拥有2000万订阅，我们在YouTube上如何赚钱？：英语精读讲义

In 2023, Kurzgesagt has existed for 10 years,

到2023年，Kurzgesagt已经成立10年了，

insanely long in internet years.

这在互联网时代算是相当漫长的时间。

We're among the largest science-y channels on YouTube 用詞

我们是YouTube上最大的科普频道之一，

and still a bit of a black box to people. 習語

但对人们来说，我们仍然有点像个黑匣子。

So, let's talk about ourselves a bit in three parts.

所以，让我们分三个部分来谈谈自己。

Our backstory, how we finance our work,

我们的背景故事、我们如何为工作筹措资金，

and the values of Kurzgesagt.

以及Kurzgesagt的价值观。

Let's jump back to a more innocent time. 表達脈絡

让我们回到一个更单纯的时代。

From humble beginnings to today.

从最初的默默无闻到今天。

Kurzgesagt's foundation was laid when Philipp, our founder, 習語

Kurzgesagt的基础是在我们的创始人Philipp

dropped out of high school as a teenager. 短語動詞

青少年时期辍学时奠定的。

Learning seemed daft and useless, 用詞

那时学习似乎很愚蠢且毫无用处，

and he wasn't interested in anything,

他对任何事情都不感兴趣，

until a very special teacher at a school for dropouts

直到一所辍学生学校里的一位非常特别的老师

grabbed him by the neck.

拽住了他命运的后颈。

The way she taught was different.

她的教学方式与众不同。

She talked about connections and the big picture. 習語

她谈论事物间的联系和宏观图景。

She told a story.

她讲述了一个故事。

For the first time ever,

有生以来第一次，

Philipp wanted to learn more without being forced.

Philipp想要在不被强迫的情况下学习更多东西。

It was a key life experience.

这是一次关键的人生经历。

Kurzgesagt tries to recreate this experience for you.

Kurzgesagt试图为你重现这种体验。

Nothing is boring if you tell a good story, 語法

如果你讲一个好故事，就没有什么是无聊的，

and we try to tell these stories to spark excitement

我们试图讲述这些故事来激发你的兴奋感，

and make you want to go on and learn more. 語法

并让你想继续探索、了解更多。

Because of the one teacher that could do this,

正是因为这位能够做到这一点的老师，

Philipp got a high school degree,

Philipp拿到了高中学位，

studied history and design,

学习了历史和设计，

and eventually started Kurzgesagt as a passion project

最终出于热爱创办了Kurzgesagt，

inspired by Crash Course World History.

灵感来源于Crash Course World History。

In 2012,

在2012年，

YouTube was less commercial and more idealistic.

YouTube还没那么商业化，更具理想主义色彩。

You couldn't make a living with videos as involved as ours, 講解

你无法靠制作像我们这么复杂的视频谋生，

and that was fine.

但这也没关系。

The goal was creative freedom,

目标是创作自由，

and so for the first few years,

所以在最初的几年里，

it actually cost money to make Kurzgesagt.

制作Kurzgesagt实际上是倒贴钱的。

We had no outside funding,

我们没有外部资金，

just intrinsic motivation,

只有内在的动力，

and a few friends from university.

以及几个大学时代的朋友。

We worked for clients during the day and on Kurzgesagt at night, 語法

我们白天为客户工作，晚上做Kurzgesagt，

80 to 100 hours a week.

每周工作80到100个小时。

It was a real struggle,

那真是一段艰难的时期，

but also very rewarding.

但也非常有成就感。

But then Patreon launched,

但后来Patreon上线了，

sponsorships started,

赞助开始了，

our views increased,

我们的观看量增加了，

YouTube changed.

YouTube改变了。

In 2015,

在2015年，

the channel began to break even,

频道开始收支平衡，

and then to earn a profit.

然后开始盈利。

But we were pretty burned out at this point, 用詞

但那时我们已经筋疲力尽，

so we decided to bring in more friends and 短語動詞

所以我们决定引入更多的朋友，

hire the first team members full-time,

并聘请第一批全职团队成员，

creating a legal entity.

成立了一个合法实体。

More people meant that we could stop overworking,

人数增加意味着我们可以停止过度劳累，

do more,

做更多事，

and improve.

并不断改进。

But we also needed to earn more.

但我们还需要赚更多的钱。

The livelihood of real humans depended upon it.

