Winning a Youtube Channel worth up to $850,000

It's all about the tube - David's baby mac - model of the first mac he worked with in 1993

If you're an existing channel owner, you should be quaking considerably in your boots. 

If you've always wanted to own your own channel and couldn't afford the Sky platform insurance indemnity of supposedly $1,000,000, Youtube just answered your prayers.

The platforms says it was part of its original plan as this week it rolled out 60 new channels in Cannes, made up predominately of European producers.

The idea is channel proposals with strong brand potential and detailed feedback on their audience profiles can grab $200, 000 or up to $850,000 according UK industry magazine Broadcast. A watermark of 100,000 subscribers appears to be the bench mark.

So far the victors include: Endemol, who make Big Brother; Hat Trick Productions behind "Have I got News for You", and Jamie Oliver's Food Channel.

The outlay of funds from Youtube's parent Google will be recouped from the ad sales. This year Google stands to make more than $10,000,000.

The move signals a bold foray into television's already diminished audiences and also leverages Youtube as the platform of the future to watch television.

Yet it could also spell the end of meritocracy for the millions of users whose use built up the brand. That is by playing to stronger brands, Youtube may be forced to set up tiered premium relations with its commission winners.

In its bid to become the destination of viewer choice, Youtube is also signaling intentions by dint of the producers its allied with to produce lengthier quality pieces. The days of the idiosynchratic 2 minute  piece could be number.

david working on Nato's War Games 

The strategy that must be adopted by existing networks, aware of the social power of Youtube, is to jump into bed with them.

This could be a boon in some sense as firstly Channel owners avoid some of the superfluous regulatory frameworks of channels.

Over the last five years for instance, we've been working on Nato's War Games series .

For us this would be a prime platform not only for War Games but streaming web-based docs to audiences about conflict, an idea that Danfung Dennis indepedently arrived at for his iPad platform Condition One.





David Dunkley Gyimah will be  in Denmark UNESCO (cairo), New Xchange in Barcelona speaking about future media. You can find more about him as a senior lecturer, PhD researcher and programme maker from his site www.viewmagazine.tv