With Instagram looming, YouTube is trying to keep its creators happy
YouTube is realizing it needs to treat its creators better, now that rival Instagram is making a play for them with its own video platform, IGTV.
The video service announced on Thursday three new ways for YouTubers to make money on its platform, during a presentation at the online video convention, VidCon, in Anaheim, California.
In the next few months, audiences will be able to support their favorite channels within YouTube by paying $4.99 per month to become a member of that channel's community and get access to exclusive posts, videos, live streams and other perks offered by the creator. The program, called Channel Memberships, will be available to channels with 100,000 subscribers or more that meet certain standards, like being eligible for ads and run by creators over the age of 18. The feature, previously called Sponsorships, launched last fall on YouTube Gaming to compete with rival streaming services Twitch, and will soon be made available on YouTube more broadly.
YouTube is also partnering with custom t-shirt company Teespring to allow creators to customize and sell merchandise directly through their channels, as of this week. Many YouTubers, large and small, already make and sell merchandise on their own for extra cash. Not to mention, hawk it incessantly in their videos.
Your video channel has been demonetized. Sorry about that :/
Previously: Facebook/Instagram vs. Twitch and YouTube
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Facebook.gg: New video game streaming service to rival Twitch
Facebook has launched its own video game streaming hub. Facebook.gg, which launched on Thursday, will compete directly with popular platforms like Twitch and Mixer.
It's part of the social media site's continued efforts to become a destination for video content. The new service suggests streams based on who individual users follow, and highlights content chosen by Facebook.
Instagram is targeting one of YouTube's weaknesses with plans for long-form video
Instagram is gunning for YouTube with a plan to allow longer-form video, according to the owner of an influencer network whose clients have talked with the Facebook-owned company, as well as numerous media reports.
Allowing long video could help Instagram court social media stars and their millions of fans to use its platform as their primary online home, instead of relying on YouTube, where many have fewer followers. And when the users move, so will the marketers, meaning Facebook stands to gain advertising revenue at Google-owned YouTube's expense.
[...] The news of the Facebook-owned platform embracing longer videos was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which said Instagram would soon allow users to upload videos up to 60 minutes to their profiles. TechCrunch added on Thursday that Instagram was talking to social media influencers and publishers to create shows for an upcoming section for dedicated-to-video content, similar to Snapchat Discover.
Ninja raked in nearly $10 million in 2018
Twitch superstar Tyler "Ninja" Blevins has finally settled the debate over just how much he earned in 2018. CNN reports that the gaming phenom pulled in close to $10 million last year, a little tidbit that he revealed to CNN during his press campaign on New Year's Eve in New York City. (He also tried to get the good people of Times Square to "floss." They weren't having it.)
Ninja has more than 20 million subscribers on YouTube, and 12.5 million followers on Twitch, 40,000 of whom are paid subscribers. Ninja told CNN that he thinks of himself as an entrepreneur, comparing his stream to a coffee shop. "They're gonna find another coffee shop if you're not there ... you have to be there all the time," he said to CNN.
And when he says "all the time," he means it. The streamer said he goes live for roughly 12 hours a day, which adds up to about 4,000 hours of gaming over the year.
Also at Fortune.
Previously: Tyler Blevins ("Ninja"): The First Gamer on the Cover of ESPN Magazine
Related: Facebook/Instagram vs. Twitch and YouTube
YouTube Announces "Channel Memberships" and Other Ways for Creators to Make Money
In light of a potential second coming of the Adpocalypse, in which a number of major marketers have pulled YouTube ads after discovering that campaigns had run against ostensibly innocent videos of young children where pedophiles were exchanging fetishizing remarks in the comments, YouTube is taking severe pains to stamp out the behavior — but not all creators are thrilled with its sweeping response.
