Since I paraphrased and, uhhh, dramatized certain parts of my “interview” with Chris of Facts R Us, I’m posting this here for transparency. What was said by Fake Chris in our interview is very close to what he actually said in our emails to each other.
Oct 6, 2023, 7:46 PM
I’m going to be making a video in the near future about this kind of content, and I was wondering if you’d be interested in telling me more about this conversation in the screenshot I’ve provided.
If you look at my channel (link below), you’ll see that I’m interested in “debunking” videos that make false claims and cause people to go off pursuing side hustles that will never pay. My most recent video, Top 10 Dumbest Side Hustles on YouTube, is a great example of how I approach these things.
https://www.youtube.com/@piczoid
Any chance we could have a talk or chat sometime? I live in South Korea (transplant from USA) but maybe we could get something figured out.
Hope to hear from you!
Michael
Oct 6, 2023, 9:32 PM
Hi Michael!
Sure, np! Lol, I myself was “lured / tricked” into making this type of content almost a year ago after seeing one of those get rich/ daily facts worth videos, too! The socialblade numbers HAVE to be real, right!? Well…..wrong. lol. The socialblade figures show default CPMs of 0.25 to 4.00. YEA, I WISH! LOL. My channel was literally JUST monitized 2 days ago after hitting 10m shorts views so I haven’t seen MY cpm yet, but from what I’ve learned, it can be anywhere from 0.01 – 0.06!! Loll That’s a far stretch from the 50k per month as these videos imply you can make!
I’m not really sure the time difference but if you wanna chat or know anything else – I’m a total open book!!
Respectfully,
Chris
Oct 6, 2023, 10:25 PM
Hi Chris, thanks so much for your openness and the quick reply! Also, HUGE congrats on getting monetized! You must be excited and I’m guessing kind of relieved to have passed YouTube’s scrutiny.
Of course this conversation would be better after you start to see what kind of money your efforts are going to yield, but I guess I’ll just ask some questions and see where we land. If you’d prefer to just do like a Google video chat or something, that’s cool, I know writing out answers can be kind of a pain. But …
– How much of a role does AI play in how you make your videos? (If you’re worried that answering this could jeopardize your monetization status, no problem … it’s ok to be vague or just not answer at all)
– Did YouTube put you through any special verifications as part of reviewing your Partner Program application? Like … did they want you to prove that you didn’t AI-mass-produce your vids?
– When you started this, did you believe that the actual income potential was (I’m assuming) tens of $1000s, like you saw in whatever video convinced you to start this channel?
– Now that you know that the REAL rpm range is pennies rather than dollars, do you think it was worth it?
– On average, about how many hours per day or per week did you put in to get to where you are now?
– Can you describe your “road to monetization”? Like how many videos did you have to post (and how often) before you began to see big view counts?
– If you had to do it all over again, would you?
– What would you tell someone who is currently thinking of AI-producing hundreds of shorts (or even long-form, I guess)?
I gotta say, I’m impressed as hell that you’ve posted, according to your channel page, 1,000 videos. Even if they just take a few minutes each, it’s gotta be hard to keep publishing video after video after video. That shows some real tenacity.
Also, when I make this video that I’m planning (it’s probably at least a week away), I can either show your channel or blur out the name, whichever you prefer. However, people who REALLY want to look at your channel would probably be able to track it down by looking at this AI Genesis video, since it will feature very prominently in the video that I’m going to make. My plan is to do a sort of “review” of their video to point out things that are true, false, or misleading. It’s funny how they selectively show different channels based on what they want viewers to see. There’s a ton of inconsistency and straight up BS in that video, but it’s already at 160k views after just two weeks. Over time, I think it could get to the 1 million views mark.
Once again, congratulations on getting monetized! That’s gotta feel awesome.
Michael
Oct 7, 2023, 1:07 AM
Hey Michael!
I just checked the time where you’re at and it looks like we’re on opposite schedules! So for time sake, I’ll just answer your questions on here and anything that might need clarity, you’re more than welcome to call!
