Over the last few months it seems like viral videos have become really popular. Maybe it’s that I’ve been noticing them more; in either case the popularity of some videos seems to greatly excel over others. I have done a little research as to why some take off and how people can capitalize from making well-viewed videos.
I first started paying attention to horrifically popular videos when Rebecca Black’s Friday song went viral. For those who don’t know, the song gained popularity due to the fact that it was horrible. Since Black’s video has been uploaded it has received a huge 160 million views and she’s been interviewed by major news organizations. In addition, she distributes her song on iTunes.
What if someone uploaded a video of a sneezing panda bear or a baby biting another child’s finger? Yes, there is a video called The Sneezing Baby Panda that has been viewed 100 million times. And yes there is another video called Charlie Bit My Finger – Again! which has been viewed almost 337 million times. These are nothing more than videos which someone seemed to film by mistake.
It would seem like videos become viral because they’re cute, ridiculous or otherwise unique. However, there’s a lot more that goes into a video post’s popularity than just people telling other people. As it turns out there are companies specializing in popularizing videos and seeding them to viewers. After looking into a handful companies and trying to decipher their processes, it seems the most common attribute they all share is promotion.
Promoting videos online is a tough game though. Recently I made what I thought was a stupid video and tried to follow some of the rules I’ve just recently read about. I made a video and had friends preview it to see if they thought it was funny. Once I gained approval from friends, I uploaded it to Youtube and immediately linked to it from Facebook. I watched the numbers climb from a dozen to about 4,000 and it stopped. I don’t know why the numbers suddenly stopped climbing but I figure it was because it wasn’t interesting, stupid or funny enough to make the ranks.
Having a video become popular enough to reach viral status seems kind of pointless anyways. Outside of being able to tell people “I’m the woman in the Where’s the Chapstick video” I can’t see the point. With a little more digging I found that video uploaders can make a little bit of money if they handle advertising correctly.
Youtube offers a partnership program to the right candidates. Uploaders who meet certain qualifications can earn a commission from the advertisements which accompany their videos. Simply reading through some of the search engine results I pulled up leads me to believe people can make thousands of dollars with the right combination of video and promotion. Imagine making thousands of dollars for having your video camera in the right place at the right time. Then think about how many of those videos you could have taken over the years.
The Rebecca Black video mentioned in the beginning of the article has been viewed 160 million times. With a little bit of basic math I figured out she’s earned around $109,000.00 from Youtube advertising alone. In addition, iTunes and other online music sales have netted her a reported $25,000.00 per week since the song debuted. That’s not bad considering her initial investment was around $4,000.00.
There is money to be made from posting videos on Youtube. Next time you see your kids filming silly videos with the intent of uploading them, think about the big picture. If you see me around town with a video camera in-hand, then you’ll know why.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can text him at (978) 413-2840 or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)