On Twitter, Christian family vlogger Jessica Ballinger — who shares videos with her husband, Christopher, and their four children (pictured above), including Parker, a five-year-old gymnast — expressed dismay that a handful of recent vlogs had been demonetized. YouTube acknowledged that while the clips themselves were ad-friendly, in light of the recent controversy, "even if your video is suitable for advertisers, inappropriate comments could result in your video receiving limited or no ads (yellow icon)." (According to YouTube's monetization icon guide, a yellow icon means that videos are not suitable for most advertisers).
Ballinger, whose channel counts 1.2 million subscribers, countered that she monitors her comment section stringently, and suggested that rather than punishing channels like hers, YouTube remove the offending comments and ban the users. However, the company said its "recent actions are due to an abundance of caution related to content that may endanger minors." It continued, "Not all channels do moderate, and we've had to take an aggressive approach and more broad action at this time. We're also investing in improving our tools to detect/remove this content, so we rely on your moderation less."
YouTube has backtracked, with a representative saying that videos that seem likely to attract predatory comments could have advertising restricted. But the damage is probably done, and YouTube creators may start disabling comment sections and doing outreach off-site in order to avoid the "someone sneezes and the video is demonetized" problem. That or they will write off monetization entirely, turning to Patreon and other platforms to supplement their income.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday June 25 2018, @11:27AM (5 children)
First, I don't know any channel that I'd consider worth of my $5/mo - even that's the price of coffee I have or 40% times the price of ciggies I smoke in a day. I do enjoy EEVBlog [youtube.com] when I get time to watch it. But that's the catch - I don't have enough time to watch it.
Second: if 1% of those 100k pay $5/mo, that's at least $5000/mo=$60k/year. Wonder how much the creators will actually see flowing towards them? I even wonder if youtube will even tell them how many paying subscribers they have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @11:44AM (2 children)
EEVBlog, Big Clive, AvE... This could start to get expensive.
(Score: 2) by Snow on Monday June 25 2018, @03:42PM (1 child)
I'm a big fan of Cody's Lab, although it seems that it's just a matter of time before be poisons or asphyxiates himself.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday June 25 2018, @04:07PM
I watched a few of his. Like he tried to walk on liquid mercury omg.
On the other hand you have The Action Lab [youtube.com] "lemme bust out this vacuum chamber real quick".
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by EvilSS on Monday June 25 2018, @03:35PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @04:52PM
My favs: 3blue1brown, numberphile, computerphile, standupmaths, and a good chunk of the resulting recommended channels once you subscribe to those.
I agree that it is fiscally going in the wrong direction for me as a fan if too many channels go to this model.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Apparition on Monday June 25 2018, @11:34AM (4 children)
This is a shot across the bow of Patreon. Most serious YouTube video bloggers and video streamers that need/want more income use Patreon. I know I personally contribute towards five YouTubers' Patreons, (ranging in topics from comic books to video games to Linux). However, YouTube only allows one price point ($5 per month), while taking a 30% cut. Patreon allows multiple price points from $1 on up, and only takes a 5% cut of pledges. I don't see this move by YouTube changing things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @02:14PM
It is a response to Facebook charging for private groups
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Monday June 25 2018, @03:39PM
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Monday June 25 2018, @04:20PM (1 child)
A lot of YouTubers have turned to Patreon specifically due to YouTube demonetizing videos.
As you've pointed out, a 30% cut does not exactly compare well. However, it might still work if people are more willing to use it and if the exclusives are integrated well. ~$135,714 in YouTube channel membership revenue would be equivalent to $100k of Patreon revenue.
