Linus Tech Tips @lemmy.ml pascal @lemm.ee 11 mo. ago

Floatplane is now below 37000 subscribers.

They have approximately now lost over 5000 subscribers which equates to about $25000 per month or $300000 per year in lost revenue.

97 comments

Maybe that extra $400 time investment wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all
- This is the issue every first world manager makes time and time again. They make greedy little shyster decisions to save a penny here or save face there and then it ends up costing them hundreds of times what it would have cost to just be ethical and decent in the beginning. It's incredible really what letting the entire world be run by business degree graduates will create in terms of the corporate landscape.
  
  Stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.
- Honestly, that bit now seems kinda small compared to what’s happened with the sexual harassment allegations.
  
  It’s gone from YouTube drama because the channel’s a mess, to an actual scandal which paints the entire company as toxic.
  
  Whoa, I haven't heard about the sexual harassment. Got a link?
  
  True. Though in that case, too, it seems like Linus had more than enough warning to have fixed it proactively if he wanted to
As a bystander just here for the popcorn and drama, would someone mind explaining what Floatplane is and how it pertains to LTT and LMG?
- It's like a subscription based YouTube replacement. Like nebula or something. But mostly it's just LTT that has content there.
  
  Core difference is that you subscribe to each channel individually, kinda like Patreon, instead of the Nebula model where you pay one fee and have access to every creator on there.
  
  Awesome, thank you for the clarification.
  
  That's a good explanation.
- Floatplane is the video hosting service that they created and own. Instead of being ad supported it requires a monthly fee for each content creator on it (in the vein of only fans or patreon). So a loss of subs is a direct loss of monthly income for LTT.
- Looks like their attempt at a video streaming app, separate from youtube.
  
  https://www.floatplane.com/discover
  
  Is it just them on the service? I don’t see the appeal over Nebula
- I believe it’s their website/platform, where they post exclusive content that only subscribers can view
- It's like Nebula. LMG owns it, and gets a shit ton of revenue from it's subscription based service
I hate Floatplane being tied to LMG right now. The concept of floatplane is great and a competitor to YouTube is much needed
- Floatplane... is actually kind of a bad product.
  
  Yes, a youtube alternative would be nice. That is not at all what FP is.
  
  Floatplane is closer to Patreon than Youtube. Videos are paywalled by default (design?). That is fine if you are doing a sponsors only stream or posting the studio tour that your patrons unlocked. That is horrible for building an audience and any creator who overly relies on it will likely get wiped out in the next "cull" caused by a big name starting up a patreon or a youtube.
  
  That is why Ian at Forgotten Weapons almost never mentions it (I also wouldn't be surprised if "Gun Jesus who has confederate ass facial hair and lives in a compound full of guns" is told to not push too heavily) in favor of Utreon and the like. Because he needs the revenue from people watching his videos and to build up his audience.
  
  You would basically need to be Pokimane levels of massive to justify Floatplane as a platform. And even then, she would need to make sure she keeps doing twitch streams and collabs and instagram posts to keep those numbers up.
- I've been enjoying Nebula as a creator-owned YouTube alternative. I don't like all the creators there (a bit too "BreadTube" for my tastes), but there are plenty of creators that I do like. They have some decent bundles too.
  
  Sorry… “BreadTube?”
- Yea YouTube desperately needs some legitimate competition
  
  It's not likely to ever happen. The business model just isn't sustainable by itself. The costs are through the roof, and ads don't pay enough to pay for it and pay creators. Any competitor would be far more restricted on who and what can be uploaded.
Good, hopefully more follow. Floatplane subs have to be LMG's most loyal audience. This is kinda surprising considering the amount of LMG apologists in reddit & LTT forums. Their level of shilling for a company is kinda unreal.

Also fuck LMG's "investigation." Seems like just some diversion that will result in "we found no evidence of anything" and to say they did something. Typical corporate BS.

Everything Madison said has been corroborated by another ex-employee, it aligns with her glassdoor review of last year, aligns with other anonymous employee coming forward exposing LMG's toxic culture, and it's supported by other bits and pieces of recordings. None of these parties are profiting by coming forward, on the contrary they are exposing themselves to the cult that is LMG's fanbase (which drove a kid and his mom to suicide before).

