Transcription
I want to tell you a few things you don't know about me and a few things you don't know about this channel and how I run it as a business so that it can be my sustainable full-time job, as things I really love about it. And the reason I want to tell you this now is because, clearly, you're watching this channel, and whenever I run into any of you, you always seem to have the same questions. So, thought now would be a good time to fill you in, including on timelines of how the videos get made to the money side, how much things cost, and how much they can make. We'll get to that stuff, but first, I want to start with the personal side.
Obviously, you probably know my name is Michael Downey, but something you probably don't know is that I play field hockey. Like, I—I love playing field hockey. It's, yeah, a hobby. I play it recreationally, but I played in an international tournament in Singapore a couple of weekends ago. [music] And last year, we took the team to the division championships and won. And we've now moved up into a [snorts] harder [music] league, which is more fun. So, that's how I like to spend my free time. In fact, so much so that I flew back early from one of my trips, a day early, so I could get back in time for the game. And I think I have a picture of me having come straight from the airport with my luggage, but I didn't have any of my field talkie stuff, so I had to borrow it all from others of the team. That's what I like to do.
Now, the next thing you might know about me, but you might not, depending on when you started watching the channel, is the fact that I am married to Nicole. I love her. We. She's been in a couple of videos. But the next question I often get is, "How come she's not in more videos?" And the truth of the matter is that we met before I had started the YouTube channel. I had like a normal 9 to-ive marketing job, as did she, and she hasn't deviated from that path at all. She has her own goals, career goals, life goals. She is living her life, and I'm running my business [music], and they are separate. She has no interest in being internet famous or being a YouTuber. So, she continues to work her job passionately, and I work mine.
Now, occasionally, she will use some of her vacation days from her job to come on a trip with me, especially if it's something she really wants to do, like the canals in the UK and Wales that we did. But most often now, we want to use her vacation days as us personal time because, if I'm being honest, while I'm working and filming these videos, it is not a vacation. I am constantly [music] chasing: what is the story? What do I need to be showing next? What's the shot? Oh, I need to be flying the drone! I am solely focused on making the best YouTube video I can, and I'm not really focused on Nicole, and that's unfair when it's her vacation time. So, we tend to keep things separate.
And on the topic of keeping things separate, as you may or may not know, my name is Michael Downey. Why didn't I just name the YouTube channel Michael Downey? [music] Lots of YouTubers name their channel after their first and last name. I wanted to keep my personal [music] life and my business life separate. So, I decided from that point forward, the YouTube channel would be business-focused, and my personal life would be with Nicole and time at home, and time with friends, and time [music] playing field hockey. And so, that's when I came up with the idea to name the channel Downey Live instead of Michael Downey. So, to sum up, will we see more of Nicole in the videos? I'm sure we will, down the road, consistently, infrequently, let's say.
Now, what you see when you're watching the videos is the fun stuff, the highlights, and it's edited together to look like the best time possible so that it's entertaining for you. No one wants to watch us sitting around and just waiting at a train station. So, even though we might wait 2, three more hours, we obviously cut all of that out to keep it interesting. But what you actually don't see beyond the waiting and the boring stuff is what happens before and after the [music] video. This is a lot of research and planning: figuring out what topic I want to do, how in-depth can I get, who do I need to speak to, [music] who do we need to get approvals from.
This is for the videos that tend to go a little bit more behind the scenes, like riding with Jonno in an Australian road train. We have to find a truck driver that will let us come in their cab with them for 5 days across Australia and kind of do some due diligence to make sure [music] they're not going to kill me. Uh, Jonno obviously did not. I hope to film with him again.
Now, some videos and topics require even further approval. This are things like riding with the Canadian Coast Guard, where I have to get Canadian government approval and go through a chain of command to find out who can approve this, as well as get the appropriate background checks completed. In fact, one of the requirements to ride with the Canadian Coast Guards was that they could only work with approved production companies for television, which meant that when I got my TV show approved for a Canadian network in British Columbia, that is what allowed me to cross that final threshold to work with them.
A number of years ago, one of the videos I wanted to make was going up top a crane, and it required that I have a safety course certification. And so, I had to take an online course, pass it, prove to them I have it, and then I could be green-lit to go on. And even the videos that it seems like I don't have to do any of that, like riding on the canals in the UK: anyone can rent a canal boat, and anyone can go take a little trip or vacation through there. We cross a UNESCO World Heritage site. Actually, we passed by a couple, I think, and you cannot fly your drone over a UNESCO World [music] Heritage site. So, I had to find out who owns the air rights and who manages that site. What do I need to do to get permission to fly my drone there? It required proof of my Canadian drone operator's permit, as well as getting liability insurance so that in case my drone hit something and damaged it, insurance would cover it. And then I was approved to get the permits to fly there.
