YouTube

This is a story of a man by the name of Michael Buckley that made money from creating a weekly online show right on YouTube.

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.”

Who knew that such a simple idea would allow a person to become so famous. The power of YouTube is unbelievable because in the past, there was no other site that would have allowed anyone to have gained that much popularity.

All he needed was a $2,000 Canon camera, a $6 piece of fabric for a backdrop and a pair of work lights from Home Depot. Mr. Buckley is an example of the Internet’s democratizing effect on publishing. Sites like YouTube allow anyone with a high-speed connection to find a fan following, simply by posting material and promoting it online.

Also, it was that easy for him to get started, all he needed was a small investment and a great idea. Sometimes becoming a star does not always have to cost a ton of money. All we need to be able to do is promote because I am sure that he was not able to get all those viewers if he did not advertise about himself in other places on the internet.

Basically, many stars are making well over $100,000. According to the article, a guy that had only 180,000 subscribers was making $17,000-$20,000 a month from advertisements and sponsorship.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/media/11youtube.html