# How is Youtube making money/planning to make money **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2006, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983 "2006-03-19T09:16:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/1 "2006-03-19T09:16:14Z")
I’m surprised at how quickly the video sharing site youtube has leapt into prominence but I can’t help but wonder what their business model is. All of those videos must be consuming and insane amount of bandwidth and server space yet the paltry few ads scattered around the place can’t come close to paying the bills. Is Youtube just going to be another bubblesque boom & bust company or does it have a solid financial plan in place? ---
**Author:** ![Bobalude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bobalude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobalude)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/2 "2006-03-19T10:59:30Z")
I imagine one simple way is to implement ads before each video… or for select videos. Right now they are going about the right path and developing popularity and a memberbase, expanding before they set the business model in motion. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/3 "2006-03-19T15:55:32Z")
Except… how are they going to retain their member base? ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/4 "2006-03-19T16:24:01Z")
I’m sure most users won’t mind watching an ad before a video. If they start charging, on the other hand… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/5 "2006-03-19T17:09:14Z")
> [@FlyingRamenMonster](#): > > I’m sure most users won’t mind watching an ad before a video. > > If they start charging, on the other hand… :dubious: You would be amazed how much info gathering or ad viewing a 14 year old with no money will go through for something free. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/6 "2006-03-19T18:07:16Z")
> [@Bobalude](#): > > I imagine one simple way is to implement ads before each video… or for select videos. Right now they are going about the right path and developing popularity and a memberbase, expanding before they set the business model in motion. iFilm already has this exact business model, and they’re generally hated among internet users. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/7 "2006-03-19T18:16:15Z")
A coworker recently applied for a job at [break.com](http://break.com), which is a slightly more low-brow version of youtube. (It’s also all videos, but ~50% of them are rollerbladers busting their balls - and not in the hard-working sense - Nerf-bat-to-the-head style pranks, etc.) The CEO for Break said that they found that their demographic actually has quite a high click-through rate. They also said that they have over 1 million unique _video_ hits a day, which has to be an ungodly amount of bandwidth, yet they are supposed to be very profitable. Now, from what I remember, they have more of the “sexy singles are waiting for you at [true.com](http://true.com)” type ads than youtube does, but if both their demographics are that fond of clicking through ads in general, I can see it making a decent amount of money. Keep in mind that bandwidth isn’t as expensive as it used to be (at the consumer level, anyway). My $10/year dreamhost plan gives me 1TB of bandwidth a month (okay, technically 1,000 GB), so I imagine that the actual cost for the bandwidth for these companies (who I would imagine either provide their own or have cut quite a deal) aren’t as bad as we would think (though still immense). ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/8 "2006-03-19T18:38:01Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > iFilm already has this exact business model, and they’re generally hated among internet users. They are? I must have missed the memo. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/9 "2006-03-20T00:46:15Z")
Go to any [Fark.com](http://Fark.com) thread for an iFilm link and read the comments, for one example. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/10 "2006-03-20T02:32:53Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Except… how are they going to retain their member base? What group of users would ever object to paying for a site they formerly got for free? ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-youtube-making-money-planning-to-make-money/348983/11 "2006-03-20T03:51:17Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > What group of users would ever object to paying for a site they formerly got for free? For the life of me, I cannot think of a single example.