Guide To Monetizing Videogame Reviews on Youtube

[Hi675445]

Xtranormal grants permission for movies made using its animation engine to be used for revenue sharing programs, as long as the Xtranormal watermark is present in the movie or some other means of giving credit to the service is present. Per that policy, we're fine with this movie being accepted for the YouTube partner program.

[GarrettSalters13]

So if I don't monetize game play and just use it to attract people, I can monetize other videos that are my original and be ok with it?

[jfreedan]

@GarrettSalters13 Uh...no? You shouldn't just upload video footage you don't own just to attract subscribers. If you aren't using someone else's copyrighted work in a way that abides by fair use then you are committing copyright infringement.

[GarrettSalters13]

@jfreedan I don't mean to simply attract but rather I commentate videos, I just cant monetize them. But the rest of my channel is ok to do so with?

[jfreedan]

@GarrettSalters13 There is always a chance the publisher might decide to use Content ID to monetize your video or take it down. In either case you'll get a strike of some sort.

[Greatoswaldo]

From my understand: We are allowed to post reviews with clips from said game being reviewed so long as it's under a minute and the let's play or walk-throughs have to be educational or "have a purpose". Correct me where I am wrong or missing info.

[iAmNeonKarma]

i have a question, please respond

plenty of people make money off videogames, like optic, and machinima, and they're partners on youtube

but in the rules it says video game content can't be used for monetizing and that they may be taken down

how do people like OpTic and machinima get around this?

[jfreedan]

@iAmNeonKarma machinima has official agreements with many videogame developers. machinima is able to extend these agreements to those who are part of their network. The majority of Youtube Partners who do gaming channels are part of machinima's network. And with that said I will point out I am not part of machinima's network, I just know people that are and have talked about this with some PR people for game publishers.

[iAmNeonKarma]

@jfreedan thanks a lot, that really helped ^_^

[reno911unlocred]

but... if i want to upload gameplay with comentary talking about the game, how to play, things to use etc. but not moneterize it... could i still become a partner?

[jfreedan]

@reno911unlocred It defeats the point of becoming a Partner, but yes..

[elvisreviews]

This helped me upload my first video game review, thank you! I also monitized a news report, and maybe will also attempt to monitize a movie review soon!

THANKS!

[dansnewaddress]

this was very helpful, thanks man. i wonder how big youtuber's have ads on their videos of them simply playing BLOPs or other games then?

[dansnewaddress]

this was very helpful, thanks man!

[TheAPAnderson]

:D this was a fun video, thanks!

[TheTrueAssanaut]

y u so many dislikes? I liked it...

[jfreedan]

@TheTrueAssanaut Haters gonna hate. I'm glad you liked it though! 

[jfreedan]

@NostalgicSince2005 That doesn't necessarily mean they will actually sue him though. It's up to the copyright owners to determine whether his reviews benefit them more by introducing the video to new audiences.

[jfreedan]

@NostalgicSince2005 Fair use is a tricky area of law. Two of the factors used to determine whether something is fair use or not is whether the derivative work uses the "heart of the work" (if it does, that means people have no reason to buy the original work) or if it uses a large portion of it (again, same deal. If it uses almost all of the work people have no reason to watch the original work). I think a good lawyer could probably prove a case of copyright infringement on many of his videos.

[jfreedan]

@NostalgicSince2005 Yeah, I think his use of movie footage and music that has nothing to do with the film he is reviewing would probably be found to be copyright infringement. I fear this will eventually come into play in the future, though it can go down in multiple ways. It is entirely possible the big studios may want to do business with him in the future and they will work out some kind of license agreement. That's what happened with Youtube

[cabaretdocoxo]

I'm curious, how much do you (or any other youtube game reviewer) gets paid for each view? And when you become an youtube partner, do you get paid from past views as well? (please leave me a shout at my channel wall, otherwise I will forget to check this video comment section :p)

[jfreedan]

@cabaretdocoxo I'm not allowed to disclose the exact finances of my channel, but you can generally expect a dollar per thousand views. It varies depending on how much advertisers are willing to pay for the ad that played.

[mikethered123]

Why do so many people get on your case about everything? I don't get it. Even when making content about controversial issues you don't take stabs at people or champion some super radical nonsensical point of view.

[temptstress666]

Hahah, OH YEAH, your going to make money making money by review games.... RIGHT

[jfreedan]

@temptstress666 I and a lot of other people do make money by reviewing games.

[temptstress666]

@jfreedan Ten dollers a week bud? Oh wow, pretty good

[jfreedan]

@temptstress666 It varies. Some people make a great deal. It depends on traffic.

[Gabrielvogel]

@jfreedan I think its like this: more subscribers and viewers: more money, is that correct?

[jfreedan]

@Gabrielvogel No. Revenue works through Google Ads. All Youtube Partners receive a % of the money Google collects from the ads. The % is based on the particular type of ad shown; AdSense for content is 68%. It has absolutely nothing to do with how many subscribers you have. If people don't watch your videos routinely you don't make money routinely; thus traffic determines how much your channel brings in

[jfreedan]

@Gabrielvogel You could have 100 subs but get 10k hits per day and make a lot, or have 10k subs but only get 100 views per day and make very little.

