Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Friday, January 26, 2007 at 3:58 PM PT

 

YouTube to Share Revenue with Creators

YouTube CEO Chad Hurley said today his company (now owned by Google) “is going to move in [the] direction” of rewarding video creators for their content, as part of a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

Attendee Jeff Jarvis taped the statements and posted them to his blog:

Revenue sharing is something an increasing number of YouTube competitors, such as Revver, Metacafe, and Break.com, have used to differentiate themselves from the front-runner.

Hurley explains that YouTube management decided against monetary incentives because they might have attracted the wrong kind of contributors. We haven’t really seen that play out on other sites — Revver et al seem to be relatively unpolluted by anti-community money-grubbers. Hurley:

In terms of paying users revenue against the content that they’re uploading, we’re definitely going to move in that direction, but we didn’t want to build a system that was motivated by monetary reward, we wanted to build a true community around video. When you start out with giving money to people from day 1, they’ll just switch to the next provider…that’s paying more. so we feel that we’re at a scale now that we’ll be able to do that and really be able to have a true community around video.

From our perspective, it seems like the near-total absence of ads on YouTube was an essential part of its success (there are other factors, of course). You do need ads in order to share ad revenue, so perhaps that’s why rewarding creators was a non-starter until now.

In related news, Andy Plesser at Beet.TV got a look at a new Forrester report that says 7 percent of consumers in North America who use the web regularly are uploading videos at least once a month.

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Topic: Money & Power, Online Video
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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. […] YouTube CEO Chad Hurley said today his company (now owned by Google) “is going to move in [the] direction” of rewarding video creators for their content, as part of a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.read more | digg story Social bookmark this post – … […]

    Final Tag » Blog Archive » YouTube to Share Revenue with Creators on January 26th, 2007 at 5:23 pm - Permalink

  2. YouTube cashbacks…

    YouTube cashbacks: “In terms of paying users revenue against the content that they’re uploading, we’re definitely going to move in that direction. ” Liz Gannes picked that out from an interview Jeff Jarvis did with YouTube founder/CEO Chad Hurley. …

    JD on EP on January 26th, 2007 at 9:32 pm - Permalink

  3. YouTube condividerà i profitti con i videomaker…

    Chad Hurley, noto per essere uno dei due fondatori di YouTube, è tra coloro che intervengono al World Economic Forum 2007 in corso a Davos. Ha Parlato ieri (il video è di Jeff Jarvis), durante una sessione dedicata – ovviamente – al tema “user-gene…

    Blogs4biz on January 27th, 2007 at 4:01 am - Permalink

  4. […] [via] […]

    BuzzRun.com » Archive » YouTube to Share Revenue with Content Creators on January 27th, 2007 at 10:13 am - Permalink

  5. […] NewTeeVee » YouTube to Share Revenue with Creators (tags: Business Videos Web2.0 Youtube Advertising) […]

    Hawkeye :: Murali’s Blog » links for 2007-01-27 on January 27th, 2007 at 10:18 am - Permalink

  6. YouTube’s strategic sharing…

    The BBC reports that YouTube founder Chad Hurley is confirming that the Google-owned company will begin sharing advertising revenues with the people who upload videos to its site. According to the BBC, “The system would be rolled out in a couple of mo…

    Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog on January 27th, 2007 at 2:16 pm - Permalink

  7. […] This is certainly big news – YouTube is going to start giving contributors a cut of the revenue that YouTube makes off advertisements shown during their videos. The goal is to encourage creativity. Since most people (and companies) simply follow the leader, I’m guessing we’ll see an influx of sites implementing this model in their user-generated web sites. I applaud Chad Hurley for a good business model — he focused on getting the passionate users who wanted to participate for the right reasons before focusing on incentives. I think it’s something many sites miss — in my mind, the quality of community content goes down with increased monetary incentives. It really comes down to the fact that passion is crucial to great contributions and money does not correspond with passion. I don’t think sites that start out sharing revenue (such as Revver) will succeed. More coverage at NewTeeVee, BuzzMachine, Techmeme, and ZDNet. […]

    YouTuber Users to Receive Ad Revenue » Personal Insights on Web 2.0, Blogging, and Business on January 27th, 2007 at 3:51 pm - Permalink

