YouTuber Seán “jacksepticeye” McLoughlin reveals that he earned over 400,000 dollars with a YouTube video. However, he felt so bad about it that he wanted to give part of it away. He also says that success on YouTube follows rules.
What kind of video is it? In an interview with Dexerto on YouTube, the Irish YouTuber faced questions that had never been asked of him before. One of them was what was the most money he had ever made from a YouTube video.
The answer: 400,000 dollars, approximately 338,000 euros, from a Let’s Play of the game My Friendly Neighboorhood.
In the game, you go behind the scenes of a Sesame Street-like TV production and are attacked by the puppets that appear in the series. It is a horror game in a cute disguise.
No question, the Let’s Play was a huge hit with viewers; the over 17 million views on YouTube prove that. However, it is not the most clicked video on his channel; it doesn’t even make it into the top 10.
Jacksepticeye further explains that he felt bad about the large amount of money and contacted the game’s developer. He offered him part of the money, after all, he developed the game.
However, the developer declined. Nevertheless, the two of them seem to want to work together on games in the future, and jacksepticeye wants to support him.
Jacksepticeye’s YouTube colleague has produced his own movie, Iron Lung:
Jacksepticeye believes there are rules for YouTube success
What does jacksepticeye say about success? When asked what he thinks is the worst advice for aspiring YouTubers, jacksepticeye mentioned: “Just do what you love, and you will be successful.” In his opinion, there are indeed set rules for success.
These would manifest, for example, in the thumbnails on YouTube and the editing style of the videos. If you copy these factors from other YouTubers who have success, your own success is also not far away, says jacksepticeye.
How does so much money come about? Looking at the other videos on jacksepticeye’s channel, one might wonder how a nearly 4-hour video could generate so much money. Several factors probably come together:
- The long duration of the video, a total of 3 hours and 51 minutes, allows for a lot of advertisements on YouTube. Not only is there advertising at the beginning and the end of the video, but also so-called mid-rolls that are placed during the video. More ads also mean more money, both for YouTube and for the creator.
- YouTube only places ads on videos that are also “brand safe”, meaning they don’t contain violent or sexual themes in bulk. My Friendly Neighborhood is a horror game, but its colorful presentation dilutes the horror factor and makes it “more attractive” for ads.
Although jacksepticeye apparently has the opportunity to earn a lot of money with YouTube, he also wants to try his hand in other industries. For example, like his colleague Markiplier, he has an interest in movies and announced that he is producing a horror film: A YouTuber and streamer follows Markiplier’s example, producing a new horror film that excites fans
