"A lot of creators are currently migrating to Vidme.
"Is this for real or build some pressure
"on YouTube to fix some problems with their algorithm?
"Might this be the perfect time
"to make the switch to a new platform,
"to be an early adopter
"and be more easily discovered there?
"Thanks for you recommendation, Andreas"
(upbeat music)
Hey guys, my name is Tim Schmoyer
and welcome to Video Creators.
This channel's all about helping you guys
grow your YouTube audience,
so you can spread a message that reaches people
and impacts their lives.
And if you're not reaching people on this platform,
it can be very, very frustrating.
So how do you know when it's time to abandon ship
and move to some place elsewhere?
Maybe you can be discovered a little bit more easily,
they don't have algorithm issues,
advertising issues, lots of issues.
I have, actually, a lot to say about this
because I've been on YouTube since 2006.
So 11 years as of this recording
and I've seen a lot of things happen
on the online video space since then
and maybe this will give us some perspective
how I think about this question.
First of all, let's look at some facts,
some actual data and these are coming
from a few different reports,
from a few different sources.
I saw one report at VidCon,
it's showing the Ad-pocalypse thing
that hit creators really hard.
Did dip pretty significantly for about a month.
About two months later, it had come about halfway back
and three months later, creators were saying,
that they were back to their normal revenue levels
that they were prior to the ad-pocalypse thing hitting.
Even the research that you and I were a part of,
over with Social Media Examiner,
that research indicated that 47% of video creators
are making more money today
than they were this time last year.
38% of creators said that their revenue
has stayed pretty much about the same
and only 15% said that they're actually earning less now
than they were this time last year.
Now I know it really stinks to be one of those 15%,
but overall looking at the big picture,
I think monetization is going the right direction
for most people.
And if you are one of those 15%,
fortunately there are some things
that you can do about that.
I have a full blown video course called
Turn YouTube Into Your Career,
that will teach you how to grow a business model
around your channel that doesn't depend
and rely on advertising.
So that you can earn money
and make your channel completely sustainable,
even with a small number of views and subscribers.
Go check it out.
That's not the point of this video.
But a link to it is in the description below
if you wanna learn more.
The main point is that as far as monetization is concerned
I do think it's a case of a really vocal
minority of people who are really loud
but it doesn't necessarily represent accurately
the full breadth of creators that are on this platform.
Now let's talk about the changing platforms
part of that question.
Vidme, which is one that,
one that Andreas said that you suggested,
there's also Facebook
and Amazon Prime is jumping into this
and there's a lot of new platforms
popping up all the time.
One major thing to consider
before you just kind of jump ship into one of them
is that they count views very differently than YouTube does.
For example on Vidme,
basically a page impression is considered of you.
On Facebook, so it's like two to three seconds
is considered a view
which means that if you're scrolling through your feed,
here I'll get my phone
and you happen to see it for,
glance at it for a few seconds
and then keep going past it
that's considered a view.
YouTube is actually very strict
with what they consider a view
'cause views on this platform are like a currency
that a lot of things go by.
So they're very hardcore
about making sure that they have strict
and accurate view counts.
You can upload to places like Vidme and Facebook
and feel like you're getting
much bigger view counts and numbers there
compared to what you're getting on YouTube
but it's not really an apples to apples comparison.
So just don't get caught up in the trap
that I'm getting way more traction over here
than I am on YouTube.
I'm gonna put all my eggs in this basket.
Well maybe not.
Another thing that I consider is that
no other platform has the infrastructure
and the audience that YouTube has.
Here there's, YouTube says there are over 1.5 billion
logged in users active on this website every month.
So when you say that it's more easy
to get discovered on other platforms?
Well maybe but maybe those video platforms
only have a million total visitors a month
and so for you to get your videos up to a million views,
you have to capture 100% of that entire website's traffic
onto your video, right?
But on places like YouTube,
videos get millions and millions of views a day
regularly every day,
all day, every day.
