Part II Written by Elizabeth M. Rathburn How Did We Get Here? How did we get here? With any new advancement in technolo- gy or development in the online world, we always seem to ask that question, but we don’t always take the time to take a step back and answer it. In this case, there is quite the story leading up to how exactly creator fandoms came to be. They did not just pop up overnight. Many things had to develop for there to be an ecosystem where there is the possibility you can make money from making videos – either through more traditional (at this point) sponsorships, or the newer idea of getting regular monetary support from your audience. This paper will cover the history of YouTube, podcasting, and Twitch; multi-channel networks and Defy Media; crowdfund- ing; and Patreon. History of “The Platforms” In order to get to where we are now, YouTube had to become YouTube: the site with a monopoly on user uploaded video content. And for those who weren’t so inclined to create vide- os, there were other options available in the form of podcast- ing. Twitch was also created, now with the monopoly on streaming primarily gameplay. These platforms allow for cre- ators to join with them to make money or find sponsorships, making it possible for some people to make their hobby their living. YouTube. YouTube is not the only video hosting website, but it is the largest, most popular, and farthest reaching. It was created in 2005 by three former PayPal employees named Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, and Chad Hurley and was later ac- quired by Google in October 2006 (Dickey, 2013). Beginning in May 2007, people were able to participate in YouTube’s Partner Program and make money for what they were doing. Some people were able to quit their day jobs and turn their hobbies of making videos into their jobs. 1 Google advertising on YouTube began in August 2007 and kept developing and growing from there, having up to sev- en different formats of ads by January 2009 (Jackson, 2011). YouTube started to create relationships with major companies as partners, including Disney, who make six fig- ures in advertising on YouTube. But what did it mean for a creator to be a partner? This meant these people were able to monetize their videos and allow YouTube to place advertising around, on top of, or before and during their videos. Becoming a YouTube part- ner is not open to just anyone, and that threshold has changed several times in the past few years. In the begin- ning, all that really mattered was you had to have an es- tablished following and audience and then apply. That meant only the very top YouTubers, ones with millions of subscribers, were able to participate (YouTube elevates…, 2007). A next threshold was a channel had to have at least 10,000 lifetime views. And while there have been many up- dates and scandals back and forth over the years between creator content, advertisers, and YouTube, 2017 was the worst year. This prompted YouTube to make some changes in early 2018. For one thing, instead of 10,000 views, channels had to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past 12 months (Alexander, 2018). This change and the other changes made for higher priority channels were not bad things for YouTube. 2017 was the year of the “Adpocalypse,” when many advertisers pulled their ads from YouTube. From a business standpoint, these changes made sense. YouTube had to get its platform un- der control or it would no longer be viable. Even for creators who met the new threshold, had a follow- ing, and did not break any of the strict YouTube Communi- ty Guidelines, the amount of money they were seeing from just YouTube advertising was shrinking and shrinking. Were there other options in order to keep making videos for a living? Podcasting. Podcasting is actually older than YouTube. 2004 is when Adam Curry and Dave Winer are credited to have created the first podcast (Podcasting historical…, n.d.). The idea of podcasting came into the mainstream when Apple offered over 3,000 free podcasts on iTunes in 2005 (Quah, 2017). Now many more people had access to podcasts and when smart phones such as the iPhone al- lowed listeners to download podcast audio files in 2008, more people started listening. As a result, more people start creating. 2 Just as YouTube started to add advertising to their videos, the podcasting industry began to allow for advertising as well. Like with traditional radio, podcasters could give spe- cific calls to action with coupon codes or simply say “This episode was brought to you by…” It took until 2014 when Apple’s podcast app went native for advertisers to take pod- casting as a legitimate format worth the time invested into finding the right podcast for their product or service. By the end of 2017, ad revenue from podcasts, was predicted to reach $220 million, 85 percent higher than 2016. Now, there are many different places where you can either host your own podcast or listen to someone else’s podcast. There are apps available for iOS and Android devices, in- cluding the Apple Podcast app, the Google Podcast app, Stitcher, and Spotify (Winn, 2019). Many YouTubers also have their own podcasts, and may upload a video version of the podcast to their channel. Twitch. Twitch is also about as old as YouTube and pod- casting, in its first incarnation as justin.tv in 2005 (Cook, 2014). This was created by Justin Kan, and it was described as a site where one could stream their life a la Big Brother. In 2014, it was acquired by Amazon and renamed Twitch. Now, it is primarily used to watch livestreams of games (Key turning points…, 2017). Watching live gameplay is one of the biggest categories on YouTube and it makes sense that a platform dedicated to just livestreaming would in- clude a large amount of gameplay as well. Just like with YouTube and podcasting, Twitch streamers are able to mon- etize what they are doing as a Twitch affiliate or a Twitch partner (Mior, 2018) Though it is not the only site with the ability to livestream gameplay (YouTube being another ma- jor one), it has a major focus on community and creating a fun experience for both the streamers and the users. How to Make Money While with all these platforms there is the option to either partner with the site by yourself or have sponsorships with outside advertisers, there are also other options available to give the creator some ease of mind. A creator could join a multi-channel network, they could use a crowdfunding site to fund a one-time project, or they could create a Patreon account. 3 Multi-channel networks. Multi-channel networks (MCN) “are organizations that partner with YouTube channels (and possibly other video sharing platforms) to offer services to contracted content creators” (What is a YouTube MCN?, 2016). The services they provide can assist the creators in managing their channels, improve their video quality by of- fering access to production and editing facilities, increase their income by offering connections to sponsorships, and optimize their content to become friendlier for YouTube’s algorithms. Because all channels are a part of a network, there is also a degree of cross-promotion to different audi- ences within the network as a possibility of growing a new- er channel’s audience. YouTube itself has an article for creators providing infor- mation about MCNs. It also offers a word of caution for all creators considering joining an MCN. “MCN contracts are legally binding” and “before you join, make sure you under- stand what services and/or results the MCN will deliver in exchange for your payment” (Multi-Channel Network…, 2019). YouTube also states any revenue from YouTube will go through the MCN’s AdSense and will be distributed by the MCN. It is in these contracts where some of the issues creators have with MCNs come into play. There have been instances of broken contracts, especially over the issue of owning intellectual property, and smaller channels not feel- ing properly cared for if the MCN was managing a particu- larly large number of channels. MCNs have also started to drop channels en masse as YouTube changes and updates its policies, some seemingly for no reason, so that now “instead of MCNs being an entry-level partnership for up- and-coming creators, companies will work with a few hun- dred people who are already popular” (Alexander, 2018). MCNs are also being bought by even bigger production companies, such as Maker Studios bought by Disney in 2014 or Awesomeness TV bought by Dreamworks (Ward, 2017). These companies are continually evolving just like the rest of the online world, but the average creator is not as excited about the changes. The future of MCNs is a little uncertain, especially in the wake of the 2018 Defy Media shutdown and subsequent fallout. In November 2018, Defy Media announced it would be shutting down. In their statement, they said it would be focusing on finding homes for their brands, which include Clevver and Smosh (Spangler, 2018). While it was a bit of a shock since the company was representing some very successful brands, statements from the creators them- selves made viewers feel optimistic. 4 This story changed very quickly as the creators then started announcing Defy still owed them money, their checks for AdSense from September and October, and no one was there to answer their calls (Jarvey, 2018).