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As YouTube Traffic Soars, YouTubers Say Pay Is Plummeting (medium.com) 113

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Newspapers, websites, and TV channels have all been decimated by the coronavirus. And YouTubers are also feeling the pinch. From a report: While boredom-inducing stay-at-home orders may be good for YouTube channel traffic, increasing by 15%, according to the New York Times, YouTubers say that the rates companies pay to advertise on their videos are dropping significantly. That means that despite increased audiences, some YouTubers are making less money. Carlos Pacheco, a former media buyer turned YouTube adviser, says that across 180 YouTube channels he works with -- which have a total of nearly 68 million subscribers worldwide across a range of different interests -- advertising rates have tanked by an average of nearly 50% since the start of February. "Everyone is pausing their campaigns on YouTube," Pacheco says.

Data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an advertising industry body, suggests that one in four media buyers and brands have paused all advertising for the first half of 2020, and a further 46% have adjusted their spending downwards. Three-quarters say the coronavirus will be more damaging for the ad industry than the 2008-'09 financial crisis. That means fewer ads for Big Macs on TV and in newspapers, but it also means advertisers are less likely to compete for the pre-roll ads that usher you toward your next YouTube video. Digital ad spending is down by a third, according to the IAB -- a slightly less painful drop than the traditional media's 39% cut, but still damaging. YouTubers are reporting anywhere from 30% to 50% declines in their cost per mille (CPM), or the amount YouTube receives for every 1,000 views of an advertisement served against a video. YouTube takes that money, keeps 45% for itself, and gives 55% to creators.
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As YouTube Traffic Soars, YouTubers Say Pay Is Plummeting More

As YouTube Traffic Soars, YouTubers Say Pay Is Plummeting

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  • If everybody is off work watching YouTube then they are going to be spending less on the products advertisers want to sell.

  • The good ones... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Tailhook ( 98486 ) on Monday April 13, 2020 @01:06PM (#59941320)

    Good content creators have already moved on. Some are on other platforms where they are not reliant on the benevolence of Youtube. Others have sponsors and are doing in-video ads on Youtube. What you're hearing here are the cries of the pointless; people that make content no one will actually pay for.

    • No true Scotsman makes quality content for YouTube.

      P.S. Except for Kurzgesagt.

    • I've stopped watching videos from most people that have their own sponsored ads. It's one thing for ads to be clearly separated from the content, but when the content creators blatantly integrate ads into the same context as the content, and narrate the ads themselves, that really grates me.

      Also, why are so many sponsored ads 1-2 minutes long? Whoever thinks making an ad longer makes it more effective should be drawn and quartered. This whole industry seems intent on committing suicide.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        What the fuck are you talking about, you can fast forward through the embedded ads you can't fast forward through the google junk food bullshit ads, you just skip that content entirely. I like the embedded ads better (content creator ones, not that google content interruptus screaming ad bullshit), they have at least somewhat relevance to the content, the content creator gets all the revenue and fuck the corporate ass hat censors google. Turn off advertising revenue and embed you own ads and get 100% of the

    • It would actually be less painful if they didn't all make ads for VPN services that actually DEcrease your privacy...

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
        depends om who you ar tring to hide your data from, If you don't tust you isp, or random free hotspon while on a trip, well then vpn will help (no dns lookups or unencrypted https/tls headers outside the tunnel etc) if you are truing to hide frol TLAs good luck. I suspect most vpns used outside of business related activities are more to region un-lock content than anything else. But yea the vpn (obviously ) only protects data while it is inside the tunnel (and hides your ip from anyone beond the far end of

        • With a VPN service, you're basically trading your ISP as the entity that can violate your privacy for the VPN provider. Now guess for a moment which of them can more easily go POOF and reopen under another name should it become public knowledge that they sell your privacy to the highest bidder.

