Another Day Another Dollar (not)
Just finished another video. I’m kind of over it. I once saw that 99% of people who begin a podcast don’t make it to episode 20. As a result I’m determined to complete at least 20 of these short sketch comedy animations.
I spent some time learning about different ways to make money with animations. I’m considering doing livestreams as I draw the characters and backgrounds, though it’s not an ideal thing for me. I’m greatly disappointed in the overall viewership I’ve received so far.
The animation needs to find an audience. Right now my audience is a new group of 800 people scrolling through youtube shorts and spending about 30 seconds on mine. That ok when its temporary, but its a problem if it continues much longer. I haven’t really been posting the videos anywhere beyond youtube and tiktok lately. Most websites that allow for personal video sharing are spammed by creators.
I heard Mr. Beast discussing his overall philosophy and how he developed the audience he has today. At the end of the day it all boils down to click through rate – What is it about your title that is going to generate interest? Why does your thumbnail stick out? And why should viewers stay for the entire video?
Right now I can complete a 3 minute animated video in about one week without driving myself insane. Believe it or not that’s pretty good. If I could build somewhat of a following I could bring other animators along and potentially release longer or more frequent content.
The video length bothers me because even when my channel does get monetized I will receive payment on the number of featured ads. With a 3 minute video I’d be lucky to get one, it’s the 30 minute mark you want to shoot for. 30 minutes is a lot of writing, editing, and researching – and that’s if all you’re doing is speaking to a camera. For 30 minutes of animation I would need an entire team. That’s why I’m considering livestreaming my editing process – I could post those videos as well. For some reason a lot of people are interested in learning how to edit, and even more specifically how to animate. I don’t even know how to animate though, I just took everything I learned from editing Mountain Cult and applied it to jpgs and pngs instead.
Anyways, hope all is well. Life is good even when it feels like its not.
