Break.com Gives Contributors a Pay Rise

Break.com, a site for males offering UGC in the form of videos and animations, announced this weekend that it was raising the amount paid for published video content from US$250 to US$400. Budding animators can earn much more, somewhere in the region of $2,000 per submission. Back in January 2005, the site paid just US$50 per submission.

According to Chief Executive Officer, Keith Richman, the rise in reward hasn’t yet translated into an increase in quality. He is, however, optimistic that with larger audiences and the availability of better camera technology, the quality of submissions will rise and a new breed of celebrity, the “e-lebrity” will evolve.

Richman said, in a statement, that these cash incentives have boosted the awareness of their services amongst young video makers. “We are excited for the new year, because we are going to get better videos. People are just now starting to realize what works on the medium.”

The Break.com website claims it is one of the most popular sites in the world for men aged 15-35. It goes on to say that it receives close to 1 million daily unique visitors and 14 million per month. They show nearly 300 million videos monthly and an additional 200 million pictures.

Revver.com is another site that pays for video content. It shares the advertising revenue it generates from placing ads in the video content with the producer. They, along with other competitors in the UGC market like iFilm, YouTube and BlipTV, will be watching Break.com with interest.

Could this move by Break.com pressure YouTube to compensate its users for submitted content?

Tags: online video, online video advertising, Revver.com, user-generated, video-sharing, YouTube