  • The title would imply that there's some disagreement between Youtube and Youtubers about where the traffic is going. Which is not the case, the traffic is increasing but the REVENUE is dropping. Naturally, there's a shitstorm going on in the economy, what else would one expect?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Tailhook ( 98486 )

      Naturally, there's a shitstorm going on in the economy, what else would one expect?

      The expectation is everything keeps spinning as it has been, except all the employers and landlords and ad buyers and everyone else is supposed to "sacrifice" indefinitely such as not to inconvenience any politicians and their indefinite "lockdown" fantasies.

      • it's mostly restaurants & bars plus a few retail outfits. Oh, and my Dog Groomer (which sucks, my dog has hair, not fur, and it keeps growing, and it's way harder to cut a dog's hair than you think).

        We can pretty easily keep things going. I'm just not so sure we're willing to. It would require a different way of thinking about who deserves what.

        • We can pretty easily keep things going. I'm just not so sure we're willing to. It would require a different way of thinking about who deserves what.

          Idiots who think they know how the economy ought to operate have a long track record of ruining it worse than any supposed robber baron could ever hope to do. Right now you can't get your dog groomed because someone else decided that they knew better than you and that your dog groomer doesn't deserve to be open for business. If the PETA people were in charge they'd decide that you don't even deserve to keep a dog as a pet.

          The worst tyrants are always the ones that think that they're doing it for the good

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Mitreya ( 579078 )

          it's mostly restaurants & bars plus a few retail outfits. Oh, and my Dog Groomer

          I think you underestimate how many more things are either heavily impacted or stopped. Perhaps because you don't use these services so much.
          Airlines, Gyms, Hotels, Training/Tutoring services (e.g., yoga, personal training, test tutoring), all places of "public amusement" (Disneyland, zoos, movie theaters).
          Some of these (like airlines or hotels) may be in an "essential" category, but they are in hold pattern. Most hotels are empty and have already laid off their staff (at least cleaning workers).

      • One of the core principles of business is that risk is rewarded. Why should the people underwrite the risk of doing business?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by q_e_t ( 5104099 )
          No, it's that risk may be rewarded if there is also success. There is no certainty that the reward matches the level of risk, or that there will be success.
    • How does the title imply there is disagreement between YouTube and Youtubers? What should the title be - "As YouTube Traffic Soars, YouTubers Say Play is Plummeting, but They Don't Disagree Pay Should Be Plummeting Because They Understand Advertising Rates Have Been Dropping As Well".

  • Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dicobalt ( 1536225 ) on Monday April 13, 2020 @01:09PM (#59941332)
    So let me get this straight, advertisers have a chance to reach more people than ever before and they are passing it up. Short term corporate mentality strikes again.

    • Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ardmhacha ( 192482 ) on Monday April 13, 2020 @01:12PM (#59941350)

      "So let me get this straight, advertisers have a chance to reach more people than ever before and they are passing it up."

      Reaching people is useless if those people don't buy your product.

      • Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by rattaroaz ( 1491445 ) on Monday April 13, 2020 @01:29PM (#59941440)

        "So let me get this straight, advertisers have a chance to reach more people than ever before and they are passing it up."

        Reaching people is useless if those people don't buy your product.

        And buying your product is not going to happen if you don't reach people. I think that is the point of the "short term corporate mentality" comment that you left out.

        • For many businesses it makes no sense to advertise right now. Some are just outright shut down by order of the government, others are saturated with customers and can't server any more, some are drastically restricted in capacity and driving more customers won't help. Then factor in that a lot of folks are apparently not taking home as much money right now and therefore doing little to no discretionary spending, and even the ones with cash aren't allowed out and about, so for some other businesses the adver

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by q_e_t ( 5104099 )
          So you say "visit our hotel in three months, assuming you are alive, still have a job, we haven't gone bust, and you remember!" now or wait three months and run "you are alive, you still have money, and are allowed out the house, celebrate with a mini-break with us!" in three months. If I owned a hotel that didn't have deep pockets, I'd tend towards the latter as a strategy.

