Disney-Fox deal all about the future of TV
Moves to ‘‘clean up’’ YouTube have forced some of its stars to get day jobs, Lucas Shaw reports.
YouTube’s crackdown on inappropriate material is inadvertently depriving some creators of as much as 80 per cent of their monthly sales, a blow to the very people who helped make the site the most popular place to watch video online.
The swift drop in revenue, a side effect of YouTube’s attempt to remove ads from offensive videos, has caused some users who once thrived on the site to quit posting or defect for rival sites like Amazon.com’s Twitch.
YouTube says it’s working to address users’ concerns, acknowledging that ‘‘it’s been a tough year for creators.’’
The video service has built one of the largest media businesses in the world, by relying on relative unknowns to provide it with clips for free.
The incentive for users is to build an audience and share in advertising proceeds as their viewership grows. But some creators are reconsidering as they benefit less from the symbiotic relationship.
‘‘I’ve had to change my whole life around,’’ said Joe Taylor, who operates a motorcycle-focused channel called JoeGo101.
Taylor’s earnings have fallen from US$6,000 a month to about US$1,000 a month, not enough for the 37-year-old to pay the bills.
‘‘There are so many people who can’t post as much because they had to go get jobs. They have fired thousands of people in one fell swoop.’’
YouTube has been stripping advertisements from hundreds of thousands of videos – a process it’s calling de-monetisation – after it was revealed ads had run next to inappropriate material.
One of the site’s most popular channels, PewDiePie, run by Swedish gaming commentator Felix Kjellberg, offended viewers and advertisers with anti-Semitic material earlier this year. He earned US$15m (NZ$21 million) last year.
The algorithm YouTube has since developed to flag inappropriate videos is effective but imperfect, and still misses inappropriate videos with kids.
In November, Mars, Adidas and Deutsche Bank all said they would halt advertising on YouTube.
But the process has also swept up all sorts of video that never should have been targeted.
‘‘Anybody running a serious YouTube channel has seen a higher percentage of videos demonetised and it doesn’t seem to be subsiding,’’ said Marc Hustvedt, Above Average, an online media company.
‘‘Individual creators are taking the biggest hit. The swings are massive.’’
Despite the new challenges, YouTube channels making six figures or more in revenue are up 40 per cent over last year, the company said.
Creators also have new ways to make money through subscriptions, sponsorships and other tools, YouTube said.
For every YouTuber who hit it big and now makes money selling books, make-up or TV shows, there are dozens more creators who eke out a living advertisement by advertisement.
Taylor began his career on YouTube by posting a video from his commute to work every week.
After nine months, his most popular upload had been viewed about 3,000 times – nothing
When news broke last month that Walt Disney Co was in talks to buy a large part of 21st Century Fox, the first question many investors had was, why are the Murdochs selling?
Then came the second: Why is Disney buying?
The US$52 billion (NZ$74.4b) deal, announced this week, would mark a significant turning point in the empire-building career of Fox’s founder 86-year-old Rupert Murdoch.
It would also be a defining moment for Disney and its chief executive, Robert Iger.
The deal would give the home of Mickey Mouse and Princess Elsa the
''They have fired thousands of people in one fell swoop." Joe Taylor, YouTuber.
special.
Then a cop pulled him over. Taylor’s camera recorded the episode, and the video, ‘‘Pulled Over by the Coolest COP EVER!!!’’ has received about 15 million views. (The police officer let Taylor go without citing him for speeding.)
Taylor’s videos started getting shared on YouTube and Instagram, and the following for 20th Century Fox film studio, the FX network, 39 per cent of Britain’s Sky TV service and other assets.
It’s just the kind of consolidation media investors have said was long overdue, particularly in film.
‘‘There’s a lot of synergies in doing this, particularly in global distribution,’’ said Mario Gabelli, of institutional investor Gamco Investors.
‘‘If I’m Disney I love the distribution globally, India, satellites in Italy, Germany, England. This is good stuff.’’
Disney would also bulk up on more diverse content like Deadpool, X-Men and The Simpsons. Acquisitions it has made in the past,
his channel grew to more than 750,000.
His earnings ballooned, and people reached out wanting to ride with him.
Then ad-pocalypse started. Almost every video Taylor posted started getting flagged as unsafe for advertisers, for reasons that were unclear to him. Some of his videos contain swear words, but he usually bleeps them.
Every clip but one became unrestricted after he petitioned, but the damage was done. Many videos receive the bulk of their viewership in the first day or two.
‘‘I tried to ride it out for like six months. And it got worse,’’ he said. Taylor had to take a job such as Lucasfilm and Marvel Entertainment, have allowed Disney to dominate the box office for the past two years.
Disney would also receive access to pay TV channel Sky and streaming service Hulu, offsetting the loss of subscribers to its traditional channels.
For Fox, Disney’s capital and scale explain why Murdoch is open to parting with a portion of his media empire.
The billionaire has been frustrated with the market undervaluing his assets, and is willing to reshape his empire if he can get what he thinks the holdings are worth, according to a person familiar with the matter.
- The Washington Post
driving a dump truck, and is now thinking about going into real estate.
Other creators say their earnings haven’t been affected, but they’re still frustrated by YouTube’s lack of transparency and communications.
The company has yet to share a set of standards of what’s acceptable for advertisers, but it has updated its guidelines and pledged to hire 10,000 staff to review content.
‘‘The thing that sucks is YouTube doesn’t tell you why it was de-monetised,’’ said Sam Sheffer, a 27-year-old YouTuber who began a few months ago.’’
- The Washington Post