I wanted to impart some quick thoughts on where I believe content creators on popular sites such as Youtube will be in five years, what their revenue stream will look like, how their audiences will be interacting with the content they currently enjoy for “free” and how Crypto-Currencies such as Bitcoin will lead the charge away from the classic paradigm.

The Ad revenue model for content sharing is dying (it was fun while it lasted). As Casey Neistat points out in his recent vlog “DEMONETIZED DEMONETIZED DEMONETIZED”, Youtube and others have been “de-monetizing” uploads by many content creators as those videos are deemed inappropriate for ad based profits. And for good reason… Youtube takes in the majority of it’s yearly revenue via payments from large advertisers and brands themselves in exchange for pairing those ads with “appropriate” user content. They must be overly careful to ensure that their clients remain pleased with the manner in which their marketing is delivered.

Many of the brands and companies who buy ad space on popular content sharing sites have strict guidelines on what type of content they wish to vicariously “represent”. One can be sure that this view will not change. These brands and companies depend largely on the state of their public image and cannot risk their shareholders capital being associated with any content that would put them in harms way from a PR standpoint (See PewDiePie).

Equally, content creators will not (and should not) tailor craft the product of their time and effort to match the image of a completely unrelated organization solely to ensure their revenue stream remains intact. In my mind this is a fundamental impasse that cannot be resolved in an amicable way and can only result in the slow and painful death of organic, spontaneous self expression and creativity. Thus it is time for a divorce. Fret not however as technology always finds a way and solutions are already being developed utilizing alternate models with new technological advancements to “take the kids” as it were.

Introducing Bitcoin. Now i won’t go into a long winded explanation of what Bitcoin & other Crypto-Currencies are (this information is readily available with a simple google search) suffice it to say it is a disruptive new financial technology that among other things allows for the use of what are called “micro-payments”. These Micro-payments make possible the transfer of capital in amounts far lower than is traditionally available through credit card, Paypal, Venmo, ACH or any other currently existing method of payment. Transactions as low as a fraction of a US penny can be made to and from anyone with an internet connection near instantaneously. Whats more this feature can readily be built directly into the back end of any content sharing site today. Bitcoin can and will revolutionize the classic ad based model of revenue and replace it with a more innate and wholesome method of connecting consumers with the content providers that they so adamantly seek for knowledge and entertainment.

From the audience standpoint some may cry “But we get to view the content already for free, why would be pay?”. Well to that I would quote Ben Franklin who notoriously said “Time is money”. While you may not feel as though you are paying for the Youtube content you ingest, watching a sixty second ad means sixty seconds of time spent doing nothing that you COULD have spent earning capital in some way, wether it be working a 9–5 or raking leaves in your neighbors back yard. Ultimately, you ARE already paying an opportunity cost.

In addition I would point out that the average Youtube video is 4 minutes and 20 seconds in length, allowing a “binge watcher” to consume approximately fourteen Youtube videos per hour should they choose to. At a payment rate of lets say .5 US cents per video your bill would come to a whopping 7 cents per hour (about 1/20th the cost of a new pop song from the iTunes store). The electricity usage to run the computer you just watched an hour of those videos on likely cost you more. But look at the difference it makes on the other end. For a Youtube content creator like Casey Neistat who routinely pulls in 2+ million views per video that .5 cents per view adds up quickly (2 million views X .5 cents = 10,000$ per video). This accrues to a level that I personally believe is well earned by any creator who can continually captivate their audience. Even creators with a more moderate number of subscribers can still earn a healthy salary that at worst will help to supplement their day jobs.

The move away from ad based revenue also helps to build a more organic relationship between content creators and content consumers, one that is absent a 3rd party intermediary dictating the nature of what content can and cannot created by punishing with demonetization. How many idea’s, passions or world changing messages might be silenced because they aren’t deemed “ad worthy”? Ultimately this is a win-win scenario for all parties (Youtube & other content sharing sites included).

The ad revenue model is a dinosaur that doesn’t seem to realize the meteor is already on it’s way. While content consumers remain silent thus far, content creators on the other hand are up in arms as they watch their revenue stream and livelihood slowly decline. Therefore It is up to the Youtube community itself to voice their desire for change. I humbly submit that a move to a more direct method of payment utilizing Crypto-currency channels will help to secure creators revenue streams and keep their highly in-demand content flowing.

If the cry’s for a better paradigm go un-answered and leading content sharing providers refuse to see the writing on the wall, it seems a foregone conclusion that their names be added to the list of companies who could not bring themselves to adapt in an ever changing marketplace (see Blockbuster). As one by one the most talented content creators (followed by their audiences) inevitably move to greener pastures.