          • Psychology would say, though, that people are way more susceptible to wanting a treat now, even if they can only eventually enjoy that treat 3 months down the road. If anything, hotels are currently really desperate for money and doing a "get a huge discount if you book your rooms NOW" (whether you actually get a discount is anyone's guess) ad now could get some needed cash flowing.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

              Psychology would say, though, that people are way more susceptible to wanting a treat now.

              A treat in three months isn't a treat now. Pyschology tells us than when under pressure people are more likely to take a treat that is actually now rather than a promise of something in a period of time, even if the treat in the future is greater. If you have the option of a £50 treat now (new sneakers) or the chance of something in 3 months for £500 when you don't even know if you'll have a job to pay the £500 the logical thing to do is to not buy the thing for £500, even if when yo

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by sjames ( 1099 )

          When the stores are closed and the potential customers are restricted to essential travel and temporarily unemployed, they're not going to buy your product even if they are aware of it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ledow ( 319597 )

      What's the point in reaching people that aren't even in a position to buy your product?

      Everyone advertises on YouTube - but what's the point in advertising at the moment if you're an offline store, an online store that can't keep up with orders, or somewhere that's closed entirely?

      Plus, the way YouTube works, those advertisers who just got put on twice as many videos will see their costs double out of the blue - it's not as simple as "I'll just have one ad on a Tuesday on this channel, please". Their adver

    • Where are you getting your advertisement budget if your sales have dried up to the point you are laying off workforce left, right and center? And is advertisement spending today going to result in sales several months from now? That just does not work, there is no long term outlook here, only short term survival.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sjames ( 1099 )

      What are they going to advertise? Come on down and have a look? The store is closed and the potential customers are under a lockdown order. Hurry to your local store and marvel at the empty shelf where our product is supposed to be!

      Like many other things, advertising will spike when things open up again.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Mal-2 ( 675116 )

        Raid Shadow Legends and World of Warships have been turning up as sponsors in some pretty outrageous places. Arvin Ash did a RSL ad, and you could easily tell where he went from "I played it for a few hours and I enjoyed it" to reading their prepared script. Most of the others have been somewhat better fit.

    • I don't know about others, but we've found that giving product away for people to review - even people with only a few hundred followers - and having them do video reviews returns a LOT more money than buying ads. I'll give away $1000 in my cost of product, and I'll get $5000 in revenue, making $2000 in profit. I buy $1000 in ads, I'm lucky to get $2000 in revenue - barely breaking even.

      How do the reviewers get paid? They typically sell - with our blessing - the reviewed products at a discount on eBay or

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
        or maybe create some kine of contest/reffle to give it to one of there subscribers which creates more hype on the cat/sicord/comments whatever this is esp popular if the prodyúct in guestion is somthing that a loot of the channels subscribers are interested in owmig

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dohzer ( 867770 )

      Maybe they worked out that normal advertising doesn't work? They may as well make that 'Skip in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...' button auto-click.

  • Well duh (Score:5, Insightful)

    by EvilSS ( 557649 ) on Monday April 13, 2020 @01:10PM (#59941338)
    It's happening everywhere else too. Ad spend is estimated to be down around 40% or more in "traditional media", and close to that digitally. Businesses that are shut down don't need to advertise. The ones that are still running are cutting back across the board, due to drops in revenue and not wanting to encourage customers to come into stores. HD, for example, has stopped putting out fliers and dumped some of their spring promos. Best Buy has also stopped putting out fliers. Anyone else noticing a big drop in junkmail? I know I have

    Big brands are also avoiding advertising around COVID-19 coverage online. Newspapers, who have also seen a massive uplift in digital readership are bleeding money right now due to removing paywalls for COVID-19 coverage and a huge drop in both print and online advertising. And with big brands not pushing ads on their most read stories, the ads they are getting are not paying well. Some have begun to furlough workers and cut print editions from daily to once or twice a week.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Mitreya ( 579078 )

      Newspapers, who have also seen a massive uplift in digital readership are bleeding money right now due to removing paywalls for COVID-19 coverage and a huge drop in both print and online advertising.

