How much should I charge for a product review video?

[GameVestment]

I am not the one that said views were not important. I made the case that they are very important, especially when those view are on a product review video. Not sure how you misunderstood that.

I didn't misunderstand that, that's why I didn't quote you... I'm talking in general to others commenting in this thread and whoever reads my comment!

But thank you so much for the info about Social Bluebook, I will be more careful while using it. Or even better, I will compare it between the other great idea Crown shared. In the end, is always great to have different valuation methods and compare them.

Really interesting thread, so thank you so much and hopefully more people/experienced channels will participate!

 

[Jungle Explorer]

I didn't misunderstand that, that's why I didn't quote you... I'm talking in general to others commenting in this thread and whoever reads my comment!

But thank you so much for the info about Social Bluebook, I will be more careful while using it. Or even better, I will compare it between the other great idea Crown shared. In the end, is always great to have different valuation methods and compare them.

Really interesting thread, so thank you so much and hopefully more people/experienced channels will participate!

Oops. My bad. I thought you were talking to me. But you are very correct about this being a very important issue. Us social influncers are the next big thing when it comes to product marketing. According to leading marketing specialist, "Product Reviews are the single most important thing to selling a product in the new world of sales!". Think about it. Have you ever bought a product on amazon.com that did not have a single review? I bet not. I know I haven't . So if you are a seller, what is the first thing you want? You want reviews. Let's face it. Reviews sell products, not promotional advertisement. People trust other people these days. They do not trust Promo Ads. Reviews mean BIG MONEY to sellers and marketplaces like Amazon.com. Reviews are worth BILLIONS to them. Why do you think you are constantly pestered to REVIEW the products you bought?

But here is where the real crime happens. Where as everyone on the selling end is making money hand over fist off of reviews, the sellers have tried to create the environment where it is "WRONG" for the people actually doing the reviews to want to ear something for their efforts. Everyone makes money off of reviews, but they INSIST that the "Reviewers" must do it for free. No, there is nothing fishy about that logic at all.

For years and years I have written thousands of reviews. From product reviews to restaurant reviews. Yelp, Trip Adviser, Google, Amazon.com. I did them all. They would give me AWARDS for being such a good part of their community, and I was stupid enough to gobble all their meaningless praise up. Well, not me anymore. It is time for us reviewers to get a part of the action.

 

[Crown]

The problem is, I am dealing mostly with Chinese companies right now. Well, actually I am dealing with Sellers of Chinese products. Our communication is strictly by email, and I doubt very seriously that any of them are using their real name. I love your idea of them paying me based on performance, but how do I make them uphold their end of the agreement and pay me at the end of the month for the views. What is to keep them from copying my video and using it and never paying me a dime? Do you have any ideas about how I can do that?

Let's assume $10 per 1000 views to make the maths simpler:

You'd charge them $200 (example) upfront to make the video. That's the minimum they have to pay you to to cover your time, expenses etc. No payment, your video doesn't go online. That $200 would also be worth 20,000 views. So anything up to 20,000 views, they don't owe you anything. Once the video gets more than 20,000 views, they then owe you $10 for every 1000 views. If they don't pay, you put the video to "private". Obviously, you adjust the fixed minimum fee and the RPM fee to whatever you think your time and audience is worth.

 

[Jungle Explorer]

Let's assume $10 per 1000 views to make the maths simpler:

You'd charge them $200 (example) upfront to make the video. That's the minimum they have to pay you to to cover your time, expenses etc. No payment, your video doesn't go online. That $200 would also be worth 20,000 views. So anything up to 20,000 views, they don't owe you anything. Once the video gets more than 20,000 views, they then owe you $10 for every 1000 views. If they don't pay, you put the video to "private". Obviously, you adjust the fixed minimum fee and the RPM fee to whatever you think your time and audience is worth.

