Like the title says, I was standing in the right place at the right time, when I filmed a someone doing something that could be described as awesome, but in a good way. This is verboten is my family. This person is not a family member, but falls under the general code of conduct. I should note that I was on public property at the time and this whole thing fell into my lap.
I have no doubt that the person I filmed knew, nor that they cared. No media outlets have this footage. It’s not smooth enough to sell for broadcast, but it is good enough for YouTube.
To be blunt, I want to make money off of this video. This person’s good reputation will be even greater, and my purse will be fatter. Yes, I am justifying my actions, but to be perfectly clear, if this video were the slightest bit unflattering, I would not be doing this. This person’s publicist should have been so lucky to get what I got.
So … exactly how do I do this? I get the whole create an account, upload a video thing. What I don’t understand is how you get advertisers and ads and such? And viewers? And keywords (or is that just in the description)? Or does it need to be in the title? Exactly how do I market this?
I have not seen this to be a problem for news shows in past 5 years. Grainy, unwatchable, pixelated - they do not care, they just want “exclusive.”
Your best bet for big bucks is to shop it around to news outlets, maybe TMZ first. That’s how you get guaranteed quick bucks. Not so much when you try to monetize on YouTube.
I do not want to be outed as having done this for various reasons. YouTube offers me anonymity.
This is not video of a crime or some other breaking news that every media outlet will rush to pick up, but it is exclusive, touching and is absolutely one of those videos that will draw steady traffic.
I’m not concerned about quick bucks. I would prefer $100 to $200 month for several years or to infinity than $500 from TMZ right now.
The question is really whether YouTube now allows you to monetize right away, or still requires you to “establish” your channel first. They’ve been lowering the requirements for monetization every few months, so it wouldn’t surprise me if you can just monetize a video right away.
Why don’t you just create a YouTube account and see if the ability is available? That’d be quicker than asking us. I have it on both of my YouTube channels, but they’re years old with lots of videos.
Yeah, I had to jump through hoops to get my partner invitation, but that was years ago - I’m fairly sure they let anyone monetize now, as long as the content is compliant.
I find it curious that you’ve witnessed somebody semi-famous doing something altruistic, and your first instinct is to find a way to profit from it. :dubious:
You should probably just put it on YouTube, as is, and see if it actually does go viral. If it does, then any news outlet or gossip rag who comes calling will need to ask your permission before re-broadcasting it.
That’s what wasn’t clear. I read and reread all their instructions and there wasn’t a section that covered “I have something that has a real potential to go viral and want to make money right away”.
What I don’t want is YouTube cashing in before me.
Well of course they will. That’s how business works. They have to sell the adds before they can toss you the crumbs from their table. If you want to set up your own multi-billion-dollar video hosting website and take 100% of the revenue, then go right ahead…
This person is not “semi-famous”. They are global permanent A list.
What they were doing was not “altruistic”. It was exactly as I said, awesome, but in a good way, exclusive, touching and their already good reputation will be reinforced. It was also spur of the moment, quite funny AND they knew I was filming.
I’ll give a similar example of my situation (not even close to what actually happened except in theory) since you’ve painted me as a complete money-grubbing bitch in my actual scenario:
I’m walking along, minding my own business, when I see the Queen of England and her minders in Central Park. She is feeling sociable and greeting people. I’m not in a hurry so I stop. Someone asks the Queen what kind of music she likes. She says she loves Miley Cyrus and someone jokingly asks the Queen if she also twerks. The Queen says yes and when I hear this, I whip out my phone and begin filming and capture on film the only known footage of the Queen of England twerking. It’s all good-natured and everyone there is laughing (in a good way) at what a good sense of humor the Queen has and how unexpected her actions were and we all love her and she loves all of us and everyone is happy.
Do I want money for being quick on the draw? Yes. Did I debate this internally? Yes, because my family has long had a closed ranks policy. I thought about it and made my decision, and the decision was to go forward with this.
So this answers my original question in a productive way … how?
I ask how you get advertisers and ads and such? And viewers? And keywords (or is that just in the description)? Or does it need to be in the title? Exactly how do I market this? on YouTube and you tell me to set up my own multi-billion-dollar video hosting website?
FYI, I make a six figure salary. I’m educated. I’m far from being an idiot. I understand how business works. What I don’t understand is exactly how the business side of YouTube works because I wasn’t born 20 years ago. I understand that YouTube will ALSO make money off of my video.
What I don’t want is YouTube cashing in while I’m not.
It sounds like you’re asking how to make a video go viral. Trust me, there are a lot of people out there who would pay a lot of money to figure that one out.
He’s just telling you how it works, and not to expect the impossible. The way it works is that you create an account, and you enable monetization on said account. You upload the video and mark it to be monetized. YouTube then has to approve the monetization, and then you start earning money.
There is no process by which you can tell YouTube ahead of time that you want to monetize your video. All you can do is make it private until the monetization is approved. And, of course, hope that no one else caught it.
You say you’ve got the documentation, so I won’t insult you by spelling out the exact steps. Unless you want to pay me with that big salary of yours…
Why not find someone with experience doing things like this, and an established youtube presence, offer them 10%, get some documents drawn up to protect your interests, profit?
