Thoughts on bbtv? Should I join?

Isaac B.

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Hello this is my first post to yttalk.

So basically my channel has recently reached over 100,000 subscribers and I get around 500,000 views per month. I recently recieved an email from a group called outspeak.

It has been created by the huffington post and have the potential for exposure on their website/channel. The rep who sent me the message did seem genuinly interested in my material so naturaly I became interested.

So basically I had a skype chat they sounded very nice and made me feel like they would help my channel grow. They offered me a 80/20 split, access to viso catalyst, a membership to epidemic sound and a membership to epoxy tv. I like the look of epoxy tv and also think the epidemic sound subscription would be good. Ive checked them out they have some great material.

So yeah I signed the contract and sent it away next thing I get an email back saying that I cannot be accpeted until I remove certain videos from my channel because they were owned by third part entities. These videos were made back before my channel started to grow and I was able to begin purchasing footage and music myself.

Anyway they wanted me to remove many of my older videos which I didn't find fair especially one of my videos. It has over 2 million views. Plus I have been given permission by the owners of the speech to leave it up as long as a link is provided to purchase the speech

In the end I have told them I will not join them if they ask me to remove that video, eventually they agreed I could keep it up if I showed proof I had been given the permission.

So basically my question is do you think I should join or not? The fact that they are already telling me what I can and cant have on my own channel is definitely turning me off.

What are peoples thoughts?

Is viso catalyst actually any good?

They have offered me a 6 month trial period on a 1 year contract. And have said I can leave at the 6 months but can I truat them? (Seen a lot of bad stories)

And is the the revenue share actually worth the perks? Seen as I could get them all except viso catalyst without having to give up my adsense account.

This is a very big decision for me. And I would love to know peoples thoughts. Very sorry for the long post but just need to cover everything
 
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V3XL0R

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Hello this is my first post to yttalk.

So basically my channel has recently reached over 100,000 subscribers and I get around 500,000 views per month. I recently recieved an email from a group called outspeak.

They are in partner with huffington post and have the potential for exposure on their website/channel. The rep who sent me the message did seem genuinly interested in my material so naturaly I became interested.

So basically I had a skype chat they sounded very nice and made me feel like they would help my channel grow. They offered me a 80/20 split, access to viso catalyst, a membership to epidemic sound and a membership to epoxy tv. I like the look of epoxy tv and also think the epidemic sound subscription would be good. Ive checked them out they have some great material.

So yeah I signed the contract and sent it away next thing I get an email back saying that I cannot be accpeted until I remove certain videos from my channel because they were owned by third part entities. These videos were made back before my channel started to grow and I was able to begin purchasing footage and music myself.

Anyway they wanted me to remove many of my older videos which I didn't find fair especially one of my videos. It has over 2 million views. Plus I have been given permission by the owners of the speech to leave it up as long as a link is provided to purchase the speech

In the end I have told them I will not join them if they ask me to remove that video, eventually they agreed I could keep it up if I showed proof I had been given the permission.

So basically my question is do you think I should join or not? The fact that they are already telling me what I can and cant have on my own channel is definitely turning me off.

What are peoples thoughts?

Is viso catalyst actually any good?

They have offered me a 6 month trial period on a 1 year contract. And have said I can leave at the 6 months but can I truat them? (Seen a lot of bad stories)

And is the the revenue share actually worth the perks? Seen as I could get them all except viso catalyst without having to give up my adsense account.

This is a very big decision for me. And I would love to know peoples thoughts. Very sorry for the long post but just need to cover everything
First of all, congrats on the success of your channel. In my experiences with networks, they talk a lot about being able to promote and stuff like that. There are much better perks to being with a network than what they lead on. They just don't say them because music and promotion is what grabs people to their network and that's what they tend to promote the most to people looking to get partnered with someone. And 80/20 is not bad. I mean, I know a couple of networks that have it 90/10. It could be worse, though. BBTV is alright for what it is. And as for the third party entities, that's because they don't want you to have any copyright strikes or video claims (monetary wise) by anyone other than them once you become partnered. Note that this doesn't mean that they own all the copyrights to your videos. You have control over your content. It just means that they have control over the ad/money aspect of your videos/channel. If you have proof of the rights that you have to post those videos on your channel, then you should have nothing to worry about. Personally, I go for no lock in contracts. I don't want to be locked in with someone for a year or two, muchless 6 months. That way, if I'm not happy with them, I can leave at any time. The decision to join or not is in your hands and only you can make that decision. They just don't want to deal with any infringements that may be present. So the fact that they're making the compromises that they are should tell you that they sincerely want you to join and that they want you to upload and stuff and not take anything down. I look at three things that are most important in a network: 1.) Good revenue split 2.)No lock-in contract 3.) No minimum payouts and that they pay with PayPal. Those perks that they offer is up to you. Personally, it's not worth anything to me. I'd rather deal with a network than with Adsense. And when it comes to YouTube FAQ and such, they'd rather you talk to your network about any problems that you may have than talking to them about it. It's all just a matter of what's the most important aspects to you when it comes to networks.
 
