First Annual Kurzgesagt Patreon Report (Patreon)

Hi Patrons! I feel we owe you a short report what your investment in us got you as a return this past year!

Have I ever introduced myself by the way? I’m Philipp, and started Kurzgesagt three years ago. My main job is deciding the video topics and to write and research the scripts.  I also used to illustrate all the videos.

Ok, so which areas did your support make better than before?

Productivity: In 2016 we produced roughly 120 minutes of animated content, more than ever before. Almost two hours of animation on that level is a huge amount for a small team like us. On average our videos became longer and we had our first 16 minute video (another one is planned for next year about one of the most requested topics: AI). In 2016 we also started working on 3-4 videos in parallel.

Quality: We greatly upped the time we spend per video. A 2016 video took on average between 300 and 400 hours to make. We were able to invest more time into research, fact checking, script writing, illustration and animation (as you hopefully can tell if you compare this year’s videos to last year). And we finally can afford to do history videos from time to time – multiple ones are in the works right now. 

All of this would not have been possible without your support. Patreon is the most reliable and constant source of income we have. It enables us to invest more and better time into our creative work and to take risks like the Human Era Calendar. Patreon greatly reduces the insecurity that comes with running a business that could in theory evaporate anytime. We never expected it to blow up like this – but we really appreciate your help more than you might imagine. And we see it as an obligation to produce more and better stuff. 

Kurzgesagt still feels like a small personal project to me. But it is not anymore and that is ok. Patreon is one of the reasons it works as something bigger. Thank you so much. If you have feedback for us please let us know! Hope you had great holidays and we’ll be back in 12,017! -Philipp

TLDR: Patreon has been the biggest reason we were able to do more and better videos this year. Thank you!