YouTube Partner Program UPDATE

So back in February of this year I wrote a blog about the Partner Program on YouTube. I stand by what I said, but there are a couple of points that need to be updated.

1. YouTube is not designed to help you make money... but you can do it. As YouTube and Google optimise the Adwords adverts that get displayed in the box to the right hand side of your videos the more chance there is of you getting clickthoughs and ultimately that means there is a greater chance of you getting paid. I know this because in the early days I was receiving no clickthoughs (you can monitor this through the Google Adwords tool) but now I am ticking over with a few clicks a day, which has led to me receiving my first cheque from Google this morning! I am considering framing it... but to be honest I actually need it (the Lord moves in mysterious ways).
2. So how do you get clickthroughs? Is it linked to views or content? surely the answer has to be both. My brother recently posted a video which was viewed by 70,000 people in a single day (not massive by "most viewed" standards, but very respectable really when the average video must only receive 1000 views I would imagine). That video generated half the number of clickthroughs needed to qualify him for a paycheck through the Adwords scheme. In that case I would say that views caused him to get clickthroughs... however I have received my first cheque from Google today without any stand-out success videos in my back catalogue. This means that my slow burning videos just tick along gaining a few views but they must be linked to adverts which are relevant to the videos. My vids normally get 500 - 5000 views total (there are exceptions above and below that) so how can it be that I am getting paid? It must be that Google's system for matching the advert to the video has improved. I am noticing a lot of Jeff Dunham's (Achmed the Dead Terrorist) adverts next to my videos... which makes complete sense. I am a puppeteer/puppet builder and Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist. It stands to reason that people interested in my videos would be interested in him. Previously I have had gay dating sites and Reebok advertised next to my videos... neither are lifestyle choices I endorse!

This discussion makes me wonder whether slow burning videos or big overnight successes are better for you in the long run. Would you prefer 100,000 people to view you video overnight or over a year? You could argue that either is better depending on your point of view i guess. As for me I am beginning to favour the slow burner.

All the best folks - take care!

Dave

YouTube Partner program explained...

When did you first use YouTube?

• 2005 possibly if you were really quick off the mark.
• 2006 is quite likely... Myspace was expanding rapidly at that time and the video hosting it offered was rubbish. As a direct result YouTube profitted hugely by enabling people to use the "embed code" to place their videos (hosted by YouTube) on their Myspace pages.
• 2007 saw YouTube firmly establish itself as the market leader in online video, now with many people starting to call online videos "YouTube" videos regardless of which site actually hosted them.

Well for the old school fans amongst us you will remember the days of the YouTube "Director account". This was a scheme run in 2006 to try and reward the well behaved content producers by giving them some extra rights and customisations on their channel. Typically this included the ability to upload videos longer than 10 mins or 100MB. It also allowed them to display a logo alongside their videos. There was no money involved until the very end of 2006 when several YouTube directors were approached by YouTube to create Christmas and New Year videos. This was the very beginnings of the YouTube Partner Program. Mid 2007 being a Director lost all kudos because the program was opened up to everyone and is now simply achannel type in a drop down menu that you can select... whereas before you had been made to apply and be approved. The hangover from the good old days can be found HERE, the old "/director" page on the YouTube site which is now a graveyard channel which serves only as a reminder of what once was :)

I have recently been approved as a YouTube partner on both my YouTube channels. Almost exactly a year after i was approved as a YouTube director. 1 year on the benefits of these programs are pretty much the same. I will not make any money out of the partner program (it's not actually possible to) the point of the partner program is to give people the ability to customise their channel pages and feel more involved in the site. I have to say that the added features definately improve the look of the average channel page and I think it may well roll out to all channels in a years time (much like the old director channels are now open to all).

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!

So how are people like Renetto and Zipster08 able to talk about geting regular Money off YouTube? The original partner program is a pay-per-view deal. For every person that views their videos for more than 30 seconds they get paid. YouTube claim these partners are able to take home around $1000.00 per month.

So where does this leave you and me? Feeling exactly like we did with the Director channels a year ago.

Upstaged - take a bow

Unfortunately i am having to bow out of Upstaged before it has even started. This is due to a combination of prior work commitments and late notice on their part. If i have really pushed i could have made it work, but to be honest it wasn't worth the effort. What makes this early exit even more annoying is the BBC just activated their rating system today and i was ranked 19th overall out of 150+ contestants.

On a better note YouTube have released their partner program in the UK and i have cleared the first two stages of approval for that... so who knows i may yet become a YouTube partner!

Take care - Dave