Why I started Youtube and how saying "I'm actually in a rather tight situation" made my current situation a little better.

Hi there! The number of views of Owari-chan's video in the 7 days since it was posted has exploded like never before.

First of all, I would like to tell you that the number of subscribers on Youtube has exceeded 300,000.

It's been 4 years since I started Youtube, and I feel like I'm finally getting there. 500,000 or 1,000,000 is a long way off, and at this pace, I wonder when it will be... but in any case, I hope I can keep going as long as I can without any strain.

Well, since it's the end of the year, I thought I'd share with you the percentage of Fantia's supporters, as well as give you some information on Youtube Analytics, which you may not be able to see very often. It's the end of the year, and it's nothing to hide.

For those of you who only need to see the results, let me tell you that the percentage of supporters to my total Fantia membership is 2.6%. It is a very small percentage, but I am very grateful just to have your support in the very niche genre of ”garage kits”. I have nothing but gratitude!

I would be happy if you could keep that in mind for the time being.

┃Owari-chan's views in seven days are equal to the highest ever

This is a video of Owari sculpted by jose-san, that I recently posted, and the ”number of views in the first 7 days after posting” has grown to equal the highest number ever recorded.

It has been viewed at twice the rate of the second place Kashima-Kaze video. This is probably the first time it has grown at this rate since Captain Marin's making video posted in January two years ago.

Here is the data (as of 12,20,2023) for the Owari video.

There are no ads, but the number of views is going up tremendously. It seems that the reason for some revenue is the views of Youtube Premium members.

The reason may be that jose-san made the fastest kit from DISH-san's attractive character design. I did nothing lol

But the RPM is 32 yen...with ads, it's usually around 150 yen to 300 yen, so there is no other way but to call it hell!

┃Benefits of video growth

There are two major advantages of video growth.

• The video can be used to spread awareness of the work and its creator throughout the world.
• It can be (potentially) moderately promotional.

First of all, the majority of people have never heard of the garage kit hobby. Therefore, production videos tend to be new and fresh to those who only buy figures or are completely unaware of the hobby. (Not only figures, but also videos in which people work with their hands tend to grow regardless of whether they are in Japan or overseas.)

And if it is a video, it can help people get to know not only the work, but also the sculptor. (This is the point.)

X, for example, is usually viewed only by a narrowly defined Japanese-only community.

However, with videos, Youtube's recommendation algorithm allows you to reach out to the world and spread the name of the creator widely. I try to make my videos as broadly reachable as possible.

Of course, this channel can reach people all over the world, so people in the Japanese figure industry are probably watching this channel, too.

┃Fundamental factors that led to the growth of the video/channel and advance preparation

I believe that videos and channels that grow basically meet the following conditions.

• The theme must be consistent and not be off-axis.
• The video must be viewable in any language (no language barriers).
• One theme must be completed in a single video.

It was four years ago that I started thinking that if I put out videos following this logic, it would definitely grow, since figures are now an industry with many fans not only in Japan but also abroad....

The demand for garage kit production videos was there, but the supply was not, and it was easy to see the distortion of the so-called market.

So the first thought was,

• High barriers to entry
• Professional potential for entry
• Profitability

The three factors were.The high barriers to entry are first of all the difficulty in obtaining kits, and furthermore, it is easy to predict that most people will be spoon-fed at the initial investment stage (equipment required for filming and production). And professionals in this field will not enter Youtube because they basically only do commercial work, and commercial work will never be released to the outside world under a nondisclosure agreement.

So far, I have seen that it is possible to get my name out there in the blink of an eye just by putting out a coloring video. So, finally, as far as profitability goes...

There isn't any, is there?

The amount of time and effort that went into editing and filming was really not worth the revenue that was generated. lol

This was the only point where I was wrong at first glance... I had never thought that GK would be stripped of monetization for being too erotic, and the unit price per playback is very low, ranging from 0.15 yen to 0.3 yen, so it's a loss just to do it.

Memory cards are consumables, and you are already losing money just by buying new camera lenses, editing software, lighting, background paper, etc., to get good images. In addition, it takes at least three weeks to complete the rubble, so even if I could upload one video a month, it would be good. In fact, there are more months when I can't upload any images, so I can't even talk about it.

┃What is the video production that you continue to do without regard to profitability?

コロッケ砕砕-san who said he started making videos after watching my videos, has cleared these basic requirements and is still producing videos consistently.

