Friday, May 5, 2017

Crowdfunding, Patreon and YouTube Demonetization (Videos)

I want to talk a bit about the notion that YouTube is demonetizing videos on their platform.

When I started this project, a few days ago, what came to mind most was, why?
I really didn't have any idea how deep the rabbit hole would be. I searched the investors of Patreon and the Investors of Google (Al Gore?) and the investors of YouTube.

In actuality, YouTube was taken over by Google in 2006. I didn't join YouTube till 2009, but I had watched some of the videos. The platform was truly archaic compared to what we have now, and certainly the ads were not flying all over the place back then. 


I still believe that everyone in this venture YouTube, Google (Alphabet), PayPal and Patreon are in the same pocket when it comes to their investors. So it would stand to reason they have some complimentary goals as well as major support for and from one another.




Angel Investors are particularly interesting as they can have or gain full reign of your business because they are very, very wealthy and are investing their own cash and/or assets. Looking at the investors of these companies, Angels are all over the place.

This topic is too involved and much more than my talents can review with precision accuracy, but I think it's important to note that we are not simply dealing with YouTube, we are dealing with Google (Alphabet), PayPal, and Patreon that have a symbiotic relationship with each other and are not necessarily thinking of ways to make the little guy YouTube Creator smile. They are looking for huge returns on their investments! Period!  If advertisers are pulling out, that's a red flag and investors may jump ship!

YouTube Grew so fast, Google had to get a piece of the action and within  little over 2 years, Google bought YouTube! Since Google was and is the ad giant, NBC, was moved into the host of other advertisers and was no longer the main source of advertising for YouTube.

But now, Google/YouTube is in panic mode with advertisers pulling out left and right. They are afraid that the current climate around "fake news", hate speech, terrorism, etc. may be broadcasted via YouTube with their ads attached. They don't want it.

Here's a list of some of the biggest advertisers who have stopped their spending with Google and YouTube.


"Both ATandT and Verizon may have an ulterior motive to make YouTube look like an untrustworthy spot for marketers because both companies are trying to sell more digital ads in their own networks." http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/03/22/googles-youtube-losing-major-advertisers-upset-with-videos.html

As a result, Google/YouTube has come down hard on all Creators and in some ways indiscriminately though they claim to be manually reviewing videos in addition to adjusting their algorithms.

YouTube is a big part of Google revenues but when you compare it to the other options Google has as a search engine, it's primary role, and with competition coming in from other Video sites, it's possible that Google may simply go on this bumpy ride for a while and settle with being somewhere not so close to the top when it comes to a video platform.

It is competing with 75 others and has had its hayday. Bringing in YouTube Red, and streaming TV programs may keep hope alive for YouTube but the regular content creators with smaller pockets will have to be a bit more creative or may get squeezed out altogether.

YouTube had, in the past a couple of options for YouTube Creators to get financial support for their videos. This was happening before they actually went all the way with monetizing videos.

They had "Fan Funding" Which they discontinued Feb. 28, 2017,
"allows users to make one-time donations to their favorite channels and content creators." https://grin.co/overview-youtube-fan-funding/


They went on to offer "SuperChat," which works particularly well for live streamers. "here a fan can pay for their comment to be at the top of the list of comments and the Streamer would reap the rewards." Not too sure how well that will work out over the long haul.

They also had YouTube Contributor option, where you basically paid for ads to "not" show up on your vids but where "customers choose to pay web publishers for their content through Google-Ad network rather than deprive the Publishers of income from advertisements."

In all actuality, they have the absolute right to do demonetize videos, whenever they choose since they are providing the platform and providing it for free. With 400 vides/minute it has to be a daunting task to catch them all.  So, like back in the day, if one person in class acts up, everybody in the class gets punished.

Yep, we are complaining and we actually think it has something to do with free speech but not really. People tend to paint the "Free Speech" brush a bit far.

With YouTube needing to be bailed out due to Copyright issues, even the "Fair Use Claims" are negligible. Channels are still getting hit hard!

It's sorta like this, in my house I ask folks I invite into my house to remove their shoes, if they refuse, well, since it's my house I have the choice of allowing them in or blocking them from coming in. After all it's my house.

Same thing with YouTube.

On the other hand, say, you got a partner who gives you all the loving you want.. if you know what I mean, then all of a sudden and without warning, the loving dries up. You have had this symbiotic relationship with this person, it was understood that they would deliver, and now, they are reneging. But the bottom line is this, they can!  And that's the deal with this YouTube demonetizing vids and shutting down channels left and right.

They Can! Why? Because it's theirs.

Now we got several options, and personally I think YouTube is gonna regret bending under the pressure of their advertisers. In fact, I think even the advertisers are gonna feel the pinch because even though there is enough junk out there to keep people distracted, there are really a lot of folks who want to learn something new, about other stuff than junk. Some people really want to get a wrinkle in their brain.  Not to mention the many creative content makers who make brilliant videos with outstanding content!  And, since the way YouTube goes about determining what is or is not ad friendly, is so vague and broad, you make a video and ain't no telling whether or not it's gonna pass the acid test.

