Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

Your Profile and Preferences

Uploading

Sharing

Making Money

Copyright/Licenses

API and Open Source

General Questions

What is Revver?

Revver is the first viral video network that pays. We connect makers, sharers, and sponsors of internet video in a free and open marketplace that rewards them for doing what they do best.

How does Revver work?

It's really simple: you upload a video to Revver, and we attach an ad and our unique tracking technology to "Revverize" the video. Any ad revenue generated by your video is split 50/50 between you and Revver. Since ads are attached to the video itself and dynamically served wherever your video travels, there's no restriction on how your videos are distributed. The more people email your video, post it to other websites or download it from P2P networks, the more money you could earn.

You can then track your video's performance through your Revver account, which tells you exactly how many times your video is watched, and how much money you're earning.

To increase the value of the entire Revver network, we also reward people for sharing videos. You can earn 20% of ad revenue for sharing videos by other Revver members. The remaining revenue is split 50/50 between the maker and Revver.

What does "Revverized" mean?

Your video + our ad-matching and tracking technology = "Revverized" content. The video file created when you upload to Revver includes both the advertisement as well as an embedded ID that allows you to track your video wherever it appears online via email, website or P2P. You provide the original content; we take care of the rest!

How much does it cost to use Revver?

Revver is a completely free service. We want everyone to post his or her video. We make our money by partnering with video makers and sharing in the advertising revenue.

What is the mission of Revver?

Revver supports independent media artists. We believe that a free and open, democratized media environment is good for everyone. Our goal is to empower video makers and sharers to do what they do best.

The Internet is the global connector. We support the free and unlimited sharing of content online in an environment where the creator is rewarded for his/her work.

How does Most Watched work?

Most Watched displays the videos with the most views which have been published during the selected date range.

How do categories work?

When you upload a video, our reviewers assign it to the specific categories that you see on the site. Unfortunately, we don’t take requests, but in the future will be letting users suggest categories for their videos during upload.

How do video responses work?

As long as you are logged in you can leave a video response to any video. To leave a response, click “leave a response” on the video watch page and choose between uploading a new response and posting an existing video from your library.

If you’re uploading a new video, follow the instructions on the upload page, and once your video has been reviewed and approved it will appear in the recipient video’s response section. The review process can take up to 24 hours, but is usually much much faster. If you are posting an existing video as a response, it may take a few minutes for your video to show up in the recipient video’s response section.

Please note that each video can only be a response to ONE other video.

How can I contact Revver?

We'd love to hear from you! Please send all inquiries and suggestions through our contact form.

Your Profile and Preferences

How do I change my profile image?

You can upload and change your profile image within the profile information section of your preferences. Click browse to select an image from your computer to upload, and save when finished. Please note that it may take a few minutes for changes to your profile to appear on the site.

The same upload guidelines that apply to video content also apply to photos – any images uploaded in violation of Revver’s copyright, adult, or hate speech policies will result in the suspension of your account.

Can I change my username?

We don't allow users to change usernames, so choose wisely! Please note that usernames must start with a letter, can only contain letters and numbers, and can be no longer than 14 characters.

How do I message another user?

To send a message to another user, you first need to add them to your contacts list. Once you’ve added contacts, you can view your contacts' latest videos and send them messages through the contact section of your dashboard.

Why are you asking for my real name and contact info?

Two reasons: First - we need to be able to send you the money that you earn when people watch your videos. Second - we need to ensure that people who submit videos are the original creators. To do so, we need a real name and address.

We will not - under any circumstances - voluntarily give out your information to another party.

What does it mean to opt in to new distribution channels (broadcast/mobile)?

To get your videos seen by as many people as possible, we've been hard at work building our network of syndication partners. This means partnering with lots of websites and web services platforms to get your videos in front of as many eyeballs as possible. You may even be able to share your videos on television and mobile devices! By enabling broadcast and mobile distribution, you still maintain ownership of your content and Revver shares with you any revenue generated by these new distribution partnerships. It's a great chance to get your videos to an even wider audience and tap into new ways of making money. You must enable these distribution channels to participate, so visit your account preferences to set your broadcast and mobile settings.

