Michael Buckley was on CNN discussing the YouTube Partnership program, and how it has allowed him to follow his passion full-time. I’m hoping Buckley’s recent press can remind people of two things. First, this space has grown up. I predicted people would be earning 6-figure incomes in 2007 and I was too ambitious. But now folks like KipKay on Metacafe (who earned 6-figures last year, but has slowed down significantly) and Michael Buckley (WhattheBuckShow) are proving that it’s possible. Second, Buckley reminds us to be realistic. Buckley worked like crazy, has crowd-gathering talent, and promotes himself well. Buckley is on Inside Edition tonight, and the media seems rather interested in the notion that people can quit their jobs and live independently via YouTube.
Want to make a living on YouTube? Some tips
- Remember it won’t happen overnight.
- Find a niche. Buckley is appealing to celebrity-watchers that like a regular online digest.
- Read my free eBook: How to Become Popular on YouTube Without Any Talent
- Promote yourself, and ensure you use copyright-free content.
- RSS or read this blog often- it’s dedicated to helping creators make income (and show advertisers how to enhance their brands via known YouTube creators.
- Join the YouTube Partners program once you have a decent amount of videos and views
- Create a lot of content that people want- much of Buckley’s revenue is due to his constantly topical videos, and residual income he earns from his collection. For instance, the vast majority of my income comes from continuous views to the top videos I’ve created that continue to get views.
You’ll need to be a top YouTube creator to live from its advertising sharing, but many of us are supplementing our income. I maintain that the highest earning comes from “sponsored videos.” These aren’t easy to find, but they’re nice income.
Buckley had a modest income before going full-time, and that helps. I’ve got four kids and a mortgage, so it will be a while before YouTube can match my day-job income. But it’s a fun way to make an additional income source, and my video revenue is certainly more than I made in my first job post MBA.
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Okay. You tell me. Where did I go wrong?
http://www.blip.tv/file/1592567
Picked up the cam and hit the REC button.
I no longer like you Kevin. You never respond to my twitters.
YouTube didn’t flag you. Users flag you, and if enough of them do it your video goes bye bye.
^ Wrong again, Peter.
Try to pay attention. Users can’t flag a video that was never allowed to go public (or even private). Don’t you know that?
I made a song making fun of Rage Against The Machine and their fans flagged the fuck out of it and it’s “Rejected: Content Inappropriate.” It doesn’t curse and it doesn’t even walk the controversy line. A bunch of stupid kids just didn’t like me making fun of their heroes.
Users flag, and if enough of them do it, the video is gone. The vast majority of operations on YouTube are entirely automated and if you think otherwise you are the one who is wrong.
Then it wasn’t flagged. Flagging is a user operation.
How exactly did it not go up? What is the status on the video?
@60
“Held for review”
So what is the word I should use when the YouTube bots stop a video before it is made public (or private)? “Helded” Okay. My video was helded.
“Bot-slapped” My video got bot-slapped. Or Reviewed To Death. Or Reviewed Into Oblivion. One file, uploaded to Tubemogul, sent out to multiple sites simultaneously without being bot-slapped by any site but YouTube.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2182967/stop_me_before_i_cuss_again/
This occured hours BEFORE the routine maintenance thing, in case that was your next poo poo of my bitchfest.
http://www.stupidvideos.com//video/just_plain_stupid/Stop_Me_Before_I_Cuss_Again/
Ok, well did it ever upload? Or are you getting the bullshit error from tubemogul?
If it’s tubemogul where your stuck, strip all keywords and hit upload again. Put them back on in YouTube’s interface. I had this happen once because xxx was a keyword. I could not get the video from tubemogul to the tube.
If it is uploaded and in your YouTube “my videos screen” then I have no previous experience like yours.
If that doesn’t work, try uploading at YouTube itself.
@64
I’ll do that after the solidarity blackout.
@52 I don’t speak Texan, so I didn’t understand a word of it, but I think you are just taunting GoogleYouTube when you knew they threw the gauntlet down. Apparently they mean real business.
I’ve gotten a tons of e-mail today from people who are saying their videos have gone missing, channels are being shut down for setting up protests videos – sharing videos about the protest aren’t going through. This is a pretty big deal if you ask me.
