Video surfing is a unique form of advertising: normally, advertisers pay intermediaries to display advertising to their target audience, and the advertising is presented to the audience in places where they are likely to see it, such as in public places, or packaged with entertainment.
In this sense, no money changes hands between the audience and the advertiser. In comparison, video surfers are paid to view pure advertising (that is, advertisers' websites) for a certain amount of time (usually, less than 30 seconds). Interested viewers can pause the surf timer or open any site in a new window, giving themselves more time to peruse an ad.
If the viewer is not interested and does nothing, the surf timer will restart after the specified period of time and a new site will be loaded into the browser. The surf rotation requires no feedbacks of any kind; in contrast to manual surfs, paid to read email or paid to click sites. Video surfing allows members to promote websites of their own choice, according to a system of credits earned by surfing. Members usually earn credits in a fixed ratio to the number of sites they view. Member-promoted websites may or may not be their own websites. If not, they are most often the members' referral page at another video surf or an online money-making program.
This is because many video types of surf are structured as pyramid schemes: members may earn a commission for each site that their referrals view, and are therefore encouraged to build a down line. As video surfs are run from websites, online payment processors are used for members to upgrade and withdraw their profits. The most popular form of e-currency used is e-gold or e-bullion. Storm Pay was a very popular payment processor until February 2006 but has now converted to an auction site. [edit]"Investment" Video surfs.
A large number of video surfs are investment video surfs: to earn money surfing, members must pay a fee and are then promised a certain return on their fee. The "investment" is claimed to be a membership or upgraded membership fee and the "return", a per-site commission. In the case of investment video surfs, members either pay a fee to join and/or to upgrade their account level. This fee can usually vary from a few cents to thousands of dollars, and the minimum and maximum is set by the site operator.
The program then offers a commission based on the member's account level for viewing a minimum number of sites, for example, for a period of X days, every day that the member views Y sites, Z% of the upgrade fee will be credited and can be withdrawn from the site. The product of Z% and A large amount of controversy is concentrated over whether video surfs are inherently structured as Ponzi schemes.
Traffic-only video surfs that involve no monetary transactions can also be Ponzi if more credits are earned than page views available; older members are promised a certain number of website hits which can only be fulfilled by newer members joining. Due to the precedent set by 12 daily, there is a strong possibility that most investment video surfs are Ponzi schemes, and thus breaking the law and/or deceiving their users; whereas paid to surf sites usually had a viable business model where advertisers pay for the site to be viewed but not earn money in return.
On the other hand, video surfs which require an investment and promise to pay a profit must, to not be a Ponzi, have other sources of income which can yield the high percentages they offer. Therefore, they often come under attack for failing to reveal their income sources or not registering with the proper authorities as a legitimate investment company. Ponzi schemes will end when no new investors are found, and it follows that video surf sites have rather short life spans, existing from one week to a few years depending on the popularity and "investment plans" offered.
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