It's very common.
But then there's the algorithm problem.
(suspenseful music)
And what difference does it make
if YouTube has one and a half billion viewers
logged in users every month
and you can't get in front of any of them.
Let's take a very big conversation
and maybe do it some injustice
due to oversimplifying things a little bit
but let me just kind of paint an overall picture
of how I think about this.
So YouTube's goal is to surface videos
that people want to see.
That is the algorithm's job.
That's what is designed to do and any tweaks
which know what,
I know YouTube, they're full of engineers.
They rigorously test and evaluate everything at length
before they roll anything out broadly across the platform.
And when they do roll it out
is because every test that they've lined up
indicates that this change will surface,
will do a better job at surfacing the videos
that people actually want to see.
So rather than just complaining about the algorithm,
my perspective is to ask a different question
which is how do I make better content
that people want to see?
And if I can figure out how to do that,
then the algorithm's gonna love my stuff.
Now I know it's frustrating
when you were up here
and now you're down here
as far as your views are concerned.
But for me, that's the perfect opportunity
to be okay, there must be other people
who are outperforming me now.
How do I stay on top of the game on YouTube?
How do I continue to improve, continue to grow?
Like improve my storytelling skills,
my videography skills, my production quality,
my contacts, my whatever it takes
to continue to stay on top of what it means
to engage viewers,
get up that watch time,
increase that session watch time,
and give videos to YouTube and to viewers
that people want to see.
But here's really at the end of the day
what it comes down to you for me,
guys, as far as when it's time to switch platforms.
Let's say all YouTube creators abandon YouTube
and went to another platform.
And let's assume just for the sake of the example
that that platform was somehow able to handle
all the traffic and all the infrastructure
and they were able to scale with it
and they were able to get some money in.
It's really expensive to host and stream video
to billions of people a month, right?
So let's just say they're able
to keep up with all that.
Nothing will change, right?
That new platform is going to just experience
all the same problems and issues with algorithms
and discoverability that YouTube has.
All the advertisers that will be on that platform
won't change, right?
They'll be the same advertisers
that are here on YouTube, over there,
and so they'll have the same advertisers to deal with.
Same expectations for advertisers to deal with.
They'll have to put similar safeguards
and infrastructure and systems in place
just like YouTube's doing.
Things won't ultimately change that much.
We'll just end up right back to where we started
and the unique challenges and opportunities
that go along with this will be the same.
Except for maybe if YouTube at least,
you know it's not going anywhere.
Anyone remember Blip.tv or Viddler or Metacafe?
Remember any of those?
Those sites have either disappeared
or have morphed into other things
than the video sharing platforms that they used to be,
that were competing with YouTube.
You can go to another platform
but I feel really bad for all the creators
who went all in on Blip.tv for example
and then that platform shut down
and everything, all that creator's work
and everything was gone.
They invested into a platform that disappeared.
So in my opinion,
you might as well stay on YouTube
and learn to ride the waves up
and the waves that go down
because if you go to another platform
and it turns out to be a successful platform,
you're just going to end up
riding those same waves up and down anyway.
So let's learn to ride those waves together.
I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts
and your perspectives on this.
I learn from you guys all the time.
The rest of you guys read the thoughts
and opinions other people have.
Don't just take mine.
I'm just one person who's been on the platform for a while
and I'd love to hear what you guys think.
And if this is your first time here at Video Creators,
I would love to have you subscribe
because every, well Monday is a livestream,
then Tuesday and Thursday.
We got multiple videos
coming up for you guys all the time,
all revolving around teaching you
and helping you and encouraging you
how to grow your YouTube channel.
So that you do reach people,
you do impact their lives,
and you earn money that makes all of that sustainable
so you can continue to serve your audience well.
So thank you for letting me
be a small part of that here.
Subscribe and I'll see you guys again on Monday.
See you then, bye.