YouTube’s FameBit purchase hopes to turn fame into fortune

Having long been detached from creators’ reliance on brands to sponsor their careers, YouTube has back flipped its stance with its latest acquisition.

Google announced YouTube has purchased FameBit, an influencer marketplace that connects video creators with brands looking to sponsor content.

From beauty and tech vloggers, artists, gamers and comedians, YouTube creators have long been monetising their work, yet YouTube fame hasn’t always lead to YouTube fortune.

However, YouTube only pays out on a share of ad revenue. Streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music on the other hand, which make additional revenue from subscriptions, pay a minimum per/stream rates irrespective of the revenue they earn. As a result, in 2015 YouTube paid rights-holders 55% of music video revenues. Spotify, which generated far less streams, paid 83%.

Now, YouTube has created a new pathway to the important source of income. In the same way record labels pair music creators with brands (UMA has teamed Troye Sivan, Jack Garrat and OneRepublic with Optus in the past), YouTube can now help labels find suitable sponsors for artists.

“We believe that Google’s relationship with brands and YouTube’s partnerships with creators, combined with FameBit’s technology and expertise, will help increase the number of branded content opportunities available, bringing even more revenue into the online video community,” said YouTube’s VP of product management Ariel Bardin in a blog post.

While YouTube will of course be taking a cut of the income earned through match-making creators with brands, it’s made it clear it won’t be pushing its creators towards FameBit.

“Creators will always have the choice in how they work with brands,” she added, “and there are many great companies who provide this service today. This acquisition doesn’t change that.”

The almost three-year-old FameBit has facilitated 25,000 branded videos since its inception, generating over 2 billion minutes of watch time. It is open to any creator over 5,000 subscribers/followers on digital platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Vine, Tumblr and Facebook.

In making the announcement this week, founders David Kierzkowski and Agnes Kozera said FameBit will remain a standalone operation for now.

“With Google’s relationship with brands large and small, and YouTube’s partnership with creators around the globe, we hope to connect even more brands to creators, engage more audiences, and make brand marketing more creative and authentic than ever.”

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and the third most visited website after Google and Facebook.