‘Gangnam Style’ Makes $8 Million On YouTube Views Alone
We remember when the K-Pop hit first made its way to YouTube in July. We remember when it became the most-watched video on the network in November. We remember when it hit 1 billion views in December.
Now we learn about another milestone “Gangnam Style” has reached. During Google’s fourth quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Google chief business officer Nikesh Arora revealed that “Gangnam Style” had brought in $8 million on YouTube views alone.
Google allows creators to monetize popular YouTube videos by placing advertisements before the video you want to watch. For ultra-popular videos like Gangnam Style, this practice can be lucrative: Christopher Mims of Quartz does the math and says the $8 million in earnings reported by Arora means the video is generating about $0.65 in revenue per click. For a video with 1.23 billion YouTube views and counting, that kind of cash adds up — fast.