What does it mean to enable pre-roll and overlay ads? Can I disable these ads?

A pre-roll ad is a brief ad that plays before your video begins. When a viewer sees the ad, an ad impression has occurred, and you earn money.

An overlay ad is a clickable ad that displays in the bottom 20% of the video window shortly after playback begins. Overlay ads are semi-transparent, and viewers can minimize them at will.

Enabling pre-roll and overlay ads means that your videos may receive these ads when they are available. Please note that enabling overlay and pre-roll ads doesn't mean your content will necessarily receive both kinds of ads, as ad pairings depend on a variety of factors.

If you don't want pre-roll and overlay ads on your videos, and would prefer only ads that play at the end of your videos, you can disable pre-roll and overlay ads in your account preferences. Please note, however, that currently pre-roll and overlay ads are a bundled option -- opting in means opting in to both kinds of ads, and opting out means opting out of both as well.

If you are unsure of how these ads will affect your videos, we recommend giving it a whirl -- you can opt-in and opt-out at any time, as many times as you want.

How do I cancel my account?

We'd hate to see you go, but if you'd like to cancel your account, please email us at support@revver.com and we'll take care of it for you.

Uploading

How do I upload my video?

Uploading your video to Revver couldn't be easier. Just click "Upload" at the top of any page and follow the instructions.

What kind of videos can I submit?

You can submit just about any kind of video you want, as long as you're the creator. We do have a size restriction of 100MB per file and we can't accept anything illegal or obscene or similarly objectionable, including content that contains hate speech, infringes copyright, and/or violates personal privacy or obscenity laws and/or which we deem inappropriately offensive. Revver does not allow pornography.

At Revver, we staunchly support copyright laws. Our mission and business is firmly rooted in the idea that artists deserve to control and be rewarded from their intellectual property. We also believe strongly in the protections provided by the doctrine of Fair Use, which is part of US copyright law, and to comparable protections provided under the copyright laws in other jurisdictions. While it is impossible to draw a hard and fast line between what is Fair Use and what is not, we understand that we are living in a remix culture and we support an open media environment that allows creators to lawfully build on the work of earlier creators. Read more on our copyright policy

Your video must be at minimum 4 seconds long. This is because it can take up to three seconds for the ad to be delivered to the end of your video once someone starts watching it. We do not have an upper limit on length of video so long as your file is under 100MB.

We accept the following formats: MOV, MPEG, MPG, MP4, WMV, ASF, AVI (including DIVX).

What are the size limits and file types on videos?

Your video must be at minimum 4 seconds long. This is because it can take up to three seconds for the ad to be delivered to the end of your video once someone starts watching it. We do not have an upper limit on length of video so long as your file is under 100MB.

We accept the following formats: MOV, MPEG, MPG, MP4, WMV, ASF, AVI (including DIVX).

Is there a limit on the number of videos I can upload?

Upload as many as you like as long as you've created them. There is currently no limit to the number of videos a creator can upload.

Where is my video after upload?

Once you have uploaded a video and added the appropriate info (title, keywords etc.), you will see it in your dashboard under "processing." This means we are transcoding your clip, or "Revverizing" it.

Next, your video will go into "review" where a real human will watch it before approving it to go online. Our content reviewers scan every video in an effort to protect against copyright violations and other illegal content. Once your video has been reviewed and approved by our reviewers, it will become publicly available (this may take up to 24 hours but it’s usually much faster).

Sometimes, videos can get held up in the review process. If we have some questions about the copyright of your video, you'll see the video in the "notice" section of your dashboard and a notification will be sent to your dashboard and email. Follow the instructions in the notification for providing our reviewers with more information, and fret not - we're generally just looking for some verification that you are the copyright owner.

Occasionally, there is an error during processing. If your video fails, we recommend checking the size and format of your video and uploading it again. If reuploading doesn’t work, or if you have any questions regarding the status of your video, please contact us.

What is the age rating all about?

Please choose the most appropriate age rating for your video. This will help us create a safe environment for everyone on Revver and also allows us to attach ads to your video in a more targeted way.

