Stardew Valley YouTuber with 200k Subscribers 👨‍🌾 🎮

📈 The Numbers Behind Sal’s Success

Given his strong growth throughout the year, this is an average of September to November 2023, more reflective of his growth and go forward business in 2024

• YouTube Ad Revenue: $12,650 per month, up nearly 5x from January

• Sponsorships: 3 examples include:

  • $800 30-second ad / $40 CPM

  • $1,800 1-minute ad / $36 CPM

  • $2,000 full video ad / $80 CPM

• Twitch Revenue: $30/month, with an intention to grow this stream

• Patreon: $45/month (soon to be retired)

He’s on all of the core social media platforms, but largely uses them as a funnel for interested audiences to discover his YouTube, where he earns ~95% of his creator income

In 2024, he nearly doubled his YouTube to 340k subscribers and remained steady with ~5M views per month on YouTube

📊 His Formula for Sponsorships

Sal shared a helpful formula for calculating fair sponsorship rates:

• CPM (Cost Per Thousand Views): Start with $30 for a 30-second ad.

• Multiply CPM by your average view count (in thousands)

• Add 10% for negotiation wiggle room.

For example, if your average video gets 20K views: $30 CPM x 20 = $600 (ask for $660 with the 10% buffer). Prices go up for longer ads or full video sponsorships

🎥 How Sal Creates Content

Sal is a one-person production team, handling everything from scripting to editing. With over 2,600 videos uploaded, his expenses are shockingly low—around $1,000 total over 10+ years, mostly spent on microphones and software like Audacity and Bandicam

His secret? Consistency and passion. Sal started YouTube as a creative outlet, uploading daily at times, and only recently transitioned into making content that’s optimized for growth

💡 Key Lessons from Sal

1. Find Your Niche, Then Expand: Sal’s Stardew Valley guides received early traction on YouTube, inspiring him to focus his content to Stardew. After years of Stardew content, he’s now working to brand himself and branch out into cozy games and variety content to avoid being pigeonholed

2. Leverage Your Personality: Even in tutorial-style videos, Sal adds jokes and references to connect with his audience

3. Use Shorts for Growth: While YouTube Shorts don’t pay much (his most-viewed short with 3.5M views earned just $80), they’re invaluable for channel growth and funneling viewers to long-form content

4. Be Cautious with Sponsorships: After a hacking incident caused by a malicious sponsorship email, Sal now takes extra precautions, including using separate emails and devices for sponsorship negotiations.

🎯 Goals for Year 13

• Go Full-Time: Sal plans to go full time in IT after graduating in May as he continues to develop his social media community

• Stream More: With only eight Twitch streams in this past year, Sal aims to increase his streaming frequency to make content creation more enjoyable and interactive

• Diversify Income: He’s exploring TikTok monetization and plans to use Twitch as a secondary income stream to reduce reliance on YouTube

• Outsource Editing: Sal is considering hiring an editor, allowing him to focus on creative edits and avoid burnout

Closing Thoughts

Sal’s journey is a testament to the power of persistence and passion. From his early days of Let’s Plays to becoming a full-time creator, he’s built a career on his own terms. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your channel to the next level, Sal’s story is proof that success is possible with the right mindset and strategy.

What’s your biggest takeaway from Sal’s story? Let me know in the comments or reply to this email!

Connect with Sal

YouTube Channel
Twitch | Instagram | TikTok

Warmly,
Abe Colwell
Creator in Public