Post #2385582

2026-05-08 12:54 UTC

That gets PBS more exposure, sure, and that's great because they put out quality content, but do they get paid for that? I'm genuinely curious here as I know little of how YT pays content creators. I've had a recurring monthly donation going for years now, and I just don't yet understand if/how simply subscribing could replace even a portion of that.

Replies (2)

@Rod_Orm@piefed.world 2026-05-08 12:57

Ads obviously, and people that pay YouTube premium also contributed to monetization but idk how much

Open ##2385583
@kieron115@startrek.website 2026-05-08 15:35

It's the exposure, which leads to more ad revenue (in theory, without adblockers). YouTube creators live or die based on the algorithm and two of the main things the algorithm looks at is frequency of posting and engagement. Since Google needs metrics to give advertisers some idea of revenue potential, someone liking your video isn't nearly as valuable to the algorithm as someone liking, commenting and subscribing (if not already subscribed obvi). As an example, ElectroBOOM just started making shorts of all his old content because he's in the middle of a big house move and doesnt have time to make regular content which he noticed led the algo to stop recommending his content as much. But as far as just making a junk account and liking every video Google has systems in place to ignore "stale" accounts that don't actually watch the videos. Ultimately what they want is *viewers* since eyeballs equals ads equals revenue and everything else is just a way of predicting future views.

Open ##2385585