I suppose I could legitimately claim to being a “content creator” just like so many far younger folk seem to similarly self-identify. After all, I’ve been doing this now for pretty much the lion’s share of 66 months and between this and our sister site THE DOUBLE OVERTIME have authored roughly 3000 of these musings. That’s gotta count for something, right?
On the other hand, this particular content creator has spent the equivalent of roughly three lifetimes of those who somehow see it as their ticket to personal freedom and financial independence as a student and client of folks who actually keep score on these things, and I’ve lived through the earliest iterations of website measurement that educated a generation that a clickthrough was not a view and a view not necessarily a viewer. And when I was roughly the same age as the most determined creators are now I made a living dealing with minimum thresholds for stations and networks to be deemed viable enough to place ads into. I learned the hard way via a dressing down directly from the head of marketing for Tyson Foods that despite their clear efficiencies versus their broadcast competition USA CARTOON EXPRESS–which actually showed up with a measurable target demo rating in the daypart section of a local rating book in Binghamton, New York in nineteen-freaking-eighty-two–was not ever gonna be a place where he’d allow his chicken nuggets to be hocked. Heaven forbid they use–ahem–cable (eww). I did later learn that that arrogant rube was replaced not long after that when he tried to use the same elitist argument against a CEO who was determined to be a charter advertiser on The Nashville Network, so I suppose there was some karma in this case.
I dredge up these ancient stories to remind that I’m a lot less bent out of shape than a helluva lot of less seasoned folks about what MASHABLE’s Olivia Tauber reported on yesterday:
YouTube built one of the creator economy‘s biggest payment systems, but now it is raising the bar for who gets to share in it. Beginning Feb. 1, 2027, new creators will need 8,000 qualified watch hours over the previous year or 20 million qualified Shorts views within 90 days to earn advertising and YouTube Premium revenue(.)
Both figures are double YouTube’s current requirements of 4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views. The announcement did not mention a change to the existing requirement that creators have at least 1,000 subscribers. The new rules will also affect creators who are already part of the YouTube Partner Program. To earn ad and subscription revenue from Shorts each month, they will need to maintain 10 million qualified views during a rolling 90-day period.
The outcry from said creator economy was predictably dramatic and emotional, as DEXERTO’s Michael Gwilliam documented:
And KOTAKU.com’s shared a few more heartfelt wails and laments:
The Uncle Floyd Show aired in New Jersey and New York from 1974 to 1998.[1] The show adopted the visual style of a children’s television show but used it to deliver deliberately odd, improvised, and often adult-leaning humor that functioned as a parody of the genre rather than a conventional kids’ show. The show made its debut on UA-Columbia Cable TV of New Jersey, now part of Cablevision, on January 29, 1974. Beginning in November 1974, it aired on UHF-TV station WBTB-TV, Newark, broadcasting on channels 68 and 60, which later became WTVG, then WWHT, as the station’s ownership changed.
In 1982, The Uncle Floyd Show went into a small syndication circuit, which included 17 markets, among them WNBC-TV channel 4 in New York, then WTAF-TV channel 29 in Philadelphia, WPWR-TV Channel 60 in Chicago, WSBK-TV Channel 38 in Boston, and WHCT-TV Channel 18 in Hartford.[citation needed] It aired on weeknights after Late Night with David Letterman and SCTV on WNBC.[9] From 1983 to 1986, The Uncle Floyd Show ran on the statewide PBS network, New Jersey Network, which consisted of four channels: WNJS (Channel 23, Camden), WNJN (Channel 50, Montclair), WNJB (Channel 58, New Brunswick), and WNJT (Channel 52, Trenton).
Uncle Floyd didn’t even have the reportable ratings of old Saturday morning cartoons and didn’t make a penny when he first started his show on that modest suburban cable system but he did have a unique voice that eventually caught on. He started to make money when he got enough of a following to be in the same league as other professionals. Which sorry to break it to you, kids, is where You Tube now is in its maturation cycle, as Tauber reminded:
YouTube’s business has grown considerably since its last overhaul, particularly around short-form video. The platform now records more than 200 billion Shorts views each day, nearly three times the 70 billion daily views it reported in 2024. Viewers also reportedly watch more than 1 billion hours of YouTube on televisions .
When you’re authenticated as the number one measured destination in all video by even Nielsen, that’s the league you’re playing in. You and your fellow hangers who cherish your free breakfasts at your networking hubs might think you’re hot sh-t, but those who measure all of this and set the rules play in much different circles–lately especially and have higher bars. And since in all likelihood you never knew or cared who Uncle Floyd was before this, you ‘re not allowed to use his experience as a defense for your meltdowns and lols.
But let me not come off exclusively mocking and deriding for a change. Maybe YouTube isn’t gonna pay for your next energy coffee, but another somewhat less outdated reference that recently rearose in stories like the one that E! NEWS’ Hayley Santaflorentina dropped at the end of last month might just be the lifeline you’re seeking:
More than 20 years since Myspace launched, making and breaking friendships and allowing users to show off their music taste, the site’s owners Chris Vanderhook and Tim Vanderhook confirmed they’re planning to relaunch the platform. “We still own Myspace,” Tim told Tommy Avallone‘s new documentary, Myspace, according to People. “We are stewards of the Myspace brand at this point, and we are going to relaunch Myspace. We’re just waiting for the right time to do it.