The Revver reviewers may change the age rating of your video in the review process. Once the age rating is set, it cannot be changed.

What is fraudulent tagging?

Fraudulent tagging is a term we use for the practice of adding popular but irrelevant metadata (keywords, description, etc.) to a video in order to draw more traffic. This activity is not allowed on Revver and we reserve the right to remove any non-relevant tags. Fraudulent tagging makes it difficult for viewers to find the videos they are looking for and diminishes the Revver experience for everyone. If you are suspected of fraudulent tagging, your account may be suspended until you change the information associated with your video. Please use only relevant information to describe your videos as this will improve the searchability of the entire network.

Why did my video get rejected/taken down?

Videos are most commonly rejected due to apparent copyright infringement. If your video is rejected or removed, you should receive an email outlining the reasons. Be sure to use royalty-free music in your videos! If you have a question about why your video was rejected or what you can do to remove the copyright violation, contact us.

Read more on our copyright policy.

How do you verify the rightful ownership of a video?

We here at Revver strive daily to make sure that the content on our site is original and that the creators are properly credited and compensated for their work.

We have a staff of knowledgeable reviewers, who personally review each and every video before posting it publicly on the site. If your video gets wrongly rejected, you will have the chance to prove that it belongs to you.

What constitutes adequate proof will vary for each video. You might need to show written proof that you own the rights or you might just need to explain to us that you made the music and link to your band's website. It really depends on the situation. Our reviewers are just looking for something that makes them feel comfortable enough that an artist's copyright is not being infringed.

You should also know that if anyone were to contact us stating that there was some sort of infringement regarding a particular video, the matter would be investigated immediately!

If you notice a video you think might be infringing someone's copyright, please contact us.

Can I upload works to Revver in languages other than English?

Absolutely. Revver accepts videos in any language.

Is adult content allowed on Revver?

While Revver does allow some content typical of an R rating by MPAA standards, Revver does not allow any content it deems obscene or hateful. Pornography is not allowed.

How long will my materials be stored?

Your videos will remain on Revver as long as they generate a reasonable amount of activity. You can remove them from the system at any time. For anyone simply looking for a place to store videos at no cost, we suggest checking out what the good folks are up to at the Internet Archive.

How do I delete a video?

To delete a video, navigate to your dashboard and click on the video you want to delete. Check the delete box at the bottom of the page and click save to confirm video delete. After a few minutes, the video will be deleted from the system. This cannot be undone, so be careful!

Sharing

How do I share Revver videos?

The Revver system is built on sharing. You don't have to be a video creator to participate. You can share Revver videos on your blog, social networking profile, via email or instant message, peer to peer networks, etc. As long as you're logged into Revver, you should see your affiliate ID included in the link or filename of the video you're sharing. Whenever anyone clicks the ad on that video, you earn 20% of the revenue.

Check out our Share page for more tips to get you started.

How can I embed videos in my blog, on social networking sites, etc?

Every video on Revver includes lots of sharing options including "grab codes" in several formats which you can embed in many locations.

What grab code should I use?

Every video is available in both Flash and Quicktime format. The most common format used today is Adobe's Flash, and is ideally suited for streaming video to a large audience, most of whom already have Flash installed. If you're a video purist, you may prefer the higher quality that Quicktime offers.

We also offer JavaScript enabled embeds for both formats. JavaScript embeds are the ideal solution for those with direct access to their site's code - offering more control and getting around Internet Explorer's Eolas patent issue. Unfortunately, many blogging platforms and social networking sites won't allow JavaScript, so if that's the case users will have to make do with the standard embeds.

Where can I share Revver videos?

You can share Revver videos wherever you like. They can be emailed, downloaded, embedded into your blog or your social networking profile. Here is a list of a few Revver-friendly sites where you can earn money for sharing:

This list is growing all the time. Check out the sharing section of the forums for an up-to-date list.

Good luck promoting your work!

What are playlists? How do I make them?

Playlists are a great way to organize and share your favorite videos. There are two types of playlists you can make: manual and smart.

