When YouTube launched in 2005, it became the main hub for amateur home videos featuring pets, babies, budding musicians, \u201cfails,\u201d and everything else in between, producing many a viral superstar in the process. More recently, the now Google-owned YouTube has emerged as an online destination where people can share high-quality content and earn a serious living, with the top artist estimated to be earning anything from US $4 million each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the early YouTube videos to go viral were unsophisticated low-resolution home movies, such as the young brothers featured in\u00a0\u2018Charlie bit my finger<\/a>.\u2019 Videos like these could still turn into money-makers, with YouTube allowing some popular videos to share in advertising revenue from as early as 2007. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2012 YouTube\u00a0opened up\u00a0its\u00a0Partner Program\u00a0to users in 20 countries. The new, more transparent approach allows users to opt in to receive a share of advertising revenue once one of their videos has been successfully\u00a0monetized. Those with 75,000 cumulative watch hours over the last 90 days can earn additional\u00a0privileges, like access to YouTube recording studios in Tokyo, London, New York, Los Angeles, and Sao Paulo. Since the original launch of the Partner Program in 2007, YouTube\u00a0claims<\/a>\u00a0\u2018thousands of channels<\/a> are making six figures a year.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the best-known current YouTube content makers is Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, AKA\u00a0PewDiePie. Kjellberg\u00a0reportedly\u00a0earns $4 million in advertising annually from millions of views of videos featuring himself playing video games while narrating in a distinct, raucous, and animated style that has captivated his viewers. His videos are also helping others to earn money off the back of his popularity. PewDiePie\u2019s YouTube videos\u00a0helped\u00a0drive sales of games such as Flappy Bird, Goat Simulator, and Slender: The Eight Pages catch on, a boon for the game\u2019s creators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n