All of these things take time. And the reason I do it is because I know that anything I make will end up on the internet and can be ripped apart in the comments or by professionals online. And I want to make sure that I'm doing everything by the book. I want to make sure that if anyone sees what I'm doing, it's all legal and approved beforehand because [music], of course, this is my career, and I want this to be a sustainable career where I'm not doing one thing to go viral, but that's it.
Of course, all of those steps, all of that paperwork, all of that outreach, all of the approvals—and sometimes even after a video is edited, waiting for approvals, for example, with the Navy and Coast Guard, making sure I'm not showing any classified information—I have to wait to hear back from them. All of that takes time and slows the process down.
And so, the next question I often get asked is, "Well, how long does it take to make a video?" The short answer is, it depends. But I'll break it down a little bit for you. I categorize my videos sort of into three categories. One are the one-day videos. These are kind of 15minute long videos that are showcasing how something works, maybe riding the zigzag train in Australia as an example, where it just takes me one day to film it and show you A to B where it goes or how it works. The second category of videos are the multi-day videos. This is sort of riding with Jonno in a road train for 5 days across Australia or eight days on a luxury train in Vietnam. And the third category of videos are the big series. Think of Downey Express: things that take three weeks to film [music], going from the Arctic to Africa, and the huge amount of time to put that together.
So, let's start with the first category: a single day shoot. I might come out of it with 4 hours of video footage. Maybe there's two cameras. Maybe I shoot predominantly with my main camera, and then maybe there's some [music] drone footage in there as well. And we can go through that four hours of footage, edit it down, add in voice over and story, and that could be done in a week, possibly two, if it's a bit more in-depth or includes a lot more elements to it.
The multi-day trips—let's take the road train or the canal series as an example—they're four or five days to film, and I'm filming with four or five cameras at a time. So, in the case of Jonno, we have a GoPro on his side of the windcreen, a GoPro on my side of the windscreen to film me. We have a GoPro facing forwards, kind of like a dash cam to show what's happening. We have a drone, and then we have my POV camera in my hand that I can film things out the window specifically [music] as they go by. Same with the canal: there's a GoPro on the front of the boat, a GoPro at the back of the boat filming us. There's my POV, and there's a drone. So, at the end of a shoot, we're coming back with multiple cameras filming for multiple days. We realistically could have 12 to 16 hours of footage that we have to line up, link up, sync the audio, and then start to go through it and cut out what's boring and keep what's interesting. And 16 hours is essentially two 8 hour days of work just to go through and see what we have. And then from there, of course, I'm scripting the voice over and building the story. And we're building scenes and editing those scenes and finding music. And that [music] all takes a long time.
An edit like that—Jonno Road Train—takes about a month. And that doesn't include the pre-ressearch, outreach, planning, or travel days. I mean, filming with him is 5 days, but it took a day and a half to fly there, a day and a half to fly back, and another half day in Australia to move around so that I could fly back. So, we're looking at about 8 days for one video, which, if you do the math, there are seven days in a week. And if it takes eight days to film a video, that answers your question right there of why I can't put out a video a week.
Now, I think in 2025, we put out two videos a month, or 26 videos. So, I video every two weeks. That's 'cause those eight or nine days of filming and travel doesn't include weekends for me or days off. It doesn't include the research and planning and editing as well. And I should say, I'm really happy with all the editing Andrew and Kyle have done this year. Andrew is actually stepping away at the moment to focus on his own media company, so it's just Kyle and I at the moment. But we do use Nebula Studios for the big projects, like Downey Express.
Obviously, Downey Express is a much bigger project. It's a multi-ep episode series. It takes three weeks to film. Arctic to Africa took three weeks. Europe to Asia also took three weeks. That is just filming every single day. On top of that, we come back with dozens and dozens of hours of footage that we have to go through and not just make a single episode with a story arc. We have to have a story arc for that episode, but also an overencompassing story arc, which means I have to go through all of the footage to find the story and script the voiceover to make all of it connect and feel cohesive. It takes a long time. Honestly, Nebula did a really fantastic job, and I'm going to bet it probably took a little bit less than a month per episode, but these episodes are in the 45minut 50minute [music] ballpark range. They're long, and they take a lot of work.
Now, before we get to the money side of the business, yes, I've answered the question of how long it can take to edit a video, but let's look at the bigger picture of timelines on the channel, 'cause I think this is interesting, and this is something you don't know about or hear about, but you might notice specifically when there's an eventbased video. Let's take the Monaco Formula 1 race. That video was filmed in May when the event took place, but the video didn't come out until early December. What's with the 6 to 7month delay? Well, in April, I filmed Downey Express: six episodes of Europe to Asia. Then I went to Switzerland for a few weeks. Then I went to Monaco to film that race. Then I went to Italy, and then I came back home. Anyway, that's all to say, we didn't even start editing Downey Express until probably June, and then it took 4 months to edit. We started airing it in April, and it finished airing at the end of September, and we were editing it—the final episode—right up until we aired it. So that meant we were editing June, July, August, September: four months for those six videos. Then we could start in October editing the Switzerland videos, which had to go out in November. And then we could start editing the Monaco video in November to come out in [music] December.
