How to Sell Your Travel Videos to Tourism Companies

Let’s face it, you may not be able to sell your travel videos to National Geographic, Discovery Channel or even your local television station. That doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road if you wish to have your travel videos showcased to the public and earn some cash from them.

Here are some avenues through which you earn through your travel videos.

Sell to Tourism Companies

Tourism is a very competitive industry. The script is one tourism company trying to outdo the other by offering the best value-for-money packages. Most of them use brochures and print materials to promote their destination packages.

Do your homework. Find out the destinations your local tourism companies are promoting. Do you have existing videos of these destinations? If you do, talk to them and explain how they could better market their travel packages with your video which they could include in the promotional packages in the form of a demo DVD.

You can also explain that videos on their websites would a potent tool to convince site visitors to sign up for their travel packages. Explain that videos would give their viewers of a feeling of being there, instead of leaving things to imagination when reading print promotional materials.

To strengthen your case, show them examples of travel videos uploaded to YouTube which have garnered thousands of hits. Any tourism company would crave for that kind of exposure.

Don’t they sound interested? Offer to make a free video for them if they would sponsor your trip to a location that you don’t have the budget to visit. While there, shoot ample footage. After delivering your promise, you’ll be left with valuable footage which you could edit and promote to other companies.

Making Money Online

If for some reason selling your videos to tourism companies is impractical or impossible, you can set your sights online. With the rising popularity of Internet or web video, you can earn a decent income if your videos deliver the kind of quality web surfers expect.

Let it be mentioned at the outset that you will not make a quick fortune online with your videos. But the web promises longevity for your video. More often than not, your videos will be available for viewing for years and this will enable you to earn decent revenue depending on how popular your videos are.

Here’s a list of online avenues you could you use to generate revenue for your travel videos.

YouTube Partner Program

Many do not know the existence of the Partner Program which helps your videos earn cash. Their impression of YouTube is that you upload videos for fun and share it with the rest of the world. Be warned though that not everyone who picks up a camcorder and shoots is entitled to sign up for this program.

YouTube has three requirements to be fulfilled before it accepts you as a partner. Firstly, you must be a creator of original videos which are suitable for streaming. Secondly, you own the videos or have written permission to use the video and audio for monetization purposes. The third requirement is you regularly upload videos which attract thousands of viewers. You will also be considered if you’re already producing video in other forms like DVDs which you’re successfully selling online.

You may not qualify if you’re just starting out, but this is one program worth considering when you’ve built your YouTube presence.

Check out the YouTube Partner Program.

Revver

When you upload a video to Revver, it’s `Revverized’. This means Revver would attach an advertisement to your video. There are two types of advertisements added. The first is CPM ads where you get paid according to the number of times the ad is viewed. The other is CPC ads, where you get paid according to the number of times the ads get clicked on.

Revenue is split 50/50. Revver uses a unique tracking technology to keep you updated on your earnings. Revver has a payment threshold of $20. The moment you reach that amount, it will be released to your PayPal account.

The more videos you upload to Revver, the greater your chances of generating decent revenue from your travel videos.

Check out the Revver revenue sharing program.

Metacafe

Under its Producers Rewards Program, Metacafe pays $2 per every 2000 views your video gets from US viewers. Well, 2000 views is not really that difficult to achieve if your video has something good to offer especially with Metacafe recording 40 million unique viewers monthly. For inspiration you could study the top-rated videos which have enjoyed hundreds of thousands of views.

There’s a catch though. To get into the Rewards Program, your video has to first enjoy 20,000 views worldwide. If your videos entertain, amaze and inspire viewers as required by Metacafe, you’ll have no problems fitting into the program.

Some of Metacafe’s contributors have seen their works featured in ABC News, BBC.com, CNN.com and Reuters, among others. If producing quality videos is your forte, you can set your sights high with the help of Metacafe.

Metacafe claims to have paid out $1 million under the Producer Rewards Program for ’exceptional and entertaining original works’.

Check out the Metacafe Producer Rewards Program.