Wendover Productions Net Worth: How Much Money He Makes On YouTube
Wendover Productions Net Worth – $27 Million
Wendover Productions is a popular educational YouTube channel that was created by an American guy named Sam Denby. He has an estimated net worth of $27 million. His content mainly consists of educational videos about the workings of the world, with topics ranging from travel, defense, transport, geography, marketing etc. He started uploading videos on the channel in August 2015 and his videos have been massively popular on YouTube. The most popular video currently is titled “The Economics Of Airline Class” which has over 5 million views so far.
How Much Money Does Wendover Productions Earn On YouTube?
The channel has over 4.6 million subscribers as of 2024 and has accumulated over 700 million views so far. It is able to get an average of 250,000 views per day from different sources. This should generate an estimated revenue of around $2,000 per day ($730,000 a year) from the ads that appear on the videos.
YouTube content creators based in the US, UK, Canada and Australia generally get paid $2 – $12 per 1000 monetized views after YouTube takes its cut. Monetized views usually range from 40% – 80% of the total views. All these are influenced by several factors like the device played on, time of the year, the location of the viewer, ad inventory, how many ads there are on a video, how many people skip the ads, type of advertisement, ad engagement, type of content, etc.
The cost of an ad view is based on an auction between advertisers based on views. Advertisers have to bid a minimum of $0.01 per view. There is also a program known as Google Preferred where deep-pocketed companies can target ads on the top 5% most popular content. The ad rates here are higher than normal.
Apart from ads, YouTube content creators also generate extra income from other methods such as YouTube Premium, Superchats & Superstickers, Super Thanks, Channel Membership and Shopping.
YouTube Premium viewers pay a monthly fee to view premium content on YouTube and watch videos without ads. Here, content creators get paid based on watch time on their videos. The longer the viewers watch their videos, the more money they earn.
Super Chat and Super Sticker are used by fans to connect with creators during live streams and premiers. When one buys a Super Chat, their comment is highlighted within the live chat while the Super Stickers get an animated image that surfaces in live chat. Super Thanks lets creators earn revenue from viewers who want to show extra gratitude for their videos. Fans can buy a one-time animation and get to post a distinct, colorful, and customizable comment in the video’s comment section.
Shopping allows eligible creators to connect their stores to YouTube to feature their own products.
YouTube Shorts generate revenue in a different way as compared to traditional videos. The revenue from ads appearing between Shorts will be pooled together then a portion of the total revenue will be allocated to a Creator Pool. Each country has its own Creator Pool. Eligible creators will be paid based on their share of total views. Shorts that use music make less money due to licensing costs.
General Expenses
Content creators incur a wide variety of expenses to create their content. These can include things like production costs, employee salaries, travel expenses, rent, buying new equipment, utilities, amenities, entertainment, subscription fees and other living expenses. One of the biggest expenses for most creators is taxes. Your tax brackets generally depend on your income. In a country like the United States, the highest tax rate is 37%. A combination of all these expenses determines one’s ability to save and invest, consequently how much one’s net worth grows.
Other Sources Of Income
i) Sponsors
Aside from YouTube ads, Sam makes more money by getting companies to sponsor many of his videos. He has promoted products like Blueapron, Squarespace, Hover, The Crew 2, Skillshare and many others. He also posts some of his content on Curiosity Stream, a paid streaming platform.
ii) Nebula
This is a video-on-demand streaming service provider that was launched in 2021 as an alternative platform for creators to distribute their content and get a bigger revenue share for their work. The idea initially came from Dave Wiskus who formally created the company and called it Standard. He then brought in other creators to help in the early phases of the company. They include Sam from Wendover, Brian from Real Engineering, Joseph from Real Life Lore, CGP Grey and Philipp Dettmer of Kurzgesagt.
Initially, the company’s official shareholders included Dave Wiskus, CGP Grey and Philipp. Grey and Philipp left in 2020 due to creative and philosophical differences. They were hands-off hence made decision making hard in the company since their votes were needed. They also tried to shut down the company at one point by outvoting Dave 2 to 1. Their shares (approximately 70% of the company) were bought out by the other creators who took the opportunity to own part of the company. They included Sam from Wendover, Brian from Real Engineering, Alex from Low Spec Gamer, Devin from Legal Eagle and Thomas Frank.
In September 2021, Curiosity Stream acquired a minority stake in Nebula valuing the company at $50 million. Initially, they were against any venture capital investment since they tend to pressure streaming platforms to squeeze more value from the creators. This ignored the value that creators brought to the platform. Nebula now has over 650,000 paying users and a valuation of $150 million.
iii) Other YouTube Channel
Sam has another channel named Half As Interesting which deals with short videos to educate and entertain. It has over 2.6 million subscribers and has accumulated over 650 million views so far. It gets an average of 200,000 views per day which is expected to generate an estimated revenue of $1,600 per day ($585,000 a year).
iv) Investments
Investments refer to the allocation of funds into various assets or financial instruments with the expectation of generating a return over time. The primary purpose of investments is to grow wealth, preserve capital, or meet specific financial goals. There are various forms of investments, including stocks, bonds, real estate, mutual funds, and alternative investments like commodities or cryptocurrencies. Each investment type carries its own set of risks and potential rewards.