Poll of the Day > I wonder if/when a bunch of big YouTubers are going to quit, and what they'll do

(+) Yeah! (+)

I feel like they've kind of painted themselves into a corner with their careers. At some point, either the platform is going to fail or they have to get tired of doing it, right? I mean, look at all the gaming YouTubers now. Most of them are in their 20's, or at least started at that age. Do you think they'll still be talking about NES games at age 40, 50? Sounds weird to me. And in my experience, most channels peak within four years, but I guess people will keep watching after it goes downhill.

I know a few have made millions and can probably just retire young, but for the ones who are making five figures, they've got a long life ahead of them.

Rockies posted...

Do you think they'll still be talking about NES games at age 40, 50? Sounds weird to me.

Why would this be weird? People aren't allowed to be passionate about the things they love?
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from what i know speaking to folks on the inside you actually don't need a heck of a lot to be able to live off it reasonably. obviously it's a large number but you don't need to be markiplier to do okay at this. not to mention a lot of them have things like patreon, selling merch, etc to stabilize it a bit

i dont think content creation will go away but i do think it's starting to move away from youtube and onto things like twitch. streams tend to keep eyes glued on stuff

you just have to not say the n-word and you're pretty okay i think
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HippopotamusRex posted...

Rockies posted...

Do you think they'll still be talking about NES games at age 40, 50? Sounds weird to me.

Why would this be weird? People aren't allowed to be passionate about the things they love?

He suicided an account showing POTD his balls, he's a smart guy, ok?
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oh shit is this chewy? no wonder he doesn't understand how the internet works
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AVGN is almost 40
And he is becoming more active again. In the last month or so we have gotten 3 new episodes. That is more then he has been doing usually.

I think if youtube dies some will move platforms. Some have already fully moved to twitch. Some have actually just quit and disappeared.
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HippopotamusRex posted...

Why would this be weird? People aren't allowed to be passionate about the things they love?

People can be passionate about that at whatever age, but I kind of doubt they still will. Do you expect their audience to not only keep an interest in that stuff, but follow them for 15-20 years too? And in terms of cultivating a new audience, I imagine younger people would gravitate towards somebody more their age, and older people aren't the right audience.

JunkoEnoshima posted...

from what i know speaking to folks on the inside you actually don't need a heck of a lot to be able to live off it reasonably. obviously it's a large number but you don't need to be markiplier to do okay at this. not to mention a lot of them have things like patreon, selling merch, etc to stabilize it a bit

i dont think content creation will go away but i do think it's starting to move away from youtube and onto things like twitch. streams tend to keep eyes glued on stuff

you just have to not say the n-word and you're pretty okay i think

This really doesn't answer my question at all but okay

your question is "is this sustainable" and my answer was "yes but maybe not on youtube"

sorry you don't have the reading comprehension to understand your own questions
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I thought of a good example, rooster teeth, though not one content creator, they have moved platforms a few times. As the founders get older i am sure they will retire, and thr reigns will get passed along to the next generation.
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Your example of it being sustainable hinged heavily on explaining that it's currently a lucrative profession, which... no duh, I'm not denying that. I'm aware that people use Twitch too, but at a certain point when does Twitch become basically the same thing as YouTube?

Maybe one thing I'm wrong about is how all the behind-the-scenes payment stuff could fall apart. However, I wonder at what point creator/audience fatigue will set in. How many more video game/conspiracy/reaction/prank/clickbait science channels can we possibly get? There's nothing interesting about YouTube anymore, everyone has found out the genres that build an audience and all the new people are trying to capitalize on them.

I suppose that, collectively, the audience and creators might not get fatigued since new generations will be there to replace them, but is it really that naive to think that current generations of creators have a limited shelf life?

Rockies posted...

when does Twitch become basically the same thing as YouTube?

never because they're different sites with very different focuses

twitch focuses entirely on gaming for one; youtube seems to hate gaming content
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If Youtube goes away, something will take its place. Hell, several platforms already exist that some people are moving to (and not just twitch). Plus people have things to supplement the ad money such as Patrion, merch, DVDs and books.

Even then, most Youtubers know that you can't do that forever and try to be smart about the money they are earning now so that they don't have to do something else once their channel dies.
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JunkoEnoshima posted...

Rockies posted...

when does Twitch become basically the same thing as YouTube?

never because they're different sites with very different focuses

twitch focuses entirely on gaming for one; youtube seems to hate gaming content

They used to love it though. But most gaming content isnt "advertiser friendly" like one "damn" can lose your ad rev from a video. So most gamers are going to twitch now.
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Get a real job?
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jayj420 posted...

