Jeff Doak and Jeff Molander have raised interesting questions of branding and affiliate marketing’s place in defining brand channels in the comments of the post below on Twitter.

If what I’m saying about controlling your brand is correct, then the best bet for all media companies is to have their own fully branded distribution channel but also make sure they have a structure in place to reward other outlets for pushing their content. If a reward structure is in place but you only get rewarded under certain conditions (pre-roll a 10 second spot, link the content back to the channel, etc), then you’ve created a nearly perfect situation. Your advertisers now get their products seen not only on your main channel but across a huge network of niche sites who are all incentivized to push your product as well. That’s affiliate marketing again hitting its sweet spot.

Specifically how much control do brands, whether large national brands advertising on Comedy Central or brands using a channel such as affiliate marketing, have over their own image? How have brands using affiliate marketing dealt with the YouTube question?

Can the popular video portal YouTube work with brands within the confines of what is traditionally considered affiliate marketing?