400 Million YouTube Views Equals $190,000 In Ad Revenue

Sites include YouTube.com . Published on November 21st, 2011. Written by Anthony West.

In the grand scheme of things, there are more duds on YouTube than there are hits. But when you score a hit, the revenue from it can be so massive; it sort of makes you wonder if it’s worth playing the hit and miss game.

A recent report on popular viral videos on YouTube, suggests that the popular YouTube video, ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ has earned the family who uploaded it a staggering $190,000. The 56 sec clip went viral a while back and luckily for the little kid’s dad, the YouTube partner program was in full effect. This allowed him and his family to bank a tidy sum for their ‘unplanned’ video—at least we hope it was unplanned because in recent years seasoned professionals have been staging videos in an effort to cash-in on the viral nature of YouTube. Of course, this video is just one of many that have raked in millions of views and right now it seems that a standard, original 400 million+ video will net you just under 200K USD.

The question now though, is just how YouTube will mesh the original, amateur content with the planned premium channels on content that it plans to unveil soon. Many see this push towards premium content as a death knell to the Charlies of this world. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Will premium content make it difficult for the amateur YouTuber? Share your thoughts below.