  8. […] If you are Revver or Metacafe, then it has to be the happiest day of your tiny life. YouTube, the 800-pound gorilla just validated your business model by deciding to pay their creators, a cut of the advertising action. […]

    GigaOM » YouTube makes its power play on January 27th, 2007 at 4:38 pm - Permalink

  9. […] NewTeeVee » YouTube to Share Revenue with Creators “YouTube CEO Chad Hurley said today his company (now owned by Google) ‘is going to move in [the] direction’ of rewarding video creators for their content, as part of a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.” (tags: internet multimedia video business revenue innovation google youtube) […]

    links for 2007-01-28 « David Black on January 27th, 2007 at 6:21 pm - Permalink

  10. […] NewTeeVee » YouTube to Share Revenue with Creators YouTube-gründere varsler at videoprodusenter skal få betalt etter hvert. (tags: video youtube) […]

    Vox Publica » links for 2007-01-28 on January 28th, 2007 at 12:19 am - Permalink

  11. […] For reference: Here’s a german article and here’s an english one. […]

    Life Unplugged… » Blog Archive » Making money with YouTube on January 28th, 2007 at 2:23 am - Permalink

  12. […] Una vez convertido en el nico sitio de destino de las creaciones de los internautas, la pgina creada por Hurley y Chen deber verificar que quien pretende cobrar por la reproduccin del vdeo es realmente su autor, los errores no gustaran nada a los verdaderos propietarios, llmese Hollywood, discogrficas o la liga de ftbol. En este sentido, YouTube tambin anuncia novedades para los prximos meses relativas a su sistema de identificacin de violaciones de derechos de autor. De su correcto funcionamiento y de cmo acepten los usuarios el ltimo requisito depender el xito de la nueva ‘frmula tubera’. Y es que compartir no significa necesariamente ganar menos: los vdeos empezarn a integrar publicidad ms all de los anuncios textuales. Publicidad que se prueba ya con los vdeos de MTV, Warner y Sony que se publican con YouTube en otras pginas, y que al extenderse a todos los productores podra espantar a los usuarios. Quizs por eso Hurley y Chad no se plantearon pagar desde el principio, lo que atrae a los productores no siempre es la mejor opcin para la audiencia. Aunque se trate de compartir y funcione en los dos sentidos. […]

    La Tejedora » Blog Archive » YouTube, compartir es cosa de dos on January 28th, 2007 at 5:39 am - Permalink

  13. […] Mehr dazu auf newteevee […]

    neunetz.com » Prosumer Rising - Youtube will künftig Benutzer an Einnahmen beteiligen on January 28th, 2007 at 7:35 am - Permalink

  14. […] It was only a matter of time: Chad Hurley, YouTube CEO, has announced that they are going to take a step in the direction of sharing revenue with users of the service. […]

    Get paid to YouTube: Bad news for Revver at Zigire on January 28th, 2007 at 12:53 pm - Permalink

  15. […] Pues si lo tuyo es el cine, ya sabes: consíguete una cámara, échate a la calle, ponte a filmar, y envía tus vídeos a YouTube. Es posible que hasta puedas vivir de ello. Chad Hurley, fundador de YouTube, anuncia en Davos que la empresa está trabajando en un sistema de reparto de los beneficios obtenidos de la publicidad, que redundará en un pago para los autores que suban vídeos al sitio en función del tráfico obtenido (Smart Mobs, BBC, NewTeeVee y en vídeo aquí). El movimiento no es original, algunos sitios como MetaCafe, Revver o Break.com ya lo hacían, pero se trataba básicamente de una acción llevada a cabo por start-ups que intentaban diferenciarse del competidor principal o líder del sector. Los rendimientos que un autor puede obtener en este tipo de sitios no ofrecen comparación con lo que un sitio como YouTube, con decenas de millones de visitas diarias, puede llegar a ofrecer. […]

    Porque lo mío es el cine » El Blog de Enrique Dans on January 28th, 2007 at 3:50 pm - Permalink

