Experiential Platform: Making Money Program

Surprisingly enough, AmEx’s 20% rebate is actually a good deal. They offer competitive rates on airfare and hotel booking, and allow you to pay entirely or partially with points.

Numbers, crunched

American Express points, when used through the Pay with Points program, are valued at one cent per point, so you could redeem 97,600 points for that $976 flight to Heathrow from San Francisco. After the 20% bonus is credited to your account (it happens after the fact, and takes 10-12 weeks, according to the Pay with Points website), you’ll have spent 78,000 points, or $780. That’s $185 saved over booking with Kayak or Travelocity, enough that only one-third of your England trip will be spent lamenting the weakness of the American dollar.

American Express Platinum is steadily earning our respect

We’re generally happy with American Express as a card for international travelers, especially since the Platinum and Centurion joined the ranks of credit cards with no foreign transaction fee. Now that you can redeem your points through American Express Travel and get 20% of those points back, we’re even happier.

The American Express Platinum is one of the best-known premium credit cards, and offers a number of perks for international (or domestic) travelers. There’s a 50,000-point signing bonus (worth $500), a base rewards rate of 1% and an annual fee of $450. And based on the numbers we ran above, it only takes a couple of international flights to make up for most of that hefty fee.

Skipping customs and sipping champagne: the joys of premium credit cards

Beyond the numbers, however, the true value of the AmEx Platinum (and, really, for all premium credit cards) lies in the lovely perks. The Platinum shells out $200 in refunds for travel-related expenses like baggage fees and in-flight meals, and a free Priority Pass membership that gives access to over 600 airport lounges worldwide. A special boon for international travelers is the $100 credit towards the government Global Entry program, which allows you to skip customs lines coming back to the US (after, of course, an extensive background check). You also receive one companion ticket a year, which allows someone to fly with you, round trip, in the same class, as long as you book a business or first class ticket.

How much money do YouTube partners make? This is one of the most-asked questions when it comes to YouTube and their rev share program. Last summer we posted on how much money the top grossing YouTube partners are making, as reported by Business Insider. Back then it was estimated that the top 10 YouTube partners were making over $100,000 per year. New 2011 statistics show that this number is increasing by leaps and bounds. Today a few hundred YouTube partners are pulling in a whopping six figures a year.

These updated statistics, released in a USA Today article last month and quoted in a recent post by Kevin Nalty aka Nalts, provides a variety of mind-blowing statistics about YouTube partners and their income. The statistics are as follows:

There are over 20,000 people that are YouTube Partners.

According to YouTube spokesman Matt McLernon, ad revenue is shared between YouTube and their partners, “with more than 50% going to the partner.”

The number of partners that are making over $1,000 per month is up 300% since early 2010.

A few hundred YouTube partners are pulling in six figures a year.

According to the USA Today article, YouTube is hoping to increase the number of partners that are earning six figures. Tom Sly, YouTube’s head of strategic partner development and programs, stated that, “For a growing number of people, [YouTube] is not a hobby, it’s a career, and we’re just trying to move them up the ladder faster.” For this reason, YouTube has recently launched a number of new initiatives, including the YouTube Creator Institute and the NextUp program, as part of their acquisition of Next New Networks. I’m curious to see how much more YouTube partner income increases in the coming year.

Are you surprised by these new statistics? How many YouTubers do you expect will be making six figures by 2012?

Megan O’Neill is the resident web video enthusiast here at Social Times. Megan covers everything from the latest viral videos to online video news and tips, and has a passion for bizarre, original and revolutionary content and ideas.

surface encounters reviews url

Friday, July 29, 2011

Making Money Program

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers

Blog Archive

About Me