I’ve been a Nebula subscriber for somewhere around two years now and, after watching Sam’s video this morning, wondered if any folks around here were into it. It's really impressive to see how...
I’ve been a Nebula subscriber for somewhere around two years now and, after watching Sam’s video this morning, wondered if any folks around here were into it. It's really impressive to see how savvy these folks have become concerning how they run their business. I know that this video is basically the closest thing to an informercial Wendover has ever published, but it's a well-done, interesting take from Sam's that goes into more detail than I'd previously seen.
I think Nebula is reeeeeeally interesting as a concept because it’s inherently not interesting at all. Sam even talks about the previous stabs at capturing this market, but audiences just don't care. Somehow, it’s managed to succeed in a way that I really didn’t predict. I sort of expected it to be a drop in the bucket that would fizzle out after some time. It was unexpected to hear their paid subscriber base is so large considering its position as a niche, premium streaming platform for (compared to what is most successful on YouTube) “alternative” content.
I’m curious—for any other Nebula subscribers out there—why did you initially subscribe and what’s kept you subscribed?
I wasn’t exactly a huge YouTube user immediately prior to Covid. I used the platform most between, like, 2006-2013, but the ethos shift that happened after Google's acquisition turned me off eventually. I'm apart of the group that Sam mentions: I started “consuming” a lot more “content” beginning in 2020 to keep my brain from eating itself. Most of the content I gravitated towards—explainers, educational content, subject matter experts, tech topics, etc.—led me to being painfully aware of Nebula due to sponsor reads.
The tipping point came when I got sorted into an A/B test that jarringly made YouTube ads approx. 10,000% more infuriating. I’m not compelled to subscribe to YouTube Premium, so this convinced me to look more seriously at Nebula and the whole $15 annual bundle deal they used to run with Curiosity Stream. I thought: "hell, around half of the folks I watch regularly are already over there, plus the other content on the platform would likely be surfaced to me by the YT algorithm eventually anyway. The folks I watch will see more money from my view than Google would pay out, so why not pay the cost of an airport sandwich to support media I enjoy?"
And boy did it work, I guess. I really enjoy most of the videos I watch—even if I'm just taking a gamble on an intriguing topic from a creator I've never seen. The "exclusive" content that allows folks to work outside of advertiser/Google pressure is so nice, I don't miss the little YouTube-isms. ("Like and subscribe," introducing the video four separate times before even beginning, Squarespace bullshit, overt self censoring like swapping "suicide" for "unalive" or protecting users from hearing even a single "fuck" or "shit.") Plus, most of the time, I learn something new.
That's not to say there isn't good ol' fun content there, too. My partner and I have somehow become incredibly invested in Jet Lag. It's just so eminently watchable. Happy to hear that they're finding success, I definitely intend on remaining subscribed for the foreseeable future—even after my introductory price lapsed.
I dislike the way Google and other big tech companies make their money and I believe it's ultimately making the internet and the world in general a worse place. I like the concept of nebula as...
I’m curious—for any other Nebula subscribers out there—why did you initially subscribe and what’s kept you subscribed?
I dislike the way Google and other big tech companies make their money and I believe it's ultimately making the internet and the world in general a worse place. I like the concept of nebula as well as a bunch of creators on the platform and want to encourage them and help keep nebula alive.
Also it's not that expensive, especially through some promo code.
I subscribed because a content creator I was into plugged it. I don't remember which one. It's inexpensive enough, and the quality of content high enough, that I watch Nebula around 1/5 as much as...
I subscribed because a content creator I was into plugged it. I don't remember which one.
It's inexpensive enough, and the quality of content high enough, that I watch Nebula around 1/5 as much as I watch YouTube - more than any other streaming service. I stick around because of that. :)
I loooove explainers and stuff, which is frequently on Nebula.
You're definitely right about the quality. Their strategy of investing in developing in-house media teams and sponsoring creator projects has really worked out in their favor. I've seen some...
You're definitely right about the quality. Their strategy of investing in developing in-house media teams and sponsoring creator projects has really worked out in their favor. I've seen some really top-notch content that was created with the help of Nebula's resources.
I wanted to watch Abigail Thorn's play The Prince, and it was going to be a Nebula exclusive. Now that I'm on there, I will probably keep it. I really enjoy how videos tend to come out there...
I’m curious—for any other Nebula subscribers out there—why did you initially subscribe and what’s kept you subscribed?
I wanted to watch Abigail Thorn's play The Prince, and it was going to be a Nebula exclusive. Now that I'm on there, I will probably keep it. I really enjoy how videos tend to come out there first; they skip sponsorship messages; and there are no pre-, mid-, or post-roll adverts whatsoever. YouTube is slowly becoming unusable because of the ads, so it's nice that there is still a location that I can watch most of my favourite creators' content without having to fork out for the insanely expensive YouTube Premium.
I loved it, and I was in floods of tears. As a trans woman myself, it spoke to a huge amount of the trauma and difficulty I experienced going through life before I realised that I'm not cis....
I loved it, and I was in floods of tears. As a trans woman myself, it spoke to a huge amount of the trauma and difficulty I experienced going through life before I realised that I'm not cis. Without spoiling it, the way it ends hit me like a truck.
I thought it was really well written and acted, and I enjoyed the complete bastardisation of Shakespeare throughout. Some of the staging wasn't quite for me, but I think that's because I was watching on a screen rather than in the room. It's definitely worth your time!
I subscribed because a lot of the creators I followed posted to it. I mainly use it to watch jet lag videos early lol. Tbh I don't use it all that often but with the sheer number of creators I...
I subscribed because a lot of the creators I followed posted to it. I mainly use it to watch jet lag videos early lol. Tbh I don't use it all that often but with the sheer number of creators I watch who are a part of it I'm more than happy to continue to subscribe. I'd like to move away from using YouTube in general so this is a nice backup.
I also agree the video was basically an infomercial, but idk there's something about sam he just makes everything so interesting and I just love him and his writers (minus a few things they're certainly not perfect).
I was one of the crowd drawn to Nebula mainly through Jet Lag. I initially put in a year with the expectation of maybe seeing Jet Lag + however few channels were interesting and moving on after a...
I was one of the crowd drawn to Nebula mainly through Jet Lag. I initially put in a year with the expectation of maybe seeing Jet Lag + however few channels were interesting and moving on after a year.
However, I will definitely renewing my subscription, because to me the experience is simply that much better than YouTube.
Initially I found the few educational channels that I was expecting but as I spent time on Nebula, the that number of channels just kept growing, both because channels I watched were joining and because I was consistently finding channels producing high quality explorations of topics I liked. The general baseline quality is good enough that I have a reasonable chance of catching an interesting video from a channel I don't follow in the latest videos feed, though that proportion is going down because I'll catch on that the channel is making cool stuff and just follow them.
I also don't want to rely on companies that realize they need to jack up prices or degrade their product (or workers) to survive, partially because I dislike price fiddling but also because of how this tends to accumulate bad consequences. It's very clear that they're actively trying to avoid that pitfall.
There are also a bunch of little things, like the ability to download videos, the lack of a "recommendation algorithm" (I don't mind feed curation that much, but on several occasions I have watched a video clearly outside my viewing niche and YouTube takes that as a signal to stick those in my feed for months), and the fact that I no longer need to see ads or even sponsor reads most of the time.
It all adds up to very much justify the price for me.
Subscribed because of the cheap CuriosityStream bundle deal and figured I might find some content I like and support creators on a smaller platform that isn't YouTube. Unfortunately, I'll probably...
Subscribed because of the cheap CuriosityStream bundle deal and figured I might find some content I like and support creators on a smaller platform that isn't YouTube.
Unfortunately, I'll probably not renew. I forgot I was subscribed until seeing this post. There's nothing really keeping me on Nebula. I found a video here and there I liked but I did not find enough to keep me coming back, or hardly any channels on there that I would watch constantly like I do on YouTube. Most of the ones that I found and liked on Nebula also seemed to post way less often.
I'll keep checking back in case things change, but currently feel zero draw to Nebula's content.
I am subscribed to both YouTube Premium and Nebula. For nebula I bought the lifetime subscription. I just want to support these people. They have given me an insane amount of value in my life and...
I am subscribed to both YouTube Premium and Nebula. For nebula I bought the lifetime subscription.
I just want to support these people. They have given me an insane amount of value in my life and Nebula is a damn solid platform; it’s the closest YouTube has to real competition.
I originally subscribed to watch the Money series, actually. The nebula originals are a powerful draw and they’re super high quality.
I'm in the same boat - I originally signed up to check out the originals. I have YouTube Premium, and didn't mind skipping over the occasional sponsor read, so none of what I'll call "the...
I'm in the same boat - I originally signed up to check out the originals. I have YouTube Premium, and didn't mind skipping over the occasional sponsor read, so none of what I'll call "the necessities of making money on YouTube" bothered me, but I was interested in the longer-form exclusive content that flat-out wasn't available on YouTube. I jumped on through the CuriosityStream bundle, paying about $12 for a year, figuring that if I got a few hours of good content out of it, that was still less than a theater ticket.
I stuck around because I liked how transparent Nebula was about its monetization model, and how creators were paid out, so I preferred watching videos on Nebula instead of YouTube. (FYI, according to Dave Wiskus, a Nebula view is worth a good order of magnitude or so more to the creator than a YouTube view!) When Dave announced on the Nebula blog that anyone who signed up for the Classes subscription, before he wound down the program and made them available to all subscribers, would get a lifetime subscription, I jumped on it and cancelled CuriosityStream, because I realized that I had opened CuriosityStream maybe twice over the year I had the subscription, whereas I was using Nebula a couple times a week.
I subscribed because I wanted to support my favorite YouTubers. And to me Nebula is a platform that doesn't screw them over and take down their videos.
I subscribed because I wanted to support my favorite YouTubers. And to me Nebula is a platform that doesn't screw them over and take down their videos.
Nebula version: https://nebula.tv/videos/wendover-how-a-small-group-of-creators-built-a-150-million-business/ Ground floor perspective on the foundation of Nebula and how it separated itself from...
I’ve been a Nebula subscriber for somewhere around two years now and, after watching Sam’s video this morning, wondered if any folks around here were into it. It's really impressive to see how savvy these folks have become concerning how they run their business. I know that this video is basically the closest thing to an informercial Wendover has ever published, but it's a well-done, interesting take from Sam's that goes into more detail than I'd previously seen.
I think Nebula is reeeeeeally interesting as a concept because it’s inherently not interesting at all. Sam even talks about the previous stabs at capturing this market, but audiences just don't care. Somehow, it’s managed to succeed in a way that I really didn’t predict. I sort of expected it to be a drop in the bucket that would fizzle out after some time. It was unexpected to hear their paid subscriber base is so large considering its position as a niche, premium streaming platform for (compared to what is most successful on YouTube) “alternative” content.
I’m curious—for any other Nebula subscribers out there—why did you initially subscribe and what’s kept you subscribed?
I wasn’t exactly a huge YouTube user immediately prior to Covid. I used the platform most between, like, 2006-2013, but the ethos shift that happened after Google's acquisition turned me off eventually. I'm apart of the group that Sam mentions: I started “consuming” a lot more “content” beginning in 2020 to keep my brain from eating itself. Most of the content I gravitated towards—explainers, educational content, subject matter experts, tech topics, etc.—led me to being painfully aware of Nebula due to sponsor reads.
The tipping point came when I got sorted into an A/B test that jarringly made YouTube ads approx. 10,000% more infuriating. I’m not compelled to subscribe to YouTube Premium, so this convinced me to look more seriously at Nebula and the whole $15 annual bundle deal they used to run with Curiosity Stream. I thought: "hell, around half of the folks I watch regularly are already over there, plus the other content on the platform would likely be surfaced to me by the YT algorithm eventually anyway. The folks I watch will see more money from my view than Google would pay out, so why not pay the cost of an airport sandwich to support media I enjoy?"
And boy did it work, I guess. I really enjoy most of the videos I watch—even if I'm just taking a gamble on an intriguing topic from a creator I've never seen. The "exclusive" content that allows folks to work outside of advertiser/Google pressure is so nice, I don't miss the little YouTube-isms. ("Like and subscribe," introducing the video four separate times before even beginning, Squarespace bullshit, overt self censoring like swapping "suicide" for "unalive" or protecting users from hearing even a single "fuck" or "shit.") Plus, most of the time, I learn something new.
That's not to say there isn't good ol' fun content there, too. My partner and I have somehow become incredibly invested in Jet Lag. It's just so eminently watchable. Happy to hear that they're finding success, I definitely intend on remaining subscribed for the foreseeable future—even after my introductory price lapsed.
I dislike the way Google and other big tech companies make their money and I believe it's ultimately making the internet and the world in general a worse place. I like the concept of nebula as well as a bunch of creators on the platform and want to encourage them and help keep nebula alive.
Also it's not that expensive, especially through some promo code.
I subscribed because a content creator I was into plugged it. I don't remember which one.
It's inexpensive enough, and the quality of content high enough, that I watch Nebula around 1/5 as much as I watch YouTube - more than any other streaming service. I stick around because of that. :)
I loooove explainers and stuff, which is frequently on Nebula.
You're definitely right about the quality. Their strategy of investing in developing in-house media teams and sponsoring creator projects has really worked out in their favor. I've seen some really top-notch content that was created with the help of Nebula's resources.
I wanted to watch Abigail Thorn's play The Prince, and it was going to be a Nebula exclusive. Now that I'm on there, I will probably keep it. I really enjoy how videos tend to come out there first; they skip sponsorship messages; and there are no pre-, mid-, or post-roll adverts whatsoever. YouTube is slowly becoming unusable because of the ads, so it's nice that there is still a location that I can watch most of my favourite creators' content without having to fork out for the insanely expensive YouTube Premium.
