MrBiffo
patreon
JOURNEY... INTO SENTIMENTALITY!!!!
🕑 Added 2019-06-26 10:15:06 +0000 UTCSomething I noticed the other day is that my Patreon is currently at its highest level ever. For a long time it seemed as if the number of patrons was slowly declining, ever since I launched the Patreon, however many years ago that was.
And yet ever since Digitiser The Show - and particularly since I started doing the Mini eps - that decline has reversed. So, a huge, huge thank you to those who've been here since the beginning, those who've joined since, and everyone who has clambered aboard recently.
On a purely practical level, the Patreon funds help me make the videos - you've seen the tat I buy - and pay for the website, and the games I review. It also, bluntly, helps me through the year - my day job is very much feast or famine (hard as I work, the money tends to arrive in chunks at the end of the writing process), and it makes all the difference to have something regular during those fallow times.
But what's really taken me aback is that, because I'm nosy, I've looked at how many backers we have on here compared to other, much bigger, YouTubers. And we're way ahead of most of them.
It's not a competition at all, but Larry, DJ Slope, Kim Justice, Nostalgia Nerd et al, have massive audiences, far, far in excess of the views we get on YouTube, or the traffic that arrives at the website. They've built up their audience over more years than I've been back doing Digi. We'll get 4,000-5,000 views per video compared to the hundreds of thousands some of those guys get.
We must be doing something right, but I can't account for what.
Obviously the really big boys and girls in the Retro community get sponsorship and ad revenue - which Digitiser doesn't - so they're doing alright on that front... but I'd really expected them to all be much bigger on Patreon. We're tiny by comparison, but not on this site. Why me, and not them?! No, that's not fishing for compliments.
Then there's the live show. We've sold out a 400+-seat theatre. People are travelling from as far afield as Skye and America. Some are overcoming their social anxiety to be there. It blows me away that we're able to do that. I mean, demand has outstripped the number of seats we're able to offer (there's currently one ticket left on the website shop, due to a return, if you wanted to nab it...).
This isn't me parping my horn, but more a case of expressing my bewilderment. I get that there's a nostalgic element to the Digitiser brand, but we even seem to have tons of new people joining the audience who don't even remember the old Teletext incarnation.
I guess I'm just overwhelmed with gratitude, even if I don't understand the disparity between how popular we are in terms of numbers, and the sheer passion of the Digitiser audience. It's the same as it always was; if you love it... you really love it.
It almost seems weird now, but I was so scared of bringing Mr Biffo out of retirement. I sometimes cringe when people talk about their "journey" - but over the past four or five years to go from never wanting to be in the public eye again, to putting out tentative feelers on Twitter, to launching the website, to doing my first expo panel, to asking you to help fund Found Footage, to being IN Digitiser The Show, to being confident enough to just be myself in the Mini eps, and now preparing to stand up and arse around in front of a hundreds of people...
I couldn't have done any of that if I wasn't carried on this wave of enthusiasm from you lot. It has been a journey, following a long time of feeling like I was just treading water.
So, again, thank you, for whatever reason you chose to support me. It means everything.
Paul
Comments
Tyronne Mann
I love the chemistry and the comedy that comes from everyone involved including the great community that has sprung up over the last few years. Digi fills a hole that I did not know existed until I found it and it just ticks all the comedy boxes for me - I have literally cried watching the shows be it the found footage - digi itself - the mini episodes, for me they all never disappoint in making me laugh. As for the live show I honestly cannot wait. To each and everyone one of you - Thanks :)
David Glover-Aoki
I must admit that I'm here because of the Teletext nostalgia, and did the traditional path in reverse, Digitiser > Cheap Show > Barshens > Ashens. (Though I do remember an Ashens review of an MP3 player posted to b3ta, years ago.) I used to sit in front of the TV early every morning while studying for GCSEs and A-Levels, munching on Pop Tarts and reading Digi, and mostly still being happy that I owned an Amiga and not a Mega Drive. ;) I live in the USA now, but still feel a strong sense of connection to the UK of that era. Today's UK I don't even recognise. So the new era of YouTube Digitiser is a really valuable thing for me. Thank you.
