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Users identify YouTube as cashcow
By siliconindia
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Friday, 12 December 2008, 19:48 IST |
3 Comments
Bangalore: The simmering videos in YouTube, the online video sharing website is no more an entertainment podium but a core medium to earn. Infact, the most successful users have begun earning in six-figures.
Earlier in 2007, the video sharing platform had called on its members to become partners and added advertisements to their videos, which resulted in enormous earnings. As reported by New York Times Michael Buckley, a self-taught host of a celebrity chatter show earns around $100,000 from YouTube advertisements. After his online profits had greatly surpassed his salary as an administrative assistant for a music promotion company, Buckley left his job and took YouTube as a full-fledged career. Some of the partners are major media companies; the ones with the most video views include Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, CBS and Warner Brothers, but individual users are now able to compete alongside them.
Buckley is one of the original members of YouTube's partner program, which now includes thousands of participants, from basement video makers to big media companies. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, places advertisements within and around the partner videos and splits the revenues with the creators.
"We wanted to turn these hobbies into businesses," said Hunter Walk, Director of Product Management for the site, who called popular users like Buckley as 'unintentional media companies'. Infact, some of the people are making videos in their spare time to publish in the website. "We felt that if we were able to provide them a true revenue source, they'd be able to hone their skills and create better content," said Hurley, Co-founder of YouTube. However, the company refused to comment on how much money partners earned on average, partly because advertiser demand varies for different kinds of videos.