Inevitable Breakup: Lonelygirl15 & YouTube

Lonelygirl15 Dumps YouTube, according to Wendy Davis at MediaPost:

The serialized Web drama "Lonelygirl15" is moving from YouTube to the ad-supported site Revver, where the creators of the saga–now known to be fictional–stand to gain a cut of ad revenue from the clips.

Lonelygirl15, which focused on the life of home-schooled 15-year-old Bree, became a cult hit on YouTube, drawing hundreds of thousands of fans. While the clips purported to be real, their high quality and the seemingly made-for-TV plot lines spurred fans and the media to investigate whether Bree was actually a creation of scriptwriters.

Last week, the show’s creators solved most of the mystery when they issued a post characterizing the clips as a "new art form." "Thank you so much for enjoying our show so far," they posted on an online forum devoted to LonelyGirl 15. "With your help we believe we are witnessing the birth of a new art form. Our intention from the outset has been to tell a story–A story that could only be told using the medium of video blogs and the distribution power of the internet."

Several days later, three amateur detectives revealed that Bree was actually being portrayed by 19-year-old actress Jessica Rose. The creators then stepped forward to identify themselves as Californian twenty-somethings–Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders and Greg Goodfried.

By Friday, they said that LonelyGirl’s goings-on will now be chronicled on Revver, the video-sharing site that splits ad revenue 50-50 with the content owners.

I got wind of this during my recent discussion with Revver co-founder Oliver Luckett:

Kalehoff: Why do so many content creators still use other platforms that don’t compensate or protect their work? 

Luckett: I don’t think they know about Revver, but they’re learning quickly. Many of the biggest YouTube creators are moving to Revver. Many big creators also leave social-media portals like YouTube because the community is rough…comments become a place for spam and hatred. Even on the innocuous Firefox promotion, we had to take comments down because of spam and inappropriate feedback. But community is still important with Revver, particularly among content creators who educate one another about how to make money.

As I’ve said many times, I don’t have a grudge against YouTube. But I do agree with Oliver that content creators will increasingly wake up and realize their works are worth something. And they’ll want to be fairly compensated, beyond the ego gratification of the YouTube community.

Content pays for itself to…to a point. My dad is an artist, with status not quite “celebrity,” but certainly accomplished enough to have made a living throughout his life. His ability to get compensated is what put a roof over our heads when I was a kid, and largely is what put me through school. For god sakes, pay the artists! Nurture them!

Published by Max Kalehoff

Father, sailor and marketing executive.

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1 Comment

  1. Many of the biggest YouTube creators are moving to Revver. Many big creators also leave social-media portals like YouTube because the community is rough

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