[Chemistry]

(11-12-2015 03:25 AM)samsamsam Wrote:  

Any of you guys know how this clip (as an example) can exist and generate almost 4 million views. I guess this person doesn't monetize it?

Everything I'm about to write here is all conjecture, but I feel like I have an OK grasp of how the system works.

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Re: The Carwash video

There's only one video on this guy's channel, and it was uploaded 4 years ago. I'm sceptical it's paying him, and I think it's still up because the copyright owner simply isn't enforcing the copyright anymore. Sure, they could issue a complaint and get it taken down, but how much money are they losing by letting it exist? They're almost certainly busy tracking down the people who are Torrenting/streaming new releases ... that's where real money is lost.

My theory on this video: YouTube never even sent this guy an invitation to become a partner (back in 2011 when he uploaded, that's how it was done), and may not even "know" it's infringing. To them, it's just some random video with a piddly 4000 views a day, and the ad revenue goes straight to their own coffers.


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Re: Using other people's videos for montages (like Fail Army, "People are Awesome", "Top Ten Scariest Videos Ever Seen", etc)

Using someone else's video content as part of a montage or a list is almost always alright. This surprises me too, but there are so many people who make lists and montages of other peoples' videos, and there is a 0% chance they're getting permission from the copyright owners of all the videos.

Copyrighted songs are much more strongly enforced - maybe it's easier to automatically detect copies of audio (like Shazam does) - but I think it's also has to do with the Recording Industry's deep pockets.

Consider BronxBomber42. He uses videos from Major League Baseball to make montages of "Triple Plays" or "Inside-the-Park Homeruns" etc ... but admits he just downloads the videos from MLB.com using software on his computer. There's no way that's kosher, but the videos remain. Whether or not he monetizes - I don't know.

[Chemistry]

As an update on my earning info:

October 2015 gave me about $1300 USD for about 550,000 views (that's $1 for ever 420 views).
October 2014 gave me about $1350 USD for about 400,000 views (that's $1 for every 300 views).

So for 2014 to 2015, viewership increased 37% year-over-year
But total revenue (in USD) declined 4%

Takeaway: Youtube viewership is GROWING, but the $ per view is declining

For reference, October 2013 gave me about $1000 USD for about 275,000 views (that's $1 for every 275 views).

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FACEBOOK is the new frontier right now. There's no easy way to monetize unless you link people to an external web page, but people are racking up HUGE views by letting people upload other peoples' short viral videos due to:
1. Videos autoplay in people's News Feed
2. HUGE number of people on Facebook multiple times per day
3. Facebook seems to count a "view" as passing the 3-second mark
4. Facebook preferentially ranks video hosted on their own servers (YouTube videos shown less frequently in the News Feed)
5. Facebook doesn't give a SHIT about copyright right now.
- Back in the mid 00's YouTube grew and became popular by hosting pirated content and feigning enforcement ... just long enough to be the de-facto video streaming heavyweight online ... and then they cracked down. Facebook is playing the same game: People are downloading YouTube videos, re-uploading them to Facebook's servers and posting them to their own News Feeds. It's called Freebooting.

YouTubers can either complain about it or change with the times. I think Facebook is playing this "allow copyrighted content" game just long enough that people will get used to watching videos in their feeds - and then Facebook can introduce ads into their video player and get a cut of that ad revenue.

I'm not exactly sure how this dynamic can be exploited...Yet. Suggestions welcome.