According to a report on Ars Technica back in November 2013, and now again in January, Microsoft paid Machinima YouTube content creators to not say bad things about the Xbox One console.
In November, Microsoft reportedly offered $1 per 1,000 video views (CPM). The latest campaign offered Machinima users $3 CPM for content that features and promotes the Xbox One and its games. The January campaign only ran for two days, from 14 to 16 January.
Qualifying videos had to feature 30 seconds of Xbox One footage, mention the console by name, and be tagged with “XB1M13”.
Searching for this tag on YouTube reveals that since the cat is out of the bag, a number of vloggers are posting anti-Xbox sentiment around the idea of whoring themselves out to do Microsoft’s promo work.
The full legal agreement between Microsoft and Machinima can be found on Pastebin, but some interesting snippets dictate that video creators “may not say anything negative or disparaging about Machinima, Xbox One, or any of its Games” and must keep the promo deal quiet.
While promoted advertising content isn’t anything new, it’s questionable to say the least to not disclose that the video content presented is promotional in nature.
In fact, as Ars Technica points out, Microsoft may have run afoul of US federal guidelines on advertising endorsements.
This campaign doesn’t seem particularly widespread, with Microsoft reportedly only guaranteeing payment for the first 1.25 million videos views – a payout of $3,750 at $3 CPM.
However, these videos and their undisclosed promo content will remain online for the time being, providing some value to Microsoft and perhaps misleading the uninformed viewer.
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Wow! Did not expect that from Microsoft, though I can’t say I’m surprised.
Well I suppose their delayed launch for the rest of the world can’t be acting in the favour, so I could understand their reasoning.