Yeah I don't know who wrote it. A lot of it rings true, but some of it is way, way off.
-Kent, askaninja.com --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Ronen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Here's a letter about youtube's new partner program, written by an anonymous > youtube star who is certainly, definitely, Absolutely NOT Kent. > > http://battellemedia.com/archives/003630.php > (via http://boingboing.net) > > > ### > > > > *I'm a YouTube star, but YouTube wishes I wasn't. They would like to > > pretend I don't exist, rather than admit there are several roads to > > financial and critical success that don't lead through their corporate > > headquarters. * > > > > *If they could, YouTube would love to become the next gatekeeper, the next > > network. And in fact they have, they've gently plucked their stars and > > anointed them with advertising dollars. And someday you too can be touched > > by their magic wand and granted the status of weblebrity if you pass the > > test. * > > > > *Our site has won a lot of awards, been seen tens of millions of times, > > and is one of the most subscribed to around. But somehow, it was left out > > when "**YouTube Elevates Most Popular Users to Partners<http://youtube.com/blog?entry=4b3PkL8HQcw> > > **". Okay, that's cool. * > > > > *We were approached last year, sure. They talked all about how we should > > shut down our personal domain and run everything through their site, and how > > that soon they were going to add a podcast feature to the site. They asked > > us if we'd heard of podcasting? * > > > > *"Um, yeah, we've created two of the most successful video podcasts," we > > responded. * > > > > *So that's the You in YouTube. They couldn't even be bothered to spend > > five minutes on our website to find out anything about us. Sweet. * > > > > *The biggest point of friction has been their opacity and lack of > > communication. I know they were in startup mode, but seriously, you'd think > > they'd want to foster good relationships with the people that were supplying > > the only legitimate content to their sites. We were the ones that were the > > new way -- the new media creators. * > > > > *And the big question for everyone was how are you going to make money? > > Well, we certainly were not making any green from YouTube. And until the > > last three months, they weren't publicly promising any cash to anyone. So > > what were we supposed to do? Just pray really hard that YouTube would > > someday pay us? That's sorta irresponsible. So we did what anyone would do, > > we started evaluating the opportunities that presented themselves and then > > took advantage of some of them. * > > > > *So when YouTube finally got its act together and offered us an > > advertising split, it was too low an offer. We were doing better without > > them. And with less strings. * > > > > *But seriously, why was that the first time they talked to us? Well > > actually they did ask for our mailing address early on, to send us T-shirts > > (they never arrived). * > > > > *If we had a dialog from when we really started to take off, this > > situation probably could have been avoided. But they talked to us once, knew > > nothing about us, and expected us to just be so pleased to be in business > > with them. * > > > > *Get over yourselves. * > > > > *Right now YouTube has a three tiered system, the top, or big media, the > > middle, indie content creators with audiences, and the bottom, random user > > submissions that get small numbers of views. * > > > > *At the top they've got some deals in place, but they're also getting sued > > in a big way. And the new company from Fox and NBC is also going to give a > > lot of competition. * > > > > *The bottom is pure long tail. The only money there is in the aggregation > > of content and selling ads against the massive volume of vids with low > > views. YouTube will continue to be king here. * > > > > *The middle is where our site lives, the indie content creators. This is > > the space that YouTube could just own, if they invested really heavily in > > terms of ad splits and career development. The terms that YouTube offers to > > these middle players will set the floor for what every other site has to > > offer the talented upstarts that create fun and entertaining shows. * > > > > *They need to be aggressive in identifying the new talent the people that > > can get more than 50k in views on their vids. And then bring them into the > > fold, help them. Let them know about podcasting, help them build a good > > merch operation, sell high value advertising against their content. * > > > > *This involves much more than they are doing now. Now they just elevate > > these indies into Partner status. Which means they give cross promotion on > > the site, the future promise of preroll/postroll ads, and a split of the > > advertising that appears on the page views on their site. * > > > > *What they are doing now is a short term play to get and keep the eyeballs > > of those indie shows. But what happens when those contracts are up? And the > > creators haven't really developed their careers? * > > > > *Some shows will stick with YouTube, but the savviest and the most > > commercial ones will move to other video sites that can provide better > > splits or signing bonuses. Creators will start to realize that their > > storytelling talents are rare and valuable. * > > > > *I don't know the terms this round of authors were guaranteed by YouTube, > > but I do know that we were offered was okay money, but something that we've > > already surpassed. And then when you factor in merch sales, and the value of > > having our own users and pageviews on top of that and controlling our own > > brand, we're coming out miles ahead of a typical YouTube power user. * > > > > *So what happens next? I dunno. I mean I know YouTube's got deep pockets > > now, but I also know that their technology is pretty commodity ( ** > > http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=Flash_Video_Player** ), and I know if > > these deals aren't that successful, that the creators will flee to some > > other deep pocketed competitor. * > > > > *My biggest hope is that these creators can walk away. How many of them > > have a good lawyer reviewing that contract? * > > > > *Whatever YouTube is paying will be the marker. I expect Microsoft, Yahoo, > > and other players will follow suit, but with better terms to attract the top > > talent. * > > > > *Also I think that new kinds of media services companies - smaller and > > more focused than YouTube - will continue to cherry pick the best and most > > commercial properties to sell ads against at a much higher dollar value than > > what YouTube is able to do. > > * > > ### > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
