Puppetmaster David Hellyer writes:
How do I know i won’t ever make any money out of the partner program? Simple really, I don’t receive anywhere near enough views. Top YouTubers like Nalts, LisaNova and Renetto can reasonably expect to get 10,000 – 20,000 views per video regardless of what it is, with some getting far more! Views is the key thing here. BusinessWeek reported this week that click-throughs on social networking sites are significantly lower than that recieved on other sites (4/10,000 rather than 20/10,000). This is significant because the partnership that YouTube offers is one that shares revenue with you from funds raised by GoogleAdwords. A friend of mine recently started a website and has advertised using GoogleAdwords as they are extremely effective. He pays something in the region of 15p per click-through. This means that even if i were to get Renetto’s views i would only ever recieve at most 60p per video (assuming YouTube passed on the whole 15p to me – which we both know they wouldn’t). Well we all like getting pocket money don’t we… any revenue sharing under the current partner program on offer would definately be pocket money. Except YouTube clearly state in their T&Cs that they will not pay out any money due to partners until it reaches $100.00 (£50.00)… that’s a whole lot of 60p videos!
He’s a British fellow, so 60p translates to $1.17ish at today’s exchange rate.
I recently spoke to another partner with a high traffic track record and they said their best quarter in the program has been $500. $500 for three months and a million views. Awesome. (gulp).
Now that YouTube is setting the floor for what sharing sites will pay to creators, this give other sites incentives to pay higher fees to creators of popular content.
Exploit that.
There’s a couple of different forces at play here. YouTube is the marketleader, everyone’s heard of it and there’s a ton of traffic there. It’s the only site that matters at cocktail parties and Hollywood meetings. So YouTube doesn’t have much of an incentive to offer good deal to small partners because everyone wants to be there (even Oprah!).
Other video sites want to cut into YouTube’s marketshare, but how can they compete with YouTube? Cold, hard, cash. MetaCafe’s $5 CPM would’ve netted my friend $5000 for the same million views, not spectacular, but still a tenfold increase. LiveVideo is trying this tactic, we’ll see how that goes. Vuguru, 60Frames, and MySpace are doing it too, although on a much more selective basis.
As a creator you should be always striving to find the best deal for you and your content, and if you can’t get a great deal, stick with the site with street cred and keep looking for a better deal and get better at making content.
Remember to use these sites as much as they are using you. Establish an audience, make a little money, drive as much traffic to your site and use their free bandwidth.
And brand your content as cool and yourself as a creator of cool things.
But then as quickly as possible move on. One show is not a career. It is a stepping stone. Have a vision for yourself and your career and proceed with it. Have new ideas for new shows, and own, own, own as much IP as you possibly can.
And please don’t limit your thinking to just online video. Film, TV, and books all need new cool content and they are in the habit of paying people more than $1.17 for their work.
They used to say that when you make a short film in Hollywood, always have ready the script for the feature you want to make. I think the same thing applies now, only it should be you should have the next show or feature or whatever you want to do next ready to go when you debut your show on the net.
That’s how you build a career. By being ready to go to the next thing before the lights dim on your current project.
If you can do that, then you’re ready to step up into a whole different level.
20 Comments
February 21, 2008 at 12:04 pm
That’s so true to the core…
But also, finding ways to create supportive media that can help strengthen your brand / content and distribute it in alternative methods is useful too.
There’s no reason why a Podcast can’t be compiled and combined into a DVD, or packaged and sold as a package to an agency. Or repurposing content from the show into a book or PDF project.
If the idea is brand is good and has the legs to run…. Do like Gene Simmons and spin it into any direction you can. An active and motivated fanbase is all anyone needs to turn a simple podcast into a whole industry regardless of the site or format they use to participate.
February 21, 2008 at 12:23 pm
[...] Kent’s Official Blog wrote an interesting post today on Buying The CoolHere’s a quick excerpt So YouTube doesn’t have much of an incentive to offer good deal to small partners because everyone wants to be there (even Oprah!)… YouTube is the marketleader, everyone’s heard of it and there’s a ton of traffic there….Except YouTube clearly state in their T&Cs that they will not pay out any money due to partners until it reaches $100. 00 (£50….Now that YouTube is setting the floor for what sharing sites will pay to creators, this give other sites incentives to pay higher fees to creators of popular content. Exploit that…. [...]
