Statement on Discontinuing Video Production
To all my viewers,
I just wanted to elaborate on the message that I put at the end of my latest video about ceasing video production, as it’s prompted a lot of comments.
When I started this channel back in 2017, I had always hoped that I’d generate enough income through ads and donations to become a full-time YouTuber: not only did I plan to devote all my time to making videos, I also planned to eventually hire out most of the work in the video production process, turning this channel into a self-sustaining machine capable of producing a video ever 2 or 3 weeks. YouTube was a true meritocracy in those days, and I was confident that I could get there in a few years of hard work.
But after eight years of trying to grow this channel, I just don’t feel that there is a pathway to self-sufficiency, at least not in the next 5 or 10 years. My ad revenue has dropped since my channel was apparently shadow-banned in 2019, and I don’t make a whole lot from Patreon, either. I pay a research assistant, an audio editor, and an illustrator, but the money that I make from ads and Patreon isn't enough to cover the cost of labour, let alone to pay me for my time. This means that I’m actually losing money on every video I produce. I haven’t always been keeping precise records, but I estimate that I’ve lost well over $10,000 on this channel.
A lot of commenters have been begging me to continue growing the channel to the point where it pays for itself, but YouTube has apparently stacked the deck against me. My videos are often buried in search results, and they aren’t often recommended by the algorithms. Subscriber growth is way slower than I feel it should be, and I never seem to experience any sort of viral growth, either in subs or views. At the rate my channel is growing, it will be several years before I can even get to the point of breaking even, financially, and decades before I reach half a million subscribers. And I’ll be dead before I ever get to a million subs.
All of my videos now take a tremendous amount of work, and to be honest, I don’t enjoy most of the process. I really don’t like editing audio or video, and there’s a lot of tedious work that goes into commissioning and animating the custom illustrations as well. It’s getting increasingly hard to fit all of this work around my other commitments. As many of you know, I work a day job as a foley artist that has become a very successful career in its own right. Between this job and Think Anomalous, I’m finding it very hard to maintain my social life, and to find time for my other hobbies and research projects. I’m also finding it increasingly difficult to come home from work and pour all of my free time into such laborious tasks, knowing full well that they’ll only ever lose me money.
After eight years working on this channel, I’ve found that the only stages of the process that I really enjoy are the researching and writing stages. To that end, I’d like to step away from video production and focus on producing more written work: books mostly, but I’d also like to revive the short-lived Think Anomalous blog.
That is why, after much consideration, I have decided to stop producing regular new content on this channel. I will be releasing three more videos over the next year or so, but after that, my channel will go on an indefinite hiatus. As some of you know, I’m currently writing a book on the “mystery airship” phenomenon in 1896 - 7, tentatively titled “Flights of Fancy.” My last video will be a new and improved version of the video I already did on this topic, and it will coincide with the book’s publication - hopefully in a year or two.
After that, I may upload sporadic videos when I feel inspired to, but I will probably never upload again. Of course, all my videos will remain on all the platforms they’re currently on, and I hope that you’ll continue to watch and share them in the future.
I’m very proud of the work that my team and I have done, and I’m constantly flattered with the feedback that we receive. Based on a number of comments, I feel that our videos have done a lot to open peoples’ eyes to the strength of the evidence for anomalous phenomena, and to alternative explanations for things like UFOs and entity encounters. In this sense, I think I’ve accomplished what I set out to do with this channel, even if I never managed to turn a profit in the process.
I was really touched by all the comments on my latest video begging me not to stop, and saying that my voice would be missed. Comments like that make me want to keep going, but I have to make a change so that I can focus my energies in the right direction, and commit myself to the projects that are most meaningful to me. I am deeply sorry to be disappointing so many fans, but I have to make this choice for me.
So once again, I want to thank all of you for all your engagement, and for all the wonderful feedback that you’ve given me over the years. It’s been a true pleasure to have shared these videos with the world, and to have been at the centre of such an interesting, and intellectually stimulating community.
