Since Google purchased YouTube in 2006 for $1.6 billion, many have been wondering how the company will get its ROI, when advertisers often steer clear of user-generated content because of the lack of predictability over content.
Well, that’s been changing. CNBC reports Google’s YouTube is rolling out its partner program to include uploaders of viral user-generated videos. The partner program strikes revenue-sharing deals with the site’s regular uploaders of popular content. YouTube aims to identify viral hits as they’re on the rise, inserting ads early enough to take advantage of millions of clicks.
An algorithm will identify videos that have attracted a lot of views, and whose popularity is growing fast, a sign that they will only become more popular over time. Then the site contacts the uploaders to make sure they own the rights to all the content in the video and if they want YouTube to insert ads onto the video. If they do, YouTube will post the same ads as it does on other partner videos (banner, overlay, etc) and give the same revenue split. The story said the uploader gets the “majority” of the revenue.
YouTube’s Director of Product Management, Shishir Mehrotra, tells CNBC that the majority of its most popular user-generated videos will qualify for ads.
