Sponsor Troubles
The main bulk of our expenses, as probably those of many YouTubers, is covered by our sponsors. These are the integrations for special offers that you see at the beginning or the end of the video.
I pick those sponsors very carefully so that the offers are of high quality and, hopefully, of interest to our viewers. It's an arrangement that works for everyone: Our viewers learn of special offers, the sponsor gets new customers, and I have the money to pay the script writers, and videographers, and fact checkers, and software subscriptions.
In the past couple of months we have lost a lot of sponsors. It's got nothing to do with our channel. I have asked around, and other YouTubers, who work with different agencies, report the same problem. My agency, who is working with many other channels, says it's the same all over the board. I have also heard reports that the issue is similar for podcasts.
The origin of the problem seems to be the same as the current crunch in the tech sector. Many companies overspent during the COVID pandemic and they now have to dramatically shrink their budget. They have, plainly, no money left for advertisement.
As grateful as I am to your support, the money that I make on Patreon is not remotely enough to cover the expenses that I have for 8-10 videos a month, and YouTube ad-revenue is somewhat of a joke, though I admit that this is partly so because I refuse to use non-skippable ads.
The bottom line is that if I run a video without sponsor, I have to pay for it privately. I can do this once or twice, but not on a weekly basis.
This means that it seems likely that in the next couple of months our videos will appear irregularly, depending on when and whether we can find a sponsor. The next slot affected by this is the one on February 25.
I am writing this so you know what's going on.
I am not writing this to ask you for more donations -- this isn't a problem I can realistically solve with donations, there isn't enough money to go around on Patreon, and you're already doing what you can. But if you know of any company who might be interested sponsoring content on our channel, please tell them to contact my agency at sabine@mediamobilize.com
Comments (25)
This note is informative at several levels. Thanks for posting it. I’ve also seen notes about YouTubers quitting, and cable-style bundling re-emerging. 🤔 Seems like we’re going through another… thing. 😵💫 Take care. Keep communicating. Don’t worry. Maybe we’re going to discover why network TV was structured the way it was, with just three distributors and a bunch of integrations up and down the chain… Logically, we should look for structural cost reductions to deal with scripts and editing, next, or whatever is biggest on your COGS outline. I always come away thinking when I get a notification from your channels. Cool!!!
Besides the lack of sponsors and the consequent problem for this blog to continue in a diminished form, another thing that one should regret is that the lost sponsors were good companies that offered interesting things to people interested in science, hence giving Sabine support in exchange for delivering those short personal ads about them. This probably affects other science-talk shows as well, as some of those companies also have helped to fund them.
So sad to hear about that. I'm just new at this place, and didn't know how all that works, and YouTube doesn't bring some money to work with. So membership there is unhelpful? Few people know that, I guess, most think you're becoming millionear with the millionth subscriber, perhaps a video is nessecary to explain this. I appreciate all your work (books, research, brave criticism, songs e.t.c.) very much. Thank you and your team and don't harm yourself. Sorry, that I can't help more than being subscriber and recommend you in my environment.
No easy answers here. Decent sponsorship for content that doesn’t sugar coat will be hard to come by in any economic environment. So to join the chorus of support, whatever you decide is fine, including a CPI adjustment to the tiers. If nothing else, maybe a local currency denomination for those of us in the US could help, at least while the Fed is still hiking rates.
Sabine, I regret that you might have to post less content as you have become one of my favorite scientists and educators! But, I realize that such is the world that we live in sometimes! The best I can do is support you with my subscription!
Thanks for your support, I really appreciate it.
Sabine, I appreciate that you don't hawk shitty knives or 1 sq ft plots in Scotland or manscape ball shaving kits. If this means that you have to put out content less often, that's fine with me.
you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I've turned down lol
I just upgraded my sub. it's not much, but I do appreciate your content. As for possibly reducing the number of videos, so be it. Less Sabine is a much better option than no Sabine!
Thanks for your support :)
I like the idea of having a blog-only-week once in a while to help keep costs down. But I like the idea of you receiving the needed sponsorship even better. I am sure you work to hard to also have pay for what you do. I would think a university would want to sponsor someone who would challenge students to think outside the box/universe.
Thanks, that's good to know.