You can manually add any video to any of your manual playlists by clicking on the "add to playlist" button next to the video you want to add. Manual playlists can be made on the fly when browsing videos as well as within the playlists section of your dashboard. Once you’ve created some manual playlists, you will have the option during the upload process to automatically add new videos to one of your playlists.

You can also create smart playlists which automatically aggregate videos based on rules you define. If you want to collect all the videos about surfing, you can create a rule to add all videos that include the keyword "surfing" to your playlist. The playlist will automatically update any time a video is uploaded with the keyword "surfing."

You can share your playlist via RSS or by using the Revver widget.

How do I share my playlists? What is the Revver Widget?

Now that you've created your playlist, it's time to share it with the world.

RSS - Viewers can easily subscribe to playlists by clicking the orange Subscribe / Podcast button at the top of any playlist page. The subscribe drop down menu allows viewers to subscribe to playlists in iTunes, Google Reader and several other popular services. To access a playlist’s raw feed for further customization or to link to from your site, select one of the RSS feed options from the subscribe dropdown menu (Flash and Quicktime).

The Revver Widget - Share any playlist in a nifty scrollable widget by grabbing the widget code and pasting it into the html of your blog or site. Every time your playlist is updated, the new videos will automatically appear on your website!

To access the widget code, choose "Grab playlist widget" from the playlist page. For an example of the widget, check out the Revver blog – there are two widgets in the right sidebar. And by the way, as long as you're logged in when grabbing the widget, your affiliate ID is automatically included in the widget code so wherever you post your widget, you are earning 20% of the ad revenue!

Can I further customize my widget?

You can! If you have some programming skills, you can check out the widget documentation.

What about podcasts? Can my video show up in iTunes?

To share your videos as a podcast, all you have to do is share the RSS feed for a playlist. We provide feeds for all Revver playlists, so you can put a link to your Revver feed on your site or send it to friends so that people can quickly and easily subscribe to your videos. You can access feeds for a playlist by clicking the orange Subscribe / Podcast button on any playlist page (your "My Videos" playlist, for example).

There are two feed options: Flash and QuickTime. Flash feeds contain the Flash versions of the videos in the playlist, and QuickTime feeds contain the QuickTime versions. If you're going to be using your feed for a podcast in iTunes, use the QuickTime feed, as iTunes only supports QuickTime video.

How do I get my show listed in the iTunes directory?

You can get your show listed in the iTunes store by following the steps outlined here on the iTunes site. After converting your feed from Flash to QuickTime as outlined above, you'll need to use a service like Feedburner to customize your feed to include artwork, a description, and tags. It looks complicated but it's actually a pretty simple process.

Once your feed is ready, you can submit it for review by clicking on the big "submit a podcast" button in the iTunes podcast page and following the directions. In order to prevent duplicate podcasts, iTunes requests that only the creator of a show submit that show to the directory. We encourage you to share Revver videos everywhere, but you are still bound by the Terms of Service of the services you use to share, so please abide by iTunes' rules and refrain from submitting another creator's work to their directory.

Once you’ve submitted your feed/podcast, it will be reviewed by the iTunes team and, provided everything checks out, added to the directory. If you’re really lucky (and good) you might just get featured at the iTunes store!

So go on, get podcasty! If you have any trouble, head over to the forums and help each other out!

Making Money

How do I make money?

Revver is all about empowering makers and sharers of video by providing easy tools for distribution and sharing revenue with our members.

When you upload your video to Revver, we attach an advertisement and our unique tracking technology to it. We call this "Revverizing." There are two ways that your video and the associated ad can generate revenue: from impressions/views of the ad (CPM ads), and from clicks on the ad (CPC ads). When a viewer sees a CPM ad associated with your video, you get paid, no click required. When a viewer clicks on a CPC ad associated with your video, you get paid. In both cases, Revver splits the revenue with you 50/50. Please note that not every impression or click will result in revenue, as some advertisers only buy traffic from the US and Canada, and also multiple repeated impressions or clicks from a single user on a single video are scrubbed as duplicates.

