Co-founder Tim Shey of Next New Networks, the publisher of micro-television networks such as Barely Political, says his company is making money publishing videos on YouTube. Next New Networks is one of the content producers that has been selling its own YouTube ads and has regularly sold out all of its inventory of overlay ads and companion banners over the last few months, Shey has told Beet.TV
YouTube has been sharing advertising revenue with content producers since last year, but the arrangement of letting content producers find their own advertisers is new and will allow for deeper advertising integration and targeting. "A lot of those fears that people have of, you know, 'There's no way to make money on YouTube,' I think we're really rapidly proving it's the opposite case," Shey told Andy in this interview. Next New Networks' advertising partners include Starburst and Universal Pictures.
The key is packaging the content and making it simple for advertisers, according to Shey. And it's not only content producers that will benefit; this new advertising model is highly significant YouTube as well. Google has been open about their difficulty monetizing the video sharing giant, and allowing content producers to find their own advertisers could be a profitable decision for everyone.
Both Shey and a spokesperson for YouTube declined to comment on the CPM level or details on the revenue split.
Andy and Tim were panelists at the OMMA conference in Manhattan on Friday.
--Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer