Podcasts

Although podcasts started as an aural concept, the term is now used for video casts as well. The downside of this, is when talking about a podcast you don’t know if it is visual or aural.

Recently I have come across discussion on podcasts, the first was on Ravelry and was mainly about which podcasts people watch/listen to and why, and what they like/dislike generally about podcasts.

The other one was on Reddit and mostly revolved around the monetization of video podcasts. And in a world full of clamouring for pay-the-designer, I find it interesting that in other areas crafters do not want to pay producers.

The monetization of podcasts occurs in a couple of ways – through YouTube advertising (YouTube is the only platform with which I am familiar) and through direct sponsorship of the host. With the latter there will be (or should be) a heading in the video saying it contains sponsored content. This means that the YouTuber gets something in return for talking about a product. This may not be directly related to the subject of the podcast. For example a booktuber I watch occasionally is sponsored by a jewellery manufacturer and a knitting podcast is sponsored by a skincare company.

My google-fu was not being very helpful with this topic as there were plenty of articles about how to be sponsored but very few on how people got paid. I was interested in if YouTubers got paid in product or dollars or both. Personally I feel it is only worthwhile being paid in product if it is something you would be using anyway. And I can certainly understand the feeling of having made it when you are contacted by a sponsor. But don’t sell yourself short – the world and their spouse are sponsored by Skillshare and it is now off putting to find every video is sponsored by them.

One article I read while trying to research the monetization of YouTube said that “supporters are anti the idea that their YouTube heroes might be selling themselves out.” And this is the conversation on Reddit that I found amusing or even baffling, watchers do not want their entertainment to receive payment. Especially if that payment (i.e. sponsorship) is not directly related to crafts. So many want their entertainment to be free; meaning we do not want to pay the hosting platform and we do not want to pay the content provider. And we want to complain about the videos you do create because saying you don’t like a certain YouTuber and then moving on is not good enough. We have to bring them down.

YouTube is entertainment. There is a vast choice of entertainment out there. If you don’t like the concept or a particular channel then move on. If you want all your entertainment for free, use your local library but don’t forget to complain about what is available and what isn’t available. And if that isn’t enough then you can always complain about the fundraisers on PBS and NPR.

I appreciate the work podcasters (aural and visual) put into their content. And if it costs me a couple of minutes of ad watching I will gladly do it to be able to continue to listen to or watch people who are expending a lot of time and their money to entertain and educate us.