Twenty-second videos of cats riding on skateboards or of cherubic infants waving bye-bye to grandma are fine for a giggle, but what if you have higher aspirations? There are video sharing services that can accommodate much longer, ambitious projects, and help you make money in the process.

Several potentially revenue-generating sites are designed to encourage contributors with financial rewards should their videos be viewed by a large (predetermined) number of visitors. Others look to generate income for video directors by placing ads or commercials in front of (pre-roll) or at the end of (post-roll) a video and split the fees with the creator. Still other sites merely host shows for a fee and leave the money-making ideas up to you.

One advantage of such services is that the production and image quality of video clips tends to be much higher than the YouTubes of the world. And better picture quality makes your work more visually appealing.

Another benefit: there are often no restrictions on the length of shows or programs you submit. Consequently, companies can create in-depth training videos and have them hosted on such a service. Or serious producers can distribute what amount to full-blown movies and television pilots directly to viewers online. Goodbye Hollywood studios, hello Internet audience.

However, taking your video work to the next level online means using better production techniques as well. Producers looking to work with the sites in this section should therefore at least consider using a high-quality digital video camera and a solid editing package, such as Adobe Premiere Elements, before embarking on this approach. Those with still greater ambitions may even consider equipment designed expressly for the purpose of putting high-quality video online. One popular example is the Tricaster, which is essentially a computer, portable video mixing board, and broadcasting studio packed into a $5,000 box (for more details on the Tricaster, see our interview with the producers behind PC Magazine's own Crankygeeks.com). Of course, you can always start more modestly. Here's a variety of examples representing what's available online for those with commercial aspirations.

Brightcove (www.brightcove.com)

Synopsis : If you are serious about producing video for a living, Brightcove is an excellent example of a full-blown, sophisticated and flexible service that can take advantage of the commercial opportunities.

For example, there's the Brightcove Network, which like most consumer oriented sharing sites is free and allows members to upload video clips and shows. Brightcove calls one's artistic endeavors “assets” but it handles them in much the same way that other sites do. What's different is that individuals can choose from one of several possible revenue streams and even control where their material appears, right down to specific pages on Web sites.

One option is to allow Brightcove to put advertising on your video. The company will split any revenues from ads with contributors. Unlike other sites, you can even choose from a dozen different ways that an ad can appear on your work, ranging from page takeovers to pre-roll sponsorships and banners. For auteurs sensitive about how their work appears on-screen, such options are important.

Furthermore, you can control the look and feel of the embedded player for your video. In other words, you can put your brand on the player or make it more of an aesthetic match for program. One can even set a player to roll a series of clips in a particular order, creating what is essentially a miniature online programming channel.

More control is offered using affiliate networks, which allow you to pick and choose who exactly is allowed to embed your videos and where. For example, one Brightcove client, Reuters, has its own extensive affiliate network, but prevents some sites from airing specific stories. Contributors also have the option of posting their work to AOL Video, since Brightcove is the company behind AOL's for-pay sharing portal.

To help generate more revenue, which means getting your video seen by more people, Brightcove can also suggest marketing techniques and add automatic RSS feeds as part of its syndication management tools.

Of course, you can decide to simply sell your videos directly. The site stipulates that you have to charge a minimum of 99 cents per download, but videos can be made available in high-resolution 1.5 Mbps WMV format and you get 70 percent of the proceeds. (For high quality postings, the company recommends using it transcoding and uploading software on the client side.) Files also include digital rights management copyright controls.

For larger companies, like record labels and media firms, there's a pay-as-you-go option. In such cases, Brightcove charges basic monthly hosting fees but allows the client to go out and sell ads on their own—or not, as the case may be. So a company can hire the site to handle storage and traffic to its videos and then charge whatever the market will bear to advertise on its programs.

If this all sounds complicated, it is. However, there's a detailed online control panel for selecting different options, and there's an extensive library of help documentation available.

Despite its pretext of being all things to all vloggers, Brightcove is best suited to those with professional video aspirations and is an ideal choice if you have your own popular Web site and just need someone to handle the video side.

Logline : For video producers with broadcast quality material looking to make a buck.

