As a content creator, just producing new content can be a full time job. As your channel gains popularity, you might want to think about how to diversify how you get paid as well as different ways to promote your channel. There are ways, outside of just monetizing your channel and social sharing to promote your channel. Mcn’s can help in numerous ways, from product placement, to different avenues of distribution and even through connecting you to similar channels, creating a one stop shop so to speak.

Youtube describes multi-channel networks  or mcn’s as, “... Entities that affiliate with multiple youtube channels, often to offer assistance in areas such as product, programming, funding, cross-promotion, partner management, digital rights management, monetization and sales, and or audience development.”  It’s advised that you wait before joining an mcn, because though they can be extremely valuable, not every mcn has your best interest in mind. Do your research and look into what kind of contract you would be signing up for and make sure you can opt out if it ends up not being a good match. The last thing you want to do is sign away the rights to the content that you spent countless hours creating and developing. A good rule is to not pursue mcn’s that you have never heard of before.

Not all mcn’s work the same way, and because it's a locative up and coming business, there are some bad actors out there.  Not all deals are structured the same way. Not all mcn’s offer the same amount of support and sadly, sometimes if you are today's big news could become yesterday's leftovers if the partnership doesn’t benefit both ways. This means that if a mcn approaches you about a partnership, make sure you understand what they require, what's in the contract and if what you produce is a good fit for you, your viewers and how their organization operates, then it might be a good partnership.

Remember the best partnership is one that both parties benefit.

All horror stories aside, there are some huge benefits from mcn’s. Lets look at a mcn success story - felix “pewdiepie” kjellberg (shelburg)- a “we play” content creator. Having only 8,339 subscribers in april of 2011 and jumping all the way up to 3.4 Million before signing  in december of 2012 with maker studios: the number one independent mcn on youtube. The benefit since then, has been quite astounding. Currently pewdiepie has 38.5 Million subscribers.

Pewdiepie does product placement within some of his videos for brands like loot crate. Loot crate sends a box of different goodies to you each month for a fee. Loot crate even offers a discount to pewdiepie fans. In his videos with product placement he simply talks about getting the product in the mail, what's in it, and then plays with the goodies. Pretty simple thing for him to include in his videos, and for loot crate, they reach millions of viewers with their partnership.

Through ad revenue, merchandising and product placement in 2014 pewdiepie earned a reported 7.4 Million dollars.

Talking to brands directly for brand deals can be difficult, but if you have a sizable audience, they will listen to you. Reach out to brands on social media to match your channel. Another way to connect through brands is through famebit. The famebit platform was created to enable quality brands and influential youtubers to discover each other and collaborate easily on their own terms.

Product placement can happen in a slew of different ways. It can be simply a mention of a brand during the presentation of content, or it can be a simple product being placed within a shot. More common product placement is however both a visual and audible show of that brand. In the case of pewdiepie and loot crate, he simply presents it like this: “look what I got in the mail today… a loot crate.” He then very casually goes over what loot crate is and what you get from it. Then points to the description where you can save on your lootcrate membership.

A more obtrusive product placement is one that is not as casually included in the content.  A sales pitch of why you need a product, all the way to being a glorified commercial with in your content. Some have even done this, but with a bit of satire, letting the viewer know it's product placement, making fun of themselves a bit, but still getting it in. It would sound like this “cause I got to pay the bills, you might want to look at this product from these people… you know cause its good to keep the lights on…”

Depending on what kind of videos you make, and how much you care how authentic you want your product placement to seem, what route you take should be considered. As well, what the brand requires needs to be addressed.

Reaching out of your own channel to mcn’s and out to brands directly will give more opportunity for alternative revenue streams and promotion. More opportunity might lead to more money, without having to create more content more often.