Does YouTube add up?

Interesting piece over at All Things D on the economics of YouTube - which we could summarise as 'once again, the music industry is surprised to discover that playing songs to people one-at-a-time isn't going to make anyone rich':

The dollars programmers earn from YouTube’s ad-selling efforts range widely. But many big publishers say that after YouTube takes its 45 percent cut of the ads it sells, they frequently end up keeping about $2.50 for every 1,000 views their clips generate — that is, if their video generates a million views, they get $2,500. Other publishers say their split can be as high as $10 per 1,000.

Vice Media's Shane Smith reveals - hold the pre-roll - that the adverts on the dozen channels he operates on YouTube “not going to be our monetization strategy.”

There's suggestions that things might get a little better - Google pointing to how it's starting to make money on mobile views, for example. Although it's hard to imagine that advertisers are going to want to pay very much more a pair of eyeballs squinting at a handheld screen than they would for a pair blinking at a desktop.