WhatHoSnorkers
You make good fun content; I've said it before, I never heard of Digi until I became an Octav1us fan. The fact that I enjoy Digi content without the Mard God is a massive compliment to the silliness and hilarity that you and Mr Gannon and Larry bring to it! (Unless it's all a Garth Marenghi's Darkplace thing and there never really was a Digi. If so, you've done a great job in creating a fictional world, just like Jorge Luis Borges in Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius!).
(Just) Steve
You've signed off your post with just "Paul" and no surname. Do you fancy yourself as some sort of Cher or Madonna? ;) I've changed my profile name in honour of yourself and Gannon having a cheeky jab at me on the Q&A video! Back on topic though. You're the only content creator that I currently give money to each month. If I was in a better financial situation i'd certainly give more, as hand on heart I can say that I truly look forward to each video that appears no matter what the subject is. Also, Digitiser is literally the only website I make sure to visit every single day. (I even have a quick look once on Saturday and Sunday in the hope that there's a new post, even though I know there's no point) In closing, keep up the great work as I love all the content that yourself and the gang create.
Nathaniel McMahon
You do what you want, and love what you do, there's an authenticity to that which a lot of Youtubers are missing. If I can show my respect for it with my measly 1USD a month, I'm more than happy to.
Paul McIntosh
I'm only here for the snogging scenes. x
Daph Blake
i figured if you live in Harrow (im guessing with the location of the show haha)that you would probably need the money more than me hahahahahah ....(i know harrow well as i normally stay in kenton when working in the centre of london town )
Well said, Chai
Kelvin Green
Keep up the good work, Biffster, I'm loving it. My girlfriend isn't. She told me I couldn't wear my Digi t-shirt the other day because it was "from that thing you watch with the shouty men." I think I'll dump her.
David T
It all just feels very homely and familiar to me. There's something comforting about digi that I haven't found anywhere else on the Internet. Sure there the teletext nostalgia, but it's something more. Maybe the anarchic elements tap into TV shows of my youth (Reeves & Mortimer, Lee & Herring etc etc). I just feel like I'm very welcome whenever I tune in.
Re-Enthused
YouTube needs to be less serious, that's what you bring
Stu The Brummie
It would be interesting to know if your Patreon went up considerably since Barshens changed to the podcast format? It's definitely filling a Barshens shaped hole for me with the 'gang' vibe, but with the common theme of gaming, which is the HUGE plus point for me.
Daniel Spreadbury
I couldn't have been happier to see the return of Digitiser on the web a few years ago and, like Charlie above, consider Patreon to be one of my monthly bills. I'm very happy to contribute to the people who make the content I enjoy reading and watching, and would much rather do so directly than be bombareded with ads and sponsorship at every turn (though I understand and respect those creators who choose to go down that route, and of course wouldn't have a problem with you doing that if it helps to make ends meet, Biffo). Digi was part of my daily routine back in my teenage years and I absolutely loved "Digitiser: The Show". I've also been loving the rambly nonsense of the Digi-minis, but we need more Fat Sow in our lives... Thanks, Biffo, for all you do, and to Gannon, Larry, Octav1us, Jenny, your wife, and everybody else who makes Digi possible.
Chai
I came across Digi through the Ashens > Barshens > Cheapshow > Digi path, as have a few different people I know. I have no nostalgia for old Digi - I barely remember Teletext, let alone Digi. I was drawn in by the community. The kindness and the lack of toleration for bullshit and unkindness is a big draw for me to this whole community. As for supporting on Patreon, I think it's important to pay it forwards where I can. I don't tend to have much money, but I consume a LOT of free media like YouTube and I consider Patreon to be amongst my bills each month. A bill paying for the entertainment and joy I get. I don't go to the cinema or buy magazines, I don't tend to buy games, my entertainment funding goes to people via Patreon. Anyway, all that ranting to say: you are a good, kind, funny person fostering a good, kind, funny community and I am proud to be a tiny, insignificant part of it.
John Veness
It's great to hear the Patreon numbers are going up. I don't know about anyone else, but one reason I support you on Patreon and not many other bigger YouTubers is precisely because I know they get money from sponsorship/ads etc. I know you had sponsors on the FF and DTS episodes, but you don't on all the other videos nor on Digi2k and I appreciate that.
With you all the way, mate. You bring some genuine joy and fun into the world and deserve whatever success comes your way
