
Google acquires FameBit to connect YouTube creators with marketers - venturefizz
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/11/google-acquires-famebit-to-connect-youtube-creators-with-brands/
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manachar
One thing that is impressive about YouTube versus other social media platforms
has been YouTube's willingness to help content creators to make money.

There's a path for people with a minimum of marketing savvy to start making
revenue off of their videos.

Compare this to Facebook/Instagram which requires individuals to find other
ways of getting paid while those platforms profit directly off of your
content.

Makes me wish for a "cooperative" Facebook where all content creators (posts,
pictures, etc) get a slice of the ad revenue much like YouTube.

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aantix
Facebook has to solve the content piracy problem that they have. Drives me
crazy when an original video goes viral and then you see other pages upload
the video as their own..

I wish there were human editors matching videos, giving credit to the original
author's page/upload. At least tackle the videos with 1,000,000+ views..

~~~
rebootthesystem
Yes, absolutely. If I share a video on FB I always take the time to try and
dig-up the original source. It usually ends-up being on YouTube. Not that hard
to do. I wish FB didn't obfuscate and people took the time to do this. If
anything because it might represent revenue for the author and they deserve to
receive it.

~~~
rebootthesystem
For the life of me I can't understand why anyone would down-vote my comment.
Please educate me, what's wrong with my statement? I don't get it.

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jbenz
Hey, I hired YouTubers via FameBit quite a _bit_ ago to help make videos like
this one:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=Ko586_GPuR8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=Ko586_GPuR8)

I have to say, it was a great experience. Famebit encouraged both sides to be
open and transparent. They wanted to their YouTubers to include a note like
"sponsored by so and so".

We wanted that too. As an advertiser, I'm not trying to sneak into the native
content of unsuspecting viewers. I want everyone to know the scenario. The
fewer surprises, the better.

And this type of thing works great on YouTube. Users aren't totally scornful
of sponsored content. I wish more platforms were like this. Can you imagine
how angry most reddit users would be if someone posted original content (even
if it was great) and said "This is a paid posting by..."

Sadly, it didn't work out for long with FameBit. We were getting a lot of new
storefront owners... but they seemed very young, and they had no concept of
copyright issues. That's a story for another day.

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goeric
A significant amount of revenue is being made through YouTube as a platform in
a grey area that Google doesn't really currently touch (integrated content
through creators).

Creators and MCN's benefit the most from this. By starting to control the
medium brands and creators connect with, they at least get a piece of the
action.

~~~
brazzledazzle
Serious question: when you say integrated content it has the same meaning as
product placement right?

~~~
wastedhours
I would guess partly - product placement is a type of integrated content,
whereas the broader spectrum can cover those passive placements, more
traditional ad slots, sponsored event coverage etc...

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elsewhen
this is a very interesting acquisition for Google. i wonder if they are
concerned about adblockers and see native advertising as a solution. or,
perhaps their data shows that native ads perform much better than traditional
advertising.

~~~
tzakrajs
I doubt it is the adblockers. The adblocker arms race is won by those who own
the browser since the browser is the last place you can enforce DRM and the
incumbants (Google, Apple, and Mozilla to a lesser extent) have the capacity
to stage a power play that enforce trusted computing policies for ad-laden web
applications. Ad blockers will lose their in-browser hooks and will need to
instrument the browser from outside its process space using computer vision
and memory exploits to detect and remove ads in the future. This cat and mouse
game will relegate ad blockers to the <10% market share thus staving off a
lost market for ad revenue and reducing any dependence on native advertising
or product tie ins.

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blahi
I've always wondered why youtube and twitch don't just make a platform for
content creators to sign direct deals and get a cut. Seems like a no-brainer
IMO.

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thedangler
Interesting. I've been working on a similar project in my limited spare time.
I wonder if I should continue or throw in the towel. I searched for others
like mine before I started and didn't find much. I guess I'll have to up my
googling skills.

~~~
yabatopia
Youtube is a big, ever expanding ocean. Plenty of space for smaller fish.
Important is to find your niche and target audience, and grow from there.

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clay_to_n
This is pretty cool. I'd guess that most people making any money off YouTube
are making a lot more from FameBit (and similar platforms) than from YouTube
itself. Makes sense that Google would want a slice of that.

