YouTube Ponders Solution to Partner Discoverability Concerns, Video Ad Dollars Rise, and More... [Reel Web #43]

If YouTube were to come up with a plan that would help all of us creators and marketers promote and advertise our stuff on YouTube better, would you want to know about it? That’s what we talk about this week on the Reel Web.

Hey guys my name is Tim Schmoyer and welcome to another week of the Reel Web where very week we just highlight for you guys some of the online video news from the week before, and this week is news that no one except for me is really talking about. I recently got a satisfaction survey from YouTube that asked me to fill out the survey, just kind of rating and evaluating some of the things about their site, and I think it probably went out to most of like YouTube’s folk partners, so maybe you got one too. I took the survey all the way through to completion, and then they gave an optional section if you wanted to. I opted. It was like, I think I have a couple of minutes, so I did the optional section as well, and the very last question of that survey and I wish I had taken a screen shot of this so I could show you but essentially what it’s asking is if Google would do a one-for-one match of your AdSense revenue that you would take and put back into Google AdWords to promote your video content, would you do it? I put probably, most definitely, I think.

Basically, the question they’re asking, for example, is if you made a hundred dollars this month on your YouTube channel, would you be interested in, rather than taking that as cash from Google, saying I’m going to just put that over into Google AdWords, and Google says we’ll match it one for one. So, now instead of us giving you a hundred dollars cash, we are going to give you two hundred dollars of credit towards AdWords where you can promote your video and your content on YouTube and across the Google network as pre-rolls or sponsored videos or ads or whatever you want.

At first, I was like, man, this is an awesome idea. This would be really great if they give a lot of people new promotion. But then I thought in the long run, this might not be a good idea. I’m hoping now that Google does not actually do this, because what would probably happen to the advertising economy on YouTube is now everything will cost twice as much. Eventually it will become harder and harder for each of us to promote ourselves because we’ll get right back to the same problem we’re at now, that there are so many fish in the sea it’s hard to get discovered.

If you pay to promote yourself and make yourself more visible, that’s good for now, until everyone’s doing it and now we’re right back to the same problem we were at before. Except for now, it’s like required that all of us spend money in order to do that. I don’t think that ultimately solves the problem that YouTube is facing for discovery issues for new content here on YouTube. I think it’s a bad move, because it requires that if you want to get found, you’re going to have to fork over some cash. There’s no other way to do it.

It could be good for Google, though, because now, for example, if advertisers are paying like five cents a view, then since they’ll be doubling everyone who’s contributing their AdSense revenue, it’ll be bumped up to ten cents a view. So some of us will still technically be paying like five cents, because Google is contributing the other half, but for the real advertisers who are paying like fully out-of-pocket, now they have to pay ten cents per view instead of five cents per view, and so the advertising now just doubled for Google. So it’s good for them, but probably not good for us as a community. At least those are my initial thoughts. I’d love to hear what you guys are thinking. Comment below.

I just want to preface that there is no indication that Google or YouTube are actually going to do this. It’s just a question they asked in a survey, and I thought it was an interesting thought, and I hope they don’t do it. Because then me and most of us will feel like we’re obligated to give up at least part of our assets and earnings just to stay somewhat on top of the game here on YouTube before it all just becomes full of lots of people who are paying to be seen.

I try not to make each episode of the Reel Web just about sharing statistics and stats and things that analysts are saying about the things here on the online video world, but it’s kind of hard not to, because they come out like with something new every single week. Last week it was about how advertisers are becoming more and more likely to spend money on online video marketing. In fact, 64% of advertisers say that online video advertising is just as viable a solution for them as TV marketing. They also say that online video marketing has been just as successful for them as TV marketing, and 30% of them say that they expect that their social media campaigns will out-perform their TV campaigns.

Now, that’s an interesting statistic, because if you reverse it the other way around, does that mean that 70% of the advertisers don’t think that will happen? Kind of interesting the way they’ve spun it there. But either way, the report said that they expect that online video marketing dollars will increase by 38% and it will just keep climbing up from there. So if you’re a marketer, you probably want to jump in while the price is still lower, and if you’re a creator, keep making solid content, because eventually there will most likely be an advertiser out there somewhere who wants to advertise against your content.

And speaking of making money from our online videos, whether that’s here on YouTube or at some other platform, or wherever, there’s a link in the description below from Kevin Nulty. You might remember from previous videos that we’ve done some interviews with him. But he lists on his blog, all the different ways that you can make money from your videos here on YouTube. Obviously that includes partnership and revenue-sharing here on Google, but there are also many other ways as well. He’s listed them all out, explained them all. So, go check out that link if making money is something that you’re interested in, which I will assume most of you probably are. And hopefully that will help you do exactly that.

Thanks for hanging out with us this week for our look at the Reel Web. On Thursday we’re going to have our Creator’s Tip video, where I’m going to share with you something that I just recently learned about video SEO and a way to share your channel URL in a way that will actually boost your videos and your channel’s ranking in search. Very, very helpful. That’s coming up this Thursday, so if you’re not already subscribed, make sure you click that button above here on YouTube. We’d love to have you join us every single week for these videos and more. Thanks for hanging out with us guys, and we will see you all again soon for another look at the Reel Web. Bye.