What I Asked TheNewsRoom (or “I Like Money”)

Another great thing about Facebook is your ability to talk directly to people that matter at a company you are an affiliate of - in this example, we’re talking about TheNewsRoom.

For about a month I was a big user of TheNewsRoom, in particular their video feeds. About three weeks in I realized I could make money with what I was doing. Then they gave us a way to track revenue, and I found out that all my efforts had yielded an Amazing Earning Total of SEVENTEEN cents.

For a mere mortal, this would be troubling. But for me, a traffic expert, this was mortifying. I can get traffic to anything. And if you can get traffic to something, you should be able to make money at it, provided the conversion rate is predictable and steady.

Furthermore, more people were talking to me about the videos than were actually counted in the demographics. So I posted to the discussion group for their Facebook app to ask for some tips. Here’s what I said in a post entitled “I Like Money” (You can only see the content if you have a Facebook account).

The title was for all my Idiocracy fans out there. Holla!

Okay seriously. I love the concept of The Newsroom. It’s megaultrahipflycool. I have two issues with the actual application of it.

One - most of my audience reads my site by feed. A lot of them can’t see or can’t play the video through the feed.

Two - the metrics for the number of people who have discussed the videos they’ve played with me don’t match the Startling 17 cents I’ve earned so far.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m eternally grateful for the 17 cents. It’s 17 cents more than I had when I got started. I can buy three pieces of Bazooka Joe with 17 cents. Please don’t think I’m making a mockery of your rocking app - I just find that I get a lot more attention when I make people laugh.

Here’s my point - my business is traffic. I make lovely, pretty money by getting butts in seats - to things that convert. So, I’m thinking that either…

1. The model is flawed

2. Most of my video plays aren’t being measured, or,
3. I’ve made a bad mistake. (Arrested Development. Keep up!)

I say this because ALL other video content I can measure is getting much dap. In English, that means people play them. Targeting and audience do not appear to be the issue.

And I hate being a complainer who doesn’t have solutions. So… my proposal is this: can you TheNewsRoom Deities get a big earner to divulge some secrets, give us some tips yourselves, tell us whether people tend to earn more from article displays than from video?

It’s not like I’ve done a whole lot of promotion of TheNewsRoom, just enough to say, gr, something ain’t right. Enlighten me.

When I get a response, I’ll tell ya all about it.

[tags]video, thenewsroom.com, the news room, news room, news, news video, idiocracy, i like money, facebook group, facebook discussion[/tags]