      Removing paywalls is true for about 5% of newspapers, tops.
      Many have tantalizing titles "How to protect yourself from COVID-19: What you need to know" and are still very much behind a paywall if you click
      We desperately need viable a micropayment system. I am happy to support newspapers. But there is just no way that I am going to create and keep track of dozen digital newspaper accounts (even if they are free).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by EvilSS ( 557649 )

        Removing paywalls is true for about 5% of newspapers, tops.

        It's more than that. Gannett alone (who dropped paywall on core pandemic coverage in late March) accounts for over 100 daily newspapers in the US by themselves. That's around 8% of the newspapers in the US.

      • "We desperately need viable a micropayment system."

        There already is one, it is called advertizing.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sjames ( 1099 )

        God no, we do not need micropayments. They might be good in theory, but in practice you'll end up paying by the pixel and not realizing the white background is dithered to make it slightly grey and expensive. And they'll still have ads. You'll still have to keep track of subscriptions unless you want to fund a pre-paid account anyone in the world can withdraw from at their whim. God forbid you accidentally click on a research paper on a journal's site.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      This may be a good thing. The country would be much better if the Daily Mail and Sun went out of business.

  • The rich still have bottomless pockets and credit cards at home, why has this happened? It's almost as if the economy requires a wide base of consumers at the bottom.

    If this pandemic finishes off supply-side economics, we have a bright future to look forward to!

    • It isn't just the folks with reduced budgets. It is that in many places, even if you are rich, you can't have a sit down meal in a restaurant, can't go to a movie theater (or the symphony), can't go to a bar and hang out, can't grab a first class ticket to Paris, etc...
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Yeah no, that's not the case. Most people have enough money, the problem is being stuck at home part, there is nowhere to spend the money you have. I mean what the hell do you need that you don't already have at home? Whatever it is, it'll amount to a whole lot less spending than what you would normally spend.

      • Unemployment is approaching Great Depression levels, and most of it is in lower-paying jobs, people who hardly had enough money in the first place. Yet people can still order any products they want online along with any sort of digital services. Being stuck at home restricts only what people can spend on, not the ability to spend in general.

        As someone who was working part-time remotely from before the quarantining measures went into place, the only change to my spending has been spending less on gas and mor

        • It restricts the ability to spend for a lot of people who have no job now, hence no income and hence not the means to spend. Whether you have a credit card and can spend money you don't have does not matter in this context because people who do that already had a maxed out credit card and now can't spend because they can't pay off enough to stave off getting the card declined another month, or if they have not they are actually capable of handling money and now notice that they don't have any, and don't wan

  • Coronavirus the benevolent (Score:3)

    by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Monday April 13, 2020 @01:27PM (#59941426) Journal
    Less advertising? Coronavirus has a good side!
    • I have not seen any less advertisements on Youtube. I think the article is instead saying less marketing dollars are (or should be) competing for that time. Youtube is probably trying to save face by still showing everyone lots of advertisements as if their business is still booming. If they actually showed users less ads then marketers too would realize they should be paying much lower rates. Newspapers are cutting distribution to half weeks, I'm sure advertising dollar-pressure is very much related to why
    • I definitely have seen a massive reduction in junk mail too.

      • I haven't. We have an agreement with the trash mail guys, we offered them a trash can in front of our mail boxes with a sign stating that he can save himself and all of us a lot of work if he just chucked his junk into the trash instead of having it take the detour through our mail boxes.

        It's just so win-win...

  • YouTube's costs have to be going way up; in terms of bandwidth and server resources with everyone at home and their being a source of 'free' content.

