There seems to be more news each day of how user generated videos, the former darlings of the media, are becoming a little less welcome on the Internet.

It seems that video sharing sites are finally beginning to feel the pinch of these hard economic times.  While they used to welcome you uploading every video of your kitten playing with a ball of yarn, now they are either saying “no more”, or they want a cut of any money you may make, or, for the few that paid for user generated content (UGC), that’s coming to an end also.  No matter where you seem to turn, the landscape is changing quickly, and it looks like the former free ride we all enjoyed may be over.

There is no doubt that serving millions of videos a day is going to cost a company a lot of money, but instead of trying to find ways that will make their users, the people who helped build the companies, around them, they seem to be making decision after decision that will drive those very cornerstones away.  Here is just a brief rundown of some of the things happening in the UGC video space right now.

• Crackle will stop accepting general uploads as of June 1st.  Old videos will still be available, but only if you are logged into your account, or someone happens to have the specific video bookmarked.
• Metacafe had been paying video producers $2.00 per 1,000 views that originated from the USA, but that program comes to an end on June 30th.
• YouTube, the 500 lbs gorilla of video sharing sites, is now demanding 40% of any revenue members of their partner producers program make off of selling ads in their videos.

The YouTube situation is the one getting the most media coverage naturally, and the story isn’t a pretty one.  It would seem that this newest decision was made after members of this program have failed to sell ads that YouTube encouraged them to attempt.  The problem was that the video company would recommend to try various methods of sales, and then offer no support whatsoever with ad materials for the producers to use to try to convince potential clients.  So, instead of getting their ad sales team in gear, they have just decided it is easier to take money from the producers who have done all of the work.

Changes in the video sharing community were bound to happen as video watching has grown to stratospheric levels, but these decisions all seem a bit more of knee-jerk solutions than well thought out plans with an eye towards the future.  It is almost inevitable that some new player will pop up on the scene, and they will welcome the refugees from the other sites with open arms.  This will leave the old guard wondering where all their UGC videos went, the very things they can’t survive without. 

The lesson here is, if you rely on your users to make your content, you may want to take them into consideration when making decisions.

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