February 21, 2008 at 12:37 pm
[...] Life is a Question wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt Establish an audience, make a little money, drive as much traffic to your site and use their free bandwidth. … And please don’t limit your thinking to just online video…. [...]
February 21, 2008 at 12:57 pm
You are too cool.
;P
February 21, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Well said.
Often a project will sort of “tell you” what you can do next.
But I’d say “branding yourself as cool” will come out of your self-agency. It’s not something to buy, as many large companies try to do. It comes from what you want to make and what serves that and your audience.
It comes from fun.
February 21, 2008 at 1:55 pm
So what you’re saying is Perez Hilton isn’t making that much from ads in his videos for all those millions of views? Crazy to think that you can be that popular on Youtube and not really earn a real living.
February 21, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Big problem in the space. Yeah they host your video but don’t give you much more…
February 21, 2008 at 4:38 pm
[...] Nichols (of the Ask a Ninja fame) gave a follow up to this, with some advice for David Hellyer and other Internet TV makers… and even video sharing sites… [David Hellyer is] a British fellow, so 60p translates to $1.17ish [USD] at today’s [...]
February 21, 2008 at 5:08 pm
The YouTube partner program is defiantly not all that but for some it’s better then working fast food for $250.00 a week… and $500.00 for millions of views is just not accurate… but even the real numbers are not all great. The one thing that most people don’t know is how many opportunities come form the exposure. I fyou don’t think of Youtube as the end game… but rather a place to hone your craft and get some exposure and feedback… and make a little money all at the same time… the real “value” starts to become clear. The real question to ask yourselves is this… can the Youtube community survive the influx of more and more corporate content… after all… it’s the community that drives the feedback that drives the views that drives the exposure for the user generated contennt… like Ask-A-Ninja before they went all “Corprate” and lost their following on the tubes… the Skateboarding dog stuff will always find an audience but without the community… everything else will suffer.
February 21, 2008 at 5:11 pm
@Paul
The $500 figure is from a recent partner. My understanding is that early partners such as yourself have a better or at least different deal than what’s currently being offered.
February 21, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Thanks Kent!
It was a very interesting read.
I’m not very partial to ad content that relieves me of the burden of control.
I’m finding it interesting, that as I start to try to pull in advertisers that I’m starting to look at my lifestyle as a demographic.
I’m not sure I like that.
Thanks again for the lay of the land…
Cheers,
Ron
February 21, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Great advice.
February 21, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Yeah, Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald. See what honing your craft can do for you?
February 22, 2008 at 6:46 am
Marquis- that’s a really scary fact. Ronald by Willard. Yeah- I like the invid ads because they’re worth a lot more. The adwords are tiny next to them.
February 22, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Trying to make money from the ads in the Youtube Partner Program seems stupid to me. It feels like it would mess up the focus on what making videos is all about (hold up… what IS making videos all about?) Anyhow (and I somehow got that partner thing) it seems like the best move to make is… Actually, I have no idea what it is, but as long as I’m having fun it’s all good to me.
February 22, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Honest and inciteful as usual. Kent–I’d be interested to find out how your revenue breaks down if you’d be willing to share in terms of % from merchandising, dvd sales, advertising, etc. It seems to me that this advertising model as it stands right now is not very conducive to content creators making any real sustainable money.
February 23, 2008 at 4:32 am
“…use their free bandwidth.”
Yep. That may be the most valuable thing, especially if you’re getting lots of views. (And free bandwidth may not be around forever so use it now.)
So Kent, what’s your next project?
February 23, 2008 at 8:23 am
great advice here. Thanks Kent.
February 25, 2008 at 1:20 am
I can’t believe you read my blog! I didn’t mean to come across all doom and gloom, I was just thinking out loud really. I’m just glad I could be part of the conversation really
February 29, 2008 at 4:10 am
The 60-90 day waiting period to figure out whatever Youtube needed to figure out to let you (me) know how much I make from the partnership program has finally pasted. Verdict? Definitely DO NOT spend a dime trying to become a partner for it’s dollar value.
My numbers might be “off” because I don’t turn the ad stuff on on every video and I don’t try to get thousands of views or whatever (I just turn it on if a video seems to start growing on it’s own.) But yeah, I don’t think I’m suppose to say how much I make from the partner program, but it wouldn’t cover my bill for beer at the end of the month (though it’ll help put a nice little dent in it.) 