I wonder if that is why he has been able to increase the number of subscribers more quickly than I have.

I really wanted to do modeling with clay too, since clay modeling has a much higher search demand than garage kits, but it didn't happen.

I am not interested in my own name value, so I am doing this with the hope that it will help the sculptors gain more recognition.

I think it would be great if this channel attracts more attention, and if that leads to an increase in work requests from companies for sculptors, and if they start doing a lot of commercial sculpt.

In fact, there are people who have done so, which I think is great.

But recently, I don't think I want to live only on Youtube because I can't get ads, I have been accused of copyright fraud by a copyright fraud group for my background music and my earnings have been suspended, and even if I get ads, the playback rate is very low and I can only make a little bit of extra money. (We'll go into this a little more in depth later in the article.)

As of December 20, my monthly earnings are something like 36,000 yen.... It would be crazy to think of living on this! lol

In fact, the work sound videos without background music seem to be more popular, so there will be more work sound-only videos in the future.

Since we have not yet measured whether or not links from the videos lead to conversions, the effectiveness of the videos as sales promotions is still in question. I have written a lot about this and that, but all I can say is that I used to be the type of person who does sales promotion on the Internet, so I am making videos from that perspective.

┃Your reaction when I told you that my income was in trouble（on Fantia）

I talked before about how my income was too small to be a full-fledged business.

I am self-employed, freelance, or whatever you want to call it, but it is a type of business that is not viable unless you earn about twice as much as a salaried worker, or it is very demanding. Despite this, my income is at the level of a newly graduated salaried worker...!

The National Health Insurance and pension that I have to pay go up in price every year, and I don't get a bonus, and I have to think about my future life...to be frank, I can't afford a lot of things.

I felt that some people might think, ”This guy must be making a lot of money,” but the reality is the exact opposite, it's more like a working poor.

The unit price of coloring is usually lower than that of sculpting, so I would conclude that those who are looking for stability should not do a full-time coloring job.... As I think I mentioned last time, I think it is a great idea if the purpose is to increase the pillar of income as a side job. Although some of the commercial finishers I have talked to so far have full-time jobs, many of them seem to be working on the side.

Then someone who can do both sculpting and coloring. This is the strongest. This seems to be a very strong position in the industry.

My point here is not that painter have a hard time with low income, but that I have too little income to be in trouble. People who are doing well must be doing better. hmm...

┃When I told them my income was low, they became more supporters....!

It may seem shallow to openly say that you have no income, and I think it can be evasive for some people.

But I still didn't want to keep getting strange misconceptions (like, ”You seem to be making a lot of money,” etc.), even from my own perspective.

So when I said in X that the situation was not good because of low income, the number of supporters doubled.... Thank you so much...! The number of people on the 500 yen plan doubled from 50 to about 100, which is very helpful...! I mentioned at the beginning that the percentage of supporters to the total was 2.6%, but actually most of them are from the 500 yen plan.

Recently, I have come to the conclusion that if you don't tell the truth, no one will know what is really going on. Even though my income was obviously low, if I had not said so, people would have always misunderstood that ”this guy must have an income. It's scary, isn't it?

If you think of it as branding, that's fine, but I made it clear that I have decided that continuing as a painter in my current state is impossible for me.

I don't care if I am disillusioned. What little I earn is little, that's how it is.

I would like to devise more efficient work methods, ways to receive commissions, and raise the unit price of production so that I can increase my income a little more in the future. Even low income is no substitute for being self-employed, so it is my role, or rather my job, to work to improve profitability....

┃Two rather than one and three rather than two pillars of freelance income are ideal.

This is a takeaway from an old senior colleague of mine, but if you are a freelancer, the more pillars of income you have, the better. And don't rely too much on one pillar. Since freelancers are not bound to one type of business, it is ideal to actively cultivate what you are good at or interested in as a pillar of income.

If you are a sculptor, you should be able to paint as well, or a painter should be able to sculpt as well...or you should start doing work in your specialty that has nothing to do with figures...the point is that because you are freelance, you should hedge your risks to be able to respond to unexpected situations.

In any case, I think it is time for me to develop another pillar of my business. As I have said before, I want to be able to do sculpt, partly because being able to do both coloring and sculpting puts me in a very advantageous position.

I think it is up to each person to decide how they think, but since there is no company to hold on to, I feel that we need to strategically plan our future course of action while choosing the best solution possible.