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Second Wind - Second Wind - Q3 2026 Financial Report + Upcoming Plans
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Second Wind - Finally, Some Optimism for Change in Games | Unpacked
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Hey folks!Once again, it's time for another quarterly report here on Second Wind!
/ REPORT BREAKDOWNAs we expected, Q3 was slower on the revenue side for Second Wind. Two of our major sponsors had to drop due to financial constraints in Q2, and acquiring new sponsors has been very slow. This isn’t just a Second Wind problem, it’s something I’ve noticed across all media outlets.
It doesn’t seem to be letting up into Q4 either, as we’re just not getting many sponsor bites at the moment. This is why we’ve always made it a priority to diversify our revenue streams. As one slows down we lean a little harder on another. But reality is reality, and the current economic conditions of the world make us even more of a luxury than we already are!
We’ve got a sustainable business, even with the razor thin margins that we have. Our Patreon, and YouTube revenue has remained stable, we’ve done well with bigger merch drops once a quarter, and we’ve reduced expenses in areas where we’ve needed to make sure we remain stable.
There’s no expectation from anyone here that Second Wind will ever be a company that makes a ton of profit. But we do want to make sure we’re in a position where we’re not constantly having to fight to be profitable. You know, the dream of pretty much every business.
We’ve got a big team to support to make Second Wind what it is. The recent audience survey I sent out gave us an excellent amount of feedback on the outlet and if one thing rings true: that our audience loves the variety and comradery we offer as a team. It’s by far our strongest asset (aside from Yahtzee, duh) and one that I hope we can convince even more people to join and support as we head into 2027.
Andy Robinson, the Editor-in-Chief of my favorite gaming news publication Video Games Chronicle, put out a great post about the current state of games media, while also making a point of showing how even a little bit of support goes a very long way when you’re independent.
More than ever, if the game industry values its media, it needs to support them. If you manage budgets and value independent journalists' work, buy ads, sponsor content, and purchase subs. What might be a small amount to you makes a huge difference to us (a single PR campaign's spend could fund most of our work for an entire year).And if you're a reader, consider subbing to your favorite outlet, whitelisting on AdBlock, sharing their stories, and subscribing to their channels.
It’s why I’ve continued to drive home the point over the years that I’d rather have 10,000 people watching our videos every week and giving us $1 a month for it, than chasing our own tail trying to make sure videos get a million views on every episode. One is a business model, the other is a pipe dream.
With Second Wind’s third anniversary looming just around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we make sure to make Second Wind exciting not just for our core audience, but those outside of our audience… and we’ve got some fun plans cooking.
/ UPCOMING PLANSThis section will be a bit shorter as I’m not making any specific announcements today with our third anniversary event on November 13th coming up just around the corner. But as Patreon backers, I’ll give you a little insight into what we’re drawing up.
For the last two years we’ve really focused on making sure our core content line-up is strong with a variety of shows that you’re excited to return to every week or every few weeks. I think we’ve accomplished that. Fully Ramblomatic, Semi-Ramblomatic, Design Delve, Unpacked, and The Backdrop all have pretty stable audiences at this point, and the feedback survey indicated people are quite happy with the quality and content of these shows.
In 2027, I think Second Wind needs to break our own containment again. We need some projects and ideas that bring new audience members into our community. For those that responded to the survey, which would be our most engaged audience for the most part… over 85% of you came from The Escapist.
Less than 10% of the audience that responded to that survey have joined us in the last three years.
On one hand, it's an incredible stat that we have such a loyal and dedicated audience. I’d be hard pressed to find another gaming outlet with that kind of audience out there. On the other hand, the Patreon stats and the audience survey make clear we are in our own little corner and we need to do things that allow new audiences to find us. The challenge of Patreon is having more subscribers coming in than going out, and as you’ve seen from all our different experiments, that’s an egg we’re still trying to crack.
So while I’m holding specific announcements for November 13th… I can tell you were doing a few things to try and achieve that.
One of those things will be getting back to documentaries. Those are high-profile prestige projects for us that can break through the noise in the industry to offer something truly unique from us. Another thing will be experimenting with some videos that take our art style, animation skills, and writing chops to make something a little more… shareable for wider audiences.
Other things like looking at a proper audio-only podcast series, more consistent event streams, expanding into some fresh coverage areas, and as you may have seen on social media already… I’m potentially toying with the idea of some sort of website component to Second Wind. Something many of you have asked about over the years. Don’t expect anything firm on that at our upcoming event, but it is something I’m actively exploring as an option for us to try.
Second Wind is always at its best when we’re being nimble, ambitious and creative. And to bring in new audiences, we need to make sure that while we’re consistent, we’re also doing things that excite people. All while making sure we’re not working ourselves to death, of course. With that in mind, you may see some changes over the coming months as we get organized for 2027, but as usual we’ll communicate any changes we do make.
/ EDITOR'S NOTEWrapping up this quarterly report, I’d love to hear your thoughts about Second Wind potentially having a website component. Something focused on original column work from a variety of authors both from Second Wind and outside.
Is that something you’d actively support, subscribe to, or be interested in as an additional perk to your current subscription to Second Wind?
Again, just exploring ideas. Not committing to anything.
Nick CalandraEditor-in-Chief
Hey folks!Once again, it's time for another quarterly report here on Second Wind!
/ REPORT BREAKDOWNAs we expected, Q3 was slower on the revenue side for Second Wind. Two of our major sponsors had to drop due to financial constraints in Q2, and acquiring new sponsors has been very slow. This isn’t just a Second Wind problem, it’s something I’ve noticed across all media outlets.
It doesn’t seem to be letting up into Q4 either, as we’re just not getting many sponsor bites at the moment. This is why we’ve always made it a priority to diversify our revenue streams. As one slows down we lean a little harder on another. But reality is reality, and the current economic conditions of the world make us even more of a luxury than we already are!
We’ve got a sustainable business, even with the razor thin margins that we have. Our Patreon, and YouTube revenue has remained stable, we’ve done well with bigger merch drops once a quarter, and we’ve reduced expenses in areas where we’ve needed to make sure we remain stable.
There’s no expectation from anyone here that Second Wind will ever be a company that makes a ton of profit. But we do want to make sure we’re in a position where we’re not constantly having to fight to be profitable. You know, the dream of pretty much every business.
We’ve got a big team to support to make Second Wind what it is. The recent audience survey I sent out gave us an excellent amount of feedback on the outlet and if one thing rings true: that our audience loves the variety and comradery we offer as a team. It’s by far our strongest asset (aside from Yahtzee, duh) and one that I hope we can convince even more people to join and support as we head into 2027.
Andy Robinson, the Editor-in-Chief of my favorite gaming news publication Video Games Chronicle, put out a great post about the current state of games media, while also making a point of showing how even a little bit of support goes a very long way when you’re independent.
More than ever, if the game industry values its media, it needs to support them. If you manage budgets and value independent journalists' work, buy ads, sponsor content, and purchase subs. What might be a small amount to you makes a huge difference to us (a single PR campaign's spend could fund most of our work for an entire year).And if you're a reader, consider subbing to your favorite outlet, whitelisting on AdBlock, sharing their stories, and subscribing to their channels.
It’s why I’ve continued to drive home the point over the years that I’d rather have 10,000 people watching our videos every week and giving us $1 a month for it, than chasing our own tail trying to make sure videos get a million views on every episode. One is a business model, the other is a pipe dream.
With Second Wind’s third anniversary looming just around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we make sure to make Second Wind exciting not just for our core audience, but those outside of our audience… and we’ve got some fun plans cooking.
/ UPCOMING PLANSThis section will be a bit shorter as I’m not making any specific announcements today with our third anniversary event on November 13th coming up just around the corner. But as Patreon backers, I’ll give you a little insight into what we’re drawing up.
For the last two years we’ve really focused on making sure our core content line-up is strong with a variety of shows that you’re excited to return to every week or every few weeks. I think we’ve accomplished that. Fully Ramblomatic, Semi-Ramblomatic, Design Delve, Unpacked, and The Backdrop all have pretty stable audiences at this point, and the feedback survey indicated people are quite happy with the quality and content of these shows.
In 2027, I think Second Wind needs to break our own containment again. We need some projects and ideas that bring new audience members into our community. For those that responded to the survey, which would be our most engaged audience for the most part… over 85% of you came from The Escapist.
Less than 10% of the audience that responded to that survey have joined us in the last three years.
On one hand, it's an incredible stat that we have such a loyal and dedicated audience. I’d be hard pressed to find another gaming outlet with that kind of audience out there. On the other hand, the Patreon stats and the audience survey make clear we are in our own little corner and we need to do things that allow new audiences to find us. The challenge of Patreon is having more subscribers coming in than going out, and as you’ve seen from all our different experiments, that’s an egg we’re still trying to crack.
So while I’m holding specific announcements for November 13th… I can tell you were doing a few things to try and achieve that.
One of those things will be getting back to documentaries. Those are high-profile prestige projects for us that can break through the noise in the industry to offer something truly unique from us. Another thing will be experimenting with some videos that take our art style, animation skills, and writing chops to make something a little more… shareable for wider audiences.
Other things like looking at a proper audio-only podcast series, more consistent event streams, expanding into some fresh coverage areas, and as you may have seen on social media already… I’m potentially toying with the idea of some sort of website component to Second Wind. Something many of you have asked about over the years. Don’t expect anything firm on that at our upcoming event, but it is something I’m actively exploring as an option for us to try.
Second Wind is always at its best when we’re being nimble, ambitious and creative. And to bring in new audiences, we need to make sure that while we’re consistent, we’re also doing things that excite people. All while making sure we’re not working ourselves to death, of course. With that in mind, you may see some changes over the coming months as we get organized for 2027, but as usual we’ll communicate any changes we do make.
/ EDITOR'S NOTEWrapping up this quarterly report, I’d love to hear your thoughts about Second Wind potentially having a website component. Something focused on original column work from a variety of authors both from Second Wind and outside.
Is that something you’d actively support, subscribe to, or be interested in as an additional perk to your current subscription to Second Wind?
Again, just exploring ideas. Not committing to anything.
Nick CalandraEditor-in-Chief
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