YouTube is Now Offering Content Creators Business Loans

YouTube is a phenomenon which has revolutionized people’s viewing habits and provided a legitimate rival to broadcast Television. The service has progressed at a rapid rate and helped forge the careers of internet celebrities like PewDiePie. Initially, the website was created as a networking tool to bring communities together and share hobbies. Although, my viewpoint is a little idealistic. Google’s acquisition of YouTube contained a long-term plan to make the service profitable. Currently, this isn’t the case but it’s certainly turned into a professional organization where serious money can be made from content creators.

Youtube has decided to enter a business relationship with Lending Club to provide the funds to make a professional YouTube channel or take it to the next level. The announcement reads:

“We’ve partnered with Lending Club to provide YouTube Creators a limited finance offer you can put toward building your channel:

• Personal & business loans
• Competitive interest rates
• Funds in your bank account quickly

YouTube exclusive perks:

• Rebate for any origination fees: YouTube will pay back the origination fee, which will be rebated to you by Lending Club.

• Qualify for a 5% loan rebate: If you increase either your channel’s average upload frequency or watch time, in the 12 months after you take out your loan, you’ll get a 5% rebate on the original total loan amount. Find out more.“

This is a terrible move on Google’s part and I’m not convinced a cash injection will help YouTube channels to become successful. Additionally, the revenue streams from smaller channels are tiny, so the length of repayment could be extremely long. I feel a lot of people will just ignore this measure, and proceed without relying on loans. However, it’s concerning because people in desperate situations could take out a loan they cannot pay back. As a result, certain vulnerable individuals might end up in hardship, or being sued by the loan company.

If you want to read more information about this loan scheme, please visit here.

Do you think Google are wrong to partner with a loan company?