毕竟大活人的生计全靠它了。

None of us had any experience in running a company.

我们中没有一个人有经营公司的经验。

We didn't plan to become big or to grow.

我们没有计划做大或扩张。

It sort of just happened. 語氣意圖

一切就这么自然而然地发生了。

A decade later,

十年后，

Kurzgesagt is not a small project anymore.

Kurzgesagt不再是一个小项目。

We are an animation studio

我们是一家动画工作室，

with offices in Munich and Berlin.

在慕尼黑和柏林设有办公室。

We need computers, monitors, tablets,

我们需要电脑、显示器、手绘板、

desks, coffee, contracts,

办公桌、咖啡、合同、

pay licenses, taxes, rent, and insurance.

支付许可费、税款、租金和保险。

In 2023,

在2023年，

our team consists of over 60 employees

我们的团队由60多名员工

and a lot of freelancers around the world.

以及世界各地许多自由职业者组成。

Salaries alone cost millions of dollars a year

仅仅是为了维持运营，每年的工资成本就高达数百万美元。

just to stay around.

光是活着就已经如此不易。

This creates an interesting problem.

这就产生了一个有趣的问题。

With such high production costs, 表達脈絡

在如此高昂的制作成本下，

how can we publish our work for free?

我们如何能免费发布我们的作品？

How we finance Kurzgesagt.

我们如何为Kurzgesagt提供资金。

We've added up our earnings from 2015 through 2022. 短語動詞

我们汇总了2015年到2022年的收入。

Our sources of funding changed depending on opportunities

我们的资金来源会随着机会

and the state of the world.

和世界形势的变化而变化。

Early on,

早期，

agency work was our main source of income.

代理工作是我们主要的收入来源。

Ad revenue varies.

广告收入则起伏不定。

In some years,

在某些年份，

we got more sponsorships than in others.

我们获得的赞助比其他年份多。

The shop didn't exist for a long time,

很长一段时间里，商店并不存在，

then it became pretty big after we launched our calendar.

直到我们推出日历后，它的规模才变得相当大。

62% of our revenue comes indirectly or directly from you.

我们62%的收入间接或直接来自你们。

You watch our videos with ads,

你们观看带广告的视频，

support us on Patreon,

在Patreon上支持我们，

or buy from our shop.

或者在我们的商店购物。

The single biggest source of income by far is our shop. 短語搭配

到目前为止，最大的一笔收入来源是我们的商店。

That alone accounted for 40% over the last eight years. 用詞

在过去八年里，仅这一项就占了40%。

The shop started small,

商店起步时规模很小，

but once we published our calendar for the first time in 2016,

但自从我们在2016年首次出版日历后，

we realized it could really help us do more things,

我们意识到它真的可以帮助我们做更多事情，

and we started producing more and more science products 語法

于是我们开始生产越来越多的科普产品，

from our posters

从海报

to our gratitude journal or universe-scented candles.

到感恩日记，再到宇宙香氛蜡烛。

YouTube ads accounted for 13%

YouTube广告占13%，

and Patreon 9%.

Patreon占9%。

So,

所以，

without your support, 語法

如果没有你们的支持，

we would cease to exist.

我们就不复存在了。

Our shop and Patreon are our most important sources of revenue,

我们的商店和Patreon是我们最重要的收入来源，

and because we see ourselves as science communicators, 短語搭配

而且因为我们将自己视为科学传播者，

we don't just do merch, 語法

我们不只是做周边，

but science-y products

而是做科普产品，

that we spend hundreds of hours researching,

我们会花费数百小时进行研究，

discussing with experts,

与专家讨论，

polishing up and working on directly with the manufacturers. 短語動詞

打磨完善，并直接与制造商合作。

They are part of the science story we try to tell.

它们是我们试图讲述的科学故事的一部分。

It also just feels good to get directly funded by you guys

得到你们的直接资助

and give you something back for it. 短語動詞

并以此回馈你们，感觉真的很棒。

On top of our videos,

除了视频之外，

YouTube ads are a crucial part of our funding as well,

YouTube广告也是我们资金的重要组成部分，

but they are not within our control.

但它们并不在我们的控制范围内。

Then there's paid agency work,

然后是付费的代理工作，

which we stopped doing in 2022.

我们在2022年停止了这项业务。

It accounted for 9% of our revenue over the last eight years.

在过去八年里，它占了我们收入的9%。

A lot in the beginning,

一开始很多，

not much by the end.

