IndigoGaming
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The Hard Truth About My Channel's Decline
🕑 Added 2024-09-01 18:03:20 +0000 UTCIf you've followed me for a while, I try to keep channel drama and financials to myself. My biggest breach of that principle was earlier this year. I did a Patreon/YouTube membership promo earlier this year to try to supplement my YouTube income, which has been floundering since 2021.
Back in February, I penned a script named "This Isn't the End, But You Can See It From Here" (inspired by Deus Ex: Human Revolution). Yet, I decided against using it as it felt too guilt-trippy and I didn't want to dampen the mood. I redid the video from scratch and recorded it mostly off-the-cuff, hinting at the decline of my channel, while still keeping my chin up.
But the situation was a lot more dire than I let on. The ugly truth of the matter is:
I've lost money on 4 out of my last 5 scripted videos.
("Lost" as in hard costs, meaning subtracted dollars from my bank account)
This has been going on for a while, and I thought it was just my own bad choices in topics.
And it turns out, I'm not crazy. Last year, Forbes published an article detailing reports about a sudden and inexplicable drop in many YouTubers' incomes.
"Well Indigo," you might say, "I know Such-and-Such and So-and-So YouTuber who still gets millions of views on the regular!" And you'd be right.
I see many creators doing well still, and even some friends of the channel like MandaloreGaming, Maajular, NerdSlayer and Raycevick who are still doing quite well (even though they seem to have experienced dips and declines this past year or two as well).
But that doesn't change that not only has YouTube simply stopped recommending my videos to new viewers, only about 4% of my subscribers are guaranteed to see my video pop up in notifications or their feed. And my recent videos show a vast majority of my views (90% or so) are from YouTube recommendations, not subscribers.
And it gets worse.
Not only are my actual VIEWS down year over year (with only a spike around my moderately successful Diablo III video):
...But that graph shows greater peaks and valleys than my REVENUE for the same months:
Notice the tiny, inconsequential blip around June 2023? That was a 700K-view Diablo III video I worked on for months and released in perfect timing with the once-in-a-decade Diablo retail release. And it made very little, dollar-wise.
My Miami Vice video cost about as much money to produce (stock footage, upscaling tools, music licenses, commissioned music, commissioned artwork, voiceover, etc.) than it made.
The Alan Wake video was a total loss. And my only "profit" this year was the hour-long Fallout deep dive that once costs were accounted for (which I drastically lowered with the previous failed videos in mind), only made about $200. That means I could have earned about 5X as much working at a minimum wage job evenings and weekends.
The End Result? Burnout.
I'm under no illusion that I'm entitled to money on YouTube for making edutainment videos. It started as a creative outlet because I was burned out at my desk job, but then it evolved into a hobby, then as a part-time side job. But I won't sugarcoat things and say it didn't start to get difficult:
I've spent over eight years working evenings, weekends, and 70-80 hour work weeks well into 1-2am every night.
I've passed out at my desk more times than I care to recall.
I've slept next to my desk while rendering my videos in parts, to ensure its timely release.
And I've stressed over completely unpredictable analytics, SEO and video failures. This is despite my craft, research and editing continuing to improve.
And there have been some great times too! I got to meet game devs, and have had amazing conversations with viewers and fellow game fans (like you fine folks). And of course, I appreciate all the support, monetarily or otherwise, that I've received over the years.
However, I've also received over 95,000 comments on my channel, and I try to read and/or respond to most of them. It's a losing battle, but when I get legitimate criticism or someone factchecks me and they're right, I work that much harder on my next video to improve.
But at this rate, I'm basically working my life away for free on a hobby that rarely gives me joy or satisfaction anymore, to a mostly positive audience with a few outliers who like to hate or complain about my free content, while missing time with friends, family and even enjoying the medium of video games which inspired this entire Indigo Gaming project.
Between YouTube, and my past jobs, I've worked the equivalent hours of 30 years of full-time employment. I just turned 39, by the way.