You can track video's performance through your Revver account, which tells you exactly how many times your video is watched, and how much money you're earning.

Since ads are attached to the video itself, there's no restriction on how your videos are distributed. The more people email your video, post it to other websites or download it from P2P networks, the more money you could earn.

To increase the value of the entire Revver network, we also reward people for sharing videos. You can earn 20% of ad revenue for sharing videos by other Revver members. The remaining revenue is split 50/50 between the maker and Revver.

How much money can I make?

The exact amount of money you earn per view or click is variable. We are constantly working to improve the value of our network so we can negotiate better rates. So keep uploading and sharing - it's good for everyone!

How and when do I get paid?

In your dashboard, your "current earnings" are recent earnings that are still processing. After 30 days, earnings move left into your "pending payment" column, and once you have $20 or more in your pending payment column you will receive payment on the next payment date.

The cut-off date for each pay period is the last day of each month, so to receive payment in, say, February, you need to have a pending payment of at least $20 by Jan 31. Payments will be made by the last day of each month to all accounts that had pending payments of $20 or more on the last day of the previous month.

Payments are made to the PayPal account you specified when creating your account. If you didn't include your PayPal information during registration, you can go back and add it now in your account preferences.

In your dashboard earnings display, "Total Paid to Date" displays the total amount paid to you over all time.

"Pending Payment" is the income you will be paid on the next payout day (if over $20). These earnings are subject to review before payment is made.

Your "Current Earnings" are recent earnings that are still processing.

If you have questions about payments, please contact us at payments@revver.com.

Are my Revver earnings taxable? Do I have to fill out any forms for tax purposes?

The IRS (Internal Revenue Service of the US Government) requires anyone being paid more than $600 by a US company to fill out a W-9 (US citizens) or a W-8 (international citizens) form for tax purposes. As you near $600 in earnings, Revver will send the appropriate form to your Revver profile email address, and you will need to fill it out and return it in order to continue to receive payments. Directions for returning the completed form will be included in the message.

Once we've received the form we will send you a confirmation message and you will continue to be paid as usual. At the end of the year, you will receive a 1099 for your own reporting purposes (you need to declare your Revver earnings in your annual tax filing).

How are the number of views calculated?

The number of views for a video is the number of times the video has been started, regardless of whether the video was watched all the way to the end. These numbers are typically updated on the site every few hours. Depending on traffic there may be a delay in the display of video statistics. Rest assured, these stats are still being tracked and you will not lose credit for any views, impressions, or clicks.

What is fraudulent activity?

Fraudulent activity includes any activity conducted with the intention to make money rather than interact with the ad. Using fraudulent means to increase ad clicks, including clicking on your own ads or asking others to click your ads, is considered "click fraud.” Similarly, using fraudulent means to increase ad impressions is considered "impression fraud." Per our member agreement, any account can be suspended at any time if fraudulent activity is suspected.

Advertisers must be able to trust the Revver system that each click that they receive is from a real person interested in their service or product. Therefore, we have implemented sophisticated technologies to detect suspicious activity.

If in Revver's reasonable business judgment, Your account is suspected of so-called "click fraud", "impression fraud", usage of "bots" or other fraudulent means exploited to increase clicks and impressions, Revver may suspend or otherwise disable your account until such time the matter is resolved to Revver's satisfaction.

If you have any questions about activity on the system or your account, please contact us.

Copyright/Licenses

Does Revver obey copyright laws?

Absolutely. Our firm belief in the protections of copyright and Intellectual Property law is the very core of our business. We screen every video that is submitted to our system in an effort to promote legality and to police obvious copyright infringement, and we respond promptly to Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) content takedown requests.

Please send correspondence to:

Revver, Inc.
Attn: DMCA violation
9255 Sunset Boulevard Suite 1010
Los Angeles, CA 90069

We also strongly encourage our users to alert us if they come across any content on the Revver system that appears to be illegal, contains hate speech, infringes copyright, and/or violates personal privacy or obscenity laws. If you see something you that you believe constitutes copyright infringement, please contact us.

What about Fair Use?