1.) Believe it or not, I don’t use AI for ANYTHING!! When I started my channel, AI wasn’t as prevalent as it is today. Yes, there were still a bunch of those videos floating around, but instead of titles like, “MAKE 10000000 SHORTS IN 5MIN WITH AI” they were more like, “CREATE EVERGREEN CONTENT THAT WILL GET VIEWS FOREVER AND MAKE YOU TONS OF MONEY!”. LOL. Same shtick, just minus the Ai part! I was so intrigued, and after the video showed socialblade earnings – I jumped right in!! The AI videos you’re referring to started popping up a couple months after I already started but at that point, instead of learning the AI method, I just stuck with what I was already doing. Especially bc I don’t use just 1 editing app….I use SEVERAL!
2.) Nope – no special verifications! As far as I know, it was just the standard process that everyone goes through.
3.) YES!! I TOTALLY BELIEVED IT!! I mean, I saw with my own 2 eyes the socialblade earnings and had NO CLUE that shorts had a seperate cpm. ….and even if they did, I NEVER thought it’d be less than 25 cents (the smaller end of the socialblade default setting) and always figured if my view counts were high enough, even only a quarter would yield great passive earnings!
4.) Well, yes and no. I say no bc I wouldn’t have poured hours upon hours of time creating these videos if I had originally know the cpm was pennies. People think these videos only take a few min to make and that’s SO WRONG! I mean, I guess you could make them in a few min but I never had any success doing that. Mine take me anywhere from 30min to 60min and I publish FIVE A DAY and have never once missed a day! I also go a step further and try to match the music beats with the transitions which can be pretty time consuming.
**I even signed up for that guy Robert Benhamins course which was nothing but a total waste of money!
Now, I say YES bc I’m finally going to start earning some money from these! I haven’t seen MY actual cpm yet, but I do know that I’m currently averaging approx 500k views per day/1,000 subs per day with only 40k subs. I’m thinking once my channel reaches hundreds of thousands of subs, my view counts will exponentially grow side by side at which point, even if my rpm is only 2-10 cents, I’ll still be raking it in!
5.) On average, I’d say I spend approx 4-5 hours PER DAY on my channel. Again, I post 5 per day and just recently starting dipping my toes in longer form content now that we can link related videos to our shorts! My plan is to create 1 long form a week and every short that I publish that particular week will direct viewers to the long form. In the few weeks that I’ve been doing this, my long form videos have approx 5k each and more and more everyday!
It works out bc I own a seasonal food truck that’s only open 4-5 months of the year which leaves me LOTS of downtime in my off seasons! My kids are also in school so I have all morning/afternoon to do my thing while I’m home alone!!
6.) Believe it or not, I was getting decent traction right from the start! Most of my shorts were averaging 500-2k views. My channel only really took off approx 1.5mths ago when my first short went viral! It happened on a short that I had posted months earlier and ALLLLL of my backlog of videos also took off at that point! So I’d say I was getting “decent” traction 500-3000 views per video for approx 8mths (occasionally, a few would reach the 10k level which only motivated me to push harder) and than after that 1 short went viral – the rest of my catalog followed!!! And I’ve been on the same EXACT posting schedule since I started! Aside from a few minor tweaks here and there, it’s always been 5 per day! 4 in the am/afternoon and 1 around 7pm ish.
7.) Would I do it again? YES, DEFF!! I’m pretty sure all my long hours and hard work are FINALLY about to pay off!
8.) I’d tell them to be very careful! For instance, I checked out your channel and LOVE your content! Seriously, it’s awesome!! I think you’re doing it the right way where you’re using Ai as a “bonus” to compliment your actual self! I’ve heard horror stories about creators SOLELY using Ai and getting demonitized, strikes and/or flat out being denied for ypp.
Yes! You can 100% show my channel! I have no issues with that whatsoever!
And again, if you’d like to “dig in” a little deeper, we can absolutely hop on a call! Let me know if you need anything else on my end!!
Respectfully,
Chris
Oct 13, 2023, 6:32 AM
And now that I’ve been monitored for a few days, it looks like my rpm ranges from 0.04 to 0.14 cents with the average being approx 9-10 cents and without any videos currently going viral, it’s earning me approx $60 a day.