Payola more common for traditional press than YouTube - Survey
4.7% of devs say they've paid for written coverage, while 1.5% have given flat fee for video content
For all the discussion about the ethics of YouTube content creators of late, the practice of developers paying for coverage of their games still appears to be more common in traditional media, according to a Gamasutra survey of 325 developers.
The survey found that only 1.5 percent of respondents reported paying a flat fee for YouTube coverage, while 2.1 percent said they had entered into a revenue-sharing deal with a video content creator. However, 4.7 percent of developers surveyed reported paying for written press coverage in the past.
Interestingly, Gamasutra notes that from its survey results, the payment requests are coming from different ends of the spectrum in the two fields.
"Big YouTubers are asking for money while smaller ones aren't so much, while many smaller traditional press outlets are asking for cash for review, while bigger names need to be more above-board so as not to anger their communities," according to the site.
Only a relative handful of developers reported engaging in the practice already, but many more may engage in the practice at some point. The survey found 19.1 percent of developers had considered paying a flat fee for YouTube coverage, while 11.6 percent had considered entering a revenue-sharing deal. As for interest in paid written coverage from the press, 13.9 percent said they were considering it in the future.