Sounds good. I will try it. I don't think they will go for the $200 bit as they have so many patsies out there willing to do reviews for free or just the product. Of course those people don't offer all professionalism and benefits that I do. Most of them just write an amazon.com review where they point out the main features already disclosed in the manufacturer's description. I see the value in a Youtube video, because I track the sales from my videos through my amazon affiliate links that I put in the descriptions of my videos. Just today a viewer of my video about a special type of scope mounting system, followed the link to amazon and bought the product, along with $94 dollars of other stuff. So I know for a fact that my video are generating product sales.

 

[Yachts For Sale]

I started publishing sponsored videos this year. I produced a media kit to send to potential sponsors and a fixed price per video. Big mistake. The fixed price was far too ambitious and although everybody seemed to like the idea, they were put off by the price.

So...I massively reduced my fees and immediately started to get orders. Since then I have slowly increased the fees and have now found a level that both I and the sponsors seem to be happy with.

My point is, that it may be better to start low - even if you feel that the first few videos you produce are not worth the time and effort. You can then slowly increase your price until you find the right level. The more videos you produce, the more your channel will be noticed by other companies who want to have their product reviewed. At that point, you can say with confidence "this is how much I get paid by everybody else". Most companies will feel more comfortable spending the money if they know that their competitors are doing the same.

 

[Jungle Explorer]

I started publishing sponsored videos this year. I produced a media kit to send to potential sponsors and a fixed price per video. Big mistake. The fixed price was far too ambitious and although everybody seemed to like the idea, they were put off by the price.

So...I massively reduced my fees and immediately started to get orders. Since then I have slowly increased the fees and have now found a level that both I and the sponsors seem to be happy with.

My point is, that it may be better to start low - even if you feel that the first few videos you produce are not worth the time and effort. You can then slowly increase your price until you find the right level. The more videos you produce, the more your channel will be noticed by other companies who want to have their product reviewed. At that point, you can say with confidence "this is how much I get paid by everybody else". Most companies will feel more comfortable spending the money if they know that their competitors are doing the same.

This is exactly what I have been doing. First I did a bunch of product reviews of outdoor sports and tech equipment products I bought for myself. When I did this, my intention was not to get in the sponsored product business, it was to just to build my channel and draw in a different demographic. Then I started getting a rare and occasional offer to receive a free product in exchange for a review. I was fine with that as it gave me more content. But now the flood gates have opened and I am getting 20 emails a week about different products. Since I don't do simple "Unboxing" videos where a take a new product out and say "Look how shinny it is!", but I do real life testing and comparison videos that may take 20 to 30 hours of work to complete, this is becoming a full time job.

On one hand, I like doing this. It is fun to test out new products. On the other hand I have a very high level of dedication to honestly and practicality. When I do a review video, it never say "This is a good product" or "This is a bad product." I let the test I perform reveal to the viewer whether the product is good or bad. I make product reviews the way I would want to see a product review. I don't give a rats behind about "Technical Specs", I want to see how things work in a real life practical situation. That is what I would want to see in a review video, so that is how I make them.

Take the product review I am currently working on. It is a Chinese 4K action camera. I have done multiple side by side comparisons with it along side other 4K action cameras I have. The footage from these will be put up for the viewers to see how it did. But there is a problem. The 4K files from the camera have proven to be uneditable. I have tried multiple top video editors and that files cannot be edited and cause the programs to freeze or crash. There is also something screwy with the audio sample settings which shows to be at, 15kbps at 8.000 kHz. So, I have emailed the seller and presented this problem to them and ask them whether they think the camera is defective, or if a should continue the review and report these findings.

Now the waiting game begins. If they are a seller that is dedicated to their product, them may try to provide a solution or a different camera. If they don't care about their product and just wanted me to produce a product review for them and say good things because the gave it to me; well they have a wake up call coming. Because all of this, even their reaction to this problem, will be included in the review, because product support is a big part of what makes a good tech product. Even top of the line tech products can have have technical issue, just ask the people that bought the explosive Samsung Galaxy S8. It is how the company supports consumers when the things happens that makes the difference.

