While YouTube currently owns the online video sharing world, a new website called Eefoof wants to entice those video uploaders to share in the ad revenue those uploads earn.
The Eefoof site has a similar approach to other revenue-sharing sites like Newsvine. The site hosts the content and displays ads, and the user who uploaded the content that receives views gets a piece of the ad revenue generated from each viewing.
That may not be enough to topple YouTube, or bypass the video offerings from Yahoo and Google. But it could be another step toward shifting a little power from major content producers to the consumer.
For Eefoof to work, it will have to be very rigorous in its review of uploaded content for copyrighted works. It was one thing for people to place the “Lazy Sunday” video online, but a site that could pay a third party for an infringing work will bring a whole new meaning of the words “legal action” to Eefoof’s creators. (Eefoof does have an explicit policy against such works being uploaded to the site.)
Those creators include Kevin Flynn, one of the people responsible for a viral video called Peanut Butter Jelly Time. That video made it all the way to television, on an episode of “Family Guy.” Flynn and two other techies, Matt Farley and Alex Annese, started Eefoof this year.
The precise revenue share isn’t listed online, but the homepage for the site suggests various splits in an example posted there. Imagine what the Star Wars kid could have earned from such an arrangement.
One potential competitive issue could arise if Google decided to make a similar deal available for its Google Video uploaders. The brand name and advertising reach of Google could make this kind of project work just as Eefoof can.
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David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