到最后就不多了。

Then there are commercial sponsors advertising products.

然后是宣传产品的商业赞助商。

They accounted for 12% of our revenue.

他们占了我们收入的12%。

We also got about 7% from German public broadcasting for the German channel,

我们还从德国公共广播机构获得了用于德语频道的资金，约占我们总收入的7%，

but ended this partnership in 2022.

但这种合作在2022年结束了。

Finally,

最后，

there are institutional sponsors representing about 10%.

大约有10%来自机构赞助商。

Some people take issue with this. 習語

有些人对此有异议。

Especially Bill Gates has come under public scrutiny, 短語搭配

特别是比尔·盖茨受到了公众的审查，

and we've been criticized for even working with organizations funded by him.

甚至连我们与他资助的组织合作也遭到批评。

So, let's look at this 10% in more detail.

所以，让我们更详细地看看这10%。

About 3% of our revenue over the last eight years came from the Gates organizations

过去八年里，我们约3%的收入来自盖茨的组织，

for a wide variety of topics,

用于各种各样的主题，

often suggested by us.

这些主题通常是我们提出的。

5% comes from Open Philanthropy

5%来自Open Philanthropy，

and is only used for specific projects.

并且仅用于特定项目。

With these funds,

利用这些资金，

we've started Arabic, Hindi, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, and French channels,

我们开设了阿拉伯语、印地语、韩语、日语、葡萄牙语和法语频道，

bringing more free science content to more people.

为更多的人带来更多免费的科学内容。

Then there's a two-year funding for original TikTok content,

然后有一项为期两年的TikTok原创内容资助，

which gives us freedom to explore and learn how to do short-form science communication.

这让我们有自由去探索和学习如何做短视频的科学传播。

The final 2% came from other organizations

最后2%来自其他组织，

like the Red Cross or the UN,

例如红十字会或联合国，

for example.

诸如此类。

We choose institutional sponsors carefully,

我们谨慎选择机构赞助商，

but if organizations want to fund videos that help us spread quality information about relevant topics,

但如果有些组织想资助有助于我们传播相关高质量信息的视频，

this is an easy yes for us 用詞

这对我们来说很容易答应，

if we have the capacity for it.

只要我们有能力做。

On top of that,

最重要的是，

the institutional sponsors we're working with align with our values. 短語搭配

与我们合作的机构赞助商与我们的价值观相符。

We have contracts with every grant giver or sponsor

我们与每一个资助者或赞助商签订的合同中，

that bars them from editorial influence 語法

都明令禁止他们进行编辑干预，

other than suggesting topic areas like global health or climate change.

除了建议全球健康或气候变化等主题领域。

We agree on video topics together,

我们会共同商定视频主题，

but sponsors can neither influence details nor our conclusions. 語法

但赞助商既不能影响细节，也不能影响我们的结论。

The final decision always remains with us.

最终决定权始终在我们手中。

And usually,

通常情况下，

we develop the topics of the videos autonomously

我们自主开发视频主题，

and tell the sponsor what we're doing afterwards.

事后再告诉赞助商我们在做什么。

If you're interested in how we research our videos in detail, 語法

如果你对我们如何详细研究视频感兴趣，

our head of research wrote an article about it.

我们的研究主管写了一篇关于这个的文章。

Running an educational YouTube channel is a balancing act 習語

运营一个教育类的YouTube频道是一种平衡，

that we take very seriously.

我们非常认真地对待它。

We're doing our best to maintain this balance,

我们尽最大努力保持这种平衡，

adjusting whenever necessary.

并在必要时进行调整。

As a team and a company,

作为一个团队和一家公司，

we want to grow

我们希望成长，

to give more people access to a science-based outlook on the world.

让更多人能够获得基于科学的世界观。

This brings us to our final topic. 表達脈絡

这就引出了我们的最后一个主题。

Why are we doing Kurzgesagt?

我们为什么要制作Kurzgesagt？

Our values and our vision.

我们的价值观和愿景。

Our core mission is to spark curiosity.

我们的核心使命是激发好奇心。

We want to make science and humanism accessible 語法

我们希望让尽可能多的人

for as many people as possible. 語法

能够接触到科学和人文主义。

The effort we put into creating our videos 短語搭配

我们在制作视频上投入的努力

is a way of achieving that.