My point here is, I would like to earn money at this becasue I put of work into my product reviews, but I am not willing to sell my soul for a free product or money. My hope is that one day I will graduate up from these budget oriented products and get to work with respectable name brand companies that care about their products and customers. I guess it is kind of like trying to work you way up the chain from a toilet scrubber to upper management. I may be a low level toilet scrubber right now, but because of who I am, I will take pride in my work, even if it is scrubbing toilets. You got to start somewhere, right?

 

[videoeditgr]

Sorry for being a bit of cynical.

No payment, your video doesn't go online.

Online as delivered. But the work has already be done. Welcome to the world of "we wiil let you know soon!... (not)"

If they are a seller that is dedicated to their product,

That unfortunately goes and for the pro (as payed in money or in exchange of products) reviewer i think. There are so many solutions: software i mean and forums to research before declaring those files unusable (no offence @Jungle Explorer)

 

[Jungle Explorer]

There are so many solutions: software i mean and forums to research before declaring those files unusable (no offence @Jungle Explorer)

I try to keep my post short, but every time I leave something out, someone is sure to jump in and suggest it. I already submitted the faulty file to a professional video editor forum and many people have tried to work with it and found the same issues I am having. But even if one professional found some way to fix it, this is a Consumer leve product, not a professional level product. If professional expertise is needed to work with a file, it is defective for all practical consumer purposes. Just because a professional can find a way to make it usable, does not mean that it is not defective. I am reviewing for the common consumer. If a professional video editor like myself, has trouble with a file format, then that file format, for what ever reason, is not recommendable to the common consumer. Consumer level products need to produce files that a common consumer can work with.

Rest assured that when I post something, I am chasing every avenue.[DOUBLEPOST=1542647482,1542597640][/DOUBLEPOST]So I just finished a different review for a nice dual camera car surveillance system. This was an intense review because there were so many things to capture test footage of. The final video ended up being 22 minutes long (Unboxing, Complete installation walk-through, test footage of multiple times of day and testing of special features). I have uploaded the video to youtube and done the SEO and I have managed to get the video to the number one spot under the brand name. The video is now set as private. I have created a special 480p sample version of the video with a watermark throughout the whole video. I plan on submitting this sample file to the people and present the SEO results to them. The original will be published to Public once the fee has been paid.

What do you think about this strategy? Anyone else ever try this?

 

[Xynudu]

The original will be published to Public once the fee has been paid.

From my experience you will have no hope with that strategy. These companies expect reviews for nothing, despite what they promise. They expect you to be grateful for free products to review.

So if you expect payment, forget it. Once you ask for payment you will never hear from them again.

Best to strike up a good working relationship with a large reliable company, get free products which equate to advertising and viewer time and forget about payment.

Smaller companies will never come through with their agreement.

Been there, know exactly how this all works.

Cheers Rob

 

[Yachts For Sale]

From my experience you will have no hope with that strategy. These companies expect reviews for nothing, despite what they promise. They expect you to be grateful for free products to review.

So if you expect payment, forget it. Once you ask for payment you will never hear from them again.

Best to strike up a good working relationship with a large reliable company, get free products which equate to advertising and viewer time and forget about payment.

Smaller companies will never come through with their agreement.

Been there, know exactly how this all works.

Cheers Rob

I would have to disagree Rob.

Although many companies do not want to pay for a YouTube review video, there are also many that ARE prepared to pay. You just have to find them.

Building any business is very tough, you always have to get 10 "No"s for every "Yes". Sometimes the ratio can be more like 100, or even 1000 to 1.

I wouldn't hold out hope to a product review channel that they will be able to earn millions and retire from it, but I do believe that it can be a good fun and profitable past time that could even lead to a full time wage. It takes persistence, patience, and consistency though. Above all, you really need to enjoy what you are doing - and that actually is the secret to the success of ANY YouTube channel.

Also, I firmly believe that the business world is changing and that businesses are starting to accept YouTube as a valuable resource in their marketing budget now. In a post in another thread @Jungle Explorer said that one company had told him they are "not interested in youtube marketing"...give them time, and they will either go out of business or they WILL get interested. Hopefully JE will still be doing his review videos when that happens, his channel will be bigger, and his fees will be higher.