Articles

Over the years I’ve written a number of articles relating to GTA for a number of outlets (some may be outdated now as the game changes over time). I’ve also had articles written about me. They’ll all be linked below, with the first article I wrote for my own pleasure as a companion piece to a video being displayed on the remainder of this page.

How To Support Your Favourite Creators

Written as a companion piece to this video.

Unlike traditional forms of entertainment where men in suits decide where the money goes, which TV shows get made, the kind of music that gets played, and ultimately who becomes successful, the advent of the internet has allowed many different types of content creator to become successful independently.

In this new form of entertainment, the consumers of the content (viewers, listeners, readers, etc) have a direct influence on the success of the creators they are interested in. Those creators who are lucky enough to be able to make a living doing what they do are only able to do so because of the supporters/community they have (mostly).

It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss what makes a creator deserve extra support beyond simply consuming the content provided - that is up to the reader to decide - but for those who are interested in doing whatever they can to help their favourite youtubers, streamers, musicians, artists, or anything else please read on.

There are two main types of support to creators: Free and Paid. Simply put, “Free” support doesn’t cost you any money and “Paid” support does. It’s up to you to decide what kind of support you want to, or can, provide, but doing any of the following is going to help. Most creators will be appreciative of all support that is above and beyond simply consuming their content. It’s not always about money (though ultimately it is important if their passion has become their full time job).

Free Support

These are things you can do that don’t cost you any money and won’t give the creator any money directly, but will help improve their ability to bring in income in other ways.

Content Engagement

One of the most important things to content creators is that people are engaging with the content they make. Watching a video or a live stream is the base level of that, but more can be done to help their content get out there.

  • Like & Comment On Videos - YouTube can't tell what a good video is magically. It uses various metrics including watch time (how long people stay watching for when they open a video) and engagement. Liking and commenting on a video is essentially saying to YouTube, “I enjoyed this enough to engage more with it - you should promote it further” which is exactly what they will do.the more you like/comment, the better the videos you watch will do in search results.

  • Watch More - Maybe you really like one video series from a youtuber, or only like a streamer when he’s playing one game, so you don’t watch anything else from them. Well you can always leave a stream or new video on in the background when it’s something you don’t usually watch, rather than not watching at all. That way you’re still supporting the creation of the type of content you do enjoy, and you might end up finding something else you like too.

  • Interact On Social Media - Beyond just following their various other social media channels, you can also engage with the things they’re putting out there. If you enjoyed a tweet, like and retweet it. If you thought an instagram photo looked good, click like and leave a comment. It’s a few extra button presses that certainly aren’t necessary, but more engagement creators have with their supporters does two things: it makes the creator themselves the better they feel about what they’re doing if they have people liking and sharing their creations; and the larger the chance becomes of their content being spread even further, leading to more success.

Following Channels & Social Media

Knowing when a creator releases their content is important not only for you, but also for the creators themselves. They don't want you to miss their stuff probably more than you don't. Also, while numbers aren’t everything they do still matter, especially when creators pursue sponsorship deals. Helping increase their numbers will only help.

  • Follow On The Main Platform - Subscribing on YouTube, following on Soundcloud, enabling notifications for new content, make sure to follow your favourite creators on the platform they primarily use to deliver content. If you enjoy their content don't leave it up to chance, make sure you are notified every time they make something new so you never miss anything.

  • Follow Everywhere Else - Most creators will also have multiple other channels on which you can follow them, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Doing this means you have better chance of not missing something your favoured creator posts, you’re kept up to date on any changes straight away, and you increase their overall standing in terms of a following.

Word Of Mouth

Possibly one of the most underestimated forms of support, simple word of mouth can have a huge effect. Sharing your favourite creator’s content on forums, Reddit, social media, comments on other sites, and even in person with friends can all be a huge help. One person tells someone else, who tells their two other friends, who both post it on different forums to twenty other people, who all post it on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit, and it continues from there. This is how viral videos happen and when good content is picked up and spreads around the internet it brings in plenty of new supporters. And it can all start with you mentioning it to a few friends or posting to a forum. It’s important not to overdo it of course - if a certain forum is getting bombarded by content from the same person for example it will actually hurt the creator, but if it’s relevant, useful, or naturally comes up in conversation there’s nothing wrong with plugging their work every so often.

