Subbable: launch of the brothers' pay-what-you-want subscription service, starting with Crash Course (2013)
project history · status: completed · last event: outcome (2015-03-17) · last mentioned: 2025-12-09
Subbable, the brothers' pay-what-you-want subscription service, launched in July 2013 with Crash Course and was soon paying partners about $100,000 a month. It was acquired by Patreon in March 2015.
Parts: Hank asks viewers to fund Crash Course through Subbable (2013)
Told alongside: SciShow: launch of Hank's science channel (2011) · John asks viewers who value and can afford it to support Crash Course and SciShow on Patreon (2015) · Crash Course coin: collectible coins sold to fund Crash Course (2021)
About: Subbable, Crash Course, Google, Peter Jaros, Andrew Willis
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-07-26 | launched | Hank launches Subbable: subscribe to content and pay what you choose ($0 up, monthly or one-time), with perks for money banked; it launches with Crash Course only, whose Google grant is ending. | Introducing Subbable 00:01:12 |
| 2013-10-11 | milestone | Hank reports Subbable is doing amazingly: more creators have joined and it has averaged $100,000 a month paid out to partners over two months. | TFiOS Movie, Emma Approved, Subbable Update, etc 00:00:29 |
| 2013-11-08 | milestone | Hank reports Subbable has just launched its own comments. | VidCon, Punishments, Comments, and Pumpkins 00:03:19 |
| 2014-05-30 | milestone | Hank explains Subbable as a voluntary subscription platform where subscribers choose any monthly amount, even zero, which keeps the shows available to everyone, including people who can't pay. | Nerdfighteria Census 2014 Results! 00:02:02 |
| 2014-11-07 | milestone | People chose to give money through Subbable; Hank says Crash Course relies hugely on that support, which lets it make better and more content, and he could never be more grateful. | New Crash Course and Pizzamas! 00:02:02 |
| 2015-03-17 (happened 2015-03-16) | outcome | John reports that Subbable was acquired by Patreon the day before, and calls it great news. | What Are Paper Towns? 00:00:07 |
| 2020-12-08 | looked back | John lists ideas Hank has realized: VidCon, NerdCon, Subbable, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Truth or Fail, Crash Course, SciShow, a podcast, card games, T-shirts, Eons, books and coffee mugs. | A Love Letter to My Brother, Basically 00:01:27 |
| 2021-06-25 | looked back | Hank says Crash Course and Complexly have funded themselves creatively: advertising, grants from organizations that understand the mission, Subbable, then Patreon, and now the Crash Course coin. | The Surprising Origin of Crash Course 00:02:40 |
| 2023-01-17 | looked back | John says Hank no longer runs VidCon, now owned by other people, and started many companies, including Subbable, which became part of Patreon. | John Green Answers the Most Searched Hank Green Questions 00:02:26 |
| 2025-12-09 | looked back | John says Subbable was a crowdfunding platform launched about the same time as Patreon and so similar to it that Patreon ended up acquiring it. | Hank Green, from A to Z 00:03:53 |
What is said about it
13 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2013-07-26 · Introducing Subbable — Hank: Cultural changes need activation energy and catalysts; Hank feels Nerdfighteria, now a powerful force, could be the activation energy and Subbable the catalyst. (hedged) — 00:01:00
- 2013-07-26 · Introducing Subbable — announcement: Hank: Subbable lets you subscribe to content and choose what to pay: $0, $1, $5 or $100 a month, or a one-time amount. — 00:01:12
- 2013-07-26 · Introducing Subbable — announcement: Hank: Subscribers get videos and other content in their feed, possibly some exclusive content, without having to pay. (hedged) — 00:01:26
- 2013-07-26 · Introducing Subbable — announcement: Hank: Money spent is banked in Subbable and traded for perks for that project, such as a signed poster, a mention in an episode, or a message to a loved one in the description. — 00:01:33
- 2013-07-26 · Introducing Subbable — announcement: Hank: Subbable launches with only Crash Course, the brothers' educational show, which is very expensive to make. — 00:01:45
- 2013-07-26 · Introducing Subbable — announcement: Hank: The Google grant that paid for Crash Course for the last two years is ending; without Subbable and its fans' support they cannot keep making it. — 00:01:50
- 2013-07-26 · Introducing Subbable — announcement: Hank: Crash Course will stay free on YouTube; the hope is that enough people who can pay will, so that everyone can have access. (hedged) — 00:02:03
- 2013-07-26 · Introducing Subbable — Hank credits developer Peter Jaros, designer Andrew Willis and the support of Nerdfighteria for making Subbable possible. — 00:02:38
- 2013-08-30 · Raw Onion, Twerking, and Speech Jam — announcement: Hank says Subbable had a snafu with Amazon and recurring payments: monthly subscriptions were cancelled because they were not following all of Amazon's rules; now they are. — 00:03:00
- 2013-10-11 · TFiOS Movie, Emma Approved, Subbable Update, etc — Hank says Subbable is doing amazingly, with Wheezy Waiter, Mystery Guitar Man, CGP Grey, MinutePhysics, Beer & Board Games and Woodworking for Mere Mortals now on it. — 00:00:18
- 2013-11-08 · VidCon, Punishments, Comments, and Pumpkins — announcement: Hank: By coincidence, Subbable has also just launched comments, its own comment system. — 00:03:19
- 2015-03-17 · What Are Paper Towns? — ask: John asks viewers who support Crash Course or SciShow through Subbable to move their subscription to Patreon, which he calls like Subbable only better. — video description
- 2015-03-20 · A Sacrifice of Individuality and the Internets — Hank thanks Patreon patrons funding SciShow and Crash Course; they are almost two-thirds of the way to pre-Patreon-switch funding levels. — 00:01:33