[HarriHaffi]

entertaining and informative...didn't know there was a law called fair-use...

MVHH

[jfreedan]

@HarriHaffi It's not so much a law as a clause to a law. That is, it is a section of copyright law.

[davidzxx]

seriously, I don't ask money when playing my games or reviewing them.

Plenty of other people make gameplay vids. no one earns money.

I seriously don't care about the money, or the views for that matter.

[LarryBundyJr]

A lot of videos that have been pulled by YouTube were totally legitimate because they often use a rather lacklusture phishing program to sort out potentially copyright infinging videos.

For instance on my GuruLarry account, I had two videos removed by a company (IMG) for the sole reason that I mentioned that a friend of mine in the video now works for them. That's it.

[jfreedan]

@LarryBundyJr Youtube has two systems; Content ID, which is partially automated (it still requires the copyright owner to send the DMCA notice even after vids are found by the bot program) and only available to select Partners, and the system everyone else uses where the complaints are reviewed by an employee of Youtube. Also remember, I've been filing a bunch of notices lately. I can say with 100% certainty that an actual person is reviewing the flags.

[LarryBundyJr]

@jfreedan Have you ever received a response from this person? I've heard that on occasion they will write to you.

[jfreedan]

@LarryBundyJr Yes I have actually.

[plhearn]

The title is misleading and should be about fair use in copyright law. The guy only briefly mentions hes trying to monetize game reviews and the rest of the video is about fair use clause.

[jfreedan]

@plhearn The title is not misleading. You can only monetize videogame reviews if you follow the fair use guidelines Youtube has specified. This video addresses the most common questions people have about the topic.

[jfreedan]

@plhearn Also if you watched the entire video you'd see I give additional guidance on how long your game footage clips should be when doing a review, and to not use music that has nothing to do with the game.

[plhearn]

So then why is there a lets play of every game from my childhood up on youtube and they never get taken down? I guess the publishers just don't care enough to have them removed.

[jfreedan]

@plhearn A Let's Play has accompanying audio commentary. When Youtube says, "video that just shows someone playing a game" they mean without any audio track created by the user where they talk about the game.

[ninjajohn7]

as much as I hate xtranormal this is a great video

[CrazyOneToadette]

- wipe - dont get it? read my comment on eden

[MegaTalker14]

Screw copyright laws.

[jfreedan]

@MegaTalker14 Copyright laws help ensure that copyright holders can earn money from their copyrighted works. This enables the copyright holder to pay employee salaries. This is not a bad thing.

[jaysonwaterfalls]

hi jfreedan.

great video.

but........... you haven't made a really FUN video in awhile.

i loved your candy review videos LOL. and... i love watching you talk about final fantasy.

memories and that sort, that's all fun.

i feel you've gone a bit serious and rather unbiased.

[jfreedan]

@jaysonwaterfalls Don't worry, the comedy sketches will return soon. But I don't think my reviews are unbias. I think I've been pretty critical in the last few reviews I made.

[mak7070]

@jfreedan well can you review an old game again. instead of an mmo

[jfreedan]

@mak7070 I'll do some older games again, eventually. Right now I have some PSP games and a few more online games. People have requested that I do more current games and I've been trying to do that.

[Thewwekiller]

If I were you, I'd just use Blip. A LOT less stressful in terms of copyright claims and they actually know what fair use is, unlike youtube who will take down a vid on a moment's notice. Plus, automatic monetization, granted you have enough views.

[jfreedan]

@Thewwekiller I use blip for my GotGame.com reviews but Youtube is the #1 video streaming site, so having a Youtube Partner account for your show is also very beneficial for distribution and revenue generation.

[Thewwekiller]

@jfreedan This is true, but youtube can be very picky about their partners. That and most review sites use blip (TGWTG, Reviewtopia, Reviewers Unknown, etc.)

[jfreedan]

@Thewwekiller From what I hear, they use blip because blip gives them special deals with ad revenue and blip allows one to make an account that monetize videos without needing approval. This is how blip differentiates itself from Youtube. Youtube's ad revenue is determined by Google AdSense and they are more selective of what videos are approved for monetization. You also need to direct your own traffic to videos on blip or nobody will see them. Youtube allows your videos to be seen much easier.

[jfreedan]

@Thewwekiller I also disagree that blip shields people against DMCA violations. Because blip is more difficult to search than Youtube and does not offer things like Content ID, it is simply harder for copyright owners to track who is re-uploading their content than it is on Youtube. They cannot send DMCA notices against videos they don't know exist.

[Thewwekiller]

@jfreedan Very good point. Hard to kill what you can't see. Anyways, you should put your videos up on reviewtopia on the Community Reviews section. You'll probably get picked up considering both the quality and quantity of your videos.

[jfreedan]

@Thewwekiller Given that members of Reviewtopia are taking part in the organized harassment against me (example: blee427, "Righteous Brian" the "The Game Anthropologist") I believe it is safe to say you will never see my show on Reviewtopia.

[Thewwekiller]

@jfreedan I believe there are more than enough people that would like your vids, though. I know you could at least get onto Reviewers Unknown or perhaps Sarcastic Venom's website. He usually gets about 1K views.