You Tube video with 122 million views - any lessons?

[Peter Adamson]

Here is a really cute video

YouTube - Charlie bit my finger - again !

that got 122 millions views.

I have been pondering this. What could make a video go viral to this extent? How many warriors would like 122 million views?

The only possible explanation I can come up with is that in a sea of contrived and hyped videos this one is genuine. Pure and natural. Are there any lessons to be learned here?

[Anonymous Affiliate]

Man that video is cute as hell

[Kim Davis]

very simple, pure, cute and no hype... guess that's what's popular... now how to turn that into a business model

[Voasi]

Have a video under a minute is great - especially for online traffic. They're in, they're out, they move on. Plus, since it IS so short, it makes you want to watch it a few times.

[SurviveUnemployment]

Originally Posted by Kim Davis

very simple, pure, cute and no hype... guess that's what's popular... now how to turn that into a business model

Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how much people make from AdSense on YouTube? You have to have a million views per month to get accepted. After that, you're probably getting 50,000 clicks at least. That's some cash -- easy cash.

[JonathanBoettcher]

Wow... 122 million views?

Heck, if that video was selling ANYTHING at all it's owner could be laughing.

Darth Vader figurines? Someone in 122 million is going to buy something.

Now a weight loss product flashed at the end there.. or a URL? Hmm.

Flip side - if this becomes commercialized (beyond the obvious YouTube ads, which I'm sure they do well off) will it get forwarded around as much and be as viral as it has been?

I've always wondered about that. I suspect the trick is to be either completely overtly commercial (ie make a really funny ad) or make it so subtle that it doesn't interfere...

What thinkest you?

[AnnaOlgushka]

the first most viewed video featuring a baby laughing was releazed by a top marketers, owning a self improvement internet business

seem the reciepe=
Cute+Genuine+Funny

a few babies videos got viewed millions of times

my 2 cents
Anna

[Terro]

That video has been live for 850 days. Now you calculate how many times it´s been watch per day.

I´m guessing, alot.

[Marty S]

Originally Posted by SurviveUnemployment

Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how much people make from AdSense on YouTube? You have to have a million views per month to get accepted. After that, you're probably getting 50,000 clicks at least. That's some cash -- easy cash.

Well actually you have to be approved into the partner program BEFORE you have a video like this to earn money. These types of videos are not normally in youtube's partnership program.

[Peter Adamson]

Great feedback. Just what I was hoping for. What intrigues me about this video, is the sheer volume of views. To get that far it has to go massively viral. I'm not planning any baby videos any time soon, but cute, short, genuine seem to help.

(when I get my millionth view I'll be sure to come back and report here ;^)

[dv8]

Funny/cute baby videos and funny animal (especially cats) always get a ton of views.

[mbenton]

I vote for the shorter video length. It pains me to have to waste the time to watch a 7 or 10 minute long video, wondering if it'll be worth my time. Short and sweet and to the point. That will get my attention every time, commercial or not.

[kevin jackson]

Originally Posted by dv8

Funny/cute baby videos and funny animal (especially cats) always get a ton of views.

You hit it on the nose. If you can get some incredibly cute or incredibly hilarious videos you can literally get millions of views. Monetizing that traffic is the real challenge.

[SurviveUnemployment]

Originally Posted by Marty S

Well actually you have to be approved into the partner program BEFORE you have a video like this to earn money. These types of videos are not normally in youtube's partnership program.

I bet they're in now.

"Let me in the program or I'll take the video down."

With that many views, they're going to let you in.

[actionplanbiz]

thats very interesting. anyone can make a cute video like that but how many can generate that much views? chain letter?

[JonathanBoettcher]

there's an idea... start a chain letter and send it to all your friends.. or start an urban legend....

again the trick is to find a way to monetize that.

[thezone]

Originally Posted by Peter Adamson

Here is a really cute video

YouTube - Charlie bit my finger - again !

that got 122 millions views.

I have been pondering this. What could make a video go viral to this extent? How many warriors would like 122 million views?

The only possible explanation I can come up with is that in a sea of contrived and hyped videos this one is genuine. Pure and natural. Are there any lessons to be learned here?

Umm...America's funniest videos made that video go viral. That video was sent to America's funniest videos about 2 or 3 years back. Which is how it became so popular.


The guy tried to sell T-shirts

I Bite - Charlie Bit Me Shirts from Zazzle.com

it won the top 10 apparel views on June 15, 2009....for zazzle ...which is not saying a lot, since most products make the "most viewed" on the day or the day after they are listed. Why, because the "creator" of the design, keeps going back to check on it, wondering why the hell nobody is coming by to purchase it.

So while people want to watch funny videos, incredibly enough (just like TV), a commercial doesn't want to make them go out and buy something.

Strange correlation.

[Jack Chua]

It is simple and naturally adorable. Lessons may vary from person to person. I also would prefer short videos for traffic.

[desmond11]

It got picked up early on from the related videos section from "charlieissocoollike" who has over 200,000 subs and allowed it to get 2,101,252 views early on.

It also got embed on Bebo which is a British social networking site. I think young people I more inclined to send this type of video to their friends via email etc, hence the viral effect.

May be worth contacting them for a JV (Peter Parks stylee).

[Sean Ski]

A popular video is like a popular song, you can't just write down a formula and go OK, if we write the song like this, it will be a smash hit and we'll win a grammy.

Viral videos are hit and miss... It's like a lottery, the more tickets you have the better your chances. Just have the common elements that give you the best chances of a viral video (not all ingredients have to be in the same video): funny, entertaining, controversial, unique, sex appeal, and probably a few others...