And also, as soon as you're done the video, it's not ready to go out. We have a sponsorship integration to make sure we can pay for it. Something like going to Switzerland, Monaco, Europe to Asia—these are very expensive trips that require trains, planes, hotels, food, tickets, rental cars, etc., etc. And so, sponsors, which we'll get to in a moment, are a very crucial part of the channel. I couldn't do it without them. But they do have some requirements of what's included in that segment that we have to go back and forth, make changes, get approved, and then that video can go out. So, that's to answer the question of, "How long does it take to make a video?" I guess the answer is kind of seven, eight months at the longest. At the longest, the shortest period to put out a video is probably this one. This video is going out today, but I filmed it yesterday. It's the—it's the evening here, and it'll go out in the morning, the day you're watching it. I just wanted to put out something for you at this time of year to get to know each other. I thought this would be a good fit.
Now, all of that brings us to the money and sponsorship side of the business. Before we dive into that, I want to be able to explain it clearly. So, let's do the sponsorship segment now, and then when we explain it, it'll all make sense.
So, this segment is sponsored by Anker. And so, I want to thank Anker for sponsoring this trip and, frankly, for powering my journey because the most annoying part of traveling is that every time you cross a border, there are new outlets to deal with. But this time, I only had to pack one. This is the Anker Nano travel adapter. I have traveled to 50 countries, and being able to pack one travel adapter that is this small makes my life so much easier. It's an ultra compact, all-in-one adapter that fits plugs for the UK, Europe, the US—basically over 200 countries—and the 5-in1 design is a total gamecher. Plus, it's tiny, barely takes up any space in my backpack.
Of course, sometimes you don't have access to an outlet, especially on long travel days, which is where my second travel essential comes into play: the Anker Nano power bank. It's super compact with a built-in retractable cable, so I don't need to search for cords or carry extras. And it's not just about portability; it's powerful, too. This one has a 10,000 mega capacity, up to 45 watts charging, and can power three devices at once. I especially love the smart display because it tells me battery and power levels, so I always know when it's time to recharge. With these two in my bag, I never have to worry about power. So, for your travels this year, make sure to check out the Anker [music] Nano series. All the links are in the description down below. And thank you to Anker for powering my journey.
Now, as every YouTuber will say, we obviously vet the sponsors we work with first. We make sure that they're actually a sponsor we use, actually a sponsor we want to put our face in association with, and I feel really strongly about Ankor and all the sponsors that I work with. And honestly, the survival of this channel would not be possible without them.
Okay, so what actually makes up the revenue of this channel? Well, as we talked about, sponsorships is the number one. Couldn't do it without them.
Number two is YouTube AdSense. That is YouTube, the platform, interrupting one of my videos to place an ad there that is specific to you. And I have no control over which ads they show you or where they put them. All I check is, "Yes, I want ads," or, "No, I don't want ads on my videos." As a platform, YouTube does split the revenue of those ads with the creator 50/50, which really does help. Other platforms—mostly the vertical video platforms like Instagram—does not do that. Tik Tok in the States does it a little bit, but not in Canada for Canadian creators. And YouTube Shorts pays, but just minimally, that it's not really viable to be a full-time content creator on those platforms without taking sponsorships.
And a third revenue source that most creators I don't think have, but I've managed to, is [music] by repackaging a couple of my YouTube series, re-editing them for television, and then somehow I was able to license that to an independent network in British Columbia, CHEK TV. Licensing for television is a very small portion of the revenue of this channel.
So, why am I telling you all this? Well, I want you to understand that every single video that you watch by your favorite creators on this platform is making them so you can watch the videos for free, but it's not free for them to make them. It costs us time and money. Even if I get to do an experience like riding along with Jonno in a road train, he's not charging me to ride along with them, but I'm paying for flights, motel, food, and the editing afterwards. And unfortunately, my landlord won't accept exposure as a form of payment for my rent. All right. I think you understand that it's really fun to make these videos, but that it's slightly more stressful to make sure it's a sustainable career and business. So, let's end this with some more fun personal Q&A questions.
"How do you balance personal life verse work life?" Well, this goes back to my life with Nicole. I think over the last two years, I traveled about six months of the year for the last two years. That means I'm away a long time. So, Nicole and I have tried to set a limit of being away for like 2 weeks maximum at a time. But, of course, when I get an idea that's big enough and good enough, I kind of break that rule a little bit, like Downey Express, when I'm on the road for three—for actually, the longest period I was away in 2025 was a fiveweek period without coming home. I don't like doing that, but then I'll be home for a long period of time. So, it's—I'm trying to be better. I'm trying to travel a little bit less and be very specific about my time. I will add that to balance work life: I don't ever really stay in the countries I'm in much longer. Like, I don't enjoy a vacation there afterwards because I just want to get home to spend time with Nicole again and and play field hockey, too.
