Every few months, the conversation comes up about “Paid Reviews”, and there’s generally a thread or two that gets fairly heated at the concept that some people out there are taking money from publishers in return for a good review. I’ve already laid out my thoughts on paid reviews in my disclosure policy (spoilers, they’re bad), but there is a problem that doesn’t often get addressed during this discussion, and that’s how board game content creators should get paid?
Making content takes time, effort, and often money. Paying for equipment like lights and cameras, hosting fees, and set decorations are just some of the costs that come with trying to create board game content. Producing any kind of content takes time and effort, and I’m a firm believer in compensating people for their time and work. That said, I also realize that the mere act of interacting with publishers causes dual relationships that effect the integrity of the reviewers. So what is a content creator to do, then?
Tom Scott said in a video once that “A person’s threshold for what’s acceptable is just below whatever it is that they’re currently doing”. Some creators have no problems with taking thousands of dollars from a publisher to create sponsored content for them, and produce a ‘free’ review right alongside that sponsored content, with the only delineation between sponsored content and unsponsored content being a single line way down in the video description. Others, like So Very Wrong About Games, are very clear that they will not accept a dime from anyone in board game publishing, going as far as to say if they find out that a publisher is donating to their Pateron, they’ll refund that person every cent they’ve donated. I read a great article from Anime Herald titled “How to Get Paid to Watch Anime“, and the line “how much of your soul are you willing to part with? “Zero” isn’t an option.” rings very true here. Every method has some ethical quandaries tied to it, so the only question that remains is which of these methods are you personally comfortable with?
I’ve searched through various content creator one-pagers, websites, and brainstormed as many ways as I can think of for ways for someone to make money as a content creator. I’ve broken my findings into 3 categories, Money from Publishers, Money from Content Creators, and Money from Viewers. Take a look and let me know if there’s anything you’d add to these lists, and let me know which ones you think are acceptable or not.
Money from Viewers
I think the first way for content creators to make money is via ad revenue. Either pre/post video ads on YouTube, or banner ads and pop-ups on a website, creators can get paid by having an ad near or around their content. Unfortunately, ad revenue isn’t the cash cow you may think it is. There are tones of factors that go into how much money you can squeeze out of YouTube Ad Revenue, but a quick search estimates about $1 for every 500 – 1000 views. Now, looking at someone like The Dice Tower, they average between 1k – 6k views per video, earning between $5 – $20 per video. Also, building a business dependent on Ad Revenue is a terrible idea. It’s unreliable, inconsistent, and at any time YouTube can change the payouts, or their algorithm can just not push a particular video out to the audience. You can’t build a business on Ad Revenue.
So, other ways to get money from viewers, more directly. There’s creator merch (Board Game Hot Takes has a RedBubble store, The Nerd Shelves uses TeeSpring). Creator merch can be helpful, if people want to buy it. Some much larger creators, such as Linus Tech Tips report that 15% of their operating income comes from the merch they sell, but they also have several staff members dedicated to creating merch.
Ko-Fi, Pateron, Twitch Subs, YouTube Members are all ways to support your favourite channels, but each platform takes a cut of the cash too. Twitch takes 50%, YouTube, 30%, Ko-Fi, 5%. Each of these corporations thank you for your donations.
Some channels have had great success using referrals, either through Amazon or directly from a publisher. I think this option is most attractive to a publisher, as they only pay the creator for actual purchases that the creator generated, but they’re also a conflict of interest. Do you trust a reviewer to report on the negative aspects of a product, if they get a kickback for every sale they make?
Crowdfunding is an option for those that have a big enough fan base to warrant it. The Dice Tower, The Secret Cabal, and many others run crowdfunding campaigns every year to fund their programming. Jamie from The Secret Cabal has talked in the past about how stressful the lead up to the crowdfunding campaign is, as you really just don’t know if your fans are going to show up or not, and if they don’t, well then you gotta go and get a job!
