[teestub]

Are you suggesting he should reign it in as its a step to far?

Most of the top climbers do it i think hes just very open about what goes on behind the scenes. The mellow mob seem to move around in a permanent entourage and Megos often has his coach with him.

I don’t think any other pro’s are on the same level as Ondra with any of this extra stuff. Sure the Kraft dudes come out and hang around with Megos but I think this is because they are mates as much as anything. This is different to having your full time coach/belayer/interpretive dance partner on hand 24/7 as well as a masseuse.

Likewise with the filming, assume Patagucci stumped you some cash for the Rotpukt and Bibliographie filming, Ondra seems to be doing this off his own back.

In terms of the Mellow stuff, the vast majority of their output is filmed by other climbers, it’s only the top quality stuff that isn’t, and most of that is filmed and edited by Kevin Takashi Smith, who seems to be friends with those guys and is also produced other (directly paid I assume) content for their sponsors, like that Possessed Jimmy Webb film.

The question of whether he should rein it in is moot, it all seems a bit OTT to me compared to what his closest completion (Ghifolsi and Megos I guess) are up to, but if all this additional stuff is giving him an edge and making him more saleable, then I guess it’s worth it.

I see that his vids now also contain in video product placement for an energy drink or something that they have to mention at the start, I’ve only seen this on CrossFit vids previously, but I don’t want any ‘influencer’ stuff where I assume it’s commonplace.

[Bradders]

Most estimates suggest you can expect to earn about £1.10 / 1k views. Ondra's videos look to average about 140k views with only 8 passing 500k and Silence having racked up 4 million. So he might be pulling in £150-200 a video, twice a week, even for Silence its only £4500 over 2 years (I imagine Stick It did a lot better, let alone Hard Grit). Adding together the views for his top 20 videos suggests maybe 15 grand tops a year which is a paltry sum for the number involved in the production and realistically is barely even covering his shaman costs.

Just questioning your maths there. £200 per video twice a week is £20,800 per year. Still not exactly mega bucks, but when you factor in the bigger vids like Silence (remember that won't just have been monetised via YouTube alone), and the fact that loads of that footage will also be sellable to the likes of Reel Rock, plus the fact that I bet plenty of the people involved have other employment (I.e. he's not having to pay full wages for them all), plus all his direct sponsorship deals, and he's probably doing rather well.

[Coops_13]

The amount earned is driven by audience, I know a lot of the big personal finance and investing youtubers can get up to $20 or $30 per 1k views whereas a climber audience is not the same... This may change as we head towards the Olympics and climbing becomes more "mainstream"

[cheque]

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with anything Ondra does, either to climb harder and harder or to promote himself or his sponsors. I just think some of it’s funny and would probably find it annoying quite if I was climbing in the same place his whole scene was going on.

I feel the same about Ronaldo or Tadej Pogečar but if I tried to have a kick around during a Juventus match or ride a bike on a street closed for a TdF stage I’d rightly be escorted off by security and booed by the spectators. The “top climbers are just the same as any other pro athletes” analogy works as far as climbing in comps but not for normal rock climbing which is part of the reason why rock climbing’s so great.

I think Ondra’s YouTube channel’s really high quality and I subscribe to it and watch the episodes fairly often. The methods to get successful from YouTube while creating content that’s absolute catshit (post videos that are as long as you can manage as often as possible, appeal to kids, be controversial, have catchphrases, constantly nag you audience to ring imaginary bells, have terrible clickbait slides as the thumbnail, collaborate with other successful but not-necessarily-connected-to-your-content YouTubers etc. etc.) are well established and in use by other climbers already and although Ondra’s obviously running his channel with the aim of making money off it, he’s a long way from that.

