Some Youtubers Strike Video Gold

Posted on December 12, 2008

The New York Times has an article about how a few YouTubers using YouTube's partner program are generating six-figure incomes. It isn't surprising considering the huge number of views some of the top YouTubers are generating. Michael Buckley - who covers celebrities on his What the Buck Show - has garnered over 100 million views. Making videos has become a full-time job for him.

For some, like Michael Buckley, the self-taught host of a celebrity chatter show, filming funny videos is now a full-time job.

Mr. Buckley quit his day job in September after his online profits had greatly surpassed his salary as an administrative assistant for a music promotion company. His thrice-a-week online show "is silly," he said, but it has helped him escape his credit-card debt.

Mr. Buckley, 33, was the part-time host of a weekly show on a Connecticut public access channel in the summer of 2006 when his cousin started posting snippets of the show on YouTube. The comical rants about celebrities attracted online viewers, and before long Mr. Buckley was tailoring his segments, called "What the Buck?" for the Web. Mr. Buckley knew that the show was "only going to go so far on public access."

"But on YouTube," he said, "I've had 100 million views. It's crazy."

Michael Buckley isn't alone in covering celebrities on YouTube. He has competition from Maria Sansone at Poptub and many others. That said Buck's energetic style may be hard to beat.

Other YouTubers mentioned in the Times story include Cory Williams at smpfilmes - he made the Mean Kitty song - and LisaNova, who parodies Sarah Palin and makes other humorous videos. There is money to be made in videos but the path to success is not going to be easy and those planning to launch new YouTube channels should expect plenty of competition.