1-2-1: Is YouTube's Ad Revenue Decline A Wake-Up For Creators? 🤯🤯🤯

Welcome to this week's 1-2-1!

1 - Insight

Is YouTube's Ad Revenue Decline A Wake-Up For Creators?

YouTube's ad revenue fell  2.6% (Year over Year) to $6.7B in Q1 2023, marking its third consecutive quarterly decline despite recent efforts like Shorts and audio ads.

I've been arguing for some time, that this may lead to knock on effects for the creator community.

That declining ad revenue may accelerate an increase in creator-owned businesses such as products, subscription services, and paid communities. As advertisers pull back ad dollars, creators can leverage their communities to launch and invest, giving them a competitive advantage. The era of relying solely on ads is coming to an end, forcing creators to build their own sustainable businesses.

2 - Interesting Links/Shares

MKBHD's Shoe Collab & How Everything Old Is New Again

Tech YouTuber, Marques Brownlee, has collaborated with shoe brand Atoms to create Sneaker 251, a high top sneaker that combines both the brand's aesthetic and Brownlee's personal tastes.

The shoes also have little easter eggs nodding to Brownlee's YouTube career, such as the embroidered number "251," which represents the length of his first YouTube video.

The collaboration is a bit of an 'everything old is new again' moment. This isn't the first time a startup shoe company has collaborated with creators on a signature shoe line.

Back in the early 2010's a startup,  Tweak Footwear  was ahead of its time. The company partnered with a number of the biggest creators of the era, including: Rhett & Link, Wheezy Waiter, Charles Trippy, Olga Kay, Tim Charantangsu, and several others.

I'm not sure what happened to Tweak, but I'm certain we'll be seeing more collaborations like Atoms + MKBHD.

According to studies creators are looking to invest in their own brands. And, when they do partner with brands they prefer long term partnerships.

Most brands have failed to fully embrace influencers in the way they have other endorsements.

The overriding perception is that influencers are distributors - a media channel.

This is a tactical mistake. One that is incredibly short sighted.

Creators are capitalizing on their communities, and building their own brands instead of merely waiting for opportunities to knock.

Why lease your audience to a brand when you can create your own and reap the benefits?

The influencer-brand partnership is undergoing a transformation.

For brands hoping to stay relevant this means influencer-brand partnerships can not be fleeting endorsements, but rather, forging meaningful alliances.

"Creation is A Radical Act Of Empathy" - Hank Green

I highly recommend reading Kaya Yurieff's interview with Hank Green from The Information's Creator Economy Summit.

It was a wide ranging conversation covering everything from which platform Hank thinks is best for creators (YouTube), TikTok's ban, and how he makes his money.

It was an incredible conversation and one well worth the read. Check out the full conversation  here .

1 - Question

I'm hosting a conversation with Mark Manson, author of 'The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck' at VidCon this year. Any questions you think I should ask?