But we as creators really do have options. And maybe our co-dependent relationship on YouTube needs to change or even stop in some cases although, if you are streaming videos from your YouTube channel to other platforms, well, you're still keeping the lines of communications open, sorta like the whole, "let's be friends" after a break-up when it really means, just in case it don't work out that maybe we could jump back into the mix again, if you follow me.

Several things are happening with this change.

First, it is censorship. We can dance around it or say it isn't so "Joe" but it is.
And the genius of it all, is that it will not be blatant in your face censorship, like shutting down channels or grabbing vids of channels, not that they stopped doing that either, but, they have done the insidious, tightening of the purse string censorship.

Like in a relationship.. the one who has the money can open and close that "pocketbook" if you follow my drift.  So, instead of coming straight at you, they take the passive aggressive way of scaring the shit out of you, cause you never know.  It's 3 days later and a hundred hours of editing later, and you get the knock at the door..

"You have been issued a warrant, we will be arresting your revenues, your video sucks, well not exactly, we suck, well not exactly, our advertisers suck, well maybe not, but anyways, we will fall the way of MySpace if we don't tow the line. So, we can't put ads on your videos. Listen, you ain't the only one who suffers from purse-string madness. So grow up and get over it and next time, be careful, is all."


Now, folks can go through the changes of starting their own YouTube Platform. yeah, fat chance on that one.  Remember, YouTube was out there, with it's initial creators, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, when they worked for PayPal.  Regular folks coming up with a brilliant idea in February 14, 2005. And then Google started sniffing around. Next thing you know, Google gave them an offer they couldn't refuse, $1.65 Billion dollars in stock.  By November 13, 2006, good ole YouTube is owned by Google and we all know what that means.

But we had hope.. we really did.
And we had smooth sailing for a little while.... then it started, politics, economics, politics, economics and politics and economics some more.

I remember when you could work with YouTube in a partnership capacity where you could get "special" annuities if you ran your own ads on your videos or ran ads on other peoples vids etc.  Great Idea, till the corporations stepped in.

Oh Lord, talk about big brother.. well not quite so big but scary big enough anyways.

Then eventually, the ads were like the ones you see on TV. And they spend a lot of money making them ads, let me tell you.
Then came Patreon. In May, 2013 Jack Conte, a popular YouTube artist, founded Patreon.

"Harkening back to old-school patronage, Patreon enables fans and sponsors to support artists and creators. Patrons pledge to support artists and creators on a reoccurring basis for each work created, empowering a new generation of creators the ability to make a living off of their passions." https://angel.co/patreon

Now Patreon is cool to a point, but you have to put in a lot of work to make it happen, and if you don't have at least 10 thousand subs on YouTube, forget it.  Besides, Patreon streams from YouTube so if at any time YouTube decides to pull your video or copyright strike it, what can  you do, you cannot upload to Patreon any vids.

Now when it first came out, in 2013, it was kind of clandestine about getting in the mix. In my mind, all I could think of is why would YouTube allow a Platform to gain more notoriety if it meant it would be taking its viewers away from its site.  You follow me? Why would YouTube, bring a tall dark and handsome dude to a date when they look like a nerd and expect you to be still attracted to them, I'm just saying.
So I began to wonder if in fact YouTube and Patreon had made some back room deal. Something along the line of, well as long as you don't allow up loads.  But is YouTube and Patreon really that separate from one another.

Think about it, folks actually think they are waking up. Folks are making more and more visits to channels that address some serious issues because they wanna wake up, or at least take shorter naps.

YouTube was gonna start losing viewers anyways. Some people have ad block because quite frankly, they are waking up and don't want to be disturbed by the tripe that some of those ads have.

So, what if YouTube was thinking ahead, or let's say Google was thinking ahead and since they are in the AD world, they know how it works..  Why not have a what appears to be "not ad friendly" platform and make people pay for it. You see?

Patreon is "not ad friendly". 

Patreon is into tithing so to speak cause folks gotta pay outa pocket not to mention, they have to sign up in order to do so. Which to me are two strikes against it. Pay outa pocket once a month or whatever and you have to sign up in order to do so. Huh???

Other solutions can be going to other platforms where you can upload your videos and get revenues that way. there ain't too much competition out there, just yet, but if this keeps up, other platforms will be developed. People will come along to grab the spoils of the YouTube collateral damage and create other platforms that you can upload their videos to.

One interesting thing about YouTube is that all things are in house. You cannot get the email address of your subs directly. So, you have to get your subs to give you their email address so you can let them know when you switch. You can try TubeBuddy and pay for a subscription which offers many tools for YouTube Creators.