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Tarmack

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The rep is genuinely interested in his percentage cut of the 20% of your revenue you're giving up, that's for sure. BBTV is one of the slimiest networks around.

Ask your rep if they'll make sure that exposure on the huffington post piece will be written into the contract. Heck, ask them if the music bit, or the Epoxy piece, or any of the rest of it will be written into the contract.

The answer will be no, because they don't want to be contractually obligated to put any effort towards growing your channel. You're bigger than most, but small enough to not warrant any special treatment.

If you want a network so that you don't have to deal with the AdSense Review for a while, find a 90/10 no lock arrangement. There is no reason for a 100K Sub channel to ever accept an 80/20 split.
 
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Isaac B.

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The rep is genuinely interested in his percentage cut of the 20% of your revenue you're giving up, that's for sure. BBTV is one of the slimiest networks around.

Ask your rep if they'll make sure that exposure on the huffington post piece will be written into the contract. Heck, ask them if the music bit, or the Epoxy piece, or any of the rest of it will be written into the contract.

The answer will be no, because they don't want to be contractually obligated to put any effort towards growing your channel. You're bigger than most, but small enough to not warrant any special treatment.

If you want a network so that you don't have to deal with the AdSense Review for a while, find a 90/10 no lock arrangement. There is no reason for a 100K Sub channel to ever accept an 80/20 split.
Thank you both very much for your responses! Yes now that I think of it 80/20 isn't all that I good. I have to be honest I intially thought that the 80/20 meant that I would get a higher payout because it is higger than youtube 55/45. They certainly try and sell it that way. However ive since learnt it means 80% of 55 which is a lot less when you think about it. And yes the 6 months contract means that I cannot leave during that time so if I notice a reduction in payout and no real benefit im stuck with it.
I asked the rep to clarify my contract again and this is what they said

"In simple form, 6 month trial - 30 days notice to cancel, if you are happy then the agreement will go to another 1 year. But also, we can discuss the terms of the agreement 30 days before too to see if there is anything you'd like to change eg: revenue share."

I do think it is pretty amazing how much the rep has helped me out in the sense of allowing most of my videos to stay up bar a few.

However I do think a no-lock in contract would be far better because who knows if they will just keep me in for a year anyway...

Also I already have a kinda decent cpm of 8.61 just wondering if joining a network could effect this? I have heard some say their cpms have reduced?

And yeah I think the epidemic sound and epoxy are garanteed however come to think of it there way nothing written about it in the contract. And as for VISO catalyst it looks pretty good, apparently (according to bbtvs own independent study) people have seen a 35% increase using it..

But I recently thanks to these forums found out about a program called tubebuddy which intergrates with your YouTube channel and seems like it does much of the same plus its really well set up..I'd recommend it to anyone it's $19 a month for full perks but they do offer it to be added to your channel completely free and try a basic version of it out. Ive been seriously impressed with it too.

Anyway I am still tossed up as to what to do on the one hand I really think that epidemic sound and epoxy subscritpions would be good but on the other im not sure whether I trully trust bbtv after so many bad stories.. Such a hard decision. Thank you both for your responses![DOUBLEPOST=1447915367,1447881819][/DOUBLEPOST]Also I have checked it out and this Outspoken are a definite creation of huffington post, but they have partnered with bbtv.
 
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Shakycow

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...so if I notice a reduction in payout and no real benefit im stuck with it.
There is no "if," you WILL notice a reduction in payout... the 20% they take. While networks (occasionally) have their own sales team to get better paying ads, those are usually reserved for the larger channels with millions of views a month. Anything less is not worth the investment for them. Expect to get the exact same paying ads that you're getting now.

If something is promised, but not in the contract, don't count on it and certainly don't make it a reason to join. Without it in writing, anything they offer can change at any time.

