Making Money Viral Style

It's one small step for video-makers; it's one giant leap for the web video industry. Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, creators of "The Diet Coke & Mentos Experiment," have struck a deal with Google Video to share ad revenue generated by their latest creation "The Diet Coke & Mentos Experiment II," which is now hosted on Google Video, as well as the filmmakers' own site (eepybird.com).

Once affiliated with rival webcaster Revver, Grobe and Voltz saw their original Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos experiments generate tens of thousands of dollars thanks to Revver's post-roll ads, of which they got a 50% cut. But now Revver has big competition in the revenue-sharing market. And it looks like a fight is about to begin between competiting online video outlets, each striving to find the next web phenomenon – and for the first time, pay up for it.

On Monday, CNet.com reported that Metacafe, another video-sharing site, is shelling out $5 to video creators for every 1,000 times their video is watched. Consider it: if someone clicks on a video these days, they're indirectly putting coin in the maker's pockets. Talk about the power of the consumer.

As the online video industry has exploded in the last year, making millionaires of web entrepeneurs like the guys at YouTube and forcing other streaming sites to maintain their popularity, it was only a matter of time before webcasters would have to share the wealth -- and lure the most talked-about talent.

For more information on Google's deal with pro-sumer producers, check their special video upload page for major producers.