就是实现这一目标的方式。

Our videos are beautiful

我们的视频非常精美，

because that helps to spark curiosity, 表達脈絡

因为这有助于激发好奇心，

to understand complex topics,

有助于理解复杂的主题，

and because it just feels good to create and watch.

而且因为创作和观看这些视频本身感觉就很好。

Our research is as intensive as it is, 語法

我们的研究一如既往地深入，

so our videos are a good simplification of very complicated topics.

因此我们的视频是极度复杂主题的绝佳简化版。

We want to make people excited about science,

我们想让人们对科学感到兴奋，

so they rediscover subjects they hated in school

这样他们就能重新发现那些在学校里讨厌的科目，

and see how amazing they are.

并意识到它们是多么奇妙。

On top of curiosity,

除了好奇心，

we want to inspire long-term thinking and a positive constructive outlook.

我们还想激发长远思维和积极建设性的态度。

Being optimistic about the future of humanity is not mainstream,

对人类的未来感到乐观并不是主流，

and we think this is

我们认为这

horrible.

太糟糕了。

Pessimism often sounds smart and gets more views, 表達脈絡

悲观主义听起来往往很聪明，能获得更多播放量，

while optimism can sound naive, but this is a bias that's not helpful for us as a species.

而乐观主义听起来可能很天真，但这种偏见对我们作为一个物种毫无帮助。

So, despite the gloominess of many topics, 語法

所以，尽管许多话题令人沮丧，

we want to approach them with informed and well-researched optimism. 短語搭配

我们还是希望以见多识广、研究充分的乐观态度来探讨它们。

Not brushing humanity's very real challenges aside, 短語動詞

不把人类面临的现实挑战抛诸脑后，

but also not falling into the trap of pessimism. 習語

但也不落入悲观主义的陷阱。

We want to inspire you to dream a little about the glorious future that we could actually build,

我们想启发你对我们实际上可以创造的光明未来多一点憧憬，

but only if we believe it's possible. 語法

但前提是我们相信这是可能的。

In the long run, 短語搭配

从长远来看，

we don't only want to do this on YouTube.

我们不仅想在YouTube上做这些。

The idea is for Kurzgesagt to be a positive influence across more media. 語法

我们的想法是让Kurzgesagt在更多媒体上产生积极影响。

On our TikTok channel,

在我们的TikTok频道上，

in the long-form content we're exploring,

在我们正在探索的长篇内容中，

in apps,

在应用程序中，

in the VR game that will be released later this year,

在今年晚些时候即将发布的VR游戏中，

and the games we plan to make in the future.

以及我们计划在未来制作的游戏中。

Our shop is a central part of this vision.

我们的商店是这一愿景的核心部分。

We start our stories with a video 表達脈絡

我们用一个视频开始我们的故事，

and end them with a poster.

并用一张海报作为结尾。

There are so many things we want to do,

我们想做的事情太多了，

and thanks to you watching this right now, 語法

多亏了正在看这个视频的你们，

we have the freedom to work to the best of our knowledge and ability. 短語搭配

我们才有自由尽我们最大的知识和能力去工作。

In the end,

最后，

we hope you like what we offer

我们希望你喜欢我们提供的东西，

and that we'll be doing something worthwhile for as long as we exist. 語法

也希望只要我们存在，我们就会做一些有价值的事情。

And hopefully,

希望

we'll have a lasting impact

我们能产生持久的影响，

by making science and learning more fun for as many people as possible.

让尽可能多的人觉得科学和学习更加有趣。

If you personally want to help us do this,

如果你个人想在这方面帮助我们，

you can watch and share our videos,

你可以观看并分享我们的视频，

check out our shop,

去我们的商店看看，

become a Patreon,

成为Patreon的赞助者，

or give us an ad-blocker exception.

或者在广告拦截器上给我们加个白名单。

We exist because of you,

我们的存在是因为你们，

and you have no idea how much we appreciate that you're here. 語氣意圖

你无法想象我们有多感激你的存在。

And hopefully,

也希望

we're less of a black box now. 表達脈絡

现在的我们不再那么像个黑匣子了。

In any case, 表達脈絡

无论如何，

doing Kurzgesagt for a decade has been a pretty crazy ride. 習語

做Kurzgesagt的这十年是一段相当疯狂的旅程。

And so,

所以，

from the whole team,

谨代表整个团队，

thank you so much 語氣意圖

非常感谢

for being with us all these years.

这些年来与我们一路同行。