My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Independent creators using gaming engines for animation
Timeframe: Already happening - Amazing Digital Circus got 400M views in 2024
What's Changing
Creators bypassing traditional Hollywood animation pipelines by using game development tools to create animated content for YouTube
Driving Forces
Gaming engines becoming more accessible and powerful
YouTube's monetization making independent content creation viable
Traditional animation requiring huge teams and budgets
Global audiences preferring serialized content over movies
Winners
- Independent animation creators who learn gaming tools
- Gaming engine companies (Unity, Unreal)
- YouTube as platform for premium content
- Merchandise companies serving niche fandoms
Losers
- Traditional animation studios with high overhead
- TV networks losing to YouTube for young audiences
- Hollywood gatekeepers who controlled animation distribution
How to Position Yourself
Learn gaming engines for animation instead of traditional tools
Build direct audience relationship vs seeking network deals
Focus on merchandise and licensing vs just ad revenue
Create serialized content that builds fandom over time
Early Signals to Watch
Example Implementation
“Amazing Digital Circus creators used Unreal Engine instead of traditional animation software, built massive YouTube audience, signed Netflix/Amazon deals while keeping YouTube rights, generated tens of millions from merchandise alone.”
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