Nicole and I do go on personal vacations together.
"Why don't you list prices [music] or itineraries?" That's a good question. I purposely don't list prices in the videos. Is I don't want to tell you how much a train costs because you might be watching this video 2 3 4 years [music] down the line, and the prices have changed completely. Especially things like Amtrak or commuter rails around the world. It's kind of like airlines where prices change depending on how last minute you're booking, how far ahead, what dates you're booking on, what class you want. And itineraries? The reason I don't share them with you or have a link somewhere is because that's the trip that works for me, and I don't know what's going to work for you. I don't know how long you want to travel for, and I'm also not the expert in that location. I wouldn't make a travel guide to Monaco because I've been there one time. I like to think that my videos are better to inspire you to want to take the trip, and not even specifically that trip—like not going to an F1 race in Monaco—but maybe choosing to go to an event somewhere in the world of some style that interests [music] you. I see myself more as an inspirational or aspirational channel rather than specific guides. There are many, many creators that do a much better job of that than I do, and I don't try to be an expert [music] in that space. So, that's why I don't share that.
If I'm really honest, when people ask me, "How do I describe my channel?" I say "transportainment," meaning I make entertaining videos about transportation, but [music] not guides and price details.
All right, two more questions. "Are there any technical proud moments I have?" Yes. Over the last few years—uh, probably two years—you'll notice that my transition from night to day has progressed. I want to keep that moment in the video really fast. I find that going tonight and saying, "Good night, see you in the morning," and then waking up in the morning going, "Good morning. Let's start our day," tends to be a slow point in the video. And also, nighttime signals a completion of a day. And that's a point where you as a viewer might go, "Ah, I get it. He's doing this. I'm going to switch off," or I'm going to watch one of the other videos that you, YouTube, is recommending to me. That's totally fair. So, I try and speed up that process as much as I can. And one of the moments I'm most proud of that I've done numerous times now is by taking the same shot at night as I do again the next morning to get a really nice, crisp transition. And this one in the recent Kia through the Canadian Rockies video is so spot-on with us walking in front of it that I swear people are going to start thinking it's AI. So, I wanted to tell you about it, but I've done it in numerous videos, sometimes even by drone. This one was done by drone. I just love that it snaps you from night into day so seamlessly and keeps the story moving without this whole good night, good morning shenanigans.
Okay. And the final question I get asked is, "What is your favorite trip?" And the kind of easy answer I always give is my next one because it's true. I'm always excited about the next video. I always have an idea in my head or a project on the go, something I'm very excited to make happen and bring the videos. So, that's—that's the easy answer. But the—the short, or the longer answer, I should say, is any video with family and friends. It's just so good to be able to spend time with them and do this for a living.
But, from a professional standpoint, there's a number of videos that I'm [music] very proud of because I was able to overcome hurdles and make happen, such as riding along with the Canadian Coast Guard or the Canadian Navy. And then one particularly soft moment for myself is when I was chosen by Red Bull to go and be a part of their DAR crew. That, to me, was something that small channel Mike Downey Live, when he had 80 subscribers, aspired to be: one of the big YouTubers chosen for these kinds of events. And they flew me business class. It was the first moment that I felt like my channel and myself as a professional was—was seen and taken seriously enough to do that. That—that meant a lot. That meant I was on the right path.
And then, of course, the big series that I've taken on where you just have a crazy big dream, a big idea, you don't know if it's possible or how to make it happen or who's going to pay for it, how you going to do it. And you just go do it. And Downey Life Travels by Train and Downey Express. You achieve taking the train from the Arctic Circle all the way to Africa. And then, you know, Downey Life Travels by Train, our team in-house, the editors, we converted it to television [music] and licensed it for TV, and it's now been watched in—in three different countries. And it's all because I love doing this so [music] much. I can't stop talking about it, which is why I wanted to have this video to talk about it with you. I really, really appreciate you watching the videos and supporting me over the years [music] because it has been what's made this possible and for me to keep doing it every single week. So, to you, thank you. It's been nine years on YouTube as [music] Downey Live, and I've loved every minute of it. Well, that's maybe not true, but there's been some stressful moments. Maybe we'll save that for another video.
As I always say, I don't know where I'm going next. I don't know what's going to happen, but I know I want you there with me. And so, I guess I'll, uh, I'll see you next week. I can say I'm taking the Christmas holidays off. So, we're going to put together Downey [music] Express series into a super compilation with the whole series in one video for you to enjoy over the holidays. I'm going to take a break, but I'll see you in the new.