ShareThis week, YouTube removed the channel of Dmitry Puchkov, a well-known Russian translator and blogger, whom Runet knows under the name Goblin. Fontanka found out what its plan “B” is and why Russian services are still unable to replace American ones.
You have three million subscribers on YouTube. What can you replace them with?
YouTube cannot be replaced by anything. All our resources are much weaker. If, for example, on YouTube my video was watched an average of 150 thousand times, then on Yandex, where I uploaded all the videos, there will be two views. And this is not even a statistical error. What are they doing there, what algorithms do they have there, back and forth … Well, it has never developed, unlike YouTube. YouTube is powerful, so everything is like this: “Well, che, everything is fine there, we don’t need to develop anything. Well, here’s how it works. Nothing can be replaced, no.
– Please tell me, for some reason you started a channel on RuTube a few months ago, if I understand correctly.
– No, I was a year and a half ago. [завел]. I smell all this with a sixth sense and a tail in fact. I understand everything that they will ban everyone, just like they banned Russia Today, and so on, and all our prominent bloggers who are on the side of the state. Well, this is a political process, an ideological resource, so a year and a half ago I dragged all the videos to RuTube, VKontakte and Yandex. Well, ten years of work, one and a half thousand commercials. It’s still a pity, don’t you agree?
How many views did you have in total?
– Billions.
– As a confident user of RuTube, how convenient is it compared to YouTube or inconvenient?
– He’s unfinished. It was not developed, I repeat. “We have a good YouTube, why develop RuTube? For example, the comments are bad. YouTube also has comments, you understand that people want to discuss some material, express their opinion, the author can join the discussion there. It is important. There are thousands and tens of thousands of comments. It doesn’t matter that most of them are idiots. Something is wrong with RuTube. It is impossible to scroll forward and backward, it is impossible to connect to the TV. That is, it seemed to be some technical trifles, but people are accustomed to YouTube trifles, and if they are not there, then it infuriates everyone.
A copy of YouTube, unfortunately, has not yet been built. There, the main sad moment is that there was on YouTube, and it generates income accordingly. The production of so-called content is a costly process, to put it mildly. And how much money can you get on our resources? Well, for example, 20 thousand rubles a month. For me, the creation of one video requires 20 thousand rubles. Considering that I make fifty kopecks a month, I would like to at least cover the costs, not to mention the profit. But this is not yet available on our resources, and it cannot appear instantly, because people must get used to visiting our resources, then advertisers must turn to them, and all this takes time.
– I’ll just return to this question, because I wanted to ask it. Can you please tell me how much time you spent on YouTube on average per day? How much did you spend on it?
Three hours of so-called content per working day. That is, I usually recorded two videos for an hour and a half. When I initially had seizures “as much as possible,” my record was ten and a half hours of video per shift.
– So, two videos for an hour and a half. But it’s not enough to remove them, they still need to be mounted, right? That is, it’s not three hours, but the whole team worked even more, right?
– Naturally, yes. Correctly mount all this, debug the sound, count, pour it on this very YouTube (this is also not fast). Yes, this is a natural work, and not some hee-hee ha-ha, we recorded something and it turned out funny. No, the assembly line, the production process.
– How many people are on your team?
– Who work in the office, there are seven people. Me, my assistant Dementy, three editors and one admin. There is a person who is strictly busy with the channel, but he does not live in St. Petersburg, and there is a person who administers the site, the channel and everything else. He lives behind the cordon in general, but the Internet allows. It doesn’t matter where a person lives, you can create anything from afar. You don’t need much. There is a great example – BadComedian, whose movie clips are a movie in itself. He likes it, but, from my point of view, it is very long. Therefore, we, a couple of bald people, sit against the backdrop of a black rag and just talk. From time to time, pictures are inserted there, but in general this is not necessary. This significantly speeds up, simplifies and reduces the cost of production.
– After the beginning of March, after all, YouTube monetization was disabled, if I understand correctly?
– Yes. First of all, they turned off Russian , this in itself cut off such a number … People live mainly from wheels, that is, they do not have any fat accumulations that allow them to produce something for hours, expecting that they are about to the situation will improve. No. As soon as the ads stop, the payouts stop. And the people abandoned everything en masse and fled.
– I do not ask the exact amount, but what order of the amount did you lose?
“It’s impossible to say who’s like it, you understand. Part of the money is paid by YouTube, and part is paid for by on the territory of the Russian Federation. That is, some kind of video card for a computer comes out, for a video card, for a video with its review, they pay here.
– What was the share of YouTube ads and what ads were local?
It’s impossible to share like that. For example, all videos about computer hardware are local advertisements, and all videos about movies do not bring any money here. That is, our filmmakers are not interested in any kind of film analysis. I’m not that sharp, you know? There are people who think that they should make one masterpiece once a month, but I think that I should bombard two videos a day. And this, in my opinion, covers everything. You can not focus only on what brings money, because you cannot know whether it will bring or not bring. It’s like in the movies: if everyone knew how to shoot “Titanics”, everyone would shoot only “Titanics”, which bring in a billion bucks. Same with rollers. One will bring you 10 cents, the other 100 bucks, the third 1000.