See Also : Veodia.com (www.veodia.com)

Current TV (www.currentv.com)

Synopsis : For all the power that the Internet wields as a communications tool, television is still the king. You can reach more viewers and get more attention by appearing on TV. Consequently there are sites catering to various television and entertainment fields designed specifically to help jumpstart your career. In the broadcast journalism area there's Current TV.

Current TV, supported by high-profile chairman Al Gore, offers video posters the chance to get their stories on television.

Famous mainly because it is supported by former Vice President Al Gore (he's the chairman), Current TV has the advantage that unlike many sites catering to young upstarts, Current TV doesn't just show video pieces online--it also airs segments on its DirecTV and Time Warner cable channels nationwide. The main ethos of Channel TV is to encourage independent producers to submit innovative pieces that otherwise would not make it to air in mainstream media outlets. So Current TV accepts uploaded “pods,” non-fiction stories or profiles of noteworthy individuals of up to 7 minutes in length from contributors online.

Videos endure an extensive review process but if the channel's editors like what you submit and put it on the air, they'll pay you $500. Contributors can eventually get up to $1,000 for a submission. Granted, it's not exactly a King's ransom, especially considering the amount of work that goes into such stories, but it could help launch a career.

Logline : You think we journalists are biased, then why don't you start filing your own stories?

See Also : Atom Films ( www.atomfilms.com ), Channel 101 (www.channel101.com)

Limelight Communications (www.limelight.com)

Synopsis : If all you've got is an idea—and money—Limelight is one of a slew of video production houses that can turn it into reality (video reality, that is). Specializing in corporate videos, video news releases, and other so-called industrial videos, Limelight can shoot broadcast quality video segments, write a script, edit the package, and even handle mass DVD duplication.

Limelight can also host and stream high quality video to broadcasters via satellite feeds or online to corporate Web sites.

Logline: The place to go when you want a professional to do the work.

Metacafe.com (www.metacafe.com)

Synopsis: There is a growing movement afoot to offer rewards and financial incentives to those who would otherwise being contributing what amounts to free content to Web sites. Video sharing is no exception, and we think it's about time.

Metacafe is an example of a site that offers a financial incentive in the form of “producer rewards.” To qualify for payment, submitted videos need to be 20 seconds or longer, pass a review process at the site, and be wholly owned by contributors in order to grant the site non-exclusive rights to use and promote the material.

Naturally, the site contains disclaimers and warnings to would-be contributors: no obscene or offensive material. And dangerous stunts performed exclusively for the purpose of generating higher ratings will be disqualified.

More important, to start the money coming in, a video must be viewed at least 20,000 times and have a viewer rating of 3.0 or higher (meaning they like you--they really, really like you). At that point, the site pays $5 for every thousand plays, with a potential of payout of, say, $10,000 if 2 million visitors watch your video. So not only could you achieve a form of online fame this way, you could also gain a little online fortune.

Logline : You think you're so funny? Let's put it to the test.

Revver.com ( www.revver.com )

Synopsis: For budding directors, actors, and multimedia artists, another option is Revver. To the standard free uploading and sharing scenario, Revver adds, well, ads.

Uploaded videos at Revver must first be approved by the site's reviewers, who weed out objectionable material and clips that violate copyrights. Once a video has been approved, Revver appends a post-roll advertisement to the end of your clip. Then whenever someone clicks on that ad, you receive 50 percent of the fee; Revver takes the other 50 percent.

In order to create as many opportunities for clicks as possible, contributors must allow their videos to be shown anywhere by Revver. So there's the potential that your video could appear on sites that compete with yours. On the other hand, if you embed another Revver member's video on your site and it generates advertising hits, you get 20 percent of those revenues.

Revver clearly prides itself on its appearance with a particularly smooth interface, which includes a handy dashboard that tallies your earnings. And its streaming video quality, like several other business-oriented sites, is superior to that of the major consumer video sharing sites.

Recently, Revver attracted attention by signing up with Verizon Wireless to deliver the site's amateur videos directly to Vcast handset users. Revver will not employ ads for such feeds, but will rather split the fees earned from the licensing arrangement with Verizon. And who knows, short funny amateur video clips could be perfect form of video entertainment for a handset's small screen.

Logline : Viral videos that can earn dividends for their creators.