Why YouTube Partners Won’t Make You Rich
YouTube has announced its previously restricted Partners program is now open to all users in the U.S. and Canada, dangling the proverbial carrot of fame and fortune before the longing eyes of YouTube junkies everywhere.
As much as we’d like to say, head over to our How To wiki and check out our tips for Make Awesome-Looking YouTube Videos, the truth is, production values seem to irrelevant — the closer you get to Ow My Balls the more likely you are to have a hit (see Make Your Own Viral Hit).
However, in truth, YouTube Partners still isn’t really about making money off your viral video. Given that most videos that reach the levels of popularity necessary to turn YouTube into your day job are one-off hits rather than a consistent stream of content, the real winners here are small media companies and the few exceptions to the rule (Ask a Ninja comes to mind).
One-off hits probably won’t get you a spot in the YouTube Partners program. The exact requirements for YouTube partner approval, are somewhat mysterious, but the site does say that you must create original videos, have the copyright and distribution rights for those videos, upload new content on a regular basis and already have a few popular videos.
In short, your one hit of the cat playing the piano probably isn’t going to cut it.
So why not just upload your videos to Metacafe whose only requirement is that people like your video (rating it three stars or higher), or Revver, which doesn’t require anything other than a video to upload?
In a word: reach. YouTube is far and away the traffic leader when it comes to online video and provided you meet the requirements and your video is a hit, YouTube offers the largest audience and thus the largest potential payout.
But to become a YouTube partner you’ll need to retain that audience, which is considerably more difficult than making a viral hit. For those talented few capable of creating and retaining a YouTube audience, the Partners program offers a chance to cash in on that audience, but for the average user YouTube Partners still isn’t going to make you rich.
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