Appreciating Life’s Little Things

Today I read a news article that YouTube will start paying people who make “one-hit wonder videos” – referring to video clips that get a high number of hits. One particular video demonstrated on this news article was the “JK Wedding Entrance Dance”, with over 10 million views in less than a week. Unfortunately the creators of this video didn’t get paid.

Take a look at the video clip below – it’s AWESOME!!! I can’t imagine doing my own wedding like that, but it really looks like it’s a lot of FUN!

YouTube to help creators of one-hit wonder videos make money
(article from news.com.au)

* One-hit wonders to get ad revenue
* Extension of YouTube’s revenue plan

YOUTUBE has offered a way for creators of videos which become a big hit to cash in on their success.

The Google-owned video-sharing site said in a blog post that it was expanding its YouTube Partnership Program to the creators of successful “one-off” videos.

The program had previously focused on what YouTube described as “prolific users who regularly produce videos that reach a wide audience”.

“Now, when you upload a video to YouTube that accumulates lots of views, we may invite you to monetise that video and start earning revenue from it,” said YouTube product manager Shenaz Zack.

One recent example of a clip that became a global phenomenon was the JK wedding dance video, which showed a Minnesota couple’s wedding party performing an entrance dance routine.

It was seen more than 10 million times in less than a week and picked up by various TV news outlets. But according to YouTube executives, the makers never made any money from the clip.

YouTube said a user whose video is eligible would receive an email and an “Enable Revenue Sharing” message would appear next to the video.

“Once you’ve chosen to enable revenue sharing, YouTube will sell advertising against your video and pay you a revenue share,” YouTube said.

YouTube did not reveal a breakdown of the proposed revenue share.

It said individual video partnerships would only be available in the US for now but that it hopes to extend the program internationally soon.

Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $US1.65 billion ($1.97 billion) but the California-based internet search and advertising giant has not yet managed to turn a profit with the site despite its massive global popularity.

- with Reuters