[Will Hunt]

It seems unfair to be positing that his entourage would be getting in the way of normal climbers at the crag when, as far as we know, the incidents of camera operators hogging the neighbouring routes are purely hypothetical. All the other stuff: getting physio, loud encouragement during promising redpoint attempts, etc doesn't actually seem like a big cross to bear.
I've asked people to move around or move their stuff at crags when taking pictures for a guide and people have been happy to do it; if I had to make some small adjustment to my day to accommodate the Ondrabus then I'd do it; if I asked them to film from a different line or if there was any way we could happily share the line then I'm sure they'd help out (for the cynics, it could be as much for the reason of not wanting bad "Ondra fucked my redpoint" PR as just common courtesy).

[gme]

We obviously look at climbing differently as i see it very much the same as other sports. The top end pushing boundaries are approaching it in a very professional manner and the rest of us lie somewhere between them and a total punter.

This is the same with cycling, where the average person riding a bike at the weekend is almost doing a different sport to the tour lads, just as the fat lad playing 5 a side on a friday, as an excuse to get away from his wife and kids and have a few pints, is to Ronaldo. All are doing the same sports though, just differently.

I therefore dont see why the likes of Ondra megos etc shouldnt approach it as other top athletes, indoors or out.

I like Ondras youtube stuff but cant stand Mitbos and amazed he gets more views. However i am a 52 year old man so i guess not really there chosen market.

My kids watch everything on youtube, its there go to source for everything and the idea of watching TV or searching for something on google would not even register.

[Teaboy]

I feel the same about Ronaldo or Tadej Pogečar but if I tried to have a kick around during a Juventus match or ride a bike on a street closed for a TdF stage I’d rightly be escorted off by security and booed by the spectators. The “top climbers are just the same as any other pro athletes” analogy works as far as climbing in comps but not for normal rock climbing which is part of the reason why rock climbing’s so great.

Or to flip it around if you were having a kickabout on the local power league 5 aside pitch and the local premier League team was having a match next door, with the attendant hullabaloo, would you be pissed off or excited?

Regarding hogging the route next door, it's not as if it is the crag warm up (although that is surprisingly close) so anyone wanting to do the route the cameraman is on would probably be known to one of Ondra's entourage. Busy Spanish crags can be pretty noisy so the sound of a drone and and a screaming Czech could easily be drowned out!

I am interested in the economics of it all though. Someone on the other channel was saying he made an income from his van conversion YouTubes with far fewer views than Ondra's. On the other hand Ondra's retinue was already pretty large before his YouTube channel and I don't see him advertising anything outside of climbing.

[Will Hunt]

The amount earned is driven by audience, I know a lot of the big personal finance and investing youtubers can get up to $20 or $30 per 1k views whereas a climber audience is not the same... This may change as we head towards the Olympics and climbing becomes more "mainstream"

An interview with Ondra followed by a roundup of his top ethical investment funds could be a great new feature for London Climber.

[Yossarian]

The amount earned is driven by audience, I know a lot of the big personal finance and investing youtubers can get up to $20 or $30 per 1k views whereas a climber audience is not the same... This may change as we head towards the Olympics and climbing becomes more "mainstream"

An interview with Ondra followed by a roundup of his top ethical investment funds could be a great new feature for London Climber.

We’re actually planning to launch our own YouTube channel imminently, starting with a board-based dating show provisionally titled COME DYNO WITH ME...

[Will Hunt]

I would watch this. Imagine the will-they-won't-they-give-each-other-a-close-spot suspense. Forget core tension, the viewers are psyched for sexual tension.

[remus]

Most estimates suggest you can expect to earn about £1.10 / 1k views.

I guess it depends a lot on your content (who's watching and for how long) but that seems quite conservative. The lattice channel makes significantly more than this.

[gme]

I thought this seemed low as well but have no direct knowledge. Most websites about it suggest $5-6 per 1000.

[T_B]

Presuming by landlord you mean having the biggest channel means the sponsors are fighting to be on it?

Probably not a great analogy but what I meant is he has the income stream from the channel itself, as well as the ability to leverage greater sponsorship payments from brands that he places in the videos.