All the best to all of you.
Jason
I just wanted to elaborate on the message that I put at the end of my latest video about ceasing video production, as it’s prompted a lot of comments.
When I started this channel back in 2017, I had always hoped that I’d generate enough income through ads and donations to become a full-time YouTuber: not only did I plan to devote all my time to making videos, I also planned to eventually hire out most of the work in the video production process, turning this channel into a self-sustaining machine capable of producing a video ever 2 or 3 weeks. YouTube was a true meritocracy in those days, and I was confident that I could get there in a few years of hard work.
But after eight years of trying to grow this channel, I just don’t feel that there is a pathway to self-sufficiency, at least not in the next 5 or 10 years. My ad revenue has dropped since my channel was apparently shadow-banned in 2019, and I don’t make a whole lot from Patreon, either. I pay a research assistant, an audio editor, and an illustrator, but the money that I make from ads and Patreon isn't enough to cover the cost of labour, let alone to pay me for my time. This means that I’m actually losing money on every video I produce. I haven’t always been keeping precise records, but I estimate that I’ve lost well over $10,000 on this channel.
A lot of commenters have been begging me to continue growing the channel to the point where it pays for itself, but YouTube has apparently stacked the deck against me. My videos are often buried in search results, and they aren’t often recommended by the algorithms. Subscriber growth is way slower than I feel it should be, and I never seem to experience any sort of viral growth, either in subs or views. At the rate my channel is growing, it will be several years before I can even get to the point of breaking even, financially, and decades before I reach half a million subscribers. And I’ll be dead before I ever get to a million subs.
All of my videos now take a tremendous amount of work, and to be honest, I don’t enjoy most of the process. I really don’t like editing audio or video, and there’s a lot of tedious work that goes into commissioning and animating the custom illustrations as well. It’s getting increasingly hard to fit all of this work around my other commitments. As many of you know, I work a day job as a foley artist that has become a very successful career in its own right. Between this job and Think Anomalous, I’m finding it very hard to maintain my social life, and to find time for my other hobbies and research projects. I’m also finding it increasingly difficult to come home from work and pour all of my free time into such laborious tasks, knowing full well that they’ll only ever lose me money.
After eight years working on this channel, I’ve found that the only stages of the process that I really enjoy are the researching and writing stages. To that end, I’d like to step away from video production and focus on producing more written work: books mostly, but I’d also like to revive the short-lived Think Anomalous blog.
That is why, after much consideration, I have decided to stop producing regular new content on this channel. I will be releasing three more videos over the next year or so, but after that, my channel will go on an indefinite hiatus. As some of you know, I’m currently writing a book on the “mystery airship” phenomenon in 1896 - 7, tentatively titled “Flights of Fancy.” My last video will be a new and improved version of the video I already did on this topic, and it will coincide with the book’s publication - hopefully in a year or two.
After that, I may upload sporadic videos when I feel inspired to, but I will probably never upload again. Of course, all my videos will remain on all the platforms they’re currently on, and I hope that you’ll continue to watch and share them in the future.
I’m very proud of the work that my team and I have done, and I’m constantly flattered with the feedback that we receive. Based on a number of comments, I feel that our videos have done a lot to open peoples’ eyes to the strength of the evidence for anomalous phenomena, and to alternative explanations for things like UFOs and entity encounters. In this sense, I think I’ve accomplished what I set out to do with this channel, even if I never managed to turn a profit in the process.
I was really touched by all the comments on my latest video begging me not to stop, and saying that my voice would be missed. Comments like that make me want to keep going, but I have to make a change so that I can focus my energies in the right direction, and commit myself to the projects that are most meaningful to me. I am deeply sorry to be disappointing so many fans, but I have to make this choice for me.
So once again, I want to thank all of you for all your engagement, and for all the wonderful feedback that you’ve given me over the years. It’s been a true pleasure to have shared these videos with the world, and to have been at the centre of such an interesting, and intellectually stimulating community.
All the best to all of you.
Jason
