Today’s Negarit is the once-a-year special edition, the usual appeal to you to help ease the burden.
A few days ago, someone said I “would do anything for YouTube money.” Such comments are common particularly by the PFDJ cult. It’s a prevalent misconception among many people. It’s expected in societies with rampant illiteracy and crippling poverty. Some people think that journalists, analysts, or thinkers do not have to earn a living—their service is taken for granted… it’s worse for those who oppose the PFDJ regime.
Would you say newspaper publishers and other media providers do it for fun? Just like masons, teachers, or carpenters, journalist, writers, and public speakers also need to earn a living. If a singer or any artist generates money through social media marketing, we should wish them luck. But mostly of those who sweat and bleed in the struggle against tyrants do not do it for money and it’s nice to appreciate their service.
The Eritrean regime pays its media employees, including its propagandists. But those in the resistance, broadcasters, speakers, thinkers, and analysts are mostly volunteers. Public service also deserves to be rewarded though the foolish think they must suffer and. Bear the financial burden alone. The cost of collective tasks should be borne by all stakeholders.
Eritreans always complain that their opposition organizations are disorganized, and their accomplishments are negligeable. But that shouldn’t lead you to think that Eritreans are not because in general they are well-organized–unfortunately along sectarian, regional and ethnic lines. Similar to the PFDJ they are all about serving their narrow interests, but organized, that are. Sadly, the only non-organized Eritreans are those who love their country and people, those interested in national issues, like justice and respect of a citizen’s rights.
Let me elaborate, every year we appeal for your support to provide a fraction of what it takes to run our activities: a mere $12000/ year. Every year we run short and left with loaded credit cards. Worse, some foolish characters think we are swimming in YouTube wealth. But does it matter to such little minds if I earned a million dollars doing what I do? If monetized, how much is my public services worth? But such illiterate partisan people spit words without thinking.
I was mad until a decent person cheered me up. He said, “we are happy you reached 205 episodes of Negarit.” True, I am satisfied; 205 episodes of Negarit gives me a chance to tell you a few things to correct a few misconceptions.
What does YouTube pay?
- Every 1000 views earn between $3.50 to $6; in rare exceptions it pays higher.
- The rate depends on the economy of the home country of the channel and its viewers are, its topics , and other metrics like the size of the population the channel targets, their purchasing power, the overall economy it serves, and how large is the population that speaks the language the channel communicates with. Is it small like Tigrinya, or wide spoken like Hindi, English, Arabic, French, etc.
- A view is counted as one if it lasts a few tens of seconds. View duration is important and the longer the channel is watched the more ads are served, thus more ad revenue. A 10-minite watch of a 20-minute clip is 50% watch time and it affects revenue.
- Ad slots are auctioned and bought by advertisers, mostly through marketing or advertising agencies who analysis and decide what content to buy from, how much they should spend; they depend on the wealth of available data and tools of algorithms to decide.
- How much does Negarit make? I will tell you about that in a while, and about the 2023
If I was doing YouTube for profit, I would have stopped at the 10th episode of Negarit. I am not in it for money, and I didn’t design Negarit as a populist, sensational, follow the crowd, yellow journalism channel. I wanted to make it unique, useful, and purposeful; certainly, these are not good money earning proposals.
As I always say, if you visit a nightclub or a bar, you could find 100 people, if you visit a Library, you will be lucky if there are ten people. Negarit is designed as a library, not a populist channel. That is why in January this year, Negarit’s revenue was $25, 000…. Stop. Stop, less you run with it. Wait for it, I will tell you in a while…
Those who are in it for the money provide their audience with what you want—if it’s fighting they want, they provide fighting, if it is entertainment, they provide that as well. What do they provide the idiots? They feed then plenty of rumors, gossip, foulmouthed duels, racism, fascism, and vulgarity. These channels never veer to areas fearing boycott by their patron social or partisan group. For others, like Negarit and friends, their mission is clear; no matter what, they do what they believe is right and serves their mission.
Okay, let me give you an overview about Negarit.
- I do not present any program without researching it properly and making sure it is beneficial to my audiences and in line with the goals of Negarit. That has been my style before YouTube, on Negarit @awate where I maintain a column under the same title, Negarit, since Sept. 2000, it has hundreds of articles.
- On an average, I spend 20 hours per episode, shooting, editing and other tasks—for instance, I shot this episode twice because the first time I forgot to switch on the microphone; I had to do another hour of recording.
With all that, what do you think is my hourly earning? Still, keep guessing… on a second thought, this is what I earn:
In January 2023 I became wealthy, I earned a whopping $140. Now you can applause me!
I think I did four videos in January, about 100 hours of work. That means, my YouTube pay was $1.40/hour… how many Nakfa is that? It’s better to count that in Nakfa… but If I flipped hamburgers for 100 hours, I would have potentially earned $1500+tips. With no insults and abuses by some thankless brutes. But all is good, in the service of my people and the cause of freedom and justice.
Here is the morale of the story
It’s foolish to spit stuff you have no idea about and refrain from insulting people without evidence. To me this is a right struggle, those who know do appreciate it, the rest, humble yourself. I am a student of the struggle era where people gave their lives for the freedom of the people, including the thankless rascals who are now insulting martyrs. A person who doesn’t know the meaning and value of sacrificing for the sake of others doesn’t deserve living in this difficult world. Such people are a burden to the world, much heavier burden that the 8 billion people of earth combined.
That is how I want to keep Negarit unless you want it to become another gutter (which most of you told me you don’t). So, I will stay with my few viewers, the brainy and fine viewers who have human aspirations, national vision, and goals that help make the life of Eritreans better and contribute to the betterment of humanity.
Still, bigots, hypocrites, and PFDJ minions are welcome if they want to be reformed. I follow President George Bush’s slogan, “No child left behind!”, and I am declaring “No PFDJ cult-member left behind”, though I don’t appreciate their selfish behavior. They are welcome if listening to me doesn’t discomfort them. Yet, I fear it will not be a wasted effort, like the Eritrean saying “ab zesemAake debri aytemahlel” (don’t pray at something that doesn’t hear you).
Going back to the main message, again, I am soliciting your support which unfortunately is a trickle except for a few generous supporters. Can you imagine less than 100 people contributed throughout 2022? 51 people through GoFundMe, and the rest through PayPal, bank transfer, and one mailed check—81 or 82 people contributed, and we are left with over $4000 in red for 2022.
In short, this activity we are doing is financially disastrous and a health drain. Yet, we do not expect PFDJ cult-members will support us, or the new “we support our government,” of the pro-TPLF elements, or Abiy Medemer bus riders. The Muslim haters will not, and a few Muslims won’t. We are left with a cream of Eritreans, dedicated to the entire Eritrea, without segregation, peace loving human people who wish good for their people and others.
So, if you like the service that awate.com and Negarit are providing, please remember nothing moves without gas. Chip in. The budget for 2023 is $12,000. Contributions can be made through the following addresses and account details:
- Credit and Debit Cards: Below the “Support awate.com” icon on the frontpage, there is a form through which you can make your donation.
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- Bank Transfer:
Account Name: Awate.com
Bank: Bank Of America,
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- Other Payments: Contact us at for another alternative transfer methods.
- se contribute as generously as you can and we appreciate your support in advance.
Please share this page with your circles and help spread the word to make the drive successful. And plea
Thank you.
Awate Team