Younger generation of chasers being swindled for weather and storm video

[Dan Robinson]

It varies, the payout per million is commonly reported to be $800 to $1,500 or more depending on the ad rates which fluctuate wildly through the year. It all depends on who/how many are buying ads. That is consistent with what I see, sometimes I get more - especially during the holiday season when advertising activity is heavy. My annual Youtube revenue has left my ENG in the dust since 2 years ago, they aren't even close now. So much so that I embargo Youtube on ENG sales, some even online copies altogether.

They have backtracked on the monetization policies regarding storms. All but one of my videos that was demonetized automatically was restored upon appeal. You just have to be careful with metadata and damage aftermath, showing or describing injuries or private property, or any sensitive subjects. Avoid keywords like damage, destroyed, disaster, etc in the title, description or tags that might trigger their algorithm. A tornado video by itself shouldn't be a problem.

I think your content would probably do well. It's nice that FB is starting to offer monetization, though it might mean more pirates moving to that platform with our videos. Youtube is doing better with not allowing reuploads and compilation channels to make money.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Dang that seems weak for 1M views. At least in comparison to how they used to pay. My two highest YT videos were each a little over $400 with 200-250k views. Those were from Moore '13 and my video from 2008 with a tornado crossing the interstate south of chicago. I've known a couple chasers who banked over 5k with 1-2M views in the past. I've never had a video reach 1M views though so I can't say how much I would have earned for sure, but based on what I used to earn, it seems like it should have been way more than that

Im 50-50 on the subject. Once you've got a successful YT channel going its probably great income to have multiple videos generating that much, that much I don't doubt. For the me the killer is fighting to get those views back for re-monetization. I guess I'll just wait until I stumble on a viral clip or two. Thank you for the input.

fb's platform is tough. They require 3 minute videos to even be eligible and for most storm chase videos thats hard to do unless you're doing high end production stuff Pecos Hank style. Most people just want that quick intense minute.