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YouTube Rewarding Viral Video Creators With Ad Money

by Warren Riddle on August 26, 2009 at 03:18 PM

In 2007, YouTube established its Partnership Program, a way for some of the site's "most popular and prolific content creators" to actually earn revenue from their viral videos. YouTube has occasionally rewarded the creators of massively popular individual videos, as well, like the dad who filmed his stoned kid after a visit to the dentist. Today, YouTube announced that it is extending the program to all individual videos, based on number of views, viral reach, and compliance with Terms of Service.

Once YouTube decides whether or not a video meets its viral requirements, the site will extend an invitation to enable revenue sharing, after which it will sell advertising based on the video. The site will then deposit monthly funds into a Google AdSense account. The site is encouraging people to go ahead and apply for entry into the Partnership Program, even though YouTube will take it upon itself to contact users who upload extremely successful videos.

If you'll remember, pop culture cognoscenti and 'South Park' creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker predicted such a move, but thought it might take a few years, saying, "The Internet is new and exciting for creative people, [but] it hasn't matured as a distribution mechanism to the extent that warrants a trade of real and immediate income opportunities." Kudos to YouTube for staying ahead of the game and, more importantly, for rewarding the contributors who have been instrumental to the site's success (no matter how annoying or stupid they may be). [From: YouTube BizBlog, via GoogleBlog]

Tags: advertising, online video, OnlineVideo, top, viral video, ViralVideo, YouTube, youtube partnership program, YoutubePartnershipProgram

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