Monetizing Animation

[lwaxana]

I agree that trying to make a living from only youtube ad revenue would be a dubious strategy unless you had a really low cost of living or are already generating a large income from youtube and have something really reliable to fall back on. But I do suspect that you can offset the costs of animation or generate some "extra" income with web animation.

Animating couple Jaltoid is an interesting example to me because I remember seeing their work years ago and now see that they have increased their popularity substantially. https://www.youtube.com/user/Jaltoid/videos Here are their social blade estimates: http://socialblade.com/youtube/user/jaltoid. Obviously, the range is huge, so it's hard to tell how much they are actually making. It is worth noting that they tend to release new animation monthly, not daily or weekly. They also have a patreon, t-shirt sales, and I believe that they have a spin off let's play channel as well.

But the argument in favor of releasing frequently seems to assume that a video has an expiration date, or a very limited range of time to draw views. I know that there were concerns that youtube videos would lose visibility quickly due to recent youtube algorithm changes, but I think that many videos' rate of views per day increases over time rather than decreases. Especially as you increase your number of videos and a view for one video can convert into views for other videos. At least, this is what I have seen with my videos. So perhaps animating about current events is the problem. If the value of your video expires, then you have to work harder for views by releasing videos more often?

[Edit: Correction, looking at their older videos, jaltoid must have released more frequently than monthly for some period of time. 1-2 animated videos / month is probably more accurate.]

[sceech]

Slow tiger is right. Episodic animation pays best on TV, which is writing driven, not animation driven. Is your strength writing or animating? It is almost impossible to make a living on internet animation clips, ad revenues just don't pay. Internet ads are the low rung on the financial ladder. The internet is a place to practice your craft, and get exposure, which could turn into money if you have a large following and can get a backer, based on hits, to finance something bigger with a team.

If a writer, then focus on the best, punchiest animation that is not topical (because of its' short shelf life). In comedy, clever thoughts go farther than clever animation, as long as the animation is good enough not to distract from the joke.

If an animator, focus on showing creative animation, to create a nice "reel" to get work on someone elses' team.