Unless LMG comes up with damning evidence proving everything wrong then anyone with half a brain will see through their bullshit.
- I'm condemning LMG like the next guy, but it would be good to reserve judgement until after the reports are published, at which point we can assess whether the investigation was done impartially or was biased and tampered with. The reality is, we just don't have any evidence for either side, aside from testimonials. I'm interested in seeing what comes out of the investigation and will raise hell if the investigation is not properly conducted.
  
  This is social media, not a court of law. My standard of determination on where my money goes and what content I watch doesn't need to be beyond a reasonable doubt.
  
  Those people can simply resubscribe if LTT is exonerated so it's not like it's a death sentence.
- (which drove a kid and his mom to suicide before).
  
  I'm sorry, what?
  
  Explained in the other comment
- (which drove a kid and his mom to suicide before)
  
  Wait, what? Do you have a link to anything about this?
  
  Maybe it was his dad, not entirely sure, but it was real. You can see linus comment on the post from the kids parent:
  
  https://old.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/t1e1if/you_destroyed_my_life/
  
  From what I know the kid had a YT channel, and their parent bought a silver YT play button from the NCIX auction years ago. Linus wanted the button back and they refused. Basement dwellers and bootlickers then proceeded to harass the kid in every way possible contributing to their suicide (and their parent's suicide).
I suspect that if this destroys the company, Linus will turn into one of those raging conspiratorial lunatics who blames society for his failures. I always thought he was a level headed dude, but some of the stuff coming makes me think he's more of a Scott Adams type deep down.
- Given how much of his investment has gone into creating LMG, Floatplane, etc, I can certainly see that happening. Even the most level headed person in the world will have a point in which a switch in their minds would flip.
  
  I know a few people who were never the same after the dot-com crash, and most recently with the crypto crash. Such a loss (whether of their own making or external impact) will cause even the most sane person to be delusional and senile.
  
  I'm willing to put money that if LMG goes to the ground, we will see a person potentially beyond repair, possibly with a destroyed family, given that it's both him and his wife as the primary investors. I really hope their kids come out unaffected.
  
  It's just sad all around.
- The man put like a dozen cameras in his own house, including ones that are pointed at his kids room, he is not okay
  
  Permanently Deleted
Cancelled mine and deleted my account.
"i couldnt justify the $500 in people's time to reshoot the review" - linus sexual harassment tips
So, should they rebrand to Sinkplane?
- That's a nice joke that deservers more, but at this point I'm sad for Luke.
To be honest, based on what I've seen from floatplane subscriber comments its people leaving because of the content pause.

Any negative comment is immediately disliked to oblivion

I.e.:

Vs
- I feel these graphs tell a different story:
  
  IMHO The people who really cared have left, the one who are on the verge are mainly waiting and the one actively participating with votes are the core fans.
  
  The source is Reddit from user nicePenguin, here's an archived version (Link), they put up a site too at http://fp-stats.buzz , I'm not sure about the overall accuracy, but it doesn't seem wrong at first glance.
  
  Yeah thats a good point, to be honest it looks like its mostly levelled off and they haven't lost more than the people who joined after feeling bad for them bc of the hack.
  
  Personally, I'd be willing to bet most of the people they lost are the ones who most recently joined if their only reason for joining was feeling bad for them? Therefore not the hardcore stans
- Well floatplane is where the hardcore stans lives... The chamber doesn't just echo there, it reverbs.
- Maybe the most recent ones but the exodus started long before the content freeze announcement.
How does 5k subs equate to 25k revenue a month? I know quite a few YouTubers with more than that and they only make a few hundred a month.
- It must cost 5 dollars a month to be a member.
  
  /c/theydidthemath
- It's not just ad-based revenue they're losing. It's a monthly subscription people are cancelling.
- Those are floatplane subs not YouTube subs
- Subs on Floatplane pay money monthly like Onlyfans or Patreon. Subs on youtube don't pay money.
- 5,000 x $5/month = $25,000/month
What's the updated figure?
- There is a live counter
  
  Question, what is the source of that live counter???
- Right around 36k
Ouch

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