Large video storage sites are booming, which means at least some of them are making lots of money off the advertising being shown alongside user contributed videos. Not many of them however, are actually compensating users for their work. Scott Kirsner ( Cinematech Blog) has compiled a list of the video giants that do actually reward contributors ( ie no youtube on this list) : http://www.scottkirsner.com/webvid/gettingpaid.htm. ( He also has an excellent book – The Future of Web Video, self-published at Lulu. Review of that coming up shortly.
UPDATE : YouTube has announced plans to ‘share revenue with users’ in the coming months. ( Found via digg – with a few useful comments added )
UPDATE 2: Long, relevant interview with founder of blip.tv, discussing web payments for video creators ( via dvguru ).