What would these exclusives be? If you've noticed YouTube video live chats, you may have noticed people donating to get their message displayed prominently/seen by the creator. So that's one example of something people value enough to use YouTube as a money middleman, and amounts spent could be around $1-5... for a single chat message.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @04:50PM
Not to mention that if you're going to go the route of charging for content, doing it in YouTube means you're stuck on YouTube as I doubt they'll give tools to have content elsewhere. But, if you're going the route of Patreon, well, then you can put the content wherever you like and mostly have to worry about somebody that mostly only cares about payments coming in, not necessarily how it makes them look.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @11:36AM (1 child)
All the channels I watch are demonetized and regularly mislabelled as far-right. [splcenter.org] Wonder if Maajid Nawaz [nationalreview.com] might be able to talk some sense into SLPC [dailycaller.com] and friends.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @11:41AM
Or "Southern Law Poverty Center" which they may be if they keep up the defamation. [weeklystandard.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @03:56PM (4 children)
Considering all the videos on youtube, I don't think the entire lot is worth $5 per month.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Monday June 25 2018, @04:37PM (2 children)
Scarcity isn't the point. People blow decent amounts of money on some artists, musicians, entertainers, programmers, etc. on Patreon, despite them being a dime a dozen, because they like them or what they have to offer. Example: Fraser Cain [youtube.com] of Universe Today publishes Q&A type videos about space topics, as well as articles on universetoday.com. He has 835 patrons [graphtreon.com] donating some amount of money per month (you can hide that number now), and is ranked 283rd among video-related Patreons. At #1 is Philip DeFranco [graphtreon.com]. He mostly just offers his opinion on news topics and YouTube drama, but he has over 16,000 patrons. The Graphtreon site tries to estimate revenue per month, even for those who choose to hide their earnings. The low estimates have Fraser Cain making $2k/month and Philip DeFranco making $32k/month.
So while you may dismiss these YouTubers, and many fans are as cheap and fleeting as any pirates, some people still manage to make a living or even a killing off the platform + Patreon.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @04:54PM (1 child)
$5 is a lot for this sort of thing though. Especially for people who are either making minimum wage or who have a large number of channels that they're interested in. It's going to be difficult to convince people to pay money to YouTube when the main point of the payment is that YouTube has been fucking with content creators.
There's this attitude lately about how people need to be shoveling money in various directions. It's just $5 a month, less than a cup of coffee etc., but the reality is that $5 here and another $5 there adds up relatively quickly. And considering how many Americans don't have a thousand dollars in the bank, this is probably not something that should be encouraged.
YouTube should just do the right thing and put the ads back. Or, if they're not going to do so themselves, then they should offer some way that these content producers can have their own ads outside of the actual video.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday June 25 2018, @05:09PM
Yes, it would be nice to have some flexibility. YouTube has probably made the default (and only) option $5 to decrease the amount spent on payment processing. I'll note that Fraser Cain's average take per patron is about $3.50... which is 70% of $5.
I'm hesitant to use something like Patreon or Kickstarter due to the single digit cut the platform takes and other flat fees which would cut into a $1 pledge. But YouTube wants to up that to 30%. Despite the fact that many YouTube creators would not have turned to Patreon in the first place if it wasn't for the rampant demonetization.
You can't give YouTube all the blame. Old media types raised a stink about ads appearing on controversial videos and other things to panic about, and it led to an advertiser exodus. Now GoogTube has to try to up their policing on a platform that sees hundreds of hours of video uploaded per minute. And the only way to do that effectively is with imperfect and unfair machine learning algorithms.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @04:52PM
While there is a lot of shit on there, I'm certain you haven't seen even 0.0001% of the videos available to be able to make that call.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday June 25 2018, @04:37PM
YouTube Camwhore?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday June 25 2018, @05:09PM (2 children)
This is a plan to fight Patreon. After the adpocalypse so many channels get demonetized that many are going to Patreon for funding and considering YouTube ad revenue a bonus if it ever happens.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Monday June 25 2018, @08:11PM (1 child)
Many channels got demonetized for not enough watch hours and subscribers. I imagine that most of them won't be eligible for these either, as the article states that none of these three offers are available to channels with fewer than 10,000 subscribers.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:10PM
All part of YouTube's plan to get all channels to do multiple 2 minute Logan Paul-style shitfest videos every day to maximize ad revenue. The don't need to ban anyone if they leave on their own.
Doing a well researched 30 minute video once a month is simply not making Youtube any money, regardless of views. And especially not if they are funded by Patreon.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh