The YouTube Dilemma

Preparing for a post-YouTube World!

Community Guidelines Your Acceptance

“Although we may attempt to notify you when major changes are made to these Terms of Service, you should…review the most up-to-date version. YouTube may, in its sole discretion, modify these Terms of Service and its policies at any time, and you agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions…”

Permissions and Restrictions

“You agree not to distribute in any medium any part of the Service or the Content without YouTube’s prior written authorization, unless YouTube makes available the means for such distribution through functionality offered by the Service (such as an embeddable player.”

Permissions and Restrictions

“You agree not to use the Service for any of the following commercial uses unless you obtain YouTube’s prior written approval:

1. The sale of advertising, sponsorships, or promotions placed on or within the Service or Content; or

2. The sale of advertising, sponsorships, or promotions on any page of an ad-enabled blog or website containing Content delivered via the Service, unless other material not obtained from YouTube appears on the same page and is of sufficient value to be the basis for such sales.”

Your Use of Content “The Content on the Service, and the trademarks, service marks and logos (‘Marks’) on the Service, are owned by or licensed to YouTube, subject to copyright and other intellectual property rights under the law”

“You shall not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of YouTube or the respective licensors of the Content. YouTube and its licensors reserve all rights not expressly granted in and to the Service and the Content.”

Your Use of Content “You further understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to Content that is inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable, and you agree to waive, and hereby do waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against YouTube with respect thereto, and, to the extent permitted by applicable law, agree to indemnify and hold harmless YouTube, its owners, operators, affiliates, licensors, and licensees to the fullest extent allowed by law regarding all matters related to your use of the Service.”

Publishing Content on YouTube

“You license to YouTube all patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights in and to such Content for publication on the Service pursuant to these Terms of Service.”

“You grant to YouTube a non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable and transferrable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform your content. You also hereby grant each user of the Service a non-exclusive license to access your Content through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such Content as permitted through the functionality of the Service and under these Terms of Service. The above licenses granted by you in video Content you submit to the Service terminate within a commercially reasonable time after you remove or delete your videos from the Service.”

YouTube’s Soul Stealing RED

ContractWhat You Should Know

The music industry has voiced a strong dissatisfaction and frustration for YouTube.

Artists and their labels must sign the YouTube music service agreement or YouTube will block their channel.

Major Concerns 1. An artist’s entire catalog must be included in

both the free and premium service. • Anything that a third party uploads with

artist information in the description will automatically be included in the music service too!

2. ALL songs will be set to “monetize” meaning there will be ads.

3. The artist will be required to release new music on YouTube at the same time it is released elsewhere.

4. The entire catalog must be released at 320 kbps resolution.

5. The contract lasts 5 years!

Other Major Concerns YouTube grants itself a mandatory 5 year

contract and distribution deal for any content released by the artist

YouTube grants itself the right to own distribution rights to any third party content that is uploaded on their platform, even if the artist consciously decided not to put it on YouTube.

YouTube Contradicts Itself Google reps have misleadingly described

YouTube’s policy as not to block or remove artists’ channels if they do not agree to its YouTube Red contractual terms.

These artists can still upload videos, but cannot make money from advertising, nor can they claim third-party videos that include their music via the content-ID system.

THE SOLUTION:An Owned & Operated Video

Destination An O&O destination site allows for a cost-effective way

for content creators to take control of their content revenue.

Publishers will NOT remove their content from YouTube, but instead use YouTube as a customer acquisition platform.

Take Control of Your Revenue!When monetizing video content on YouTube, 45% of revenue goes straight to YouTube’s coffers.

Many users also enter into a contract with a Multi-Channel Network for production and promotion assistance in exchange for advertising revenue – usually a 40/60 split.

By moving a portion of content off YouTube, publishers stand to gain a substantial increase in revenue.

Take Control of your Advertising

YouTube decides which ads to run before each video and where end-of-video traffic is redirected.

Video pre-roll ads are sold alongside search ads using the same per-click metrics – this optimizes revenue for Google, but not for content creators.

Controlling your advertising is important for maximizing your revenue, and crucial to building your brand.

When you hand over control of your advertising to YouTube, you hand over control of your brand.

Take Control of Your BrandWith YouTube, you lack full control over basic branding features, like page design and embeddable player customization.

With an O&O site, you can reinforce your brand identity through fully customized page layouts, designs, color palettes, and content.

THE “RECOMMENDED VIDEO” FUNCTION: Recommended videos are a great way to promote content

discovery and increase your number of video and ad views. On YouTube, instead of redirecting traffic to your other

videos via the “recommended videos” mechanism, YouTube redirects traffic to the videos that give them the highest advertising revenue returns.

It is in YouTube’s best interest to promote videos that will be most profitable for YouTube, even if those videos belong to your competitors.

Take Control of Your Content YouTube often enforces copyright policies that are

unfavorable toward content publishers.

YouTube’s Content ID system allows people to flag videos for copyright infringement and removes “flagged” content, even if the content creator had a permission to use the content.

The Content ID system automatically acts in the flagger’s favor, so content creators must dispute the charge to get their content restored, meanwhile losing revenue as they wait for a resolution.

Moving to an O&O video destination site means that no one can remove your content but you!

This way you can exercise your better judgment when it comes to copyright disputes, without sacrificing potential revenue while a third party decides for you.

Take Control of Your Subscribers

YouTube doesn’t share valuable subscriber information, like email addresses, with you as the content creator.

With a multi-channel strategy, you can deepen engagement with your fans by allowing them to opt-in to further communications with you and your brand.

This dialogue is KEY to understanding your audience and increasing engagement and views.

Building a Multi-Channel Strategy

Building a multi-channel strategy is the best way to grow you video business.

How do you build an Owned & Operated video destination site and driving traffic to higher margin content?

You will need:

Optimize Your YouTube Content for a Multi-Channel Strategy

How do you turn YouTube viewers and subscribers into O&O website viewers?

Craft a compelling Call-to-Action (CTA). A great CTA tells viewers:

1. What to do (visit my website)

2. How to do it (click this link)

3. Why to do it (for more awesome videos)

Implement your CTA in all your YouTube videos to drive traffic to your O&O website:

1. Include a link back to your O&O website within your video description.

2. You can place text overlays (annotations) over your YouTube videos and layer links to your O&O website.

3. Ask your YouTube viewers to visit your O&O site at the end of your video, for example, via a screenshot directing viewers to your site.