Or you can make a video, upload it to YouTube and tell everyone to come where you are now.

Or you can find some other ingenious way, cause YouTube, if it sees folks leaving in droves might snatch your vid down for some unknown reason especially if you have millions of subs.

You can also, just find a more creative way to get your point across.  You know, use some of your passive aggressive skills to work around YouTube warriors.

Watch your title, watch your key words, watch your description. Put love, pancakes, strawberries, apple pie and icecream in the description and key words. Avoid anything that will piss them off. in other words "Self Censor" sorta.

Or we can call a YouTube boycott, for one week, no creators create anything, at all! Nothing.  Since the advertisers want to boycott YouTube, well, the creators can too. 

Ha, that would be awesome, we could "make" YouTube do it our way and fight back by giving them the finger.  LOL, that would never happen, we can't even get folks to boycott Walmart, but I always say, boycotts are winners in any power struggle.

Bottomline, we YouTube creators or shall I say, we video creators have to be more creative in finding ways to get our videos out there and get them funded.  But first we must read the terms of service before we sign on the dotted line. And who on God's green earth is gonna read all that stuff or even understand it, you practically have to hire a lawyer to translate!

Meanwhile the begging campaigns go on and on.

If we sell stuff on our videos, that's even more work.  And a small channel like mine with just a little over 3000 subs, well we don't even make that much off the adsense anyways.
Unless of course we make videos that are, you know..... non threatening to the advertisers.

We would have to make a whole paradigm shift in our creating to get that pocketbook to open up again.  And if we have any integrity.. well we will eventually become more and more disenchanted, hostile and resentful, and after a while, give it up or find something else to do.

All in all, this thing that YouTube is doing will eventually shift YouTube into the twilight zone, not that it ain't already there, and it will see its viewership decrease, its revenues' from ads decrease and other competitors grab up the spoils.

Next thing you know, YouTube will go the way of MySpace.  But of course, these corporate moguls always have contingency plans.  They are gonna push YouTube Red, News outlets and TV shows will start airing their programs on YouTube and the very thing that they were up in arms about and not wanting to advertise will be in their faces.  But maybe not so much, because we all know that mainstream media is scripted. So, it will be safer for YouTube in the long run and maybe even more financially lucrative.

Not sure how that would work though, unless YouTube/Google is asking for a cut of the ad revenues from the News Outlets and TV Shows, cause I doubt if advertisers are gonna pay twice for the same display, but who knows.

The fact is they are already advertising on TV programs, and news channels anyways around similar topics, but I think, since they want a piece of the action, their real plan is to squeeze the little guy out of the way so they can get the big dudes in there that will gain them even more revenues.


In a minute, YouTube will replace television and to me, that is the final goal.  They see that more and more people are going to YouTube for information and entertainment.  They see that more and more folks are streaming YouTube thru their TV's so why not go all the way?  Haven't you seen that free trial flash across your device?

There was a time when you had to record from the TV and then upload it to YouTube, eventually, it won't be necessary.

So Google backed YouTube is playing the passive aggressive role of resistance until we comply.  If not, then they will go for the tall dark and handsome dude who has a much bigger pocketbook than the average YouTube creator has.

And so that ends my two cents on the matter.

I wonder if YouTube will monetize this video, since I figured out their game plan. We shall see..


INTERESTING LINKS

WTF is YouTube’s Demonetization?



HELP!! YOU TUBE WANTS TO KILL MY CHANNEL


YouTube pushes harder to tag videos 'too offensive' for ads
https://www.engadget.com/2017/04/03/youtube-pushes-harder-to-tag-videos-too-offensive-for-ads/
YouTube is randomly demonetizing videos
YOUTUBE DEMONETIZING VIDEOS | Media Censorship and The Bigger Picture (Mr. Repzion, Philip DeFranco)

Youtube Responded, But It Gets Even More Confusing...
Patreon
Let's Talk about Patreon versus Adsense ads
Art Marketing Vlog: Why I DON'T use PATREON

Crowdfunding’s Patreon Takes Aim At YouTube’s Business Model
Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for artists and creators to get paid.
FYI – There's a legal storm brewing in Cali that threatens to destroy online free speech
Patreon
YouTube will no longer allow creators to make money until they reach 10,000 views
YouTube Competitors (35)
AN OVERVIEW OF YOUTUBE FAN FUNDING

Getting Started With Angel Investing
YouTube is facing a full-scale advertising boycott over hate speech
YouTube Hate Videos Haunt Advertisers on Google
History of YouTube

"Both ATandT and Verizon may have an ulterior motive to make YouTube look like an untrustworthy spot for marketers because both companies are trying to sell more digital ads in their own networks."
YouTube Introduces Super Chat, Phases Out Fan Funding
Sob story from band that lost $11,000 was actually a marketing stunt
Google Has Acquired YouTube

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Thanks for your comment. Peace, NB