So You Want to Make Some Money?
So let’s start at the very beginning. You want to make some money on YouTube -- why not start your own channel?
Oh, you already have? Great!
Now let me get this straight: You’ve uploaded half a dozen videos of your cat riding your roomba around the kitchen, you just posted your first movie review (The Hobbit — because did they really have to split it into three movies?), and your sister has even agreed to help you out by contributing biweekly videos on pre-teen indie-hipster fashion (yes, that’s a thing) and Doctor Who cosplay (also a thing).
So where’s the money? These student loans won’t pay themselves, after all.
Well, just like with everything else on the Internet, the money comes from the advertisements, and the advertisements come when you enable your video for monetization on YouTube (though this is only available in certain countries). When you enroll in monetization through the site, you become a “YouTube Partner,” which includes all sorts of perks like ad revenue and YouTube Analytics, thus providing you with basic information about who is viewing your video, where they are viewing it from, and which tags on your video are the most effective at attracting viewers.
Once you have enabled your video for monetization review, YouTube will begin screening your video for possible copyright violations; this includes, but is not limited to, copyrighted background music, popular music covers, and film or television clips.
So that cover you did of John William's scores probably isn’t going to pass muster. Nope, not that mash-up of 2013 films either. Guess you better go make another video with only original content this time, at least if you want to make money that is.
You did? Great. But you’re still not getting enough views on any of your videos to generate serious cash; it’s barely enough to pay for your Netflix subscription. Plus, now you’ve got all of these NFL and Weinerschnitzle ads coming on right before your sister’s fashion series. That just doesn’t make sense.
Well, my friend, it’s time you considered signing with an MCN. I say considered because MCNs are not always the best option. Just most of the time.
When you sign-up with an MCN, or multi-channel network, you sign away a percentage of your ad-revenue and potentially also ownership over your posted content, depending on your contract. In return, MCNs can offer you built-in networking: linking you to viewers, other content creators, and advertising sponsors. Recently, MCNs have also begun offering additional tools and more in-depth analytics than YouTube offers to its individual YouTube Partners.
An MCN can also help you with branding your channel — something you could probably use if you are already posting cat videos and tween fashion advice and movie reviews all in the same place — but that branding may come with a trade-off. Starting this November, you can partner with an MCN in one of two ways: as an affiliate or as a managed channel. If your channel becomes MCN managed, the network will work with you to create and maintain your branded identity, and may even work with you to fit your content to one of the categories or genres that YouTube has identified as more attractive to viewers. (Hint: Think comedy.) On the downside, MCNs are only offering to “manage” some of their signed partners; moreover, by agreeing to be a managed channel, you may lose some creative control over your content. An independent spirit such as yourself might chafe at all these constraints: You need your artistic freedom.
So what happens if you become an MCN affiliate instead? You will still receive all the networking perks and proprietary analytics that a managed channel gets, and if you are working with an MCN like Big Frame, you will probably still get branding advice as well. Awesome.
The trouble is, it might take YouTube significantly longer to review your video for monetization, a costly delay that managed channels do not have to worry about. It doesn’t quite seem fair that managed channels are making 30% more revenue than you just because they don’t have to wait around to get their material checked for copyright infringements, does it?
So this is the conundrum: Do you go it completely alone, networking and linking up with ad sponsors to the best of your humble ability, and hope that you’re one of the happy few that “hits it big?” Do you sign with an MCN as an affiliate, hoping that the tools and networks they provide you with will leverage your channel just enough, so that you’re finally making just enough revenue? Or do you prostrate yourself at the feet of your MCN and hope that it takes you on as a managed channel? No matter which option you choose, it doesn’t quite seem like winning.
Or how about this: What if you tried making money a different way?
If you want to have your cake and eat it too, click “Become You Own MCN.” (In-Progress)
If you’re feeling a bit more spiteful and want to seriously disrupt the MCNs’ current business model, click “Make Your Own Tech.” (In-Progress)
If you’ve decided that maybe signing with an MCN isn’t so bad, or even if you just want to go it alone, click “Conclusion: How to Make a Profit Off the Long-Tail"
Oh, you already have? Great!