– OK then. How much has monetization dropped since March? Twice, three times?
— To my surprise, when Russian was turned off, for some reason it did not fall. There, two events piled up: as soon as the Kyiv missile TsIPSO flew in, from where they conduct all their psychological operations … I have been watching videos for years – 500,000 views per day and 15,000 subscribers per month. And as soon as the TsIPSO rocket arrived, immediately there were 2 million 700 views per day, and subscribers began to subscribe 10 thousand per day. This is despite the fact that I didn’t say anything about the military operations in Ukraine in principle, but like this.
And the money is the same. At first I was glad that, wow, my attendance is five times higher! And then it dawned on me that they just slammed me five times for money. Well, thanks, che.
Returning to your question: when Russian was cut off, for some reason there was no less money. Beyond the cordon there is Israel, the USA, Germany, 10% of all viewers conditionally live there, and money from on them …
– Let me ask you a question aside. But your film business, in connection with the events in the film market … is there anything left of it now?
– Not in the cinema. Well, I’m in the cinema … In 2014, they passed a law banning obscene language in the cinema, theaters, somewhere else, on the radio. Thus, they destroyed my competitive advantage. And I stopped showing films in the cinema. In 2017, I signed an agreement with Rostelecom and I translate films for showing in online cinemas. The Internet is developing with terrible force, TVs are getting cheaper, people are buying big TVs, good sound. Everyone at home looks with pleasure, there is a huge demand for this. Well, there, we all see how all sorts of Netflix have risen and so on. I’m translating there.
– You, it turns out, twice the victim: from there and from here.
Why the victim? We live on the edge of a volcano. Turn around, turn around, do not wait for mercy from nature.
– Good. Do you have a plan “B”?
– I dragged everything, I repeat, to different resources. Until normally, what and how to dig did not hatch. Serious people turn: “Let’s stir it up together, let’s do it,” but I don’t quite understand technically. If the video is watched, for example, by 10 thousand per hour, then no resources other than YouTube, in my understanding, can support such a load. If I could make my own something so that it would hold… But I have no idea how much money it will cost and where it can be kept. While consulting with experts and think what to do next.
– What can we expect next in connection with everything that is happening and in social networks in particular? What advice?
– Yes, I somehow, you know, like a Chinese peasant sitting on a tree and watching tigers fight below. Nothing depends on my decisions, I do not influence anything. Closing YouTube is somehow strange, it seems that everyone understands that this tool of ideological influence and brainwashing is much more powerful than TV. Everyone seems to understand, but for some reason no one bothered to build the same thing in Russia. No need, right? The example of Belarus did not teach us anything when two teenagers sit there in Poland and, under the guidance of curators from the CIA, are taken to the streets: “And let’s get 20 thousand here?” – “Let’s!” “Shall they come over here and do this?” Doesn’t tell anyone? It’s Telegram, it’s not even YouTube.
Why is nobody doing anything? It is impossible to close it by the mind, it is impossible. Well, you can not win, lead! You need to build your own, which will be good, correct, lure people, advertisers there, and now everything has blossomed. But no, nobody needs it. Why? It’s a mystery to me. That is, as with the return of a special military operation. General Konashenkov came out in the morning and told what actually happened at the front. And that’s it.
The people are accustomed to take literally information in the stream to knock them off their feet. They went to look for where else to eat. Naturally, they run to Ukrainian resources. Then they read what our outspoken enemies write. Does the state really need such ideological feeding of the population or does it not understand what is happening? I’m kind of at a loss.
Apparently he doesn’t care. And how do you like the promise of all kinds of help from Dmitry Anatolyevich?
– Extremely unexpected. Yes, to Dmitry Anatolyevich, thank you for your support.
Do you think it will help?
“Maybe… Maybe. I’m afraid that there on YouTube, when they see it, they will be so stunned … On Western resources, the shock is natural.
– Look. You got canceled on YouTube, right? Russia Today canceled on YouTube. Here, one way or another, a bunch of media was also canceled. Do you think these things are of the same order? Or is it different?
“Of course, sir. Ours are just more, how to say, clumsy. I don’t know, I always have analogies: here is a color TV with a square sound, everything is as it should be, and here is a detector receiver. We will not show you on TV, but we will turn you off in the detector receiver. I would like for all the stories about what great programmers we have, what wonderful scientists, inventors, innovators we have … Let’s build something of our own already? Why are the Chinese smart enough to build their own YouTube, Twitter and Instagram * (the activities of the Meta corporation and its Facebook and Instagram services are recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation. — Approx. ed.)? They don’t need to go anywhere, but we do. How so? Not serious, I think.
– Tell me, who else can be blocked on YouTube? Who will be next?
– Yes, in my opinion, none of the iconic figures exist. Everyone is either afraid to talk about politics, because they will be banned immediately, or I don’t know. Who is there, Nikolai Starikov left? And all, in my opinion.
“You can’t compare him to you.
– I do not know…
Thanks, hold on.
— Our credo: “Always”.
Interviewed by Alexander Gorshkov, Fontanka.ru
