Even Google Has To Pay For It

from the for-online-video dept

The move to pay people for their online videos is getting a big boost as Google has announced a deal with the creators of the "Diet Coke & Mentos" viral video to host the video, run ads around it, and share the revenue. There's clearly quite a bit of interest right now in finding models for online video that retain the social aspect while introducing a financial element. Obviously, Google won't always negotiate with video creators on an individual basis; eventually, the company will automate the process of sharing in the revenue from uploaded videos. But by making this high profile deal it sends a message to all the other companies promising money for video creators that Google is not going to let them walk in and buy up all the good content. Still, the vast majority of user-generated content (of all kinds) is not done with a financial motive, so to garner this mass it'll take more than just the lure of money.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    misanthropic humanist, 31 Oct 2006 @ 9:02am

    Freeloading scumbags

    Every night when it goes dark the stars come out. People can just look out their windows and see this beautiful and entertaining sight.

    Some people call it "the Universe". I call it pirate entertainment by a load of hippy freaks who should be rounded up and put into the Haliburton ovens.

    I mean, where's the business model? Surely we can't expect people to just freeload. Somebody has to pay for it all.

    What we need is a way to "monetize" this potential. Perhaps a fleet of orbital space ships projecting CocaCola ads onto the upper atmosphere.

    We have to crack down on people sharing pictures of sunsets, cute kittens and flowers too. If you share your experiences for free you are anti-American and destroying the economy. If people can walk down the street and avoid looking at the advertising boards then the terrorists win.

    (If this message survives and you're somehow reading it in the 25th Century... yes it's no surprise that we wiped ourselves out. We saw it coming but nobody listened... we tried, we really tried, but the fear, stupidity, greed and apathy was inpenetrable)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      ForkBoySpam, 31 Oct 2006 @ 9:26am

      Re: Freeloading scumbags

      Oh that's some great stuff right there! Great post!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Freeloading scumbags 2, 31 Oct 2006 @ 9:27am

      Re: Freeloading scumbags

      Absolutely right

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Jezsik, 31 Oct 2006 @ 10:37am

      Re: Freeloading scumbags

      Misanthropic humanist, good one!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Tack, 31 Oct 2006 @ 3:54pm

      Re: Freeloading scumbags

      Sad but true. Somewhere there's a marketing exec at Coke who's actually trying to calculate how much it would cost to do that. In fact, if 7UP (owned by pepsi) gives away a free ticket to space, I'm pretty sure the entire idea of ads projected by a coca-cola spacecraft is possible, it's just a matter of weather or not it's cheap enough.

      Personally, I'd like to see NBC/ABC/CBS shoot a satelite up there which does the same thing, but instead displays their actual live TV feed. Imagine if you could just look outside and get network TV. The only problem is that it probably wouldn't work during the day time - a problem which every other ad medium doesn't have - but let's face it, it's a lot cheaper way to advertise. If pepsi pays 6 million bucks for a super bowl ad, yet the russians will launch stuff for 1 million (not to mention the fledgling private space industry in America, who will match that) then pepsi has 5 mil to spend on the satelite itself, which is needless to say certainly possible. The only problem I could for see is if someone who actually has a nice pair of tits (no offense Janet) was to have another slip on live TV, because let's face it, the viewership would be literally almost the entire country and therefore the fine would be humongous.

      Not to mention of someone was to hack such a satelite. I mean, satelites in general ain't well encrypted, so if you have the equipment to be able to communicate with them at all (any any DirecTV user does) then there's no real reason you couldn't hack the system and upload a porn movie. Now THAT would be a problem (sorta).

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      satan, 31 Oct 2006 @ 9:34pm

      Re: Freeloading scumbags

      how much is it gonna cost me to read your comment?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    discojohnson, 31 Oct 2006 @ 9:42am

    worms

    ..another can of worms. an effect from this is: copyright infringement cases. now because i made a video, within the provisions of fair use, that makes fun of..say..Superman. now i've got DC Comics saying it's wrong and to take it down. or maybe instead of something bad, it's really cool and generates a lot of clickthroughs...now DC Comics wants a cut of my cut, or they cry foul that they're not seeing as much money as they can.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Cowardly Lion, 31 Oct 2006 @ 9:53am

    whats the problem?

    So they want to pay me for putting up my movies? OK so that means giving up some level of control of what I can put up. After all now their paying for it... So what will get put up may get bland or overly commercial... Is what you guys are so upset about..? Cause thats the way other mediums have gone...? Well the internet is a little different because if you don't like what Google is doing, there are real alternatives. Alternative you can build yourself.

    Don't get mad, let your mouse do the talking...

    And hey this is no joke! I'm really confused about what the previous posters are upset about...

    I apologize in advance for being dense.

    -CL

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Cowardly Lion, 31 Oct 2006 @ 9:54am

    whats the problem?

    So they want to pay me for putting up my movies? OK so that means giving up some level of control of what I can put up. After all now their paying for it... So what will get put up may get bland or overly commercial... Is what you guys are so upset about..? Cause thats the way other mediums have gone...? Well the internet is a little different because if you don't like what Google is doing, there are real alternatives. Alternative you can build yourself.

    Don't get mad, let your mouse do the talking...

    And hey this is no joke! I'm really confused about what the previous posters are upset about...

    I apologize in advance for being dense.

    -CL

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    eatme, 31 Oct 2006 @ 1:28pm

    misanthropic humanist (read tool)

    You must be a tree hugging commie pinko. I would have added being an idiot, but that is just too obvious.

    Why do you have a problem with people actually making money off their work? You want to put up videos of kittens or flowers, you are free to do so. Why do you want to limit others who strive to make money? Oh, thats right, you are a liberal. You got yours, and you want to make sure no one else gets theirs.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 31 Oct 2006 @ 2:09pm

    silly little humans who think an opinion after some comment news article means so much.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    misanthropic humanist, 31 Oct 2006 @ 3:04pm

    eatme

    In only seven sentences you have demonstrated a complete ignorance of environmentalism, communism, liberalism, work and money. That's quite an achievement, even by your own standards I'm sure.

    As (presumably inhuman) AC#9 says, what is it that angers you so much in a half-assed humorous comment on a backwater news blog by some nonentity who is clearly trolling people like you (I admit it).

    Sucker. :)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    misanthropic humanist, 31 Oct 2006 @ 4:15pm

    Sad but true.

    You're right Tack, I should be careful making absurd remarks like that, it only gives ideas to the cognitively challenged.

    The real irony is that we are a species capable of going into space, and yet stupid enough to guzzle fetid gutrot like carbonic acid and fructose.

    If I managed to hack the Coca Cola space projector I'd skip the porn movies and just broadcast a huge image of the hand of God telling Bush suppoters to go and jump into the boiling lava of the nearest active volcano because their work on Earth is done and I want them to come and join me in heaven.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.