Now let me get this straight: You’ve uploaded half a dozen videos of your cat riding your roomba around the kitchen, you just posted your first movie review (The Hobbit — because did they really have to split it into three movies?), and your sister has even agreed to help you out by contributing biweekly videos on pre-teen indie-hipster fashion (yes, that’s a thing) and Doctor Who cosplay (also a thing).
So where’s the money? These student loans won’t pay themselves, after all.
Well, just like with everything else on the Internet, the money comes from the advertisements, and the advertisements come when you enable your video for monetization on YouTube (though this is only available in certain countries). When you enroll in monetization through the site, you become a “YouTube Partner,” which includes all sorts of perks like ad revenue and YouTube Analytics, thus providing you with basic information about who is viewing your video, where they are viewing it from, and which tags on your video are the most effective at attracting viewers.
Once you have enabled your video for monetization review, YouTube will begin screening your video for possible copyright violations; this includes, but is not limited to, copyrighted background music, popular music covers, and film or television clips.
So that cover you did of John William's scores probably isn’t going to pass muster. Nope, not that mash-up of 2013 films either. Guess you better go make another video with only original content this time, at least if you want to make money that is.
You did? Great. But you’re still not getting enough views on any of your videos to generate serious cash; it’s barely enough to pay for your Netflix subscription. Plus, now you’ve got all of these NFL and Weinerschnitzle ads coming on right before your sister’s fashion series. That just doesn’t make sense.
Well, my friend, it’s time you considered signing with an MCN. I say considered because MCNs are not always the best option. Just most of the time.
When you sign-up with an MCN, or multi-channel network, you sign away a percentage of your ad-revenue and potentially also ownership over your posted content, depending on your contract. In return, MCNs can offer you built-in networking: linking you to viewers, other content creators, and advertising sponsors. Recently, MCNs have also begun offering additional tools and more in-depth analytics than YouTube offers to its individual YouTube Partners.
An MCN can also help you with branding your channel — something you could probably use if you are already posting cat videos and tween fashion advice and movie reviews all in the same place — but that branding may come with a trade-off. Starting this November, you can partner with an MCN in one of two ways: as an affiliate or as a managed channel. If your channel becomes MCN managed, the network will work with you to create and maintain your branded identity, and may even work with you to fit your content to one of the categories or genres that YouTube has identified as more attractive to viewers. (Hint: Think comedy.) On the downside, MCNs are only offering to “manage” some of their signed partners; moreover, by agreeing to be a managed channel, you may lose some creative control over your content. An independent spirit such as yourself might chafe at all these constraints: You need your artistic freedom.
So what happens if you become an MCN affiliate instead? You will still receive all the networking perks and proprietary analytics that a managed channel gets, and if you are working with an MCN like Big Frame, you will probably still get branding advice as well. Awesome.
The trouble is, it might take YouTube significantly longer to review your video for monetization, a costly delay that managed channels do not have to worry about. It doesn’t quite seem fair that managed channels are making 30% more revenue than you just because they don’t have to wait around to get their material checked for copyright infringements, does it?
So this is the conundrum: Do you go it completely alone, networking and linking up with ad sponsors to the best of your humble ability, and hope that you’re one of the happy few that “hits it big?” Do you sign with an MCN as an affiliate, hoping that the tools and networks they provide you with will leverage your channel just enough, so that you’re finally making just enough revenue? Or do you prostrate yourself at the feet of your MCN and hope that it takes you on as a managed channel? No matter which option you choose, it doesn’t quite seem like winning.
Or how about this: What if you tried making money a different way?
If you want to have your cake and eat it too, click “Become You Own MCN.” (In-Progress)
If you’re feeling a bit more spiteful and want to seriously disrupt the MCNs’ current business model, click “Make Your Own Tech.” (In-Progress)
If you’ve decided that maybe signing with an MCN isn’t so bad, or even if you just want to go it alone, click “Conclusion: How to Make a Profit Off the Long-Tail"
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