I want to run an experiment about YouTube ads (Patreon)

Hi everyone. I want to run something by you.

For the entire history of Game Maker's Toolkit, I've never run proper adverts on my videos.

I say proper because I do use "Display Ads". These are the simple image adverts that are shown to the right of the video, and only on desktop. This is simply because there is evidence that YouTube favours monetised videos when recommending content. They also make the channel about £800 a month, which is a very nice bonus.

I don't run video adverts because I personally don't like watching them or having junk messing up my videos. And because the Patreon is doing so well… it's never been necessary. I make a very comfortable salary off crowd-funding alone. (Thanks!)

But I have to admit that I am, at the very least, curious about how much money I'm leaving on the table by doing this. It's difficult to make that decision - to say "I don't want the money that would be generated from YouTube ads" - when I literally don't know how much money that is! 

If it's a few hundred pounds, then it's not really worth it and I'll stick to the way it's been. If it's an enormous figure - well, that changes things. We could do good stuff with that. 

So I want to run an experiment in August by putting adverts on my videos for one month. 

To make this as painless as possible, here's my pledge:

• I will only use a single, skippable video advert at the start of each video. No mid-roll ads, no unskippable ads, no messy stuff overlaid over the video, no sponsored ad reads for VPNs or crappy mobile games.
• All patrons will get special versions of this month's new videos (starting with a Last of Us level design breakdown next week!) with no ads.
• I will donate a percentage of the YT ad revenue gained in August to charities focused on video game accessibility.
• For full transparency, I will come back to Patreon in a month's time and let you know what happened and what will happen next.

Let me know if you have any thoughts, concerns, or whatever. 

Please note that I take this stuff very seriously (my background is in journalism, so I have much stricter rules for impartiality than the average YouTuber!) and would never want to endanger the trust you have put in me. 

Cheers. You're the best!

Mark