So when YouTube told creators they could make money from the ads around their Shorts content earlier last month, they were wary that the revenue on the Shorts videos they produced would help alleviate the money they’ve lost as a result of it.

Shorts gave creators incremental revenue because it was attracting ad dollars from somewhere they would not otherwise be able to access. But those dollars are far from additive for many creators.

It’s only been six weeks since YouTube has offered the ability to monetize Shorts. But creators are far from sold on the idea, according to five talent managers, marketers and consultants, who spoke to Digiday. Collectively, they have more than 60 creators on their rosters.

“The overall impressions and views are drastically up (approximately 60% for the creators we work with) but watch time and revenue have taken a big hit,” said Aniket Mishra, co-founder and CEO of news media company Creator Mail. “Giving a percentage for the decrease is a bit tricky, but I can say they are down by 20%.”

The issue has been highlighted by creators like Brooke Monk (who has 2.02 million subscribers on YouTube) who publicly posted her Shorts revenue stats since last month. A week after Shorts monetization came into play, she noted that she had earned £768.41, despite recording 64.5 million views.

YouTube says it has designed the new Shorts monetization program with those financial concerns in mind. Creators receive a portion of revenue from eligible Shorts specifically in its Shorts feed, after YouTube has accounted for its music licensing costs, based on total views. This is the opposite of YouTube’s traditional method — paying creators based on watch time. So far this tweak is yet to be a net positive for creators.

“If your viewership goes from one million monthly views to 10 million monthly views, but you’re not making any more money, that can be hard on the psyche,” said Phil Ranta, COO of digital talent management company We Are Verified. “We’ve seen many creators’ growth increase between 20% to 50% month-over-month with Shorts, but we have not seen revenue growth associated with that.”

Though arguably it’s still too soon to take these figures as anything conclusive.

“It’s still early, and we’re focused on bringing together creators, viewers, and advertisers to grow the Shorts ecosystem,” a YouTube spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. “As we all invest in Shorts we expect creator earnings to continue to grow. With Shorts ad revenue sharing, …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron