In video production, one of the most important aspects to keep in mind is the cost and resources needed. For those videos that involve props, visual effects, or hiring actors, the ability to gain funding from others is a crucial skill.
The YouTube series Epic Meal Time, which involves a group of people eating insanely high-cholesterol food, demonstrates how to gain funding to keep producing more videos.
1. Companies love featured products.
If you use a product constantly when you create your videos and your videos attract lots of viewers, companies may agree to give you their products for your use, which also serves as free advertisement.
Epic Meal Time is well-known for their use of bacon in their homemade creations, which is why Hormel bacon agreed to sponsor them with free bacon. Considering the amount of product placement the company would get, the mutually beneficial deal of free resources that would be advertised in videos is something that any creator should keep in mind.
2. Your subscribers want merchandise.
For channels that have an established fan base, the creators can capitalize on their popularity by producing merchandise that the fans can buy, giving the creators funding for future videos.
Epic Meal Time has a website that sells products such as shirts and even a cooking set. They also advertise a cookbook in the video description, which can be bought on Amazon. One of the shirts sold can be seen in the video below, worn by the crew.
The importance of merchandise production cannot be understated, as it can be the very lifeline that a creator’s video channel uses for video production.
3. Digital products like apps are great for a modern audience.
Among the kind of merchandise produced, phone apps can be a potential market for more viewer sponsorships, especially in a time where smartphones are used every day by everyone.
Epic Meal Time released a video game in 2012 in which the player feeds the guys from the video channel unhealthy foods while knocking away healthy foods. Higher scores come from successful feeding of unhealthy foods like bacon. Epic Meal Time knew the importance of not only physical products but digital merchandise that could draw in the funding from their audience.
Gaining sponsorships to keep the creation of videos going can be a daunting task but it is not impossible. The channel Epic Meal Time has continued to flourish through not only their premise of high-cholesterol foods to be consumed but the use of company sponsorships and viewer funding through merchandise.
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Kevin Kwon is a recent graduate from UC Berkeley, currently 23 years old. He works in San Francisco and hopes to continue in the graduate studies regarding the field of psychology.
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