Patreon support should be considered a bonus. It blows my mind that someone would rely on Patreon for living. Back few years when her troubles with renting started i said counting on Patreon is a wrong thing because it is not a sustainable source of income. This video has confirmed that.
OK, lets assume the Patrion supporters increase their pledges. Two years from now it will be eaten away with inflation and increased rents, and she will be back begging again.
Exactly. I fail to understand what some people think YouTube and Patreon is.
Youtube before the ADpocalypse was not a reliable way of making money, now even worse. Patreon as a plead support exists but is not reliable because as YouTube how many people go for the premium/paid subscription? YouTube with uBlock you can say bye to ads on the start of the videos (or if you use a VPN choose a country like Taiwan - it's the one I normally connect and to this day I'm still waiting to see an ad pop up in the beginning or middle of a video. Same can't be said if I choose Japan or Hong Kong). The YouTuber have a promotional ad inside the video? Just hit twice the arrow to scrub 10sec and ad finished.
Some YouTubers now going to services like Nebula who have a subscription with Curiosity Stream, including having content only available in such service. Just a search on reddit and you can see such content on pirate streaming websites.
People who don't want to pay will not pay, end of story. Be not being able, be believing that entertainment should be free, whatever the reason.
YouTubers and other content providers should change their approach and understand that YouTube and other services are another avenue for revenue, should not be the main one. They should have a work, a product or a shop or some kind of main revenue to support them.
Or course this is not true for big channels as MKBHD, LTT and Kurzgesagt as an example, but those channels grown in their respective fields in the golden age of YouTube. But even those channels had to diversify - both the 3 above do commercial work, as you can rent then to do corporate training videos (LTT) or educational videos (Kurzgesagt) or even company filming/ad production (MKBHD).
For all successful channels said above a ton are underperforming or failing to be able to break the water line. The tech/review sector is flooded of people trying to do the same others do, without anything that makes them differently of their peers in the same area of interest.
This will happen even more as companies cut ad costs, price increases because of inflation or other non controlable reasons.
Wanna share context to the masses, great do it, but don't expect to make a living on that.