YouTube Will Offer Revenue Sharing To More Users

YouTube launched a partnership program in 2007 to help some members make money from popular videos they upload on the site. Now the video site is broadening its scope in an effort to spread the wealth — and generate some of its own.

While YouTube has focused on accepting prolific users who regularly produce videos that reach a wide audience — like Fred and ValsArtDiary — the company has occasionally extended the program to include some of the site’s more unforgettable videos, such as the Battle at Kruger, David after dentist, and Otters holding hands, explained YouTube product manager Shenaz Zack.

“These individual video partnerships recognize the role popular one-off videos play on YouTube, and have helped many people earn thousands of dollars a month as their videos went viral and endured over time,” Zack said. “We decided it was time to spread the wealth.”

Adding Ads To Popular Videos

YouTube is expanding its YouTube Partnership Program to include individual popular videos on the site. When members upload a video to YouTube that accumulates a large number of views, the company may invite those content generators to monetize that video and start earning revenue from it.

YouTube will look at a number of factors to determine whether a particular video is eligible for monetization, including the number of views, the video’s popularity, and compliance with YouTube’s terms of service. If a member’s video is eligible for monetization, he or she will receive an e-mail and see an “Enable Revenue Sharing” message next to the video on the watch page, as well as in other places in an account.

Once a member chooses to enable revenue sharing, YouTube will sell advertising against the video and pay a revenue share into the member’s Google AdSense account each month. The specific percentage was not disclosed.

“It’s taken us…