It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a year since YouTube rolled out its redesigned channels’ strategy in a bid to alleviate more professional and authentic content on the viral site that is heading towards a more TV-like trail. Of course the $100 million investment made the transition all the merrier.
Heading towards the TV trail means taking the same marketing steps; YouTube
shall not renew all of last year’s programs. Only 30 to 40% of its 100 partners will enjoy the freshly brewed second round of funds.
Unlike the first round that seemed to take an arbitrary approach, with YouTube taking on a vast range of promising producers as well as notions. A year later proves that YouTube is wiser with a more objective vision; looking for more than just a celebrity name, but rather a successful channel who puts as much efforts into building the audience as creating original content.
Last year’s line-up of professional channels included celebrities and entertainers ranging from Madonna, Jay-Z, Deepak Chopra, Tony Hawk and Rainn Wilson. Yet, it turned out that it is not enough for a channel to be backed up by a celebrity to bring in sufficient revenue.
There are still a few weeks before YouTube actually contacts the lucky partners that will make the cut for this year, and no precise details have been granted as to shed some light on how much channel owners ought to expect. Speculations say that the funds will be around $1-5 million.
Don’t get too excited now and heading off to make your own channel; the money is not a free pass to the luxury life, it’s simply an upfront payment of one year of advertising revenues. The money ought to be earned back by each producer through ads that are attached to their content before any additional revenue can be earned. To exemplify it a bit further; $1 million comes in at around 50 million views on a $20 CPM (cost per mil/thousand) – quite high risks.
If you’re more statistical, let’s talk a bit more about numbers. YouTube proclaims that its top 25 channels have an average of more than a million views per week, while the top 33 have more than 100,000 subscribers- each of whom is more prone to visit the channel, browse through its content and hence make advertising dollars.
October also saw the service’s global expansion; with the scheduled launch in the UK, Germany and France in the upcoming months.
Even though YouTube is undoubtedly affecting TV ad budgets, it certainly is still in its infant stages; TV viewers watch more in one day (4 hours, 38 minutes) than YouTube viewers watch in a month.
“We’ve had some really great response from the advertiser community. As we continue to talk to advertisers and marketers, there’s a real sense that they’re looking at YouTube differently,” Jamie Byrne- YouTube’s director of content strategy- says. “But as we look at this initiative, we are taking the long view here. It’s not necessarily about immediate results.”
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