There are tons of partners with videos filled with bad language anyone know if those are gone too?
I know Renetto’s was removed and I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but what a smart thing he did in response. Not only did he speak his mind his site will profit from it as well, unless Google takes that video down too.
Unbeknown to Kevin he was correct all along, actually it’s quite prophetic when you think about it.
You Tube is now Goo Tube
Google didn’t have any problem with my Tubemogul-loaded video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4175753562980224710
But yes, jischinger, YouTube is messing with the bottom wrung “Partners” and unpartnered. Or rather, getting their bots to do it.
Does anyone know at what viewership level “Partners” START earning their pennies? 1500 views? 20,000 views?
And what’s the correct word for being bot-flagged? Anybody? People with over 1,000 subscribers will not know what I’m talking about…..YET.
MDJ,
I’m still not getting more than 300 views on any given video, and I’m getting revenue (as far as I can tell, since Goo Tube doesn’t itemize anything)
Are you clicking the “enable revenue sharing” button when you upload? I always let the video go live first, and then set up the revenue sharing after the fact. It’s never given me a problem.
I think key phrases trigger something that sends your videos up for review. When I enabled revenue sharing on my video titled “Jim Class 2 – Let’s understand copyrights”, I had to go through the Spanish inquisition to get it approved. Partner support was asking for email addresses and web sites for the folks I got my music from, and wanted written verification that I got my information from the public domain. It was a load of poo.
Ironically, my latest video is full of innuendo and the file was even titled penismightier.mpg, but it’s getting ads placed in it from time to time. Go figure.
But more importantly,
MARYLAND MADE A TYPO!!!
I might never recover!
@68
1150 uploads (I have deleted about 230 of my older, crappy stuff)
Yes, somecallme. I AM pushing the enable revenue sharing button (I do like you do, going live first). Let’s pretend I haven’t been uploading to YouTube since 2005.
The hint is that adjacent to all of my videos is a blank box that reads “advertisement” with nothing in it. Ever. Since 6 or 8 weeks ago. Not even the crappy filler ads. I’m getting around 20,000+ views a week that YouTube won’t advertise against.
I attribute any CC stuff I use IN my video and in my video description and in the info box when we push that enable revenue sharing button. I only use CC ‘BY’ and Prelinger public domain stuff. Have never used any copyrighted stuff. NEVER. EVER. NOT ONCE! (I am Revver trained).
YouTube is just being an A*hole.
I just checked my videos with 4500 and 4692 views on them. No ads. The ones with over 10,000 have ads on them.
MDJ-
I think it’s just you then. My cheezy WalMart iPhone video (click) only has 370-some views, and I’ve refreshed is several times and had both ad spaces filled every time.
I have no clue why YouTube does what they do. If I did, I wouldn’t be the unnoticed dreg of YouTube society that I am.
@72
Just me? What a relief! For a while there I was worried they were screwing all of us!
@69: I can not believe it myself, scmj. I can only blame on my current over-worked schedule. Please don’t alert the authorities. I am sure I will recover as soon as Christmas is over.
PS – I an actually in a training right now. I thought it would be usefule, but they haven’t taught me much more than I already knew. (The course is on Blackboard). So I am surfing while everyone else is asking dumb questions.
Wait; I always tell my students that there are no dumb questions. OK. People are asking questions of the instructor that I could answer.
I will say it again, full disclosure is what’s needed and Goo Tube, within the next three years or less, will see a class action law suit on behalf of you guys bigger than Viacom. Keep records. Tubemogal is a good start, I’d find other tracking methods as well <– opportunity for any programmer who wants to make a million dollars over night.
You are essentially employees albeit working for nothing, but commission, but there are certain things every “partner” should reasonably expect. FYI – Even an indentured .49 an hour Chinese Worker knows how many pieces they produce and get paid for.
Google-YouTube is a business in the US and now that they are paying people they must abide by certain business practices; something apparently only a law suit will define for the employees and make Google comply with.
I know most people can’t believe they are making money for what is essentially a hobby, but when you see the real number$ Google-YouTube pulls in off your ideas you’re going to start thinking twice about your cut. Find a proper title for yourself i.e. entertainer, musician, actor… Set a standard rate of pay for your service; ask any respective union what it should be and put that on your web site, then incorporate. Cost you $60 to $150, depending what state you live in. You can file the papers yourself, see ‘how to for dummies’ if you don’t have an attorney.
