Dear Content Owners: Broadcast Ads Pay You Exactly What They Should

Sarah Gray   ·   2017-01-07

It's common knowledge that content owners struggle with low revenues from ads. It's equally common to hear content owners bemoaning those unfairly low payments.

But those payments aren't unfairly low - they're just right.

You're confused because you're comparing the ad payments you receive, to the payments you think you deserve for your content. Well, guys, ad payments aren't about you or your content.

You're being paid to assist in the delivery of ads.

Therefore, the payment you receive is not tied to how much the market values your video; your payment is tied to how many ads your video helps deliver to consumers, and the value of those ads to the advertisers.

Welcome to the ad delivery business!

The value of your content is completely irrelevant: it could be a grainy video of a cat playing with yarn, or a raw, humorous illustration of modern life with impeccable production value that resonates with everyone who watches it. It could be a crappy book report masquerading as news, or the world-shattering result of quality investigative journalism.

Doesn't matter: the value of your content, to you or your audience, is immaterial. You get paid based on the value of your contribution to ad delivery.

You are literally not being paid at all for your content.

Each time that your content is viewed by a consumer with accompanying ads, there are two value exchanges happening.

One involves the value of your content to the consumer; the other involves the value of the accompanying ad to the advertiser.

When it comes to how you get paid, only the latter matters - the value of your content to your audience is irrelevant.

So long as you use ad-supported business models, you will never be paid fairly for your content because YOU ARE NOT BEING PAID FOR YOUR CONTENT: you are being paid for assistance with ad delivery.

In that sense, the amount you are being paid accurately reflects the value of your contribution to ad delivery.

Ads pay you what they should - but they never pay you what your content is actually worth to your audience.

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