At Revver, we staunchly support copyright laws. Our mission and business is firmly rooted in the idea that artists deserve to control and be rewarded from their intellectual property. We also believe strongly in the protections provided by the doctrine of Fair Use, which is part of US copyright law, and to comparable protections provided under the copyright laws in various other jurisdictions. While it is impossible to draw a hard and fast line between what is Fair Use and what is not, we understand that we are living in a remix culture and we support an open media environment that allows creators to lawfully build on the work of earlier creators.

For more information on Fair Use and other copyright issues, please check out these resources:

Who owns what I publish on Revver?

You retain ownership of your video. Revver may host and share your video only for as long as you leave it up on our site and only via the distribution channels you choose. Find out more about our various distribution channels.

Will you edit or alter my videos in any way?

Revver will not alter your video in any way other than what is required to share it and monetize it on our network. In other words, we may transcode your video so it can be viewed across our network and of course, we'll attach the advertising and our tracking technology to it, but we will not edit or change your artistic creation.

Can I take back my stuff?

Once you've deleted a video off of Revver we will no longer distribute it. However, we cannot scour the web and pull back the copies that have been downloaded. It's just the nature of the Internet. Those videos will still continue to be watchable, but Revver ads shall no longer be inserted and thus the video will cease to earn revenue. If you change your mind, you can always re-upload the video. You will not lose any earned income credit by removing a video from the system.

Can someone change or use pieces of my video in a way I don't like?

Only with your permission. The Creative Commons license that applies to Revver videos doesn't allow others to edit your content, unless you approve it.

Why is Creative Commons the default license on Revver?

The Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 license gives you credit and recognition for the work you created and simply allows people to share the work as is. This is vital to the Revver system because the more people watch your video, the more money you can earn. Learn more about our copyright policy. To learn more about Creative Commons take a look at their website.

I didn't upload my video, but I see it on Revver anyway. Why?

If you see a video you own on Revver that you didn't upload to our site, it means that someone else has done so. Please contact us and we will investigate the matter.

What music can I use in my video?

Unless your use of music or performances by others is okay under the doctrine of Fair Use under US copyright law (see here for more info) or under comparable provisions of the copyright laws in some other jurisdictions, you need to be sure that you have the rights to use the music in your video. You can do this by getting explicit permission from the copyright-owner or by using royalty-free music.

The sites listed below offer royalty-free music that is totally free - download tracks right away and use without any fee. Please make sure to pay special attention to the stipulations of any Creative Commons-licensed music, as certain CC licenses require attribution to the original author or prohibit commercial use of the material (uploading to Revver is considered commercial use).

The following sites offer music that can be used royalty-free after a certain base fee is paid:

Unfortunately, we cannot recommend one of these sources over another but a quick search online for "royalty-free music" should provide you with a lot of options. If you use GarageBand, FruityLoops or LogicExpress software, all three applications come with royalty-free pre-recorded instrumentals in loops.

API and Open Source

What is the Revver API?

An Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of services of instructions used to standardize an application. The Revver API is a way for 3rd parties to build websites of their own using our technology to serve videos, syndicate videos, and utilize our reporting and tracking services.

This very website is powered by the Revver API.

The Revver API provides web developers and site owners an easy way to access the Revver system and complete Revver library. All Revver users have the ability to distribute and syndicate Revver videos using an advanced set of features that allows you to create a dynamically driven video portal site and earn additional ad revenue for each ad click.

The Revver syndication model rewards you for any traffic you generate to videos – this API was designed with you in mind – helping you capitalize on all the syndication opportunities the Revver community has to offer.

Developers, find the API documentation at our Developer Center.

How does Revver support Open Source?

Revver is a member and supporter of Open Source communities. We've built our products with a number of incredible Open Source software projects including Python, Twisted, mySQL, PostgreSQL, Xen, Java, PHP, Apache, Lighttpd, Ruby, and Ruby On Rails and Django (to name just a few of our personal favorites that can all be found within Revver).

Read Revver's Technology Mission Statement.

For more info on how to build your own portal, visit the Revver Developer Center.