  16. […] As Download Squad points out, this isn’t exactly a cutting edge prediction. Maybe he ran into Chad Hurley, who explained that this whole video on the internet thing could be big — huge even — and got excited. Meanwhile, today Bill’s busy lowering his standards and appearing on regular old TV — the Daily Show on Comedy Central — to promote the release of Windows Vista. Though if I were Bill, I’d leave the funny to Demetri Martin. Topic: Software, Online Video Tags: Bill Gates, IPTV, Davos […]

    NewTeeVee » Gates: TV is Doomed on January 29th, 2007 at 8:52 am - Permalink

  17. […] (H/T) Drew Meyers’ Personal Insights NewTeeVee (with video clip from the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, courtesy of BuzzMachine’s Jeff Jarvis) ZDNet […]

    YouTube To Give Cash Back To Its Community | Real Estate, Loans and Mortgage Rates on January 31st, 2007 at 12:04 am - Permalink

  18. […] Filmgeld YouTube gaat video-uploaders kleine beetjes betalen uit opbrengsten van advertentie-inkomsten die hun video’s hebben gegenereerd. Ben dan wel benieuwd of Google uberhaupt uitkomt met de advertentie-inkomsten om YouTube zelf te kunnen bekostigen…? […]

    Go Digital, Feel Analog » 2007 gonst! on February 1st, 2007 at 9:53 am - Permalink

  19. […] Well, it appears YouTube’s posturing toward paying its creators is coming a little too late for some of the site’s stars, who are already making the leap to television. Yesterday FOX announced YouTube star LisaNova is joining its MADtv cast (we first heard about this on Mashable). […]

    NewTeeVee » YouTube’s LisaNova Joins MADtv Cast on February 1st, 2007 at 11:00 am - Permalink

  20. […] Hurley said this move will foster creativity in YouTube’s community and that they didn’t start working on a revenue share model until just recently because they wanted to make sure they built a community around video first. […]

    Media Cool Hunting » Blog Archive » YouTube working on a revenue share model on February 4th, 2007 at 3:18 pm - Permalink

  21. […] Hitwise data says comparing Jan-07 versus Dec-06, the market share of visits to the site among all U.S. web sites increased 1% — that’s in contrast to the company’s growth between Jan-06 and Jan-07 where Hitwise says its market share of visits to the site increased 912% among all US websites. That year over year traffic boost came as a result of the company sharing the advertising revenues with video creators — an advantage now blunted by YouTube’s recent announcement. […]

    GigaOM » Metacafe gets a new CEO on February 6th, 2007 at 11:41 am - Permalink

  22. […] Now is the time to sell a video-aggregating startup. Scuttlebutt says the window is closing, with companies like eBaum’s World failing to find a buyer despite their efforts. Many had thought the window was already good and shut, unless Metacafe could close its much-rumored acquisition by Yahoo or someone else. Valuations appear to be getting lower even if traffic isn’t headed south, what with lawsuits and maneuvering by the GooTube juggernaut. […]

    NewTeeVee » Metacafe Demotes CEO on February 6th, 2007 at 12:23 pm - Permalink

  23. [...] pensar que Chad Hurley, um dos fundadores do YouTube, disse, certa vez, que “não pagar os usuários” era essencial para construir a comunidade do [...]

    YouTube começa a remunerar usuários : Tiago Dória Weblog on May 4th, 2007 at 9:10 am - Permalink

  24. [...] NewTeeVee says today “From our perspective, it seems like the near-total absence of ads on YouTube was an essential part of its success.”  [...]

    » Is YouTube really a $1.65 billion Web 2.0 success? | Digital Markets | ZDNet.com on May 22nd, 2007 at 3:34 pm - Permalink

  25. [...] Chad Hurley talk about this at The World Economic Forum in Davos in January in a story posted by NewTeeVee. Bookmark [...]

    Sara Pollack from YouTube at The Power to the Pixel Forum at POWER TO THE PIXEL on February 14th, 2008 at 8:54 am - Permalink

  26. En estos tiempos es bueno ver gente que aún creen en la creación de empresas y la iniciativa privada.

    No hay nada más gratificante que crear una empresa y verla crecer. Es el motor que crea riqueza y trabajo para todos y sobre la cual se sustenta nuestra sociedad.

    Enhorabuena y suerte para todos.

    Dennis on November 1st, 2008 at 11:11 pm - Permalink

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