The New Medium Earnings Formula
Busting the myths
This article is based on Buster Benson’s 40-minute talk “Making Money On Medium: Facts, Myths & Misconceptions”, at the recent “Medium Day” event on 12th August — Buster is Head of Product at Medium. It is a collaboration with another writer, who has produced the formula below, as an attempt to translate the content of what Buster described, into something mathematical.
It would be interesting to know if you think it is along the right lines. I find it interesting, as I like a logical, scientific approach to some things.
The critical part of his talk, which is available as a recording on “Hopin” if you registered for the event, is between 12 and 20 minutes into the talk.
A couple of times Buster holds a notepad up to the screen, and the interpretation is based on what was on the pad, and his commentary.
The formula for success
So for the big reveal, the formula is as below:
(((R1+R2+C+H+R3+F) + (FB) +(BB)) x M) x $
The key to this formula is as follows –
R1 — Reads
R2 — Read time — this is subject to a “thirty second rule”- reads of less than thirty seconds don’t count.
C — Claps
H- Highlights
R3 — Responses
F — Follows
FB — Follower bonus
BB — Boost Bonus
M — Member read time adjustment
$ — the money
The Engagement Store
Buster refers to the part of the formula within the first brackets, variously as “level one engagement”, “core points”, or “The Engagement Store”.
As the first part of the calculation, you total the sum of the things in the first bracket, however Buster himself says that these are weighted, and to make things even more complicated, that the weighting will be adjusted over time:
“We will monitor and adjust……over time”.
It is suggested that the total of the bracket might be around 10.
Follower bonus
To the sum of the first bracket, you then add a follower bonus. We are not told what this might be, possibly 10. This is based on new people who follow you after reading the story. This introduces an interesting, and possibly unintended consequence of favouring authors with a lower number of followers, as there are more potential new followers, than an existing Medium superstar, who has a smaller potential pool of new followers!
Boost bonus
If the story gets Boosted under the Medium Boost feature, you add a further figure, possibly 10, though Buster does not name the figure in his talk.
Member Read Time Adjustment
To the grand total of this, there is then a “multiplier” applied, based on the “Member Read Time Adjustment”, which interestingly, may in fact multiply or divide, so this multiplier may therefore be a positive or a fraction less than 1. We are not told from what range of figures the multiplier may be. Buster says this multiplier figure will be :
“……normalised based on the average read ratio……”
across the platform. This also means that read time still comes into two parts of the new formula, so as a metric it has not been abandoned altogether.
Show us the money!
After getting a result from the rest of the formula, the result is multiplied by currency to produce the earnings for the article.
Too complex?
You may have come to the same conclusion that I have, that this is far too complex to be a meaningful calculation with some of the weighting and variables being unknown, and subject to constant change. An interesting challenge to produce the formula all the same!
Do let me know what you think!
As always, thank you for reading.
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