2022 End of Year Roundup!

Overview of 2022

Hello lovely Patrons!

As usual I'll be taking most of December mostly off, which means it's once again time for the end of year roundup post about the channel's finances and my plans for next year.

It's been a very busy year for me. I made five episodes of Philosophy Tube, the most recent being double-length. All but one cleared a million views. The channel grew by 200,000 subscribers and the Patreon page grew by 500 Patrons.

Outside of the main show, a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Philosophy Tube was released on Nebula. My podcast, Kill James Bond, continued to grow and be lots of fun.

I also wrote a stage play, The Prince, which won an Off West End Award and has been nominated for three Broadway World Awards. (At time of writing voting for the Broadway World Awards is still open - please vote if you haven't already!) The play was recorded and the filmed version will be available on Nebula in Q1 of next year. Nebula and the play's producers want to have a big premiere party in New York to celebrate the launch, which will have to be scheduled around some filming commitments I have in January for a TV show. The success of The Prince was overwhelmingly down to my YouTube audience turning out to watch, so I'd like to say a great big thank you to everyone who came to see it!

In my personal life I had a number of surgeries and other difficulties that took up time. Truth be told I would have liked to make more Philosophy Tube episodes, but perhaps if the double-length one can count for two then I can live with it!

Next Year

I have a few ideas for episodes I'd like to make in 2023. The first will be about cryptocurrency, the FTX collapse, and Effective Altruism. Other topics I'm toying with are Stoicism; Machiavelli; the relationship between AI and Creativity; and the Ethics of Assisted Dying.

I'd also like to bring out new merch next year. This was planned for this year but didn't quite happen.

I'll also be hiring (indeed, have already hired) a Social Media Manager to set up profiles on Instagram and TikTok. After a few months I will evaluate the impact of this on the channel.

May the 31st will be the 10 Year Anniversary of Philosophy Tube! I'd like to do something special to celebrate; if you have any suggestions please let me know!

Finances

I include these details because I want to keep you all in the loop and to show you that I'm using your money conscientiously. Whilst there was a drop in income relative to last year, I don't mind: the purpose of Philosophy Tube is not to make money. So long as the show can keep going we're doing fine in my book!

Income to Philosophy Tube comes from you patrons, from advertising, from merch sales, and from Nebula sponsorships. If you superchat me during a livestream this also goes into the 'Advertising' bucket from which YouTube takes a cut. The biggest slice this year, as usual, came from you patrons.

Expenditures include hiring crew, venues, transport, food and drink, research materials, costumes, makeup etc, which all vary a lot from video to video. If there is ever any money left over from the budget of an episode it stays in a separate account (i.e. not my own bank account) and rolls over to become part of the budget for the next episode. This year the greatest share of expenditure went to the crew.

As usual, the amount pledged on Patreon and the amounts spent on episodes are kept private for several reasons. Firstly it bears very little relation to how much I actually get in my pocket every month. Secondly, the crew have a right to keep their rates private. Thirdly, once I started getting enough to make this my job I was bombarded by companies, journalists, and in a few cases sexual harassers wanting to muscle in. As always, I appreciate that you respect my privacy and trust me to run the show with integrity.

Despite the successes, Philosophy Tube made significantly less money this year than last year. This was for several reasons, which I have grouped into 3 categories:

Timing of Growth

- The general course of the year was a decline in number of Patrons; almost all the growth happened in the last 30 days in response to the latest episode. Whilst an increase in the number of patrons may mean an increase in the share of income to the channel from Patreon, this growth has not yet had a chance to appear on the balance sheets.

Greater Expenditure

- The show's stylist, Brian Conway, asked for and received a significant raise in January to reflect his rising position in the industry. Brian is now the highest paid person on the show.

- Nicki Buglewicz became my go-to makeup artist and joined us for every episode. Nicki's rates are significantly higher than her predecessor, reflecting her skill and her position in the industry. Both Nicki and Brian have done stellar work this year and I consider these extra costs to be absolutely worth it.

- The cost of hiring filming locations, transport to and from locations, food and drink for the crew while on set, and consumable supplies like makeup increased in line with the general cost of living crisis.

- The cost of subtitling more than doubled because the service I use raised their prices. New episodes are subtitled in English, German, and Brazilian Portuguese (the latter two are my biggest foreign language audiences).

- I attended VidCon this year in Los Angeles, whereas last year it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Vidcon paid for travel and accommodation but the money spent while I was there is an additional cost relative to last year: small in absolute terms but noticeable on the balance sheet.

- I hired a social media manager at the end of this year to set up Instagram and TikTok profiles in January. Whilst this will hopefully bring in bigger audiences and therefore pay for itself, this will take time to accomplish.

Reduced Income Overall

- Merch sales were negligible this year because the new line of merch was not completed in time.

- Advertising revenue declined sharply this year for a few reasons. There were fewer videos overall, which means fewer ads. Four out of five videos carried a Nebula Sponsorship, which requires a 15 day exclusivity window without ads from the date of publication: this means that videos did not generate advertising revenue for most of their active life.

- Four of the five episodes carried Nebula sponsorships, which do pay. However, fewer videos mean fewer sponsorships. In addition the final Nebula sponsorship of the year was donated in large part to the charity Gendered Intelligence.

- As previously mentioned, the growth in Patrons happened very recently. The general pattern over the year was shrinking income from Patreon. This is normal and to be expected: all Patreon accounts shrink gradually as patrons drop out, and are buoyed up by sporadic growth (hopefully)! 

Final Thoughts

It's been an amazing year, thank you all so much! I don't quite know what 2023 will hold but I'm confident and excited to get stuck into it with you all at my back! I'm going to take a little holiday and spend Christmas with my loved ones. Philosophy Tube will return in 2023!

Have a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year

Abi XXx