Break.com, one player in a teeming pool of user-generated video sites, has upped the compensation ante for UGV directors by announcing that it will pay $400 for video and $2,000 for animated content.
Break.com, unlike rivals such as YouTube and Google Video, has actually always paid its users for providing content. Back in January 2005, it started paying $50 per video, and then raised
its price to $250 before Sunday's new hike. Revver, BlipTV and iFilm are other video providers looking to lure better content and a more discerning audience by paying users to upload their stuff.
However, in these early days, Break.com CEO Keith Richman tells Reuters he hasn't seen much of a difference between higher pay and a higher quality of video--which is why, perhaps, it makes
more sense to tack on a merit-based incentive rather than a flat fee per uploaded video. Richman says the idea behind the payouts is to attract more content than the likes of YouTube, because who
doesn't want to be paid for filming themselves lip-syncing to a pop song? The question, as ever, is whether or not advertisers are biting--the Reuters report doesn't say.
Read the whole story at Reuters.com »