Experimenting With Changes (Patreon)

Hey all! 

Been doing a lot of thinking about making some changes to a few logistics for the channel that I wanted to discuss and get feedback on. Being unable to travel due to covid restrictions has really limited the scope of the projects I wanted to do this and next year, so  here are some things I was thinking of adjusting.

Running Ads and Promotions
In the original pitch of this channel, I sought out to be a 100% ad-free channel, similar to Noclip which this patreon was based on. However, I don't have the reach or audience size just yet to really pull something like that off during these uncertain times. I'm not the biggest fan of ads as they can be intrusive to the viewing experience and relying too hard on content that drives revenue via clicks can make one feel limited as a creator. However, with money getting tighter for most due to various employment issues due to covid, I also think I need to diversify channel funding a bit. 

Our next release is going to be focused on Project Slippi, the Super Smash Bros mod that allows for many things including online play with rollback netcode. I think it has the chance to be a pretty popular release, so I want to experiment with running ads on it and see how it affects channel metrics/gains. I don't expect it to ever come close to the funding I receive directly from you all, but anything to helps soften the blow from some of the patrons we've lost over the last month would help a bit. 

Outside of supplementing income, running ads may help in other areas of channel growth. Right now, I have a huge backlog of projects and ideas I want to get to but even with the extra time I'm just one person. Diversifying income from just patrons to things like ad revenue, merchandise, and other prospects may allow me to hire additional editors or contract your favorite creator to make something for the channel. Let me know in the comments if you're cool with that or have questions! 

Increased Release Schedule

At the moment, I've been on a pretty good schedule of releasing one video a month. Which, if you look at the original pitch of the channel, is much more frequent than expected. I want to see if I can get a bit more aggressive with that schedule this month and shoot for two videos by the end of October: Project Slippi and Infil's KI guide. We're on a good trajectory with channel growth and I want to keep that train going, so expect more videos more frequently if this experiment works! 

Patrons are the core of this channel and will continue to be so forever. You're the biggest supporters of what I do and none of this works without you, which is why I come to you all first when I have ideas that impact the channel at the ground level. Your feedback is incredibly important to me, so let me know how you feel in the comments below or in our patron discord. Thanks, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!