Some YouTubers have memberships where you pay eg $5pm for additional content, special live chats etc. If you convert 2% of your 100k subscribers that’s $120k pa. So it’s not just about advertising revenue generated by the frequency/duration/views of the videos. Ondra merch etc.

[cheque]

It’s quite a while since YouTibe worked solely on views- how long people watch for is more important nowadays, (hence the vast amount of filler on the more unscrupulous channels) so £/view will be very different for a channel that has short or turnoffable clips to one that has long engaging ones.

Or to flip it around if you were having a kickabout on the local power league 5 aside pitch and the local premier League team was having a match next door, with the attendant hullabaloo, would you be pissed off or excited?

I’d draw the curtains. 

The fact that this can only be a hypothetical situation illustrates the point I was trying to make- the business end of top-level rock climbing really does happen unannounced, without officiation, in public places. In fact it never happens in any other circumstances. Even as punters we play at Wembley (or Bramhall Lane at least) whenever we like and the most important match of the season might kick off a few metres away while we’re doing it.

We obviously look at climbing differently

I don’t think we do as I agree with your entire post. I was just making the distinction between the private/ official nature of most sporting events and the public/ unofficial business of rock climbing, just not very well. 

[Will Hunt]

Just in case Mattel are reading this, if someone produces some Adam Ondra and Margo Hayes dolls then my children will be the first to own them. I'll even buy the genuine VW Camper Van and branded Beastmaker accessories.

Imagine being the kid in the class who's parents got them the Niall Grimes doll 

[remus]

Imagine being the kid in the class who's parents got them the Niall Grimes doll 

Pull the cord..."Use code bb2020 to get free postage!"

[tomtom]

The amount earned is driven by audience, I know a lot of the big personal finance and investing youtubers can get up to $20 or $30 per 1k views whereas a climber audience is not the same... This may change as we head towards the Olympics and climbing becomes more "mainstream"

An interview with Ondra followed by a roundup of his top ethical investment funds could be a great new feature for London Climber.

We’re actually planning to launch our own YouTube channel imminently, starting with a board-based dating show provisionally titled COME DYNO WITH ME...

What about the Great British Belay Off?

[Nigel]

Imagine being the kid in the class who's parents got them the Niall Grimes doll 

If it had a pull-string which made it say "but it heeeld, that shipwreck of a flake actually heeeeld" ; "... and this, the rurly flashed - strapadictomy" ; and "the year... was 1915", then it would be the best doll.

[petejh]

We’re actually planning to launch our own YouTube channel imminently, starting with a board-based dating show provisionally titled COME DYNO WITH ME...

I can't see it catching on...

[reeve]

We’re actually planning to launch our own YouTube channel imminently, starting with a board-based dating show provisionally titled COME DYNO WITH ME...

I can't see it catching on...

It might do if they serve a slap up meal

[gardinrm]

Despite this being an advert (and an epic TV one at that....), Johnny Dawes is just so impressive to watch in this:

[Wood FT]

I’d avoided this due to the Epic link but I’m glad you’ve recommended it - really enjoyed that. He is such a smooth mover on that Lawrencefield slab. The very fanciest of footwork.

[mrjonathanr]

George Best said in an interview that he was lucky because he was blessed with really good balance. You can see it when he just waltzes through tackles. It’s Johnny’s great good fortune too.

I can barely take one foot off the floor without falling over.

[gardinrm]

As I understand it, he's devoted a lot of time to thinking about movement and balance. I think its one of the things that he really likes about climbing. Not just talent, but a lot of time, effort and practice. 

[teestub]

Was a bit disappointing The Salmon wasn’t no handed 😂

It’s interesting on The Salmon that his movement is quite ‘normal’ looking, I always thought maybe that on Stone Monkey etc. there was a lot of overegging the flamboyant dynamic stuff for the camera.