Thursday, March 12, 2009

Internet Celebrities

Are Internet celebrities real stars? Have you ever wondered if they people can make a living off of it? Some Youtube celebrities have followings which like many other mainstream stars number in the millions. Is it possible for these internet celebrities to make money from a medium that is inherently free? From what I have learned it is possible, but not easy. For example the "Mario cart love song" was an original video/song from Youtube but is now being sold by the creator on itunes. An even better example is Youtube's partner program which allows its members to sell advertisement space in their videos. Naturally success depends upon the number of views and subscribers, but for some youtubers out there thats the easy part. A perfect example of the internet celebrity "making it" is Michael Buckley who began a celebrity bashing chat show which has earned over 100,000,000 views. From participating in the partner program Mr. Buckley has been able to earn over 100,000 dollars a month! In essence sites like Youtube have become a springboard into the spotlight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/media/11youtube.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDBpQVhCMb8
Caralyle

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I see your point about the money thing for internet celebrities, but would Hollywood celebrities be stars if people weren't watching?
I mean, do they deserve to be paid millions? or why do we invest so much money into entertainment when say education isn't doing so great?