Clicking Sponsored Links

Sponsorships are sometimes looked down upon as “selling out” which absolutely isn’t uncommon to see, but tasteful promotion done in the right way of products relevant to a creator’s field helps everyone. A company gets their product out there to the people who might be interested, supporters get to see a product that they might actually be interested in, and the creator either gets a product for review purposes that may help make their content better, or in more uncommon cases a contribution to help make them more financially stable. There’s no need to ever purchase anything a creator showcases, but clicking their (usually tracked) links that they provide for products shows to the company behind it that it was worthwhile working with the creator and that could lead to further help or closer support.

Free Support -> Paid Support

These are a few instances where free support can turn into paid support, such that it doesn’t cost you any money but does end up giving the creator money directly.

Turning Off Adblock

It’s well known now that on YouTube in particular advertising revenue is the main way creators get paid for their videos, and while advertisers and the money they bring may come and go, there are always things you can do to help your favourite creators maximise their income from ads (despite it being a tiny amount per person, it all “adds” up).

  • Skipping Ads - Even skipping an ad after 5 seconds can help, because it shows people are at least watching. If platforms & advertisers notice that people are seeing ads more on a certain channel, there’s a larger chance better ads will be sent there even if they’re not being necessarily being engaged with all the time.

  • Watching Ads - The longer you watch an ad for the better. Some advertisers pay only when an ad is clicked (more below) but others can have payments for impressions. Therefore if you simply leave an ad playing it can help generate a tiny bit of revenue.

  • Clicking Ads - Advertisers ultimately pay YouTube or websites to show their ads because they want people to click them and find out more about the product. Most ads on the internet work in such a way that companies only pay for ads when they’re successful, meaning when they’ve been clicked. If you click an ad every so often on a video of website you will have indirectly given the creator money via the advertiser.

Amazon Prime

We’ll talk more about twitch.tv paid subscriptions later, but there is actually a way to get them and all their benefits for free for a short period, or included in a package you may already be paying for. That is: Amazon Prime [UK | US | DE | CA] (or Amazon Video for areas where Prime isn't available). Since Amazon purchased Twitch they have introduced a way to get a single subscription to any Twitch channel as part of your Amazon Prime package by simply linking your Twitch account to your Amazon account. Twitch streamers get the same income from this “included” subscription as they would for a normal paid subscription.

  • Current Prime Members - If you already have Amazon Prime you’re recommended to link your accounts and remember to subscribe each month to your favourite creators on Twitch (it doesn’t automatically roll on until cancelled like normal subscriptions do). The reason being that it’s better to give a portion of the money you’re paying anyway to a creator you like who almost certainly needs it more than Amazon do.

  • Free Twitch Subscription - Amazon Prime always has a one-month free trial available, so if you’ve never used it before (even if you never intend to) you can easily sign up for Prime for free, delete your payment information straight away so you don’t get charged, and receive all Amazon Prime benefits for 30 days. This includes a single Twitch subscription and essentially means you’ve given a streamer a $2.50 donation for free (more about how much streamers make from Twitch subscriptions later).

Converting Time To Money

These things may not always be available, but a keen eye can find various offerings that essentially boil down to converting your time into money. Usually you’ll make more money per hour by actually having a job but for those who are unable or have some spare time there are certain things you can do that are relatively little effort and give some reward. One such thing is “Bits for Ads” on Twitch where Twitch give you “Bits” to donate to streamers (more about those later) for simply watching ads. If you run these in the background you don’t even have to watch them, and you’re essentially making money to donate to your favourite creators with very little effort required. Keep an eye out for things like this, sometimes in the form of surveys too, but remember not to put too much effort into it. Don’t work for peanuts.

Paid Support

These are things you can do that will cost you money and will provide the creator with money directly. A general rule here is that the more you get for your money, the less the creator gets.

Donations

This is the most direct way to show your support of a creator and one which gives them the largest portion of your money. There are always fees involved with Paypal or other service providers of donations but on average the creator will receive around 90-95% of the funds that you send to them. Do not underestimate the impact direct donations can have - even a $1 donation helps immensely (a creator with only 2000 followers could survive on donations alone if each gave just $1 every month).

  • Direct Single Donations - Most live streamers have a page similar to this where you can directly send them a “donation” or “tip” with a message that will then appear on screen as they’re streaming. This can of course also be done off stream and most streamers will play the message at the start of their next stream.

  • Regular Monthly Support - Patreon has become a key income source for a lot of creators due to the main benefit of it being regular monthly support. Whilst one off donations can come and go, Patreon support is geared more towards giving a monthly contribution and in return you can get personalised perks as a thank you.

  • Crowdfunding - Sometimes creators will need to crowdfund a project to get it off the ground if it’s too expensive to invest in alone. These are always different and for various reasons but helping with this is helping the creator to do something they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. Evaluate as and when needed.