Ooh, what’s your review of The Prince? I was meaning to look more into it but it must’ve fallen off my radar.
I loved it, and I was in floods of tears. As a trans woman myself, it spoke to a huge amount of the trauma and difficulty I experienced going through life before I realised that I'm not cis. Without spoiling it, the way it ends hit me like a truck.
I thought it was really well written and acted, and I enjoyed the complete bastardisation of Shakespeare throughout. Some of the staging wasn't quite for me, but I think that's because I was watching on a screen rather than in the room. It's definitely worth your time!
Sounds right up my alley! I definitely know what I’m watching tomorrow, thanks for the rec.
I subscribed because a lot of the creators I followed posted to it. I mainly use it to watch jet lag videos early lol. Tbh I don't use it all that often but with the sheer number of creators I watch who are a part of it I'm more than happy to continue to subscribe. I'd like to move away from using YouTube in general so this is a nice backup.
I also agree the video was basically an infomercial, but idk there's something about sam he just makes everything so interesting and I just love him and his writers (minus a few things they're certainly not perfect).
I was one of the crowd drawn to Nebula mainly through Jet Lag. I initially put in a year with the expectation of maybe seeing Jet Lag + however few channels were interesting and moving on after a year.
However, I will definitely renewing my subscription, because to me the experience is simply that much better than YouTube.
Initially I found the few educational channels that I was expecting but as I spent time on Nebula, the that number of channels just kept growing, both because channels I watched were joining and because I was consistently finding channels producing high quality explorations of topics I liked. The general baseline quality is good enough that I have a reasonable chance of catching an interesting video from a channel I don't follow in the latest videos feed, though that proportion is going down because I'll catch on that the channel is making cool stuff and just follow them.
I also don't want to rely on companies that realize they need to jack up prices or degrade their product (or workers) to survive, partially because I dislike price fiddling but also because of how this tends to accumulate bad consequences. It's very clear that they're actively trying to avoid that pitfall.
There are also a bunch of little things, like the ability to download videos, the lack of a "recommendation algorithm" (I don't mind feed curation that much, but on several occasions I have watched a video clearly outside my viewing niche and YouTube takes that as a signal to stick those in my feed for months), and the fact that I no longer need to see ads or even sponsor reads most of the time.
It all adds up to very much justify the price for me.
Subscribed because of the cheap CuriosityStream bundle deal and figured I might find some content I like and support creators on a smaller platform that isn't YouTube.
Unfortunately, I'll probably not renew. I forgot I was subscribed until seeing this post. There's nothing really keeping me on Nebula. I found a video here and there I liked but I did not find enough to keep me coming back, or hardly any channels on there that I would watch constantly like I do on YouTube. Most of the ones that I found and liked on Nebula also seemed to post way less often.
I'll keep checking back in case things change, but currently feel zero draw to Nebula's content.
I am subscribed to both YouTube Premium and Nebula. For nebula I bought the lifetime subscription.
I just want to support these people. They have given me an insane amount of value in my life and Nebula is a damn solid platform; it’s the closest YouTube has to real competition.
I originally subscribed to watch the Money series, actually. The nebula originals are a powerful draw and they’re super high quality.
I'm in the same boat - I originally signed up to check out the originals. I have YouTube Premium, and didn't mind skipping over the occasional sponsor read, so none of what I'll call "the necessities of making money on YouTube" bothered me, but I was interested in the longer-form exclusive content that flat-out wasn't available on YouTube. I jumped on through the CuriosityStream bundle, paying about $12 for a year, figuring that if I got a few hours of good content out of it, that was still less than a theater ticket.
I stuck around because I liked how transparent Nebula was about its monetization model, and how creators were paid out, so I preferred watching videos on Nebula instead of YouTube. (FYI, according to Dave Wiskus, a Nebula view is worth a good order of magnitude or so more to the creator than a YouTube view!) When Dave announced on the Nebula blog that anyone who signed up for the Classes subscription, before he wound down the program and made them available to all subscribers, would get a lifetime subscription, I jumped on it and cancelled CuriosityStream, because I realized that I had opened CuriosityStream maybe twice over the year I had the subscription, whereas I was using Nebula a couple times a week.
I subscribed because I wanted to support my favorite YouTubers. And to me Nebula is a platform that doesn't screw them over and take down their videos.
Nebula version: https://nebula.tv/videos/wendover-how-a-small-group-of-creators-built-a-150-million-business/
Ground floor perspective on the foundation of Nebula and how it separated itself from the previous pile of failed YouTube alternatives.