Who are you?
I’m Rob! I am a YouTuber who originally hails from New York City but now lives in sunny Central Florida. I started a YouTube channel back in 2012 called Rob Plays That Game that was initially centered around video game Let’s Plays. Since then, the channel has evolved from gaming (Rob Plays That Game), to Disney history (Rob Plays), to theme park and amusements history (Midway to Main Street)!
What is Midway To Main Street?
Midway to Main Street is the latest iteration of the Rob Plays YouTube channel. It’s a channel that covers lesser known and obscure corners of amusement park, theme park, and world’s fair history. The scope of the channel ranges from the first Midway at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair all the way to the theme parks of today.
What happened to Rob Plays/Rob Plays That Game?
To put it simply, it was time for a name change at Rob Plays. When I started the channel back in 2012 I had aspirations of making video game content on YouTube, like most people on YouTube at the time. As the channel grew I experimented and explored different formats, until I finally came upon the history format that you see today. It was a great feeling to find a style of video that I enjoyed making an people enjoyed watching. There was just one problem: Rob Plays no longer made any sense.
While it’s not uncommon for YouTube channels to have names that don’t spell out the type of content on the channel, I felt that “Rob Plays” hinted at video game content while it no longer provided it. So after years of consideration I decided to give the channel a name that better reflected what subscribers old and new could expect from me every week.
Do you work for Disney or Universal
Nope! I’ve never worked for either company, nor has either company ever contacted me about any video or sponsored any video. I create my videos entirely independent from The Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios.
Who made your logo?
The Midway to Main Street logo was designed by Rob Yeo. Check out his website if you want to see more of his wonderful art!
What is your advertising policy?
There are two possible ways you might experience an advertisement at Midway to Main Street.
The first is through YouTube’s AdSense advertising platform. Those are the videos you see before and sometimes during or after a video, as well as the image ads on the side of a YouTube page. These ads are selected automatically by YouTube when the video loads on your page, so I have no say in what is displayed in those spaces.
The other type of advertisement you might see on my channel is an integrated sponsorship, which is when I make a call-out to a sponsor in the video and read ad copy. These are partnerships that I do have a heavy say in. My policy when it comes to sponsorships is that I will only partner with businesses that I would personally patronize myself. I restrict sponsorships to a brief mention at the top of the video, with the bulk of the ad-copy being read towards the end or after the video is over. You’ll never see me reading off a 30-60 second ad spot before the video even begins. Who really wants that? I don’t.
All in all, out over hundreds of videos over nearly eight years, only around five videos are sponsored. I primarily fund the channel through YouTube AdSense revenue and through Patreon. If you’d like to learn more about the perks of becoming a patron of Midway to Main Street, check out my Patreon page!
Will you ever make Minecraft/Minecraft Disney videos again?
I’m a strong believer in “never say never”, yet at the same time I believe in being completely honest with my viewers. So while I don’t want to say that I’ll never make Minecraft Disney videos again, I also have to be honest and admit that I currently have no intention of doing so. I’m a big believer in making videos that I’m passionate about. That has to always be the core motivation behind a video. Without it, I believe a video suffers, and what should be a fun job becomes regular old work. While I loved the years I put into Minecraft Disney content and am forever grateful for the doors it opened for me, I eventually grew away from the game after putting over five years into it. Five years is a lot of time to play any game.
It warms my heart whenever someone reaches out to me and asks for more Minecraft videos or mentions that they grew up watching them. I had a ton of fun making those videos and knowing that folks out there enjoyed them is incredibly humbling. That’s partially why I don’t want to go back to the format just for the sake of fan service. If my heart isn’t in it, it’ll show in the final video, and I don’t want to drag down good memories with videos that feel forced just for the novelty for it.
Will I give the game a shot again in the future? Probably. Will that drive me to make more Minecraft content on the channel? Stranger things have happened, but at the same time I wouldn’t expect it anytime soon.