Twitch Cheering

Almost identical to live stream donations but exclusive to the Twitch platform, “cheering” uses “bits” as a form of currency with 100 bits sent equivalent to $1 in revenue for the streamer. Similar to donations a message will be displayed on screen during the stream and you get a special badge in the Twitch chat after cheering. Bits can be bought at various rates directly from Twitch, with the more you buy at once the less you pay per bit. The benefit of this is that the money that doesn’t go to the streamer goes into improving the platform rather than merely a payment processor, but the downside is that you’re paying a higher rate to give the streamer the same amount of money, especially outside the US. Whilst regular donations via PayPal result in the streamer getting around 90% of your money, cheering instead results in the streamer getting 60-80% of your money (depending on how many bits are bought at once and your location).

YouTube Super Chat/Thanks

YouTube’s version of Twitch Cheering, Super Chat allows you to essentially donate via way of a special message in a live stream chat. In addition to your message showing up on screen during a stream, it will also be highlighted in the chat box and will stay at the top for a limited amount of time (the more you donate, the longer the messages stays at the top of the chat). Super Thanks is the same idea but for highlighting comments on videos instead of chat messages in a stream. Again as with Cheering, Super Chats & Super Thanks give around 60-80% of your money to the streamer depending on the currency donated, in comparison to the 90% from regular PayPal donations.

Twitch Subscription

Another way to support that is exclusive to the Twitch platform, though other providers may offer similar programs, subscriptions are a monthly paid service with benefits specific to each streamer. For $5 per month you can subscribe to a specific Twitch channel and be granted benefits whilst watching, such as a message on screen each month (similar to donations), channel exclusive emotes for use in any stream chat across the site, exemption from watching ads when they’re played, and any other benefits a streamer may decide to have themselves such as sub-only game sessions. With this 50% of your money goes to the streamer with the other 50% going to Twitch. There are also $10 and $25 subscriber options but the added benefits for doing these instead significantly diminish. Nevertheless streamers get 60% of a $10 subscription and 70% of a $25 subscription.

YouTube Membership

Memberships on YouTube are that platforms answer to Twitch subscriptions, with a small amount of Patreon mixed in for good measure. Similarly to above, for $5 per month you can become a member of any YouTube channel and get emotes in live streams, a badge next to your name in streams and video comments, and any "perks" that may be offered by the creator. Each creator has this set up to their own tastes so each is worth a look to see if it's something you're interested in. With this method the creator will receive around 70% of your money.

Merchandise

The vast majority of larger creators and even a lot of small to mid sized creators will have some form of merchandise that you can purchase. Given the ease with which t-shirt stores can be opened now and customised it’s always worth checking the links of your favourite creators to see if they have something available you might like. Whether it’s items of clothing, mugs, keyrings, stickers, or phone cases that you want, it’s always worth having a browse to see if anything looks fun to own. With this you get a physical item that you want and you get to support the creator at the same time. Creators on average will get around 25% of your money when you buy some of their merchandise.

Affiliate Links

This is a follow on from the “Click Sponsored Links” section earlier and is certainly the least recommended thing to do if your sole purpose is to support the creator, however in those moments when you do see a product that a creator is advertising that you would like to buy, make sure you do it using their links and/or discount codes. Instead of doing a Google search and finding the item separately, using the (again usually tracked) links a creator has provided will let the advertiser know that you bought the item because of the creator they decided to advertise with. This not only helps the creator’s standing with the sponsor, but will also usually result in some commission from the sale going directly to the creator. It’s not high enough to be worthwhile buying items you don’t really need just to give your favourite creator some commission, but if it’s something you’re going to buy anyway you might as well go via them as opposed to Google. Creators usually make around 5-10% of the sale price of the item in commission.

YouTube Premium

If you subscribe to YouTube Premium you’ll not see any ads on any videos alongside a whole host of other benefits. Whether the cost of YT Premium is worth the benefits is up to the reader to decide, however if you are signed up any creator you watch will gain more income from you watching their videos than they ever would have if you’d watched an ad before it. The key thing with this is watch time - the more you watch a creator’s videos, the bigger percentage of the total YT Premium pie they get in comparison to other creators. It’s impossible to say how much of the money you spend on YT Premium goes to the creators you watch (it won’t be very much at all) but it does certainly improve their income significantly in comparison to viewing without it and watching ads.

Addendum: A $25 Example

This example is going to assume someone has $25 to spend in any given month and wants to use it to support their favourite streamer on Twitch. The example will break down what the viewer would get for their $25 and how much would go to the streamer, for a variety of different ways of using the money.