BAD NEWS FOR YOUTUBE!!!!

@Yil That's a good point to raise. I just assumed that there would always be something on YouTube that advertisers would be willing to run their ads on, at least enough to pay for YouTube to stay afloat, but I imagine an artist supported through Patreon or other means could just as easily host their content on their own website instead and there would be no need for YouTube. That being said, I don't know the costs of having your own dedicated webpage, so it might not be as viable as I imagine.

What is a real job?

If you suck dick or get plugged and get paid is it a real job?
If you clean someone's vomit and shit is is a real job?
If you walk someone's dogs is it a real job?
If you stand still hours on end to advertise something on a street is it a real job?

Ultimately, if you get paid enough, that's your job.

Well ignoring that, i hope things clear out. Otherwise i think a increase in personal websites for people migrating to would probably be a thing. Most people can't live off of fan support alone.

I wonder what happens when Internet finally dies.

Good thing my videos don't get enough views to generate revenue. Well, there was one that hit 2 million views, but didn't qualify for some half-assed reason. YouTube is run by a bunch of PC pantywaists as usual.

You could always go to vid *dot* me.

Do we really care, if your sole income is based off YouTube you should have seen this coming sooner or later. Surprised how they've conviced a whole generation of youth to strive for a job that contributes to society as much as a striper.

I dunno in a way im glad, its a good eye opener for a lot young content creators. Maybe they'll go out and study a trade.

@king_leo - What. Being a Youtuber can be someone's real job. I agree if you say that it might not be a really sustainable job, but I'd call it a job nonetheless. Somewhere on par with being a stand-up comedian/entertainer at a party.

@Ev1l0rd Yes, that's true. YouTube can be considered a real job as long as you get paid for it but in terms of realistic perspective, it's kinda like a zero hour contract.

@Saiyan Lusitano - Things like Patreon have come to combat this problem however. IMO Patreon is the future for content creators, not Youtube ad money.

What is the difference between real/fake jobs? A job is a job whether you're a paid doctor or a snake oil salesman.

Patreon is even worse. Some person (who's real name you probably dont even know) having to rely on the general publics tips (majority who feel obligated to donate out of guilt tripping) so you can give them quick cheap thrills all funnled through a seperate client, kinda sounds familiar.
*cough* stripper *cough*

I think Kickstarter is worse than Patreon, people always start trivial fundraisers, like "Help me make a potato salad", and gets like $10,000 for it. It's pure BS. Who the deuce would pay for something like that?

@king_leo - Incomparable. First, with Patreon I do know where my money's going to: The guy that made the content in the first place with Patreon taking a 5% cut on my patronage to keep the lights at Patreon on, while the other 95% goes to the creator allowing them to keep the lights on. It's a much higher cut than most other companies are willing to give you. Secondly, Patreon isn't done out of guilt tripping. It's saying to a person "I like what you are doing, take this cash so that you can keep doing it." There may be some people who donate through Patreon because they feel sorry for the person, but in this case I'll go for the simple argument 'cash is cash, who cares where it comes from as long as it isn't illegal'.

Also, do you really think that every content creator is solely reliant on YouTube/Patreon income? Most content creators I know of usually have a part-time job along with their work on YouTube. The exceptions being the ones with over 1 million subscribers (most channels I sub to have around 200-500k subs).

The ones that do tend to go for guilt-tripping people to give them cash on Patreon are usually artists (both webcomic artists and your average tumblr commisioner) because unlike Youtubers who are able to get their income because of their content (and 99% of all YouTube content can be divided into a few main categories), artists tend to go for more niche crowds meaning that they likely have a lower viewer vs. income ratio.

Patreon has saved the animation YT community. Without it it wouldn't be able to sustain itself anymore, meaning that we all would have to be watching "TOP 10 Watchmojo sponsored PRANKS CHALLENGE!" (there, that's all the cringy popular content I could fit in one title with bonus caps. Also imagine the most clickbaity thumbnail ever). I'm glad that isn't the case.