Have You Ever Considered Doing A YouTube Web Series?

There are many of us who at one point in our lives have considered what it must be like to be a famous actor. Maybe some of you have considered making their own films. Thanks to video sharing platforms especially YouTube, many get to live this dream. There are even Youtube filmmakers whose web series have been picked up by television and streaming companies.

What Are Web Series Exactly?

They are a series of video episodes online. So, single videos with a single subject matter are not considered a web series. One thing to note about web series is that there is a storyline. So for example, YouTube channels with many videos are not considered web series.

This is because although they have a lot of videos but without a cohesive storyline, then they do not have a web series. This is the reason why you see many YouTube videos get classified as web series because they resemble television series which follows a storyline.

It would be easy to make a mistake that web series are online versions of television series. However, they are more than this. Web series are more immersive to those watching them. Web series offers the opportunity for more audience interaction.

For example, if a web series is in YouTube, there are plenty of opportunities for those who are involved in the web series to interact with their audience. One of this would be the comments section.

Web series could also have links embedded in them where the audience could be taken to blogs, websites or other web series. This is kind of interaction is not available in television series.

Would I Make Money With It?

The answer is: “Yes, you could make money with it.” Web series are entertainment products just live television series. Both of these entertainment products can earn thru advertisement monetization.

I am sure that everybody is already aware that television series are financed by television advertisements. The same is true with web series. They can also be financed by online advertisements.

But there is a big difference. Television advertisers pay a lot of money to television broadcasting companies while online advertisers pay a pittance to online content creators. This includes web series producers.

However, as I have said in the beginning of this article, there are web series that get lucky and are picked up by television companies. Once this happens, web series gain the same income potential of a television series.

Cable and Online Streaming Companies

So, does it mean that the only chance I have of getting a decent income is by being picked up by a television broadcasting company? The answer is no. I am sure that even you are aware that online streaming companies and cable companies are competing with television broadcasting companies.

Streaming and cable companies are increasingly eating away at the customer base of television broadcasting companies. These companies do not rely on advertisement income alone. They also earn from subscription fees.

HBO and Netflix are just some names which produce feature length video series. They also pick up web series that are produced by indie producers. For example, the Vimeo web series titled High Maintenance was picked up by HBO.

The web series is about the life of a cannabis dealer as he goes about with his business in his area of New York. It ran for four seasons. If you are interested to see how a successful web series got transformed into an HBO series, visit the HBO High Maintenance Site.

Are Web Series Popular?

Yes, they can be popular. As I have said, there are web series that have been picked up by television, cable and streaming companies. If this is not proof enough for you, I don’t know what is.

But to add more proof. I have found YouTube web series produced in the Africa, America, Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and the Philippines. My search was random and I am sure that I would find more countries involved with YouTube web series.

How did I know this? I simply searched in YouTube using the keywords: “(Country name) + youtube web series”. So, if I wanted to check if there were Indonesian web series, I just used the search keyword: “Indonesia YouTube web series”.

What you would notice is that many of the production quality of these web series are high, you could even make the mistake that you are seeing a television series instead of a web series. There are even movie and television actors who star in these web series.

You would also notice that the number of views for many of these web series are in the millions. Further proof that they are watched by many people and are popular. For example, the YouTube channel TVF (The Viral Fever) is an Indian web series channel and is popular in India. TVF (The Viral Fever) produces a variety of web series and shows. They currently have 7.64 million subscribers as of March 2021. This is how popular they are.

How popular? They are so popular that there are big investors in India willing to invest in it. One of its investor is Tiger Global Management which is based in New York. This company has so far invested over $11 million to this YouTube web series company.

TVF has a valuation of more $80 million after their latest round of funding. This was their estimated value as reported online in May 2019.

Why Big Companies and Investors Finance Web Series

So why are these web series companies with limited revenues being backed by big investors? The answer is “growth potential”. This means that investors are counting on these web series to exploded in popularity so much so that investors do not only recoup their investment, but also earn from it.

This may be very true in countries such as India, China and similar countries where the cost of living is low and the population numbers are high.

Let us take for example India. As of 2019, the population of India is almost 1.4 billion. Indian Millennials are expected to account for fifty percent of the workforce by 2020 and seventy-five percent of the workforce by 2025.

This is why these investment companies are investing in these Indian web series. Most of the tech savvy users of entertainment capable devices like mobile phones, tablets and laptops are millennials.

