We all know that YouTube is kind of the place to be when it comes to creating content and trying to rake in the views so you can rake in the money. You don’t get rich overnight with YouTube videos, but if you work hard enough to build up a viewership you can start to make a living off of it, as we’ve seen in the gaming world over the past few years. The popularity of Let’s Plays, walkthroughs, game reviews and everything else under the sun has grown immensely, with some of that having to do with Machinima housing so many YouTubers under its banner.
Apparently Microsoft wanted to take advantage of that fact for some positive press as the Xbox One has been selling well, but clearly the PlayStation 4 is the console that is in higher demand right now when you compare the stocks of both consoles online (PS4 / Xbox One). How have they decided to promote the Xbox One? Through cash incentives for Machinima YouTubers and threats that you can’t say anything negative about the Xbox One or Xbox One games or you get no money at all. If you are scratching your head over this one, you aren’t alone.
With traditional ads becoming more and more ignored companies are turning to different kinds of marketing techniques, stuff like Facebook and Google Plus taking your personal “likes” and web searches and turning them into ads or “suggestions” for your friends and of course, now turning to paying the everyday average Joe to do the advertising for them. Of course, part of the problem comes with such heavy restrictions like this and the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing, such as them not being able to admit that they were being paid to hype up the Xbox One and its games.
How is anyone supposed to know that this is an ad? I hope that I’m not the only one who sees the problem in this. [source]
