UK residents with an eye for a good video could earn a little extra with YouTube’s partner programme.
Originally launched in the U.S. and Canada last December, YouTube described the programme as “our way of enabling some of the most popular and prolific original content creators within the YouTube community to earn money from their videos”.
Once registered as a partner, any of their videos displayed on the YouTube website generates a revenue via adverts running alongside them, the partner then receives a portion of the revenue raised. Of course, the amount of revenue is largely dependent on how many videos are uploaded and how popular they become. YouTube states that in the U.S. it has users who already earn thousands each month from videos contributed through the program.
Not every video uploader can join the program though, you must meet the following criteria:
- You videos contain original material
- You own the copyrights and distribution rights for all audio and video content that you upload - no exceptions.
- You regularly upload videos that are viewed by thousands of YouTube users.
- You live in the US, Canada or the UK.
To apply for a partnership and start earning some easy money, head over to uk.youtube.com/partners.
Yes you heard it right, you can now download over 35 million songs (compared to iTunes’ 6 million) for free and LEGALLY! Qtrax - a new startup has collaborated with 4 major record companies (EMI, SonyBMG, Universal and Warner) to allow users to download song’s from their catalogues. There is one hitch though - you can only play your downloads via their in-house software - so you will not be able to transfer them to your iPod or burn them to CD.
You maybe thinking how on earth do the record companies and artists see any return on allowing their music to be downloaded for free? Well, Qtrax have created a platform where adverts are shown whilst the user plays their downloaded material via the Qtrax player. The ads will be targeted towards the user and then the information and revenue relayed back to the record company.
The service is only available on Windows at present, so Mac users are left out for now. The Qtrax website is currently unavailable completely (27.01.08) as widespread media interest has no doubt attracted overwhelming visitors.
Last year Google began a service ‘Print Ads’ to enable advertisers in the US to place advertisements in hundreds of US newspapers, via the Google AdWords system.
Google is currently in negotiations with several UK publications to scale out the service out here. Google takes a percentage of the advertising revenue for every ad placed - a middleman you could say.
Why the ‘real’ world?
Currently Google’s advertising platforms have concentrated on the online environment, so why make a move into the ‘real’ world? Well, most of the public do not have the capacity to take out an ad in a national newspaper. Google’s vision is to enable John the Plumber from Plumpton to place an ad, without going via the usual marketing/advertising moguls. It also means that the larger advertisers can try and squeeze a better deal by doing it online.
According to a British newspaper boss, the introduction of the service to the UK “is an interesting development, with the prospect of bringing new advertisers into our newspapers”, the Sunday Times reports.
“If advertisers find it to be an effective channel, then there is the prospect to form direct relationships on a more normal basis,” the executive added.
Click here to learn more about how Google AdWords Print Ads work.
There is much speculation and gossip residing around the web about a possible bid to buy Yell from Google Inc.
For those who have not heard of Yell, they are the publisher and distributor of the UKs largest business phone directory (both online and hard copy).
During the time of the take over speculation Yell’s valuation rised 4.4%, valueing the compant at £2.6 billion.
Watch this space!
