Making Money Your

Not making money as a YouTube partner? Here are some tips from YouTube itself

YouTube hosted a live event today to help partners get the most out of their YouTube revenue.

Phil Farhi of YouTube, began the event by telling partners about a few of the new initiatives that YouTube is working on, to help make partners as successful as possible. He started by bringing us through the history of advertising on YouTube.

Phil mentioned that just 3 short years ago, YouTube began using in-video and overlay ads, the first step in monetizing videos. And following the first format of ads, YouTube brought Ad Sense ads, enabling smaller advertisers/customers to get on board, allowing YouTube to capture a broader range of advertisers.

Next came in-Stream Ads (mid and pre-roll ads), a format that was launched about two years ago. YouTube said this has been popular because advertisers will pay more for ads that are similar to the format on TV. At almost the same time, promoted ads were introduced and it was proven to drive traffic to videos that were featured using the ‘promoted video’ format.

A few months ago, a new ad format for partners called TrueView was rolled-out. This format lets users watching a video skip the ad after five seconds. An ad format that YouTube says is less interruptive and doesn’t risk annoying your audience because it gives them the chance to hit stop.

Phil asked the question “ What makes a movie a successful?” Using the movie industry as an analogy, he went on to explain that there are many factors that come into play that make up the overall picture; ticket prices, seats filled, distribution etc. It’s the same with YouTube as he pointed out. Partners shouldn’t look at one aspect such as RPM (revenue per thousand page views) or CPM (cost per thousand, as an example $1 or $5 per thousand views), they should look at everything including geography.

A few points to take away

Good partners focus on overall revenue and aren’t fixated on “ticket price”. They also work hard at building a strong audience as well as trying to increase views. Good partners look at geography, RPM and CPM.

Bad partners look at the wrong metrics and don’t build up their audience. Partners who only focus on RPM might think everything is fine however, it’s critical that users concentrate on CPM as well and continue to build audience loyalty.

YouTube says advertisers are creating content that competes with user content, and millions of users are watching advertisements on the site. Think about the popularity of Superbowl ads.

Keep experimenting! Compare ad formats by type and geography and play around with different scenarios. Try enabling ads after your loyal audience has seen them or try it in reverse. Play with different recipes and see what happens when ad formats are enabled/disabled. There is a wide variety of ways to make revenue.

Take a good look at revenue break downs and compare formats; True View, in-Stream, etc.

Better reporting for ad formats coming soon. YouTube admits that partners don’t have the best reporting feature right now.

YouTube will be adding an option for partners to opt-in to just TrueView Ads without needing to be signed up with other formats.

Ensure the metadata on videos have the correct information and enough words to help YouTube’s algorithm bring the best targeted ads to your videos

The Bloomberg story cites Richard Doherty, director of the consulting firm Envisionering Group, who says that Apple has been working to embed the technology in the "next iteration of the iPhone for AT&T Inc and the iPad 2," both of which are expected to be launched this year.

It's not an unexpected move. As we have reported previously, Apple has made some strategic hires of NFC experts, and the Android already offers this functionality.

NFC Plus iTunes

What makes the Bloomberg news interesting, if true - other than the fact that the report only mentions this NFC technology in the AT&T iPhone, not a Verizon iPhone - is the way in which NFC, matched with the iTunes checkout system, could truly become a de facto payment method for many of us. Users are already incredibly familiar and comfortable with purchasing things via iTunes, and as we look to alternatives to cash, checks, and even credits cards - particularly when it comes to making payments on the go - it makes sense that Apple provides that service.

It makes sense for users and for Apple. As the Bloomberg story notes, it could help Apple cut costs associated with credit card processing fees. But it could also greatly expand the reach of the iTunes service. And according to Doherty, this is in the works for mid-2011, with plans to "revamp iTunes, a service that lets consumers buy digital movies and music, so it would hold not only users' credit-card account information but also loyalty credits and points."

So get ready to pay with your phone. Get ready to receive targeted ads and coupons with your phone. The industry has been saying that for a while. But while NFC has been touted as the future of mobile money and mobile shopping, one of the major pieces missing from implementation is the infrastructure necessary to facilitate it. And it sounds like Apple, if the Bloomberg report is true, may be working on just that very thing.

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