YouTube producers struggling to make ends meet

The New York Times ran an interesting article about how difficult it is for even the top YouTube channels and shows to make a bankable income.

I think what blew me away is how much money these folks spend to produce each video. It’s hard to believe there are thousands of dollars of production value behind a single talent talking to a camera in their sparsely-furnished bedroom.

But, as the article explains, a good chunk of that money goes to one other person: The editor.

And If you watch any video by immensely popular top-earner, Jenna Marbles, you’ll instantly see why. Even though she simply monologues to the camera in most of her videos, there’s a jump cut every few sentences.

While it does add a certain fast-paced aesthetic to her videos, it must be an editing nightmare for the poor person who has to trim down her stream of consciousness talks into something compelling and tight.

As heartbreaking as it is to read that a person raking in $130,000 annually from a single-person webshow only pockets a small fraction of that, I think there’s a lesson in here that I would love to be able to hammer home to each of our customers. Behind every video production, no matter how small or simple, there’s an often under-appreciated and underrated talent: An editor.