The study claiming an average 35% growth is completely meaningless. Not only is there no way to know if the channels would grow without it, but you also don't know how big the channels were beforehand. If a channel goes from averaging 100 views a month to 135, does it really mean anything?

You said you get around 500k views a month. From that, I'd assume you earn between $250-500. Ask yourself, is what they're willing to put in the contract worth $50-100/ month?
 

Isaac B.

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There is no "if," you WILL notice a reduction in payout... the 20% they take. While networks (occasionally) have their own sales team to get better paying ads, those are usually reserved for the larger channels with millions of views a month. Anything less is not worth the investment for them. Expect to get the exact same paying ads that you're getting now.

If something is promised, but not in the contract, don't count on it and certainly don't make it a reason to join. Without it in writing, anything they offer can change at any time.

The study claiming an average 35% growth is completely meaningless. Not only is there no way to know if the channels would grow without it, but you also don't know how big the channels were beforehand. If a channel goes from averaging 100 views a month to 135, does it really mean anything?

You said you get around 500k views a month. From that, I'd assume you earn between $250-500. Ask yourself, is what they're willing to put in the contract worth $50-100/ month?

Thanks for the response! Yeah I don't believe their claim that it increased peoples viewership by 35% you can't trust it if they did their own studies haha. I am not really that interested in the Catalyst program, I did a bit of searching and found a much better program called tubebuddy that actually connects to your browser and can be used from within YouTube. It's actually awesome. The only thing that is really interesting to me is the subscription to epidemic sound, as I have had a good look through their stuff and already found material I like, plus epoxy actually looks very good as well.. Plus I the fact that that it is an MCN actually by the huffington post I think is pretty cool.

Yeah you are correct usually around $400-500. And yeah that is a tough question, because I could get both the things they offer myself without a partnership I looked at Epideminc sound and due my channel size Id have to get a $24 which is $33 AUD a month plus Epoxy is $49 a months which is $63. So essentially I would be paying around $112 a month which I could just take out of YouTube pay.

But on the other hand the contract says I have the opportunity to receive additional revenue from other sources such as:
50% of revenue made by BBTV if uploaded to their network
30% of revenue if shared on Huffington Post
20% of revenue if shared on AOL

I have had one of my videos featured on Huffpost before so I guess it is a possibility they may.

I have looked into them and they are definitely owned and created by Huffington post, I can't share a link here but if you google "outspeak" it comes up on news articles.

The main thing that is making me question whether to join is the 6 months contract, I would far rather a no-lock in contract. I just emailed them on the possibilty of increasing my revenue share. I will see how that goes. Thanks again for the response!
 

Phil @ TubeBuddy

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Thanks for the response! Yeah I don't believe their claim that it increased peoples viewership by 35% you can't trust it if they did their own studies haha. I am not really that interested in the Catalyst program, I did a bit of searching and found a much better program called tubebuddy that actually connects to your browser and can be used from within YouTube. It's actually awesome. The only thing that is really interesting to me is the subscription to epidemic sound, as I have had a good look through their stuff and already found material I like, plus epoxy actually looks very good as well.. Plus I the fact that that it is an MCN actually by the huffington post I think is pretty cool.

Yeah you are correct usually around $400-500. And yeah that is a tough question, because I could get both the things they offer myself without a partnership I looked at Epideminc sound and due my channel size Id have to get a $24 which is $33 AUD a month plus Epoxy is $49 a months which is $63. So essentially I would be paying around $112 a month which I could just take out of YouTube pay.

But on the other hand the contract says I have the opportunity to receive additional revenue from other sources such as:
50% of revenue made by BBTV if uploaded to their network
30% of revenue if shared on Huffington Post
20% of revenue if shared on AOL

I have had one of my videos featured on Huffpost before so I guess it is a possibility they may.

I have looked into them and they are definitely owned and created by Huffington post, I can't share a link here but if you google "outspeak" it comes up on news articles.

The main thing that is making me question whether to join is the 6 months contract, I would far rather a no-lock in contract. I just emailed them on the possibilty of increasing my revenue share. I will see how that goes. Thanks again for the response!
Sorry a bit off-topic but I wanted to thank Issac for the mention of TubeBuddy and offer you a free upgrade for a few months :) Please email me - phil@tubebuddy.com and that goes for anyone else in here too. We like to help out the YTTalk community.