Quick New Years Update

Hello Patrons new and old, and welcome to the year of 2020!

I asked a few days ago in the Patreon discord channel what sort of data and analytics from the channel people would be interested in seeing, and I thought I'd kick off this year with a big old information list so we have something to compare it to at the end of the year.

Luckily I still have the figures from exactly this time last year, so we can make some predictions as well based on the growth over 2019 -

Subscribers:

January 4th 2019 - 9,792
January 4th 2020 - 41,400 (approx.)

Total Views:

January 4th 2019 - 2,087,607
January 4th 2020 - 13,583,748

Top 5 videos:

1. Rimworld: Prepare to Die #1 (4th April 2019) - 129k views
2. CK2: Wanderer #1 (29th December 2019*) - 100.5k views
3. CK2 Game of Thrones: Last Storm King #1 (25th April 2019) - 80k views
4. Rimworld: Star Wars Syndicate #1 (28th February 2019) - 74.5k
5. Rimworld: Assimilation #1 (6th November 2019) - 72.8k

*I mean, it still counts, but holy shit.

Obviously the two big breakout surprise series there are CK2: Wanderer, and Rimworld: Assimilation. Neither of these series did I expect to blow up quite like they did.

Jilp, to some extent, I expected, given that I put the extra effort into the concept, the intro, and the modpack. However, with Assimilation, it was really only a test of certain mods that had flown under the radar, like the wave based survival or the end game of RimAtomics.

CK2 Wanderer I knew was a good idea, especially given that I rebooted the series before it had even began to play it. I've even had other big Youtubers reach out and tell me they're enjoying the series, which is always nice. I genuinely didn't believe that in 2020 any CK2 series other than the 'distorted face in the thumbnail memefest' style of content would ever pull in the amount of views the Wanderer series is, and now I find myself genuinely taking a step back and thinking of other similar scope concepts that I could apply.

                                                               _______________________

Now, I know I say "Without (the patrons) the channel wouldn't be possible in the first place" at the end of every episode, but even with the crazy end of year success, it still remains the absolute truth:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/625780761500581904/663101047513939981/Untitled.png

The image attached is taken only 20 minutes ago from the current channel analytics page. Despite the absolutely nuts success of the Wanderer series, and the other end of year success stories like Assimilation, because I took a small Christmas break, and because I was ill so missed one scheduled video, the Revenue is down by 22%.

I couldn't imagine, and feel extremely sorry for, any upcoming or small Youtuber who doesn't/cannot operate alternate funding like Patreon. We've had two of our top five most successful series of all time, yet still the revenue is down because I took a weak-long break. 

I don't think it's even a case of "I couldn't do this without Patreon" anymore, it's a case of "I wouldn't do this without Patreon."

Okay, fine I still would do it, but I fully recognise how fortunate I am that I have such a supportive community. I don't have to worry about the monumental stress that would come with being forced to take a few days off, and not being able to pay rent suddenly, like certain Youtubers have to consider. It's only possible because of everyone here, and for that I am eternally grateful.

I still stand by what I said that one day I would love to be able to run the channel without Patreon, but with Youtube being the way it is... I guess we'll wait and see?

Anyway, thank you everyone for your continued support. A huge amount has been achieved this year as I hope I have proved, and I hope I continue to be worthy of your continued support going forward into 2020!

Tales of your misdeeds are told from Jilp to Extremely Deus Vult,

Love Sam
(Mr Streamer)
((Roll1D2Games))