Should You Join a Youtube Network?

Should You Join a Youtube Network?

The Pros and Cons of Youtube Partner Networks

You may be wondering whether or not you should join a YouTube network. The rapid rise of online video studios and YouTube networks like Machinima, BigFrame, Maker Studios, FullScreen, and a host of others presents new options for creators to consider, but navigating this new world can be a bit overwhelming.  There are certainly a lot of YouTube Networks out there to choose from and all of them offer a lot of great perks for signing on as a network partner, but are the benefits worth any drawbacks and downsides?

Ray William Johnson, who recently left Maker Studios (a “YouTube network”) and therefore clearly has an opinion, gave his thoughts on the viability of partnering with YouTube networks in an interview post on NewMediaRockStars.com.  Ray stated the following:

I don’t know everything there is to know about Youtube-based networks, but as far as I do know, there’s no good reason to ever sign your Youtube Adsense account over to a 3rd party. Ever. Period. Anything a Youtube-based network wants to do for you, they can accomplish without seizing control of your Adsense account.

If you want production or managerial assistance, then partner with a production entity or manager and pay them a percentage of your expected revenue, but don’t sign your Adsense over to them. Furthermore, from a business perspective, there’s no long-term business plan in owning a collection of thousands of Youtube Adsense accounts. Again, I say this having somewhat limited knowledge of every single Youtube-based network out there. I know there are dozens of them (networks) at this point, and who knows, maybe some of them are doing great things.

Clearly Ray doesn’t see any reason why anyone should ever, under any circumstance, sign over their AdSense account to someone else or to a network of any kind.

That being said, everyone is different and clearly there are benefits to joining these networks as evidenced by the many established YouTube channels that have formed partnerships with YouTube networks.  Additionally, many of these networks really can help when it comes to production and marketing resources.  Therefore, we recommend separately evaluating the pros and cons of each network to determine on your own if there’s a good upside for your specific channel needs and goals.  This is a somewhat nacent market and business models will likely evolve.  At the very least, keep your eye on the networks to see if they make sense for your efforts.

http://www.reelseo.com/partner-youtube-networks/

For more information on Multi Channel Network’s and YouTube how to videos please check back weekly or subscribe here.