So What Now?
I'm not quitting YouTube, but I'm taking a step back, not obsessing about views, the constant need for content or SEO. I'll continue to work on Cyberpunk Part 4 when the desire comes to me. But I will not continue to lose sleep or stress out about working for $1/hr for a two-trillion-dollar tech company.
I'll probably appear on more podcasts, maybe I'll get back to streaming, and work on videos when the passion and desire arises.
In the meantime, I've revived an old game dev project I was drafting 11 years ago, and see if there's any merit to it.
I know this isn't pleasant news, and I understand 100% should you choose to disable your donations, as it's going to be a while before any new videos are out on my channel.
I'll post here when I have a better estimation on what to expect from me, and hopefully I have some good news about future projects.
Thank you again for all your support, and I hope you have a fantastic day!
Ian
Comments
Calvin Mercer
Your Cyberpunk videos are hands down some of my favorite content on youtube. I wish you the best and look forward to any future content you put forward =)
desert coffin
Take all the time you need! I'll defo go back and watch your back catalogue to make up for your absence on my feed :D
Indigo Gaming
I hope you eventually enjoy the video. I've been meaning to do an update. Staying busy but not everything to do with the channel. It's not completely over, but I am pursuing some other projects and it has been challenging and fulfilling! Take care.
desert coffin
It's crazy to hear that the Diablo video barely made anything money and audience wise. It used to be the case that a channel could pop off and remain in notifications/recommended for a while afterwards just off the strength of one video. Considering the quality and obvious effort put into your videos I genuinely didn't expect to read this news. I'll miss your content for sure, I hope you manage to rest & recharge offline and find a better way to get recognition for your work. PS: I wanted to watch the Alan Wake video but having not played the game I thought it'd be a good idea to try it out. It's a blast! Love it. Thanks for indirectly putting me on to it
Indigo Gaming
That's so amazing to hear! Thanks for sharing, Dan.
Dan Garnett
Sorry to hear this. Your Miami Vice documentary was incredible. I don't think I'll ever find a more detailed or better produced piece on the history of Miami Vice. Even my 80 year old mother, a big fan of the show, was blown away when I informed her that we were watching a youtube video. Thank you for creating that for generations to enjoy
Arvakur
well I watched your videos long before I finally made an patreon account, so i could give something back. In my book, I still owe you =)
Ben H
First the adpocalypse and now YT is throttling new creators, I’m sorry they are hellbent on killing the platform. There’s really no rush, as always, do what makes you happy and your audience will find you. The quality of your videos is so high and they’re so long that they’re always going to get tossed in a groupchat or recommended to a coworker anyways.
LCH30
Maybe so. But it’s worth a try. Plus, I know on Rumble at least it doesn’t take anywhere near as long to get monetized as it does on YouTube. Not only from my own channel (small as it is), but also a channel I collaborate on, which is also very small. Something to think about
Tarranium
I as an Eastern European person, didn't know that Miami Vice even existed. So you shone a light on something genuinely very important in the development of pop culture, which directly inspired a lot of things I really like. I like to think your content is quite evergreen, so if YouTube ever bothers to even attempt to fix its algorithms, I'd like to think that the channel could provide some passive income for the future. Also, I have no idea how big of a project your Dark Sun video was, but it would be cool to see small "light" videos from you on, now forgotten, things like those Dark Sun games. For example, there are those 2 DreamForge Ravenloft games :P
Indigo Gaming
Series and episodes can perform even worse (hence why Cyberpunk Part 1 got 3X the views of any other episode). There's a long-video meta right now. I appreciate the feedback, but crazy-long videos can get millions of views.
Indigo Gaming
Thanks! I know I made a tiny mark on the industry in some small way, hopefully introducing a few people to some of the games I love, and maybe making one or two people think twice about the mainstream sentiment on a few games. I was suffering burnout even in 2018 while I worked on the God Game video, but it was still worth it because of the tremendous viewership and feedback I got on it. I could do another video of that same amount of work and get almost nothing for it (like I did with "Miami Vice," "Fallout Was Sold," and especially the Quintet video.
Indigo Gaming
I tried Vidme, Bitchute and Odysee at different points. It's no exaggeration that they get 0.00001% or perhaps less views than the big platforms like YouTube, TikTok, etc. Some of them don't even have ad revenue, so you have to rely 100% on subscriptions, which is way, way harder when nobody sees your content. Good suggestion, but unfortunately, unless you have a big enough pull to convince your viewers to move with you, you're going to have a hard time.
Indigo Gaming
You're too kind! Thank you. I already tried the slight nudge with my Patreon promo earlier in the year, and it helped a little! But between infrequent output (long-term projects rather than monthly) and the economy, I'm still nowhere close to being able to do YouTube full time, and I understand times are really tough right now, so I would never try to guilt people into paying more.
Indigo Gaming
Thanks very much, Mark. It wasn't until I looked back and I got about 1/4 of the income I was supposed to for Diablo III (which I crunched on for several months to get it out by June), that I realized just how bad things had gotten.
Indigo Gaming
Thanks, GPP! You've been a real one for a while now. I'm not gone completely, but I can't emphasize the insane urge to immediately start spitting out content even if you just put out a 12-month project. It borders on madness.
Indigo Gaming
Thanks Jason. I apologize if this came off as a rant, but I'm so very frustrated that 8 years of work and the "taste" of success devolved to this. I really enjoyed creating documentaries and sharing different takes on franchises. I just don't see this going anywhere but further down at this rate.
Jason Alvarez
I am very sorry to see this come to pass, please take care of yourself first and foremost my friend. Our hobbies are supposed to be fun not an uphill struggle.
GiantPurplePen15
Thank you for everything you've produced for us! Take care of yourself while you take a much needed break from the YouTube hustle and grind.
Mark Nold
It’s really healthy to think “what am I getting out of this?” Best of luck, your Cyberpunk videos are excellent.
Arvakur
It feels so wrong to "like" this post. I love your carfully crafted videos and I'm rewatching them regularly. esp. the cyberpunk ones. It's sad to read how much work and love you put into these and yet receive so litte success. Please take care, don't overwork yourself. You only have one precious life. Unfortunately there is no respawn and no "restart level". I'll upgrade my support level, although i can't promise to keep it there indefinitely or for how long.
LCH30
It would probably be a good idea to put your content on Odysee and Rumble where they don’t have the same throttling issues that YouTube is going through. The great thing is that they have YouTube sync features that makes it so your YouTube vids automatically upload to those other sites when you upload to YouTube
Tarranium
The sad reality of following your passions is almost never being rewarded for it, regardless of how much you deserve it. You've done invaluable work on not only spreading awareness of the old Elder Scrolls and Fallouts, but you've debunked many myths around them. I hope things get better.
Scrap_Dragon
I've away enjoyed your videos, but there too long. If you broke them up lets say over 4 parts you might do better. Also you can probably just put the full video as a 10$ patreon exclusive for those who don't want to wait for it. Or try to see if you can partner with some one like curiosity stream. you are making a documentary in a sense.
Daniel Cadwell
I know a good amount of creators do an early release on Nebula, then their regular youtube release a week or a month later. But i haven't read into it. I just know channels like wendover productions, Mustard, and Real Engineering do that
Indigo Gaming
That's great to hear! The Alan Wake vid was probably my weakest release in 7 years, so I was surprised to hear people had watched it. I've heard of Nebula, but I don't have a particularly huge following to begin with, so I doubt pay-walling all of my content would work out well at all. It's basically a communal Patreon with extra steps.
Daniel Cadwell
I just upped my membership, i know youtube has been fucken with creators. Have you considered looking into other streaming platforms like Nebula or curiosity stream? Regardless, always love your content. The Alan Wake vid was one of my favorites
