Comedian, content strategist and scriptwriter Eddie Butita has revealed that he spent more than Sh5 million producing his popular YouTube series A Nurse Toto, yet the platform has returned slightly above Sh300,000 in revenue so far.
When he started producing the comical series, which focuses on generational conflict and the healthcare industry, he had a budget of just Sh700,000, which he thought would be enough.
“I thought Sh700,000 would be enough to produce the whole of season one. But each episode ended up costing between Sh350,000 and Sh400,000. By the time we got to the third episode I had run out of cash and was already in debt. Initially the show performance was slow despite the hype and buzz it created. It had good views, strong engagement and solid watch time on YouTube but it only generated Sh21,600 when we released the first season.” he says.
Season one of the series comprised 13 episodes, while seasons two and three each had 12 episodes, making a total of 37.
Comedian Eddie Butita.
Photo credit: Pool
Despite the disappointing returns from YouTube, Butita says the project was eventually salvaged through external advertising partnerships.
“That’s the only way we made meaningful money”. He says. “Towards the end of season one, my business partner and I started exploring alternative ways to fund seasons two and three. By then, we had realised the show had built serious traction. People were talking about it, and the numbers were strong. We decided to leverage that and approached several brands to place advertisements in the show. Luckily, a few came on board, although many were initially sceptical.”
Comedian Eddie Butita.
Photo credit: File| Nation
As the show’s popularity grew, so did the confidence of the brands involved.
“By the end of season one, more sponsors had seen the potential of the show and we secured several partnerships early enough. The deals were good. We managed to cover production costs, handle all overheads, pay the actors above the industry rate and still walk away with a small profit margin.”
Despite criticising YouTube’s revenue structure, Butita says he discovered how Kenyan content creators can earn a meaningful income from YouTube.
“You will need Kenyans in the diaspora to watch your content especially those in Australia, US, Germany and Europe. That’s the most reliable way to make money as a Kenyan creator. I say so because luckily when ‘A Nurse Toto’ caught the attention of Kenyans in the diaspora, we suddenly started to see a spike in revenue. By the end of production of Season one, the revenue rose to Sh300,000 from Diaspora viewership, yet they were fewer compared to the numbers who watched at home.” He narrates.
“You must target the diaspora because overseas there are far more advertisers competing for space on YouTube. That competition pushes CPM (Cost Per Mille) higher. And if Kenyans abroad fall in love with your content, then you have a real chance of making good money. With one million views coming from Kenyans in the diaspora, you could easily make an average of Sh800,000 a month. But if the same one million views come mainly from within Kenya, even if you are lucky, you might only earn about Sh150,000. Currently from all those episodes the revenue generated from YouTube stands at Sh70,000.”
Kenyan comedian and businessman Eddie Butita.
Photo credit: Pool
On YouTube, earnings are largely determined by CPM, an advertiser-focused metric that represents the amount advertisers pay for every 1,000 ad impressions on a video. The figure reflects advertiser demand and shows the gross cost before the platform takes its revenue share.
“By the end of season one, more sponsors had seen the potential of the show and
“There are many Kenyans in the diaspora who would love to advertise on Kenyan content,” he argues. “But the advertising process on Kenyan YouTube is still very complicated. That complexity discourages many potential advertisers, both abroad and here at home. I have even communicated this to YouTube, urging them to simplify the advertising process because Kenya actually has a huge pool of potential advertisers. We have so many SMEs locally and internationally, but the system is too tedious.”
“Placing an ad on YouTube is quite strenuous. First, you create the content, then you buy AdWords, then you bid to secure ad placement on your own content, and so on. It becomes a long, technical process. Why can’t there simply be a straightforward button you press, and the entire advertising process runs smoothly?” he asks.
It's this complicated process that he says has left many Kenyan creators frustrated with their earnings from the platform.
