Whether it’s of their friends, their pets or Legos, creative kids love to shoot videos. With so many children today having access to smart phones, it’s easy for them to create videos and upload them to You Tube. Encouraging your child to create videos can stimulate creativity and keep them busy. If your child gets lucky, they may even make some money.
Adults and kids make money with You Tube videos when their video goes viral. This is because advertisers want to place their ads on videos which have millions of viewers. The amount varies greatly based on what the advertisers are willing to pay. According to Business Insider, viral videos get about $7.60 per 1,000 ad views, which would be $7,600.00 per million views. While not all videos will go viral, this could be a good start toward college tuition savings.
It takes patience to capture just the right moment on video and kids generally have more time on their hands than adults, especially during the summer. It’s not always as much the quality of the filming as it is about what your child is able to capture on video, such as a pet or a baby brother doing something hilarious. Recent viral videos have captured a variety of antics including laughing babies, silly songs, funny faces, and other candid moments. If your child is very creative, they may come up with an idea for a skit or routine.
Video blogger, Christine Gambito, created her video “Mixed Nuts” which portrays what she says is a typical discussion in her family. These comedy sketches, in which she impersonates members of her family, have almost 5 million views – or about $38,000.00
In “Fred Goes Swimming,” Nebraska teenager Lucas Cruikshank plays Fred Figglehorn, a 6-year-old boy. By altering the audio, Fred is given a voice that sounds cartoonish. This particular video takes place in Cruikshank’s parents’ backyard in a kiddie pool. This one video has had 64 million views. And, as of May 2015, Lucas’ entire series of videos have received over 1.0 billion views. All of this video viral fame led to Fred: The Movie and a deal with Nickelodeon.
In December 2004, Gary Brolsma, then 19 years old, posted a video titled Numa Numa, of himself lip-syncing to a Romanian pop song called “Dragostea Din Tei”. What began as Gary just messing around and being silly, turned into one of the most watched Internet videos of all time, with over 57 million views.
In an interview with Charles Cooper (CNET) Gary stated, “Lots of people focus on making things viral. I never intended for anything like that. I was just having fun. That sort of viral thing happens on its own. A lot of videos today try too hard to be funny. Mine wasn’t scripted. It was just, hit record and let it flow.”
{Sounds like good advice, so excuse me while I go attempt to catch my cats doing something worthy of a viral video.}
Perhaps your creative kids have some latent talent or a creative edge and You Tube will help them be discovered. And, who knows, they may end up making some serious money too. Either way, with your encouragement, they will have lots of fun.
*If your child is young and you want to protect them from content on You Tube, there is an app, You Tube Kids, designed by Google for smart phones and tablets. This app has parental settings and children will only see results that are appropriate for younger audiences.
Sources:
BusinessInsider.com – Yes, You Can Make Six Figures As A YouTube Star … And Still End Up Poor
Yahoo.com – How a Teen from New Jersey Invented the Viral Video, Creative Kids