Money from Publishers
Publishers will often collaborate with content creators to get their product out in front of a much larger, engaged audience. The “Shut Up & Sit Down Effect” has been a documented success, just like I’m sure getting a Rodney Smith “Watch it Played” video created can do wonders for getting your game out there. Now, while Rodney is the gold standard for a How-to-Play video, he’s a busy fellow, and might not take you on as a client. I’ve seen quotes from other channels saying the base price for a 15 minute video starts at $1,000, and goes up depending on the complexity. Rodney has quoted roughly 30 hours of work for a 20 minute, medium complexity game, but he also has 10 years experience creating this kind of content.
Overviews/preview videos are opinion-free content, showcasing the product, generally with many guidelines from the publisher. This is mostly for Kickstarter/crowdfunding purposes, but most creators I saw offering this service were starting at ~$250 per video
Some streamers will let you sponsor a live stream, where you need to provide a copy of your game, and pay a fee for their time. Phantom Meeple and Amanda Wong (Panda8ngel) were charging $200 USD for a 2-hour twitch stream back in 2022. Of course, Streamers are going to play the games they want to play, but how much would it cost for a publisher to “jump the queue” so to speak? One challenge here for the creators is managing burn-out. If they do a stream once a week, they have 52 streams per year. If half of those are sponsored, they have 26 streams remaining where they get to play the games they want to play.
Photography is an incredible skill, and shooting cardboard is a niche skill. Some creators offer social media posts creation. Kovray sells package deals where they will generate 5 – 10 photos of them playing a specific game per month for the publishers to use on social media, and charge $300 per month for the service with a 3-month minimum buy.
On the subject of social media, some creators will create a video ad, specifically for platforms like TikTok or Instagram, which when done right, can be much more engaging than a generic ad that most people have been conditioned to ignore.
I haven’t seen an offering for this yet, but I assume that most creators would be open to renting out ad space in their videos. Like, when someone has a Kallax of games behind them, with some boxes facing out, what would it cost to have a specific game out for a few videos?
The last idea in the getting money from publishers is to sell the games you get from the publishers after the review obligations have been fulfilled. This one seems debatable if it’s ethical or not. Kefka from No Pun Included, and many others fall on the side of “do not do this“, but I’ve asked a few non-media people about their opinions on the situation, and they don’t see a problem with it, so your mileage may vary.
Money from Content Creators
This category was the hardest to think of, and honestly, feels the most sleezy to me. Content creation should be a collaborative community, a rising tide lifts all ships situation. I don’t like the idea of trying to milk cash out of other creators, but these ideas just didn’t fit in the above category.
Some creators have a studio space that is always set up, ready for them to record. Sometimes it’s in their own home, like in the basement (The Nerd Shelves and Watch it Played), sometimes it’s a seperate location entirely (Actualol). But to offset the costs of the studio equipment, it may be worth it to rent the space out to other creators while you’re not using it. That said, a studio backdrop is fairly significant in a channels identity. Do you want someone creating very similar looking videos, or do you want to go through the effort of taking down all the set decoration each time a new renter comes in to record? It’s tough to say
Having expertise is valueable, and when someone is just getting started, they may not be so inclined to do all the research for all the various pieces of equipment that they may need. A savvy creator could build hardware packages (camera, lights, mics, everything you need to get started) and sell them as a “get started quick” package to someone who wants to build their own studio. This idea came from custom PC builders who do all the legwork of buying parts, putting the PC together, installing software, and selling the whole thing for more than they paid for it.
Lastly, again on the subject of expertise, coaching other creators. Being a source of wisdom for those starting out could be valuable. Maybe they have questions about what bitrate to stream at, or how to solve an annoying audio issue, a seasoned creator could build a consulting business to help those who need it.
In Conclusion
There is something to be said about how it feels somewhat impossible to just be an independant journalist. So many of these options, many would say are unethical or how it biases your opinions in ways that they no longer trust your reviews. For myself, as a blogger, my costs are like, $80 per year for this website. I use my phone to take pictures, and as somewhat of a tech enthuiast, I already have the computers and keyboards necessary to generate my content. But I sympthazise for those who choose to create video content, as it’s a much larger production than I need to deal with.
What do you think? Are there other ways a creator could make money that I’ve missed? Which of these options would you say are no-go? Let me know in the comments below!
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