These millennials in a few years time would be prime targets for advertisers because in a few years time they would reach working age and would therefore become consumers when they start receiving salaries.

But besides the potential of the ever increasing advertisement revenues that these web series would generate, there is also again the promise of these web series being bought by television, cable and streaming companies.

YouTube Series Made For Television

There are even web series that are specifically made for the television audience. For example, the web series Cobra Kai continues after thirty-four years of the Karate Kid movie. Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprise their roles together with some of the original actors in the movie.

The web series has a high production quality, almost the same as if you were to show it as a television series. But you might ask: “Could they recoup their cost as their advertising income might not be enough to recover all their costs in producing the web series?”

I am not an expert on how the Cobra Kai series is monetized and I would explain later. However, if you checked how Cobra Kai is available now, you would learn that only the first two seasons of the web series is available in YouTube.

From season three and beyond, the web series is now available in Netflix. Netflix bought the web series from YouTube who initially commissioned it as a part of their premium offering. This is the reason why I said I am not particularly knowledgeable in how the web series is monetized.

But maybe I can give a better example on why web series can be made with the sole intent of it being picked up by television, cable or streaming companies.

Calls To Action And No Action At All

Lindsay Ellis is a YouTuber with millions of subscribers. She is particularly linked with arts and entertainment where she discusses not only the literary part of the arts and entertainment industry, but also the business side of it.

She has one video that particularly discusses monetization in YouTube. The title of the video is:

Video: YouTube: Manufacturing Authenticity (For Fun and Profit!)

The video is particularly about cooking shows in YouTube but it applies to web series as well. In the video, we are initially shown a successful YouTube cooking show who uses a lot of “Calls To Action” techniques to monetize.

In advertising terminology, “Calls To Action” are techniques used to persuade an audience or reader to make an action. This is action is usually a purchase action. This means that these techniques are used to particularly make a consumer purchase a certain product.

As stated by Lindsay Ellis, this YouTube channel is very popular and also profitable. This is the reason why there are now copycat YouTube channels copying this successful cooking show.

During the latter part of the video, it shows a copycat channel which seemingly does not monetize itself but is backed by rich investors. Later on, we are told that this copycat channel was just picked up by an entertainment network who plans to serialize the show.

Can You Produce Your Own Web Series?

We have established that you could make money with YouTube web series. The most common ways web series are monetized is thru ads and by being bought outright by big entertainment companies.

Filming Equipment:

But you might ask: “Aren’t television quality web series expensive to produce?” The answer is: “Not necessarily.” Let us begin with video equipment. Did you know that there have been web series that have been filmed using an iPhone only?

Yes, this is true. For example, if you Google the search keywords: “web series shot on iPhone” you would find many articles proving that this is true. There are even iPhone filmed web series that have been shown in prestigious film festivals.

An iPhones can arguably be expensive, but it is not prohibitively expensive enough to be unaffordable. Besides, there are other mobile phones that are not as expensive as an iPhone but also offers the same, if not better video filming features.

Cast and Crew:

Many film experts recommend this: Use your family and friends. You do not have to pay professional actors to act for your web series. All you need are family and friends who are interested in being actors or crew for your web series.

You could also use film students, aspiring actors and videographers. These people could be more interested in exposure rather than money. This is because they may be in the beginning of their careers and want to get their name out there in the entertainment industry.

Established and Semi-Established Actors:

If you are good enough and especially very lucky, you might be able to convince established and semi-established actors to act on your web series. These actors can view acting on your web series beneficial to their careers and might want to do it.

There are also actors who might genuinely want to help aspiring web series producers especially if they know these web series producers personally.

Location and Props:

There is a reason why many web series have contemporary settings as themes. This is because with contemporary themes, you do not have to spend much on props. Trying for example to film a science fiction web series could become very costly.

For locations, You can use your friend’s house for example to avoid having a large budget for location settings. You could also bundle and film all the scenes in a location altogether so you can save on transport costs.

Conclusion

YouTube web series are very helpful to aspiring actors, directors and anyone who wants to have a career in the film industry. It gives these people the chance to show off their skills which would otherwise go unnoticed in an increasingly crowded film industry.

However, web series are not only a means to show one’s skills. It is also a means to make money. There are web series that make money using online monetization methods that are not strictly made up of advertising income.

For example, your web series could be picked up or brought by a big entertainment company. This not only means good money, but also means that your skills will be deemed commercially viable.

You might also like to read the article: Posting Entire Books and Novels Online For Profit.