Last week, The Dish published this item about the Harlem Shake … and while the Best Of video was interesting enough, I was fascinated by this tidbit:

Past viral hits on YouTube have generated big paydays for content owners. “Gangnam Style,” the viral sensation of 2012, earned Korean pop star Psy and his handlers a reported $870,000 from YouTube ad revenue alone.

That number — $870,000 — is astonishing to me … mainly because I don’t  know of anyone — anyone! — who has ever clicked on a YouTube ad. The percentage of people who do is probably in the same approaching-zero realm as people who click on ads in games they’ve downloaded to their cell phones.

I would love to see some analysis someday that demonstrates what sort of ROI that $870,000 generated. I mean, are billboard-style impressions really all that valuable? Sure, lots of ads are being delivered, but are any of them actually registering or being clicked on?

Sheesh.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2013 at 4:32 pm and is filed under Marketing Stuff, Social Media.