by: Jessica Klein
For the third season in a row, Rocket Jump has released the financial breakdown behind the production of Video Game High School. The aim of doing this, in part, is for the creators of the YouTube series, Freddie Wong and Matt Arnold, to show viewers that putting out such a polished series isn’t cheap…even if it is a series on YouTube.
How not cheap is it The total cost of VGHS season three came to $2,435,434. That’s over $1 million more than it cost to produce season two (at $1,339,558) and way more money than went into season one ($636,010).
This in partially because VGHS got longer as the series progressed, increasing about an hour from last season’s run time, with each episode lasting about 40 minutes. Still, the cost per episode looks like nothing next to network TV shows of similar lengths. While VGHS costs about $415,000 per episode, shows like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad go for about $3 million per episode (well, $2.8 million for the former), not to mention HBO’s Game of Thrones, which requires a hefty $6 million per installment.
Ultimately, the increased spending on VGHS season three looks like it paid off. Viewership went up since the last season by about 200,000, and average audience retention was solid—85 percent of viewers stuck around after the 50 seconds of each episode.
This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.