    I can only assume ad revenue is dropping at the same time with business engaging in all kinds of cost cutting, and it probably does not make sense for a lot of companies to advertise to a public that might at this moment be legally bared from consuming their products and services; that is IF they still have jobs and any discretionary income.

  • As I'm forced to be home, I'm watching a bit of Youtube as well and their AI must be struck with Corona or another form of craziness.

    I'm a leftist Socialist from Europe, no driver's license, never camped, never shot a gun, never sailed, and I get suggested thousands (not kidding) of Ammo reloading, winter camping, sailing, muscle cars remodeling, FoxNews crap...
    it doesn't matter how often I tell them to not show me that or that I don't like it, their algorithm is badly flawed.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Only so much free content on approved topics.
      Only so many ads will still pay thinking their ad will be seen by people.

      Without censorship on big tech networks people could find what they wanted and ads could connect to them.
      The system is now stuck on full censorship, with approved ads and approved content.
      If all that can get past powerful big tech censorship is "winter camping, sailing, muscle cars".. that is all then content this is been approved as been what users are allowed to find.

      In a free marke

  • Another piece of evidence that YouTube allows bad content to drive out good content

    Gresham's law is the market principle that stating "bad money drives out good money". The exact same thing is true with content, trolls, bigots and conspiracy theories run riot on YouTube and Social Media everywhere. Nonsense like COVID-19 is caused by 5G towers.

    Lies are around the world before the truth gets its boots on: attributed to many.

  • Could it be that producers / makers of products are skipping the paying of so called influencers and instead are making their own videos? This way they can control what is said or shown about their products. These videos can generally be produced at a higher production quality. And if the videos are not on YouTube they don’t have to follow Alphabet’s rules and regulations. These producers / makers can still make a bowdlerized video that can be shown on YouTube if they want.

  • Wal Mart is paying. Unable to watch crappy SNL@Home without a 30 second Wal Mart pandering ad.

  • That means fewer ads for Big Macs on TV and in newspapers

    When every branch of the entire chain is closed there's not really any point is there?

  • Most YouTubers Went to Patreon Years Ago (Score:3)

    by Vandil X ( 636030 ) on Monday April 13, 2020 @03:58PM (#59941974)
    When YT started demonetizing videos, including ones that had been out for some time but were suddenly afoul of the modern YT content policy, a lot of YouTubers started using Patreon to keep things going.

    That and merchandise and social media ads.

    Looks like those who haven't yet diversified their income source are learning the lesson the hard way.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Matt ( 78254 )
      +1. You beat me to it.

      I follow several engineering and aviation Youtubers, and for months they've been frequently reporting that they are getting "demonitized" for unknown reasons, and are more and more counting on Patreon and in-band infomercials, and probably other sources I don't know about.

  • I was wondering when this would hit - it's an obvious outcome of partially shutting down the economy, reducing the value of ads.

    Another bit of obvious logic - if we're keeping people safe with social distancing, we're NOT keeping essential workers as safe. This will hit health care for COVID19 victims hardest, as they get sick despite the best precautions and stay out sick for weeks. Unlike the rest of us, the 'curve' for workers in hospitals won't 'flatten' any time soon, as our avoided risk accumulates t

  • Will do that for content people actually want to find, share, link, comment on and enjoy.
    No big tech censorship and the free market will let content people actually want to support become a product that is in demand.
  • If there's one type of job I want to see the coronavirus eliminate, it's the people who just make money off Youtube videos or Instagram posts every day. Get a REAL job.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
      It is a real job just as real a job as a news reader on tv, they both talk to a mic and camera, I migh agree with you on instagram nut thet is just because instagram does not respect the aspect ratio of the uploaded video the auto cut/reframe it to fit in a portrait mode frame, it is the video produser chois wheter they use portait or lanskaype, paws off insagram

  • less ads (Score:2)

    by sad_ ( 7868 )

    So there are less ads and... this is good news, right?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
      unless the content creator has ad revenue as a sigbificant part of their main source of income
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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