Huge earnings of influencers burdened with production costs – Creating a studio, or a bottomless pit
Earnings often exceeding the national average is not unusual. Ba, the most popular influencers and Internet celebrities can count on advertising contracts counting in the hundreds of thousands of zlotys. However, it is not enough to just (and until) break through with an interesting format and drink the cream. Production of high quality videos that are later posted on social media costs. You can make a recording studio at home. Cost even PLN 30 thousand.
Surveys conducted on the youngest Internet users show that up to 50% of European children want to be an influencer. The vision of easy money is tempting, but the road to it is a little longer than many people think. It is assumed that in order to earn 500 PLN from ads displayed on YouTube you need to have as many as one million views. However, the most influencers earn on paid collaborations with brands. How much? This of course depends on the popularity and reach, but it is nothing strange to earn 20 thousand. PLN. for a few seconds of mentioning the product. Larger campaigns can be worth even ten times as much.
However, an influencer or content creator on YouTube or other social media is not just a person who carelessly counts subsequent views and hiding behind them (thousands) of zlotys of revenue. Creating such content that will not only be interesting for the audience, meet their substantive expectations, but also satisfy them from the technical point of view, is a hard work, which is sometimes done by at least several people. Not all of the creators are screenwriters, producers or editors at the same time, sometimes they simply know only the substantive part of their Internet activity. However, the basis is the ability to properly format videos.
– Of course, we are taking on board those YouTubers who want to produce slightly more serious formats, not the so-called “YouTubers”. lol-content, which by its very nature accepts inferior technical quality. However, assuming that the idea starts to work and there is a demand for further productions, almost every creator then starts experimenting and tries to improve their material. First he stops shooting videos with his phone, changes the background, starts paying attention to the light and sounds in the background. With each film, he wants to add something new, something seen in the competition, because he begins to see that with better technical quality also grows the reach of the production – describes Ireneusz Tomala, head of the recording studio at the agency.studio, which is part of the group Agency.com., He is a marketing services provider for e-commerce companies and startups.
DIY recording studio..
Many creators are helped by YouTube and other platforms that publish videos or articles on how to create a home recording studio. It is possible? Of course. But it takes a lot of time, free space and even more financial resources. Eagerness to solve technical problems is also advisable.
– Our recording studio, which we can undoubtedly call professional, we prepared ourselves. Without the help of companies that specialize in this. First of all, however, we had the necessary experience, knowledge of the equipment and the realities. We knew from the beginning what quality we were aiming for. Even so, the process took us three weeks,which were needed to collect equipment and properly prepare the room. There were, of course, many hours of testing during which we gave up on individual materials. We were already replacing cables, swapping lamps or tripods, returning equipment and testing new – notes Ireneusz Tomala from the agency.studio.
Building a professional studio, which is ideal for recording videos or podcasts in a version that is technologically optimal for platforms such as YouTube or Spotify is a cost of approx. 30 thousand zlotys. The minimum is several thousand zlotys, but only in the case when for the needs of the studio we adjust the room we already have.
– Professional studio is in fact a bottomless pit. Of course, you can save a little on some equipment and it will work flawlessly. There are, however, some things that we cannot skip – appropriate soundproofing, ensuring light – there is no room for compromise. With time, it will turn out that it’s not worth buying even a simple tripod from the Chinese promotion, because after a few recordings you will realize that the savings were illusory, and your equipment does not allow you to record with a tripod. for recordings at the angle required by us. However, while building a studio we may not be aware of the majority of expenses – says Tomala from the agency.studio.
The list is really long, on which the appropriate class of camera is at the beginning, but it is not the only equipment that can cost a lot of money. In order for the studio to fulfill its professional role, it is necessary to have a studio with a minimum of two thousand zlotys.in. into a camera cage (ok. 450 PLN), magic arm (approx. PLN 100), a recorder (about. 1000 PLN) monitor (approx. 800 PLN), microphone for podcasts (approx. PLN 500), microphone and camera tripods (approx. 300 zł and 1000 zł), as well as green, black and white background (ok. It is possible to save a little on the equipment (e.g. 800 PLN) and all the cabling. A single, short cable costs up to 250 zł, and yet you need more than a dozen of them. Lamps cost up to 1.5 thousand zlotys, and the same can cost the tripods for them. You can’t save on memory cards either, only good quality and appropriate capacity guarantee that you won’t foolishly lose hours of your work. The card used by the professionals is the cost of about. thousand zlotys, and you need at least two of them.
Do not forget about soundproofing, the cost of which depends on the size of the room, but including sound absorbers can be up to two thousand. It is also important to properly darken the studio, so that the lamps always provide predictable light.
..but is it really worth it??
– To this list you can add a lot of necessary accessories. So the costs are really high. However, the video creator must remember that he or she is operating in a very uncertain, because very picky, market. Something that sells well online today, may be boring for the recipients tomorrow. Not all creators are able to adapt their product to market needs on an ongoing basis. Therefore, it is worth considering whether it is really worth risking such huge amounts on a recording studio when there is a significant risk that it will remain empty after some time and we will not be able to recover part of the costs – says Ireneusz Tomala from the agency.studio.
YouTubers are increasingly renting recording studios for hours. In two-three working days they are able to record over a dozen materials, which will be used in the following months. The cost of a recording day is adapted to the needs of the artist, and renting a studio is an expense of at least 700 zł per day.
– When you enter a professional studio, at the start you get the experience of professionals who will advise and operate the equipment. In fact, the creator should only have his own script and nothing else to worry about – adds Tomala.
