In this solo video, Eric Siu explains why traditional ad‑based revenue (e.g., Twitch/YouTube ad cuts) is a lazy and limited way for gamers and streamers to earn money. He argues that the real opportunity lies in building a personal brand around Smash Bros. Ultimate (or any game), cultivating a raving community, and then monetizing that audience through diversified products such as books, journals, apparel, and niche software (e.g., a ping‑reduction tool). Siu illustrates the point with examples like Ninja’s $10 M earnings versus Fortnite’s $3 B profit, and cross‑industry personalities (rappers, NFL players) who blend gaming with other talents to expand reach. He emphasizes the massive scale of gaming viewership—hundreds of millions compared to traditional sports—and urges creators to add value, grow an audience, and then sell complementary offerings. The video ends with typical calls to action (subscribe, comment, watch future videos).
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Hey, in this video I'm gonna talk about how Smash Brothers can make you more money. And the hint, by the way, it's not advertising. Interesting fact, a lot of people out there, look, you got the streamers of the world, you have Ninja streaming Fortnite, made $10 million in 2018. And that's the game! Woo! But you know what the funny thing is? Fortnite made $3 billion in profit, okay? That guy got peanuts for driving so much awareness for the game Fortnite. So streaming is obviously not the answer, right? Streaming is just basically you're helping these platforms like Twitch or YouTube drive advertising revenue, right? And to me, like talking on my channel, the Growth Everywhere channel, we talk about business, marketing all the time. Most people, advertising doesn't work for them, right? You gotta figure out different ways of monetization, which is just different ways of selling products where you can basically make more money. Don't forget, by the way, if you like videos like this, we're gonna talk about gaming, we'll talk about business, we'll talk about how you can whatever, make more money, don't forget to subscribe. So, here's how it works. Like I've been watching Smash Bros. Ultimate videos just figuring out how to get better sometimes, 'cause I have a Nintendo Switch at home. And we're actually gonna put it in the office, but I'm gonna make sure I practice first so I can kick everyone else's ass. The point I'm watching this right now, like, these guys are getting, you know, they have hundreds of thousands of subscribers on YouTube, tons of subscribers on Instagram. When you look at the people that do really well on, that have a lot of followers, not in the gaming industry, they're selling other things. They're selling, they could be selling books, they could be selling journals, they could be selling t-shirts, right? The idea behind this is the same thing for any type of business. If you can draw the attention, to yourself, then afterwards you have a raving fan, you have a raving community around you, you can figure out how to monetize that audience. Advertising is a lazy way of monetization because it's just saying, hey guys, you guys give me a little cut, you guys give me like, you know, 5 or 10%, maybe even less than that, and you guys save the rest of the money 'cause I'm too lazy. So the fact that you're watching this right now means you're not lazy. First and foremost, figure out how you can add value, whether it's through Smash Brothers, like streaming, right? And then you build an audience around that, and then you can start to do other things. So let me give you an example with what we're doing with this channel. Not only are we just continuing to talk about business, entrepreneurship, marketing, But my background growing up in high school, elementary school, I played a lot of games, right? I did esports before esports. To me, I can easily meld the whole gaming concept, right? How I see the world, gaming, and I can meld it with business, and we can just talk gaming while I stream. You see all the streamers out there, they're just playing games all the time. There are more creative ways to do things. Their only option right now is to be really good at gaming or to be really entertaining, right? But if you can meld it with something else, like let's say you are a rapper and and you're also really good at games, there's something, right? Or let's say you're an NFL superstar and then you play games as well, like JuJu Smith-Schuster from the Steelers. The gaming industry is just so huge right now 'cause you have hundreds of millions of people watching people play games online versus like the Wimbledon or all these other sporting events where they have like 10 or 15 million people. You got 100 million plus people watching, okay? So that's the opportunity, whether it's Smash Brothers Ultimate, and then figuring out after I build the audience how I can better monetize it, whether it's selling books, whether it's selling journals, selling them software after too. So those of you in the gaming industry, If you're interested in decreasing your ping, which is making you faster in games, we got something coming out as well. And if you enjoyed this video, by the way, we're gonna do other videos where we do stuff like this. Cool, so that's it. If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to comment, let us know what you think. Don't forget to subscribe. We'll see you in the next video. Trust me, it'll help you as a gamer, it'll help you as a business person, it'll be amazing. See you tomorrow.