Report: Machinima Paying YouTubers for Positive Xbox One Coverage

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/21/report-microsoft-paying-youtubers-for-positive-xbox-one-coverage

Quote :

pdate 2: Microsoft has now commented on the promotion, providing IGN with the following statement:

"Microsoft was not aware of individual contracts Machinima had with their content providers as part of this promotion and we didn’t provide feedback on any of the videos. We have asked Machinima to not post any additional Xbox One content as part of this media buy and we have asked them to add disclaimers to the videos that were part of this program indicating they were part of paid advertising."

Update 1: Regarding Microsoft's involvement in its YouTube promotion, Machinima told IGN:

"This partnership between Machinima and Microsoft was a typical marketing partnership to promote Xbox One in December. The Xbox team does not review any specific content or provide feedback on content. Any confidentiality provisions, terms or other guidelines are standard documents provided by Machinima. For clarity, confidentiality relates to the agreements themselves, not the existence of the promotion."

This was prompted by the original story

Quote :

Machinima has reportedly offered YouTube influencers financial bonuses for promoting the Xbox One, as long as the details of said promotional agreement were kept confidential, according to Ars Technica.

The promotion, outlined in what appear to be leaked emails to popular Machinima personalities and a since deleted Tweet from Machinima's UK community manager, offered video content producers an additional $3 CPM ($3 per thousand video views) for posting videos including at least 30 seconds of Xbox One gameplay footage in the first two minutes, and a verbal mention that the console was being played. It was also stipulated that producers tag their videos 'XB1M13' and post between 3 AM ET, January 13 and 2:59 AM ET, February 10 to be eligible for payment.

To worsen what appears to be an already questionable situation, an alleged leaked copy of the promotion's terms and conditions obtained by Ars Technica specified that content creators were not to say "anything negative or disparaging about Machinima, Xbox One, or any of its games," nor were they to mention their involvement in the agreement.

If Microsoft is determined to have had knowledge of this promotion, the website believes the arrangement might violate the FTC's guidelines for the use of endorsements in advertising, which need to be transparent "when there is a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement."

Interestingly, the leaked email said the promotion would cease once a collective 1.25 million views on these videos were reached, and Machinima's PopTent feed lists the promotion as expired, suggesting that it reached its goal by January 16.