May05_pic[tag-tec]YouTube[/tag-tec]] announced this week that it will begin sharing revenue with some of the top ‘acts’ on its site. Acts such as Lonelygirl15, ValsArtDiary or LisaNova that have become famous submitting their videos to the [tag]file sharing[/tag] network.

“Up until now there’s been a distinction between the content you create and the content created by YouTube’s professional content partners,” the statement on the blog said. “We want to start changing some of the perception here. Which is why we’re adding several of the most popular and prolific original content creators from the YouTube community to our partnership program.”

The site says that the videos that get the most traffic will be able to “monetize” their content in the same way that the companies other “channel” partners such as NBC, CBS, Universal Music Group and the NHL do. According to YouTube, that means banner ads running on the same page as the video, and a share of the revenue from those ads.

“Participating user partners will be treated as other content partners and will have the ability to control the monetization of the videos they create,” says the YouTube blog. “Once they’ve selected a video to be monetized, we’ll place advertising adjacent to their [tag-ice]video content[/tag-ice]] so participating user partners can reap the rewards from their work.”

YouTube executive Jamie Byrne told NewTeeVee.com on Thursday that the site decided to make the move in order to help those of its users who produce what amounts to professional calibre media content. “This will help erase the the stigma around the [tag]user created content[/tag], and, to be honest, these guys are media entities in their own right,” he said.

Some of YouTube competitors such as Revver.com and Metacafe.com have been sharing ad revenue with their top users for some time. One Toronto man is said to have made more than $30,000 in a matter of months after a video of him performing acrobatic stunts on the streets of Toronto got hundreds of thousands of views. Top YouTube channels such as Lonelygirl15 have had as many as 10 million views.

At a recent advertising conference, another YouTube executive said that the site was planning to experiment with “pre-roll” and “post-roll” ads in its video clips. Suzie Reider, YouTube’s head of advertising for the site, said “We’re looking at executions like a very quick little intro preceding a video, then the video, then a commercial execution on the backside of the content.”

But all is not rosy at YouTube, other media outlets such as Viacom and the English Premier League have lawsuits running over content copyright. Viacom forced YouTube to take down more than 100000 video clips earlier this year.Cameraman_pic

Filed under: internet video news

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!