[iMerickz]

WOW I saw some text saying 122 million views and I was enticed to click on the thread. LOL.. Sell some baby products maybe.. make a simple video of similar nature, watermarked your site URL or insert a short clip at the video end promoting your baby product, used the same tags, post a video response to it, and just sit back to see if it drives some traffic for you and if it makes you some money =)

[actionplanbiz]

thats true. a very good point, but in some cases people will watch the same thing shot differently over and over and over.

take skateboarding vids for an example.

[Melodican]

No CGI, No HD Camera, No Key Lighting etc


The rawness of this video is what gives it it's charm and appeal... Applying something like this to your certain niche wouldn't be hard.
Even if you got a CTR of 1% from the youtube views and then a (measley) 1% conversion from there, you will still make more than the averag eJoe makes on a yearly salary..

very Interesting !

[AnnaOlgushka]

Originally Posted by Marty S

Well actually you have to be approved into the partner program BEFORE you have a video like this to earn money. These types of videos are not normally in youtube's partnership program.

there are others videos websites that reward viral videos, some people make a living with viral videos. there was one funny guy who make crazy stuff that got millions views with cartoons, have to retrieve the infos, but hte guy pul out some 20K a month from viral videos only



my 22 cents
Anna

[steve-wilkins]

cute, short and innocent! Also babies are fascinating and their actions can make even the most hard-nosed criminal laugh and it is what we all crave- HUMOUR!

Now how can I make a funny, cute IM video? Hmmmm...suggestions

[Gary Huynh]

Lesson learned is to have a video camera or video recording device with you at all times to capture those moments. Thankfully my phone also serves as a video camera!

[dwinland]

Both my kids are well past the age of cuteness, so I guess I have missed this window of opportunity. Maybe I can talk my wife into having another kid for marketing purposes and write off the costs as a business expense.

Worked for the Olsen twins.

[Sumit Menon]

He's probably a millionaire by now!

[Andrew Maule]

I was actually thinking about how videos go viral late last night and realized something, I can't exactly put it into words, and it's all relative, so I won't even try--but I think I understand why it happens and how to replicate it, but it's a lot like rolling the dice even then.

For example, this video could have just as easily been staged. Those two kids just have easily could have been told to do what they did (if they understood), and then the video could be uploaded and go viral. Does that make sense?

If someone understood that this would play on people's humor/emotions, they could game the viral nature of a video by just manufacturing one and letting it run wild... </rant>

P.S. Some people do this too, and it works

[Riz]

That was so cute and funny. The little ones cheeky laugh was hilarious.

[jamesdj1]

I first saw this video about a month or so ago on TV I think on FOX and it was cute as hell.

The kids are cute, the accents make them even more cute to me, it's natural and if your parent how could it not be a hit. Kids do the funniest things.

Regarding monetizing.

Not sure where for sure or what channel I saw a very short segment on videos on youtube that were pulling over 5 figures per month and I believe this was one of them that was mentioned.

They're getting big checks from the companies paying for banner ads above them and of course showing during the video. If I recall I believe they said this one's made them well over 25k or so. Not sure if that was a month or since it's been on.

How and where they got the info for the short segment I'm not sure but I did see it discussed regarding this and other videos on Youtube specifically.

I came across this article sometime ago and this guy's made over a hundred grand and quit his job..but it took him I think 2 years of doing videos before he made a dime.

Tube Article

Here's some interesting thoughts on monetizing from the article posted above

Mr. Williams, who counts about 180,000 subscribers to his videos, said he was earning $17,000 to $20,000 a month via YouTube. Half of the profits come from YouTube’s advertisements, and the other half come from sponsorships and product placements within his videos, a model that he has borrowed from traditional media.

[Peter Adamson]

LOL... I put this post up hoping to find a few creative ideas and maybe generate a little controversy. The feedback has been great. I have learnt a lot from reading your posts. jamesdj1, that is fascinating about putting the whole system to work knowingly and in a planned fashion. There is more to this than I had thought possible...

[bobsstuff]

A few nights ago I caught the last minutes of "America's Funniest Videos" $100,000 grand prize program (rerun-??). ALL of the finalists were very young children. My wife just said they were probably all under 3 years old.

The magic and money in them thar "babes".

[Popstar]

Probably doesn't hurt that Charlie looks like Curly in the Three Stooges. Darken the hair of the other kid and comb his bangs straight down and you've got a little Moe.

[Traffic-Bug]

Yeah , cute stuff like lolcats always gets lot of views. how to make business model out of it? Why create tshirts and mugs that have picture circuitry in them so they can display videos instead of pictures?

[Networking_now]

Originally Posted by Kim Davis

very simple, pure, cute and no hype... guess that's what's popular... now how to turn that into a business model

Turn somthing Cute into a business model via video?

Solution = Insert a picture of me in it

[ghostrecon]

A little bit exaggerated. You don't need a million views a month to get accepted into the Youtube - Google Adsense program. Hell, some of my videos with 20,000 views altogether got accepted. Typically, you won't really start earning anything even remotely decent until you hit the 100,000 mark though and even then it will be pretty minimal.

Originally Posted by SurviveUnemployment

Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how much people make from AdSense on YouTube? You have to have a million views per month to get accepted. After that, you're probably getting 50,000 clicks at least. That's some cash -- easy cash.

[trytolearnmore]

After watching this, i will add a lot more "cuteness" to my videos. Maybe i should shoot a video where a baby is searching for backlinks?