YouTube's monetization claims: Where's the beef?
Last week, at this here mental-research facility, we asked the question, YouTube, how much are you making off Jill and Kevin's wedding? And those fine boffins over at the Tube have decided to answer--kind of, at least.
In an announcement entitled, "I now pronounce you monetized: a YouTube video case study," posted by Chris LaRosa, technical account manager, and Ali Sandler, music partner manager, the Tubers' hoops are cocked at the joy of the video's success (now more than 12 million views).
They also were rather happy with the performance of "Forever," the Chris Brown song to which the wedding party waddles and wafts into the church. According to the announcement:
At YouTube, we have sophisticated content management tools in place to help rights holders control their content on our site. The rights holders for "Forever" used these tools to claim and monetize the song, as well as to start running Click-to-Buy links over the video, giving viewers the opportunity to purchase the music track on Amazon and iTunes.
YouTube goes on to declare that the rights holders capitalized on the huge popularity of this visual ode to marital joy. Searches for "Chris Brown Forever" also leaped like a heart at the words "I do."
The song sold extremely well on iTunes and in Amazon's MP3 store. It reached Nos. 4 and 3 on those charts, respectively.
Still, there is one small item that appears to have been omitted in the answer to our question: what does this all mean, in terms of dollars?
I only ask because, well, when you see the word "monetization," you hope to also see a reference to the actual money that was "tized."
It is healthy for this nation's economy that someone is making some money out of YouTube. It would merely be interesting to understand precisely, or even vaguely, how monetizable the site--or even a single video on the site--truly is.
You see, if I ever want to get married, my brave and lovely bride and I would try to get some sense of which artists with whom to negotiate.
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
