i’m always amazed by the amount of money that Youtube produces, but good for Derek, he should enjoy his success.
Well…
One could argue, he sold out.
Veritasium is one of a growing list of YT channels that have quietly been invested in by private equity firms.
In Veritasiums case, the firm is electrify which purchased a majority stake in Veritasium in 2023, and also has stakes in Fireship, Mentour Pilot and Fern, among others.
It has resulted in the production quality of various channels skyrocketting, so far seemingly with little to no drawbacks… Whenever a channel makes a huge leap in quality, the kind that only comes with hiring a bunch of staff, I now think to myself “oh, another one”.
Now we’re just waiting for the other shoe.
I’m not saying it will drop. But free money is not a thing.
But I really don’t like the way it’s clearly being done in ways where channel viewers have no idea brand ownership has changed, and is now beholden to faceless shareholders.
Anyone who didn’t notice it is blind. The channel became increasingly more click bait over the years. At this point I rarely watch their videos. It used to be really informative content, but now it’s still vaguely informative but usually more entertainment.
Is it a majority stake? In the video, he makes it sound like they’re co-owners… which says nothing, and the “our brands” wording is also common as a hyperbole.
If they earn money from pushing quality content, adding similar channels, adding Patreon financing, backer-only specials, merchandising, placing content on other platforms… “the other shoe” could be simply making a profit.
Whether Electrify will eventually sell out in turn, is a separate question.
It’s a majority, unless I’m misreading this.
That is what the video says. As in it’s not happening without the audience being told, though I guess it was for a couple of years.
I’m referring to the overrall trend.
That private equite has been getting into YT in recent years still seems like uncommon knowledge, and that feels more than a little intentional.
To be clear, the additional money has been doing good things so far. Here’s hoping that lasts.
When one has 20 million subscribers who get notified of the videos, those few cents per Ad, add up quickly. He’s also worked his ass off on the quality side of YouTube, which has earned him a lot of good will and supporters.
Goes to show that quality content, can also be profitable. It’s not all about the bottom dwellers.
It was just a general observation of how the Internet is completely financed by advertising. When it comes to Derek and his channel, I’m happy he has success, it’s one of the best channels on the whole platform.
The last 6-8 months he’s been knocking it out of the park
Good riddance
Would you like to elaborate for those of us who don’t know anything about the guy?
He was an early science YouTuber making educational content basically alone for years before selling out to a private equity firm that started pumping out low quality agenda filled videos with 0 transparency
