YouTube’s Changing Rules: Why Short Rest Studios Is Shifting Focus
The changes YouTube just rolled out to the YouTube Partner Program requirements made me pause and ask a hard question: Do they just want small creators to stop?
Watch the video: YouTube
Listen on the go: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Web
Read it here ⬇️
Since starting Short Rest Studios back in 2022, I’ve seen the platform change a lot. But this latest shift is the biggest yet – YouTube is doubling the requirements to join the Partner Program. While my position is safe with around 6,500 subscribers and 23,000 watch hours, this change makes it twice as hard for smaller channels to even get a foot in the door. It honestly makes me wonder if YouTube’s goal is to streamline the platform for massive channels and squeeze out the smaller ones.
The Reality of Small Creators’ YouTube Revenue
If you aren’t making content yourself, you might be surprised by what small creators’ YouTube revenue actually looks like. Outside of the massive channels pulling in millions of views, YouTubers aren’t raking in cash from ad revenue:
- Monthly Earnings: Ad revenue for my channel only brings in around $100 to $150 a month—and during slower months, it doesn’t yield anything at all.
- The Return on Effort: Unless you genuinely love making the videos, the ad money alone is definitely not enough to make the time investment worthwhile.
- The Need to Diversify: Relying purely on YouTube is risky because YouTube controls the platform, the reach, and the money. Creators have to rely on other avenues – sponsorships, affiliate programs, channel memberships, Patreon, and original product design – to make a real business work.
How I’m Changing My Approach to Content
This situation served as a big reminder that I need to shift my priorities. I want to spend less energy worrying about YouTube’s algorithm and more time focusing on work that actually edifies me and serves the TTRPG community.
Here is what you can expect moving forward:
- Streamlined Long-Form Videos: I’m going to keep bringing you long-form TTRPG content – including upcoming looks at Nimble’s magic system, the Cosmere RPG, and a review of an amazingly affordable game table. However, I’m scaling back the intense editing time. As a professional editor, I love adding all the extra bells and whistles, but it just takes too much time. Expect engaging videos focused purely on strong content (and my winning personality 😬).
- Dropping Shorts and Extra Social Posts: Shorts and long-form audiences rarely overlap, and posting short clips on social media was taking away valuable time. I’ll be stepping away from producing Shorts to free up my schedule.
- Focusing on Original TTRPG Writing: I’m reclaiming that extra time to actually design and write for the tabletop games we love. I just finished an adventure called The Shrouded Isles (set in my campaign world, The Treasures of Em-Bosheth), which will be out on DriveThruRPG soon. I’m also working on follow-up adventures, a full campaign setting, and the draft of my novel, The Curse Engine.
How You Can Keep Supporting Me
If you want to support what I do and help cover production costs – like commissioning adventure cover art or buying games to review – there are a few ways to stay connected:
- Join the Adventurer’s Guild: You can support the channel on Patreon starting at $1.99/month (or join as a free member for regular updates) to get full-length designer interviews, campaign notes, and to vote on video topics.
- Join the Email List: I send out a weekly newsletter with video updates, extra value, and cool Kickstarter projects I’m tracking.
- Join the Discord: Help us build the Short Rest Studios community.
- Keep Watching & Engaging: Simply liking, commenting, and sharing long-form videos goes a long way.
Thank you for being here and supporting the studio as we adapt to these changes. And remember, you don’t have to quest alone.
If you purchase any products linked on our website, we may receive an affiliate commission.