Thanks for everything you do Sabine. I'll keep donating each month as long as you keep putting content out there. TBH, I'm totally happy with just transcripts or a blog. I don't even need the videos. Best of luck to you!
the problem with sponsors who are sellers of what can be purchased for the well...Karl Marx had something to say about this a minute or so ago and in the end it would appear to be the case that what was once worth something to someone is now for some strange reason not worth what it once was worth too or was worth two the right word or the left one it was one of those wasnt it a thing of value contains such a thing given the quality of the contain meant of the containable along with the container required to contain the content while contra containing the con content aka the tent out there where the nonsense is being fed in to the salt water bath known as the at most sphere by the sellers of snake oil and flappers of full lips do equally no matter where the flips happen to be attached to the flapper meanwhile down the road a piece for the price of a glass of lemonade the doctor is in...:...:...
I'm very sorry to hear about this but it doesn't surprise me. The entire model that developed the Internet was based on 'free' with real support coming from ad dollars from behind the scenes. I first realized just how shaky the model was when cuteoverload.com fell from lack of funds. Lots of visitors but not enough ad revenue to pay their site provider. I support a number of content providers through their subscriptions but still wonder how they do it. I think that your subscribers understand the situation and will not mind a scaled back release schedule.
I'm following a couple of creators on Facebook. One sells books of her writing and comics, also t-shirts andn stickers. She has a Patreon and a Ko-Fi set up. Another has a couple of online clothing and merch stores to sell her designs, as well as a Ko-Fi account. They/fae ask for donations to their Ko-Fi for people to use faer art. I don't know about the latter but I believe the former creator makes her income online. I guess someone like Sabine could make more income from their online 'hustle' but at the time-expense of something else. Edited to add: If I had more cash to splash I'd support these and other creators financially too.
And yet they paid millions for superb owl commercials... We see what's happening in the financial news. I totally get it. Here's hoping global finances improve. I'll keep donating my pittance as long as I see a new video once in a while. Maybe you could post the occasional update of your work in text form here. As is, make me work to understand it. Best of luck.
sounds to me like quality is about to increase tenfold if not exponentially as the quantity moves from the numerator to the denominating nominator the inverse of the outverse putting the ring in the line that is only straight over the shortest possible distance di scribe able as the de scription of a con scripted convolution of Σ volution ΓΣ volutionon Σσα volution aka the sound of con fusion which Savine the saviour of ΘΣ the sum of all things hearing now ΣΘμμζ it all up succinctly illuminating the dark corners between the pages where the light does not get in too often...:...:...:...the end is the beginning of the crypto free mind space that has been cornered out by the non existance of computer code masquerading as...:money:...mind:...:matter:...medz:... more...:...:...:...on this later as the light is fading now somewhere on this orb of 24000 mile diameterically proposed ball of small sliding around the 93 million mile short tre bu chet the sling designed to fling a thing in the same direction until that direction is this and suddenly the sun is appearing to arise again after a long long slime of setting on some badly dream influenced night mares and fillies the neighing kind with a smile and a phone nearby...:...:...:...ignore the ants the war for sanity marches on and on and on and on ask peter gabriel
I agree with Ms. Thompson when she states that a lighter schedule that ensures quality is preferred. I believe Mr. Schonder is correct that we are dealing with a cleaver and not a scalpel. The prevailing economic winds suggests things will get worse before they get better. Therefore, please adopt a schedule that you can maintain even through tougher times. Once a month works for me because I play them more than once. Dr. Muller at Veratasium adopted this approach last year (I believe) after he struggled to produce quality videos that did justice by the material on a weekly basis. In any case, I promise to maintain my unimpressive contribution to the effort regardless.
Comparing the 'Science Without the Gobbledygook'-branded videos made with a videographer to Sabine's early DIY videos shows the improvements that have come with a commitment to quality but I find the earlier videos still quite entertaining, informative and thought-provoking. The earliest videos are kind of charming. I reckon Sabine could actually step things down a little and still deliver great content. I'm on record as saying I'd watch her read out her shopping list though. Either way I think SWTG will weather this storm.
when the magic curtain is drawn back the proof is in the pudding...
It's interesting that when times get tough and companies could benefit from more business, they decide to not pursue promoting themselves. It's understandable to cut back on some forms of advertising, but the cleaver seems to swing at most of it.
That’s not quite the way it works. If people aren’t buying, then there’s no point advertising, it becomes wasted money.
Schade. I wish there *was* a rich prince one could hit up for a quick cash injection. I personally would be happy with a lighter schedule if that ensures the channel continues to put out great videos.
some balloon shaped hominids were able to blow a little smoke into the intewebs a minute or so ago and suddenly billions of drops of rain would fall from the sky like rain on a sunny day...:...:...:...there was an old expression about large numbers of small things forgot what it was this is more appropriate https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/