Are MCNs Worth Doing?

[RecentlyAdults]

I was with Maker before they were even called Maker (was The Station then) and was partnered and a staff writer. I have been with Fullscreen for almost 3 years. I do see a value in them, but if you are just starting out, there is literally no reason why to join one. I attribute about 5 or so percent of my success from an MCN, and I work with mine a lot. I still do 95% or so of the work, because no one will ever care more than I do about succeeding.

Right on, thanks for sharing your insights. I have heard mixed things about mcn's and I think for the stage we are at (just starting out with 15k views) it's probably best to just keep plugging along on our own.

Thanks a lot for the reply!
Mike

 

[babyteeth4]

Historically our channel had never seen the point of joining a network but a few months ago we decided to try one out for a year and see how things go. We have a nondisclosure contract so I can't give you any specifics of our deal. But I will say that it has been a positive experience so far.

 

[David Stoll]

There were a couple of excellent panels on MCNs at PlayList Live last month, one with MCN reps and another with big YouTubers. My takeaway was that if you are hoping the MCN will somehow make a big difference in subs or views, that won't happen for a small channel. BUT MCN's offer several types of support and resources. So, the question becomes how much value you place on the specific support/resources. An example: I suck at making catchy thumbnails. If an MCN could do that for me, I'd be more interested--although I wouldn't join an MCN just for that one service. Of course, as I do not monetize at the moment, MCNs are non-issue for me.

 

[MrDXZ]

I do NOT see MCNs being worth my time. Never considered signing with one, never will. Reason being yes, they might tell you all this stuff about giving you advertising, support, etc. but that is to get you to sign with them and after a while of being signed with them, they might rip you off or give you what they promised but not how you thought. Example: yeah they may use their own channel to promote your's but the question is how are they gonna promote it and will it be effective? Just simply adding your channel name to a list that's on their channel isn't effective advertising. That material they say they have for you might not be as good of quality or as much as they might make it seem. Like the old saying goes, if you want anything done right, you've gotta do it yourself.