[zamnos]

I don't disagree, but there are some that have managed to crack the code, or maybe just right place, right time, but eg kurzgesagt has a team of 60 to run their channel, and also they get a lot of outside funding for their channel. (they have 20M subscribers, but my question is how they got there, not why are they successful now that they are there)

[oblio]

Black Swan aka long tail.

Most people starve.

It's not a valid career choice, it's a lottery.

[Mawr]

It's not a lottery, there's a direct relationship between the quality of a video and its viewership.

Luck is involved, but to a much lesser degree than in fields like music, acting, or startups.

[oblio]

The point of the entire article is that you can't make a living out of it.

But you do you.

[system2]

I disagree. There is an algorithm and some people analyze the trends to crack it.

[oblio]

And those people are the 0.01% and many admit they got lucky, and at a certain point fame is close to self sustaining.

[oska]

Kurzgesagt has become (or was always?) propagandistic, in my experience, so that may explain where they get some of their funds from.

[oska]

(Can't edit my comment above now so adding on by reply)

My observation above was just from personal experience. But after making it I searched 'Kurzgesagt' on YouTube (just wanted to see what videos they'd recently produced) and, as well as their recent videos, that search also turned up one called Kurzgesagt: billionaire propaganda, trusting science, and effective altruism [1] which I've now watched and found that my observation has been made by others and analysed in quite some detail. That video mentioned some others on the same subject [2-3], which I haven't watched but also look interesting.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGfBV4I8DQI

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjHMoNGqQTI

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCuy1DaQzWI