YouTube Investing Millions To Get Its Stars To Stay Put

YouTube announced Thursday it's pouring more cash into its community of creators, the so-called YouTube "stars" who generate the most interest from advertisers. Unlike YouTube's $100 million investment in content from several years ago, or its subsequent investments in promotion, this time the figures are closer to the tune of $10 million, according to a report from Re/code.

The idea is to help YouTube's post popular creators, such as makeup and style impresario Bethany Mota, get more ambitious with their videos.

“Now, we feel the time is right to make another important investment in our creators. That’s why we’ve decided to fund new content from some of our top creators, helping them not only fulfill their creative ambitions but also deliver new material to their millions of fans on YouTube,” Alex Carloss, Google’s head of entertainment for YouTube, said in a company blog post.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook Inc. had been looking to poach YouTube stars to distribute videos on its site instead of Google’s platform. A number of tech companies are vying for their share of online video, including Yahoo Inc. The once-great search giant tried to hire YouTube talent earlier this year by offering a bigger chunk of ad revenue, according to CNET.

When YouTube sells an ad, creators typically get 45 percent of the revenue, and some networks of YouTube stars have complained that share is too low. Rival services like Vimeo have also attempted to lure away some of YouTube’s hottest talent, according to Re/code, by telling them they can make more money than on Google’s video service.