Yes, Google-YouTube is a business and yes, they are also private property which can set reasonable rules and policies (<- that’s for Zack), but with that comes protections for US employees and that’s essentially what you are. The word “partner” is bullshit, you are not a partner, at best you an independent contractor.
Everyone in the US is aware that if you make more than $8950 non dependent or $5450 dependent in a year you must report any and all income on top of that to the IRS, right? Including income from Google-Youtube. Which is why it’s also a good idea to incorporate.
If you do get paid, mark my words someone will contact you with a class action and I wouldn’t be surprised, that after a thorough investigation they find an awful lot of manipulations going on by Google, but make sure you are square with the feds or you could end up in court for non payment of taxes, providing the US Government doesn’t collapse before then.
If I were making anywhere close to that, I’d be happy to let the feds have their fair share.
For the record, Chinese sweatshop labor is making WAY more an hour than I am on YouTube if your figures are right.
I would suspect that people who get used to living off YouTube partner revenue will band together to do a class action sometime in the reasonable future if YouTube persists in keeping us in the dark as to how much we’re getting paid. And it changes drastically month to month, day to day even. Today I earned as much in 290 impressions as I did yesterday with 1,000 impressions.
YouTube has some insane algorithm that weighs how many clicks, along with how many views, and divides that by the actual amount each advertiser pays, since every advertiser pays a different price for their ad to be seen. Truthfully, I don’t think that with their current model, they can say that 1000 impressions = x dollars.
I would like to see some stability in the system. From the end of the month, the video embedded ad revenue can take over a month to know how you did. I just got my October figures a few days ago. If I had some basic formula, I could guess at how much I’ve made so far, and decide if I can afford the March Meetup in San Fran or if I need to hold off for 2025.
We’ll see. I think there will be some big changes for the better in 2009. I strongly doubt we’ll ever get “employee” grade protection (since they don’t take our names or file an I-9, etc…), but I’m hopeful they’ll at least start telling us more of what they’re doing.
@54 Sukatra! I don’t know how to respond to Twitters, much less even find out someone commented on my tweets!
^ someone give this man a bib.
@77 they can’t tell you even a little bit of what they’re doing, that will open them up for scrutiny and Google defiantly can’t afford that!
You can bet their lawyers are working hard with the programmers on what not to release.
Sorting this whole thing out is going to be really messy and what Kevin said a few years ago (has it been that long?), Google is going to be scratching their heads wondering why they ever picked You Tube up. But for now they’re patting each other on their collective bank account$.
@75
The spelling nazi is fallible!!! The spelling nazi is fallible!! I think it’s time we took her down. I mean, she’s weak right now.
@78
You don’t know how to respond to twitter or read people’s tweets? Nutcheese was right. You really are her retarded brother.
To the rest of you:
Blah blah blah blah youtube blah blah money blah blah google blah blah blah blah flagged blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Blah.
HOLY SHIT!
The Recording Industry Association of America will abandon its policy of suing people for sharing songs protected by copyright [click]
@81
It would be usefule, sukatra, for you to TELL US what you’d rather read here other than our silly concerns.
I have an inventory of nonvideo subjects you can chose from. I have a series called “Life With Creepy” about living with a retarded actor in Gardena. I have a series called “My Arcology” about the characters in and around an Arco gas station. I have my crack motel stories series. I also have some stuff on living in a homeless veterans shelter. Stories, not video.
Anything look interesting?
@83
it was a joke.
@84
So was mine. Aren’t we hilarious!?
I declare this thread officially dead.
move on people nothing to see here…
@86
I agree.
Whoops.
Wait, wait, wait. Nobody has hazarded guesses in answer to my questions. You people don’t answer questions here?
1. What is the number of views a YouTube “Partner” has to get on his/her videos BEFORE advertising is placed either adjacent to his/her videos or InVideo them so that his/her earning can START?
2. What is the official word (other than flagged) for having a video stopped by a YouTube human or robotical software algorithm before it can be made public or private on YouTube?
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