YouTube Revenue-Sharing Makes Dollars and Sense
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | January 29, 2007 | Share This
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YouTube announced this weekend that they plan to share ad revenue with users. The BBC Reports,
“People who upload their own films to video-sharing website YouTube will soon get a share of the ad revenue. YouTube founder Chad Hurley confirmed to the BBC that his team was working on a revenue-sharing mechanism that would “reward creativity”. The system would be rolled out in a couple of months, he said, and use a mixture of adverts, including short clips shown ahead of the actual film…The offer applies only to people who own the full copyright of the videos that they are uploading to the YouTube website.”
Video site Revver already does this, splitting revenue 50/50 with users who upload unique content. Now that YouTube has joined the crowd, it looks like revenue-sharing incentives for user-generated content are becoming an industry norm. ConsumerGeneratedMedia.com has a fairly comprehensive run-down of what this means for the future of online video. Note the emphasis on small-scale income opportunities for charities, “garbage collectors”, and other low income users.
ClickZ raises further questions:
“What about other publishers or bloggers helping to drive that traffic? Do they get something out of it, too?… Will online content contributors on other sites demand rewards? The forum posters? The blog commenters? The hotel reviewers? And what will become of the notion that YouTubers upload their videos for fun, not money, making for a much more naturally-engaged crowd of people? This certainly could affect the feel of the site and its ad potential.”
Discussion:
- Why YouTube Revenue Sharing May Work (Rogerd’s Notebook)
- YouTube May Share Revenue With Users (MacWorld)
- YouTube’s Vaporware about Vaporshare (PaidContent.org)
Topics: Social Media |