Channel wing tested by RC modeller

[Weaver]

An RC modeller called Tom Stanton has taken an interest in the Custer Channel Wing, and has built a test rig to examine it's claims:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMFUWVj1_D

He's built a whole bunch of other cool stuff too: https://www.youtube.com/user/tomstanton282/videos

Custer Channel Wing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custer_Channel_Wing

[Weaver]

Tom's now built a full flying RC model to test the channel wing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Miqn-fqArA

[PR19_Kit]

It turns out that my mate Pete, him with the teeny-weeny lathe and my current landlord, knows Tom.

Pete reckons that there's no way that Tom works for a living as he spends almost his entire time building and flying radical RC models. 

[Weaver]

It turns out that my mate Pete, him with the teeny-weeny lathe and my current landlord, knows Tom.

Pete reckons that there's no way that Tom works for a living as he spends almost his entire time building and flying radical RC models. 

His bio says he's just graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering.

He might be making a living off his Youtube channels: he's got 429,000 subscribers, he got nearly 2 million video views last month, he does paid sponsorships (like the one for ExpressVPN at the end of this one) and he's got a Patreon account where fans can support him directly.

It's desperately difficult to estimate someone's earnings from Youtube ads because CPMs (individualized advertising rates, basically) vary so much and are secret. Website Socialblade tries to guesstimate figures and they reckon he could be getting anywhere from £300 to £5000 per month. That doesn't include the paid sponsorships, Patreon and any other revenue streams (like merchandising) that he can generate, of course.

Socialblade: https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/tomstanton282

[NARSES2]

Website Socialblade tries to guesstimate figures and they reckon he could be getting anywhere from £300 to £5000 per month.

"guesstimate" a quicker way of typing "I've no idea so I've made something up". No offence but I spent a lot of my working life estimating future trends from available historical information, it's not as boring as it sounds, honestly  . Basically trying to dress up a guess as a guesstimate is a con. If you have some information then it's an estimate. It might be a broad/rough one but it's still an estimate.

Can you tell that this is a subject that really used to pull my chain ? 

[zenrat]

I looked at the you tube link and my first thought was "hmmm, ads, i'm not going to watch them".  So I let them run and went and put the kettle on and then came back and skim watched the rest.
Usually though, when I see ads like that I just switch off.

[NARSES2]

Usually though, when I see ads like that I just switch off.

As do I

[Weaver]

Website Socialblade tries to guesstimate figures and they reckon he could be getting anywhere from £300 to £5000 per month.

"guesstimate" a quicker way of typing "I've no idea so I've made something up". No offence but I spent a lot of my working life estimating future trends from available historical information, it's not as boring as it sounds, honestly  . Basically trying to dress up a guess as a guesstimate is a con. If you have some information then it's an estimate. It might be a broad/rough one but it's still an estimate.

Can you tell that this is a subject that really used to pull my chain ?

Well at least Socialblade are honest about the huge error-brackets inherent in their process. The viewing figures are matter of record: it's the CPM and how many ads he actually gets that vary widely. Since it's uncontroversial stuff, I image most of his videos are eleigible for ads.

He's also got 487 patrons on Patreon giving him anywhere from $1 to $10 per month each too: https://www.patreon.com/tomstanton

[NARSES2]

He's also got 487 patrons on Patreon giving him anywhere from $1 to $10 per month each too: https://www.patreon.com/tomstanton

So take a mean average, you can probably get a handle on that from the sites blurb, and work out an estimate from there.If they wanted to they could do that.

I'm just wondering what the taxman uses as a reasonable estimate of the guy's earnings ? Probably be at the higher end of any rough estimate 

Well at least Socialblade are honest about the huge error-brackets inherent in their process. The viewing figures are matter of record: it's the CPM and how many ads he actually gets that vary widely. Since it's uncontroversial stuff, I image most of his videos are eleigible for ads.

I agree with you H, I just wish they'd say either "at a guess we'd say....." or "we broadly estimate that his earnings are somewhere between x and y".

Plus apologies for getting on my high horse but it's something that's always got me. You probably guessed that though ? 

[Weaver]

He's also got 487 patrons on Patreon giving him anywhere from $1 to $10 per month each too: https://www.patreon.com/tomstanton

So take a mean average, you can probably get a handle on that from the sites blurb, and work out an estimate from there.If they wanted to they could do that.

I'm just wondering what the taxman uses as a reasonable estimate of the guy's earnings ? Probably be at the higher end of any rough estimate 

True, but Socialblade isn't interested in his Patreon. They exist to compare social media accounts in various ways, one of which is rough earnings from advertising. Even if they did take Patreon into account, that still wouldn't cover how much more he was making from sponsorship deals and merch sales, so it still wouldn't be a good measure of his real earnings.

Patreon used to display what each user was making per month on their page, but either they don't do it any more, or you have to log-on to see it (I don't have an account).

AFAIK he has to declare his earnings to the Revenue like anyone else. He and Youtube know EXACTLY how much he makes from ads, so it's not hard for the Revenue to check. Likewise, Patreon, his sponsors and any merch store site he used would be obliged to cough up info.

I do know that quite a few Youtubers have got into trouble with the tax and/or advertising authorities in their countries, mostly though ignorance/innocence rather than deliberate fraud, although I'm sure some of the latter goes on. A lot of them, particularly in the early days, went from being 'some kid in their bedroom' to a small media business virtually overnight, with no preparation or training and little advice.

Well at least Socialblade are honest about the huge error-brackets inherent in their process. The viewing figures are matter of record: it's the CPM and how many ads he actually gets that vary widely. Since it's uncontroversial stuff, I image most of his videos are eleigible for ads.

I agree with you H, I just wish they'd say either "at a guess we'd say....." or "we broadly estimate that his earnings are somewhere between x and y".

Plus apologies for getting on my high horse but it's something that's always got me. You probably guessed that though ? 

Well that's pretty much what they do say: 'Estimated Earnings £300 - £5000 per month'. It should be obvious from those figures that this is a very imprecise process. If you go looking on their website, there's a frank explanation of how they calculate their figures and what the limitations of the process are.

It's really only useful for judging if someone MIGHT be doing Youtube full-time. That is to say if their estimated monthly earning are £30 - £400, chances are they have a day job.

[NARSES2]

Well that's pretty much what they do say: 'Estimated Earnings £300 - £5000 per month'. It should be obvious from those figures that this is a very imprecise process. If you go looking on their website, there's a frank explanation of how they calculate their figures and what the limitations of the process are.

Right. Well I didn't bother reading the link as I have absolutely no interest in it whatsoever. I just saw the word "guesstimate" in your piece about socialblade, assumed they'd used it and got the hobby horse out of the stable.

[Weaver]

Well that's pretty much what they do say: 'Estimated Earnings £300 - £5000 per month'. It should be obvious from those figures that this is a very imprecise process. If you go looking on their website, there's a frank explanation of how they calculate their figures and what the limitations of the process are.

Right. Well I didn't bother reading the link as I have absolutely no interest in it whatsoever. I just saw the word "guesstimate" in your piece about socialblade, assumed they'd used it and got the hobby horse out of the stable.

Okay, well give the hobby horse a carrot and put it to bed...

It must be well over a year since I looked at Socialblade. I only did so this time in an attempt to answer Kit's mate's query about what Tom does for a living.

[NARSES2]

Don't have carrots in the house as I really don't like them, so it got an apple