Get a real job?

Yeah, but it might be tough to get a "real" job when you've spent five to ten years just making mediocre videos. Hell, I think a lot of people got into YouTube because they sucked at working real jobs. I'm sure after YouTube they can get some minimum wage job, but they're in for a rude awakening if they expect to be able to pull nearly the same income. Most people outside of a few internet spheres don't care if you were a YouTube "celebrity", and very few YouTubers have any sort of future in mainstream entertainment.

typical cynical chewchew

Rockies posted...

jayj420 posted...

Get a real job?

Yeah, but it might be tough to get a "real" job when you've spent five to ten years just making mediocre videos. Hell, I think a lot of people got into YouTube because they sucked at working real jobs. I'm sure after YouTube they can get some minimum wage job, but they're in for a rude awakening if they expect to be able to pull nearly the same income. Most people outside of a few internet spheres don't care if you were a YouTube "celebrity", and very few YouTubers have any sort of future in mainstream entertainment.

Successful ones can get jobs in video editting, performing or marketing without much trouble.
I think one a cooptional podcast, youtube wowcrendor was talking about real life skills has has gotten from doing youtube, and it have a large youtube channel shows you are good are marketing yourself.
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Some of them will have made and saved enough from their run to retire. Others can stay on top for ages since they've built a huge following and, even if the platform died, they'd migrate to a new one. A lucky few will transition into real entertainment.

In general, I can't imagine any of them quitting unless the money was no longer there. However, if they couldn't succeed any more as internet entertainers, they'd probably have to fall back on the low-end work many of them had been doing.

Realistically speaking, *most* will eventually be replaced by new stars and their audience will gradually drop off until it stabilizes at a lower number. The people who will really be affected are the marginal stars who likely have been doing other stuff as a fallback during this time. Keeping in mind that there are many channels which *don't* rely on money from YT. ADoseofBuckley, for instance, doesn't even run ads and its owner has a normal job despite having a 600k sub channel.

Rockies posted...

jayj420 posted...

Get a real job?

Yeah, but it might be tough to get a "real" job when you've spent five to ten years just making mediocre videos. Hell, I think a lot of people got into YouTube because they sucked at working real jobs. I'm sure after YouTube they can get some minimum wage job, but they're in for a rude awakening if they expect to be able to pull nearly the same income. Most people outside of a few internet spheres don't care if you were a YouTube "celebrity", and very few YouTubers have any sort of future in mainstream entertainment.

A lot of the guys who get big came from minimum wage backgrounds so I'm sure they'd likely go back to that.
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Quit making videos? Never. It's a dream job.

Quit YouTube? I keep saying it but it'll never happen, all they have to do is make their own video platform on one website. If they get the top 10 YouTubers to boycott, everyone else will follow and YouTube will die.

Seems they just want drama for content most of the time and they don't actually have any interest in fixing the problem.

As with all careers, there's growth, peak, and gradual slowdown.

When somebody loses income enough, they'll leave.
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Yellow posted...

If they get the top 10 YouTubers to boycott, everyone else will follow and YouTube will die.

Seems doubtful considering that a super-majority of Youtube viewers couldn't even tell you who the top 10 are. I know I certainly can't. The *only* name I know for sure is Phil DeFranco. I've heard the name Shane Dawson, but I don't know if he's big.
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HippopotamusRex posted...

Rockies posted...

Do you think they'll still be talking about NES games at age 40, 50? Sounds weird to me.

Why would this be weird? People aren't allowed to be passionate about the things they love?

While I don't agree that it's weird I can see how that can be perceived.

Online gaming content producer is still a relatively new career model that wasn't possible for the previous generation. We now live in a world where people who were born in the era where video games became mainstream are now 30-40 year olds using that experience to make money. What was perceived as a toy for kids in the 80s has grown and those kids are now adults in an era where video games are made for all ages.

That's why it's not weird because it's a generation gap. In 30 years time, theres going to be a large percentage of 60-70 year old gamers because that's the generation they grew up in and nostalgia will probably be even more prevalent making it seem totally normal compared to today where that gap still exists.
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A lot already had to branch out because of new changes to youtube's policy. I'm also sure they have video editing skills. And their popularity and charisma can translate to other things.
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Rockies posted...

Do you think they'll still be talking about NES games at age 40, 50?

Then they'd move on to snes games. And then PS1 games. Then PS2 games. You know, just keep going with the generations that are old now.
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